[01] Forest Sector FIGHT

[DA 2009]

FOREST SECTOR FIGHT

(1) Vad vs. Tamsin

(2) Mal Nova vs. Xenia

(3) Piper vs. Sophia

(4) Sage vs. Frozen

[Vad]

It was the middle of the night. The collar around Vad's neck lit up with a series of LED's and clicks before whisking the man away to a predetermined area which was to be the battlefield.

"Stasis Enabled. Commence Combat." The device announced.

The Saiyan cracked his neck as he clambered to his feet while removing branches from his armor. The device had planted him into the middle of thorn bush; not like he cared. Telekinetically switching his scouter into scan mode it began sweeping the area looking for signs of energy. The screen flickered for a moment, then as if it were being altered by a third party, was pointed toward a target. He grinned.

~~~~~~

A loud sonic boom shot outward through the forest shattering trees in the immediate area. Tamsin turned to her left having heard the sound wave. She continued to listen; the sound of snapping wood was getting closer. A shadowed figure burst from the tree line surrounding the clearing Tamsin was standing in. Cold air whipped around her figure as Vad moved past her; slowing his movement the Saiyan rotated out of his flight and landed facing the female maid. He slid backward on the balls of his feet before coming to a stop in the grass.

Standing upright he examined his opponent carefully as she moved her hands to the blades situated on her belt.

"Knives are going to pose a threat considering our scuffle earlier. She's definitely going to have more flexibility than me. My armor is going to restrict complicated movement as well as certain injuries I've sustained over the years. Maybe-" His thoughts were cut off.

Tamsin pushed forward toward her Saiyan opponent who quickly dropped into a dueling stance. The fight had started.

***

As Tamsin closed in, Vad's surroundings began to float upward around him. Debris began to float around him as he readied for the fight ahead. A blue hue outlined the warriors body as he dropped into a three point stance. Just as the maid skillfully drew a knife and brought it forward to slash upward Vad pushed off his right foot and cart wheeled to her left letting her pass him. Pushing off the ground with his right arm he landed on his feet and proceeded after her.

Digging her heels into the soft dirt beneath her Tamsin turned around to face an oncoming Zulenka who brought his fist upward into her stomach. As she stumbled backward he grabbed her wrist pulling her toward him. His grip had helped her balance and upon being drawn closer to her opponent she inserted her left leg into his stance and pulled Vad's right foot forward. The Saiyan was forced to let go of his hold on the maid to right his equilibrium; a mistake he was going to regret.

A cold sharpened tip of metal carved into the flesh of Zulenka's chest having pierced through his armor.

"Dammit!" He grunted sending an elbow to the woman's chest knocking her to the ground.

Taking a few steps back Vad ripped the chest plate from his torso and felt the warm crimson liquid covering his shirt cool against the night air. Looking at his hand covered in blood angered the warrior. Looking back to his female assailant he saw her focused and ready to continue.

Normal athletes or even soldiers would have had trouble exerting so much so quickly. Vad had no such worry. His muscles were so used to being forced into over exertion they rarely needed to be stretched. With an angry scream and surge of energy a transparent image of the former enraged Saiyan shimmered in the moon light. The maid opponent couldn't follow the movement.

After Image was a wonderful technique.

Reappearing to the right of Tamsin, an enraged Saiyan swept her legs and she fell backward. As she stumbled to the ground beneath her a concentrated blow from Vad's elbow connected with her stomach. Bringing his knee forward he sent her rolling into the dirt. As she came to stop he looked down at his thigh. With a wince he pulled a knife from his left leg and dropped it to the ground.

Didn't see that. My overconfidence blinded me. She must have done something when I elbowed her.

It wasn't good to have been injured so early in the fight, though Tamsin had also taken a beating. Vad wasn't about to lop her head off and call it a day. He was there for the thrill of combat and he would enjoy himself at any cost.

The knife wielding maid got to her feet and brushed the dirt from her clothes. Removing two more knives from her belt she readied herself. Vad clenched his teeth ignoring his bleeding leg, his eyes locked on Tamsin's.

It was a stare down. Someone was going to make the first move. Who?

[Sage]

“Hey, uh...” Sophia nudged Sage playfully on the arm. Remarkably, Sage didn’t immediately recoil. “Let's go, huh? Plenty of forest left to explore. If we’re lucky, we’ll run into a rabbit or a deer instead of a gigantic freaking bear.”

The two of them set off, with Sophia just in the lead, while Sage mulled over everything she told her. There was a life after death. There wasn’t an empty, vapid oblivion waiting for her when she expired, as she had thought for so many years. To have someone with first-hand knowledge from beyond the threshold of life was... comforting.

Unless, of course, she wasn’t real. Sage couldn’t discount the possibility that her presence altogether was just a fabrication; Dukes’ meddling. But then, she had seen her before the competition started. Still, it was worth-

A shrill beep screeched from her collar, jarring the girl’s train of thought, which, she conceded, was probably for the best. Sage’s eyes flicked up to find Sophia’s, and she realized her collar was blaring at her, as well.

“Searching…searching…” a computerized, feminine voice spoke.

“Sage?” Sophia’s voice was apprehensive. Frightened. “What’s happening?”

“I... don’t know,” came the girl’s discomforting response.

“Signal located. Beginning combat protocol,” the voice droned. It was trying to mimic the soothing coo of a gentle, female voice, but the computerized industrial sound just made everything sound creepy.

“Combat protocol?” the priestess inquired. Sage shook her head, as if to say ‘I don’t know,’ and then nearly fell over backward. Sophia had vanished, and the world around her had been replaced with a clearing. Across from her stood a changeling - the same as those horrible creatures that had kidnapped Trixie - who looked just as disoriented as she did.

She had been staring at him for a while before he locked eyes with her. His confused countenance crumpled into a menacing scowl. This... thing was smaller than the one she and Vad had killed, but now she was alone. The creeping fear was much more intense now than it had been then.

“What are you looking at?” he spat in an angry, yet disinterested voice. “You realize this is a competition, right? You should be trying to kill me,” he paused, and looked Sage up and down before continuing. “Not that you could possibly hope to succeed.”

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but thought better of it. She blinked, unsure of what to do or what to say. Standing in front of her was a monster. Or at least, her mother had always thought so. Her experiences on Frost didn’t do much to dispel the claim. Still, Sage couldn’t believe that all of them were evil. Her mother was powerful, but she was quick-tempered and so keen to hold a grudge. It was hard to take her word on very much.

Sage did her best to ignore the fact that, on top of that, there were rumblings in the palace - at least, in her time - that her mother wasn’t fit to rule, and that only the counsel of grandfather and father kept her in check. But that couldn’t be true. She had been a wise ruler, hadn’t she? She had abolished slavery, or at least, the legal practice of slavery. It was a start.

“...Are you simple?” the changeling hissed, visibly irate. Sage gasped, suddenly realizing she had been staring at him the entire time. Yet, she was too frightened to look away, or, at least, to apologize. Finally, the changeling sighed. “Just... do us both a favor and stand still. I’m feeling generous, so this will be quick.”

Lazily reaching out as one would for a television remote, he hardly seemed to even be looking at Sage. So, when the bright flash of light leapt from his palm, she was even more startled than she could have been.

With a sharp yelp of surprise, she half-fell, half-dodged out of the way of the beam, smacking face-first into the grass as the vibrant energy crashed into a tree trunk, and literally shattered it under the force of the explosion. Sage watched the mighty plant as it fell to the earth, and then turned her head back to the changeling, her eyes wide with terror.

“Y-You don’t understand!!” Sage exclaimed, as the alabaster creature loosed another blast. The un-athletic girl narrowly rolled out of the way, but the resulting detonation propelled her across the clearing, until she hit the grass and skidded along the mercifully dewy clearing.

With a groan, the girl climbed to her feet, already out of breath. Her right side both stung and felt numb from the heat and force of her opponent’s last attack. “None of this is real!” she protested, while the changeling took aim at her head with his finger, as though he were lining up a shot with a handgun. “I have to win this, please, y-”

An effulgent dart of ki catapulted toward her, and Sage threw herself to the ground again, with a mighty Ooof! as she hit the surface. She wasn’t going to be able to keep this up for long, and the changeling looked totally relaxed.

Again, Sage righted herself, as gentle flakes of snow flitted about around her. She considered using her powers to try and force the changeling back, but she knew she couldn’t. There was nobody’s life at stake here, not like before. But then, she had already broken her oath, on at least three separate occasions. What difference would it make to do it again?

It’s not real, she assured herself. Killing him meant nothing. He would wake up somewhere else and go on with his life. But the pain and suffering... that was real. Could she inflict that upon a contestant? He might not have even been a willing participant, but another unfortunate victim of Damon’s deceptions, as Sophia and Kaden had been. Sage had joined willingly; she knew what this was. Could she really go through with this?

Another bolt of energy was suddenly sent sailing at her head, and again, Sage leapt out of the way - barely. But the changeling had been ready for her this time, and another precisely-aimed blast caught her square in the chest.

Sage felt a horrible impact as all the air was force out of her lungs under the pressure of the explosion, and she was catapulted, once again, across the soft, slick grass. Lying flat on her back, staring, dazed, at the sky, unobscured in the clearing, she fought for her breath.

It came in short, jagged fragments, each one accompanied with a pained grunt. She gingerly touched the spot that had been struck, only to feel... cold. Lifting her head as carefully as she could, she noticed shattered ice on her clothes, and no evidence of a burn or any other damage. Just like on Mercy-Sei, she had somehow evaded death with some kind of... was it armor?

Fighting the urge to rest, Sage fought her way upright, a hand pressed tightly on her chest. Serious injury or no, it still hurt so much. Looking across the field for her opponent, she noticed the air was already filled with luminescent orbs.

With a quiet shriek, she broke into a run as the energy plummeted out of the sky, racing after her. She was running perpendicular to her assailant, and the incoming blasts he was firing. She liked it better when he was just toying with her.

With the shrieking growl of mortar shells, the ki spheres pummeled the ground around her. The thunderous crashes and igniting energy shook the earth, stumbling the hybrid, but she collected herself and pressed hard, running as fast as she could as the explosions continued to rain down around her.

Finally, one came in, dead on the mark. Sage froze in step, the color draining from her face. The crackling energy came bearing down upon her, and then, in an instant, an opaque wall of ice separated her from the missile. The explosion detonated, harmlessly on the other side of her block, yet more attacks still pursued her.

Fleeing her frozen reprieve, she escaped just in time to feel the shockwaves as energy converged to obliterate the section of wall. But Sage now formed a wall taller than she was, stretching like a ray, forming parallel to herself as she ran. The blasts pounded harmlessly into the ice, leaving the girl free to focus ahead. Her lungs burned and her muscles strained, but she had to keep running. She was no match for this changeling she had been put up against.

Finally, the blue haired girl reached the tree line, and ran into it as though it were some kind of finish line, only to collide - hard - with what felt like glass. She bounced off and landed on her butt, and was left holding her forehead and wincing in agony. Looking up, she viewed the forest stretching ahead of her through a vivid, blue lens. Sage craned her head further, to see that the lens extended into a dome, high above her. And then she cursed her stupidity.

“St-Stasis,” she managed, shaking her head. She had been trying to escape for the entire fight, and the whole time, there was no escape. She would have to fight, whether she wanted to or not. And clearly, the changeling had no qualms about destroying her. Hopefully that would make her feel better about trying to destroy him.

Bursting from the tree line, Sage propelled a series of jagged spears of ice at the last place she remembered her opponent to be. Immediately, however, she realized how useless the act was, as they sailed harmlessly beneath the changeling, who had been waiting for her to re-emerge. He can fly, too?!

The ivory warrior suddenly unleashed a massive wave of ki at the girl below, who screamed and ducked down, encasing herself in a massive block of ice. The detonation sheared immense chunks off the structure, and sent deep fissures splintering all over the miniature Glacier the girl had entombed herself in. Smoke rose from the now-melting ice, and the changeling folded his arms across his chest. Pitiful.

He turned his back on the desicated Glacier, which was suddenly launched upward with immense force. Completely unaware of the gigantic block of ice racing up toward him, he took the full brunt of the impact as it smashed into and shattered against his back. He fell from the sky, crashing headfirst into the ground below. His body bent in sickly directions, but Sage knew he wasn’t dead. Any normal person’s neck would have been completely obliterated, but she knew better than to use ‘normal’ knowledge of physiology on ki-imbued creatures.

Sure enough, a very angry, somewhat bloody, changeling pushed himself to his feet. His furious eyes, set against his soft, white flesh, seemed to blaze like an oil fire in the arctic. He could have told her that the fury of all the gods was hidden behind his eyes, and Sage would have believed it. Immediately, she began to regret her decision.

“So,” he spat, splattering blood onto the fragile blades of grass. “You command ice, do you?” his scowl inverted into a smirk. “A human, no less. Beneath the apes of Vegeta-Sei, and yet you still try to practice an art reserved for your betters?” He raised a hand, and almost effortlessly forged a spear of frost.

Sage seemed horrified. But, I’m the only one who-

There was no time. It came screaming at her, and without missing a beat, she formed her massive, icy claws, and cleaved the frozen missile to pieces. Like a cornered animal, Sage lashed out at her aggressor with uncharacteristic ferocity, slashing and swiping through the air, desperately trying to carve up her clearly better-trained opponent.

His tail came from nowhere, then, and crashed into her temple, sweeping her off her feet and sending her crashing onto the ground. The place was getting cold. Actually cold, and not just because of Sage. She was supposed to be immune, wasn’t she? Her brows knitted as the reason slowly dawned. The changeling, she suddenly realized. Realization gave way to fear, then. He could actually make cold hurt her.

That's it for me, then. Good luck, Frozen!

[Psyren]

Frozen lept backwards about a good two feet from his opponent. She was fighting amazingly and even he had to give her credit for that. And on top of that she was a Ice Elemental who clearly had some form of training or just stumbled upon the ability. Her power was tuned to levels he had seen while on the Planet Frost. But he still could not deny the fact that she had a amazing prowess.

"I would like to commend you on your ability. You may in fact be far stronger than I had originally given you credit for my dear. It pains me to have to battle you , really it does. On different circumstances perhaps we could have all joined together for perhaps a glass of wine. Beleive me even thought I dont mind destroying something in my pas I do retain some form of etiquete." During the time he was giving his little speech sage was slowly picking herself up off the ground. He simply stood there and smiled at her as she arose to look him in the eye.

He launched towards her with speeds at which he had never allowed himself to use before. He wasent one to go all out in a fight unless it had some form of meaning to him. He knew it wasent very classy at all to strike a lady but he would have to make a concession atleast this once. He watched closely as sage surronded her kunckels with ice and formed claws on each hand. She struck out at him like a wild animal trying to bring down its prey.

He noticed that she was getting frustrated it was written all over her face. And that was mistake number one. He used his left arm to block her right hand from striking. He caught her claws with his forearm and waited for the right moment. She lifted her left hand to strike but before she could. His free hand eruped a small ki blast into her stoumach that sent her rocketing across the small battlefield. She came to a stop on the ground and Frozen whipped his tail at the empty ground infront of him macking a cracking noise.

He looked at his arm that he used to block with and saw two long slashes where blood was pooring heavily from. He shook his head and slapped himself in the face. "Im getting careless." He watched sage get up in a maddening rush to see where he was at. He stood exactly where he had been and smiled at her. His eyes burning through her skull. The smile he was using was the one he would often give to a person before slaughtering them slowly.

"My dear...I do hope that when this is all over you will not hold a grudge against me. And I hope perhaps we will meet under different circumstances. I enjoy the company of another Ice elemental. But talking is over...Fighting begins.." He launched forward lifting her off her feet with a massive strike to the gut. He continued to release punch after punch into her stoumach. She broke free of the strikes and drove her knee hard into Frozens face causing him to stumble backwards. Sage moved towards him and drew her arm back and released it with enough force to snap a normal mans neck. Frozen felt the force release through his jaw.

Blood spewed from his mouth in a purple mist. He grabbed his jaw and popped it back into place with a nasty cracking noise. She was fighting back now and hard and he was enjoying it. The two locked forms trading blows and Frozens mind started to wander. He thought about his team back on Mercy waiting for him. And then he thought about his father still holding rule over there people back on Frost. The clan needed a regime change and Frozen knew he was going to be the one to bring it to fruition.

He snapped back to reality with a thundering strike to his abdomen. He quickly snapped out of it and lashed his tail at her legs gripping the right one. He slung her sideways against the bark of a tree. He felt and heard the sickening snap of the solid wood she had been struk against. The tree ha da slight lean to it now. Frozen didnt realize how hard he had actually thrown her.

He heard her moaning in what must have been pain. Although Frozen had heard a great deal of species moan out in anguish. But for some reason the simple Humans and the barbaric Saiyajinn always held a place of great pleasure for him as they died. Some would beg and plead to be released in hopes of survival. Others were brave and took death like a real champion. Frozen was unaware of what drove certain people to fight but he had his reasons to fight. And right now all he wanted to do was put sage down like a dog and make sure that she wasent able to continue this competition.

He rushed towards her downed form to attempt to deliver a crushing blow but it didnt quite work out that way. Sage struck him dead in the face with a blast of energy. Frozen stumbled backwards falling to his knees. He gripped the left side of his face tightly in his hand and then removed his hand and looked into it. He saw alot of blood and then he felt the spot where his eye was and felt it there. He then screamed out in agony. He knew then that he had lost the use of his eye.

This was more than just a competition and a battle this was a fight now to survive. He started to breathe heavily like the weight of the world was crushing him without mercy. His body started to shake out of rage and pure focused anger. His one good eye peirced Sage causing her to take a step back in what could have been fear or deffense.

[Mal Nova]

Ironic. It really was. The two that had similiar intentions and realizations of the contest stood only feet in front of each other. The Emerald Warrior's eyes gazed upward to watch the the wave that was sent from the back of his collar, collide with his counterparts. The waves then spread their milky white translucent aura outward, rapidly expanding out of eye sight of the two contestants. It was obvious two the two that they were now locked into their station and had been chosen to oppose one another.

They both had come of their own free will, with promise of honor and prosperity, along with the glory that could come with the title of 'Dante's Champion', though their motives were different. She had come to restore her own personal pride, and he... he came just to win; To make a name for himself.

They were both Legacies, both had family that had been to te Abyss and back, and both had knowledge of the rules. Neither one trembled at the thought of killing the other. It was what they had signed up to do, But, somewhere subconsciously at the least, they both were distracted. Xenia's very own blood relative, her sister, was also elsewhere, trapped in a stasis field with her foe. The Namek, as well, felt a burden upon himself, as Tamsin's innocence and saftey lingered on his mind.

He knew if she died, or killed another, that she would forever be changed. He had seen it happen to himself after all. He gave a smirk though, as his eyes averted from the fresh dark sky. He had made the awkward dressed teen, a blue and white french maid outfit, promise to come back to him. She'd do it, as it was her job. And if she didn't...

He gave a shudder trying to imagine how depressed she might be.

His grim visage fell upon the beautiful blonde, young in her adult years, and blonde. Her face however, resembled one that he had met before, but he couldn't make it. His mind raced through the few important people he had met, yet, he couldn't put a facial recognition on her. He cared little, as he had to fight her no matter what, and he was staring at the barrel aimed at him.

Her gun wasn't the same as his own. Her's was designed as an assault rifle and from a fast glance he assumed that at her range, he was minced duck. "How many booms can it fire in a single second", He openly asked.

"Let me show you", Was all he heard. Her finger pressed against the trigger and a rapid spray of energy showered his direction. Maleficus Nova, Controller of the Wind, held his stare, and saw to it that the energy shots went off in ever direction, but their intended target. Xenia looked with a wary eye, and gritted er teeth. She thought the weapons accuracy was way off, but the Imperfect Namek had caused it all, using a sphere of wind to send the blasts of energy elsewhere, ruining the threes with each blow.

Had Maleficus Nova, the Spawn of Retane, and blood trait gifted warrior, actually been birth by any other, he might have really cared about the forest life. But the renegade didn't. Not while he was defending himself at least. After the rapid fire of the assault rifle paused, Nova made his move. He slipped his own grey, Ki Rifle over his head and charged head on, at the female. She, having had overheated the power core of the projectile weapon, stared at iot for a moment when it failed.

Nova grabbed the barrel, hard, to deter the weapon from being pointed at point blank range, and he quickly pulled back, as he 'yelped', hollering, 'Shit'. He looked at his hand, instinctively, and himself and the blonde female saw the swelling and darkened color ot the wound come up. Maleficus looked then, into her orbs, and saw that she was as much as in awe as himself. His visage didn't change, until the last split Second; His Lip curled and his right hand, his uninjured hand, cold cocked her in the jaw.

Her body only slammed through one tree, one that Nova had to move out of the way of, before she caught herself. As the timber hit the ground, sending a slight quake towards the nearby area, the Saiyan let out a ravaged growl of her own. She kicked up in flight and responded in kind with a hail mary punch, but it missed.

Or so the Rogue thought.

Something drove into his back, barely missing his left lung, but still tearing into muscle. His back arched in pain, leaving himself vulnerable, and he got a power house bitch-slap for the weakness. He heard a snap as his body went flying, the object that had impaled him, splitting in two as if it was stationary. Iy was then that he really knew that Tamsin would be a great help retrieving the alien penetration of his flesh. She might could even sew the wound up.

But she wasn't there.

He let out a snarl and jerked himself about to let his right side slam into the huge evergreen. He would have attempted his frontal region, but that meant taking the blow to his face and also risked the puncture wound going clean through.

He leapt out the way of the second collapsing tree, and turned back, a snarl of pain and anger on his face. His arms engulfed with the viscous Fiend Wind, a technique that mimicked, if not bettered, one of his own father's. He slammed his arms together, with a swift movement, sending both the tornado slicing waves at the foe at a single time.

Her smirk, arrogant in thinking that a bit of wind couldn't really phase her, soon faded as she felt the slicing cuts of energy along her body as the vertical cyclone tried to drill through her. She let out a manly holler as her pain temperament neared it max and it brought a smile to the pain stakened Imperfect Namekian. He paused though, his follow through halted as he observed his foe after the assault. Part of her leather clothing had been cut away and a single nipple showed. The breast and cleavage clearly to be seen as well.

Nova had to chuckle and point it out, and he did, describing the scene as he had seen in the archives, the ones that erected the human males, "Hardcore Porn."

[Celena]

Amid the forest, Xenia had found shelter inside a tree house. Despite having spent around forty five minutes of cautious wandering, the end justified the mean. Up in the tree house she had an advantage over the other contestants who would be on the ground below. She had gotten rid of the ladder, dumping it out of sight in order to prevent those who could not fly access from using it in order to get to the tree house. It would not stop someone with the ability to fly from snooping their way into in though, but without the ladder in sight, it looked less like a tree house and more like a tree. She just hoped that she would be safe up there.

Xenia lay on her front, positioned at the right hand side of the tree house’s open entrance with her body hidden from sight, the right hand side of her face peaking out for any signs of movement within the forest below. Her gun was by her waste while her bag of goodies was on the other side of the tree house. A sniper rifle would have been the perfect weapon to use from her range of sight. With a steady focus and pinpoint accuracy, she could take a target out with a headshot, but the DA officials had not equipped her with a sniper rifle. She had an AK-47, and with it her accuracy was less precise, but she could still get the job done.

Being cooped up inside a tree house with no entertaining facilities caused the hybrid to become bored very quickly. She became fixed in a trance, her direction on a tree opposite. She had fixed her eyes on the leaves for so long that the colour of green engulfed her vision.

Through the thickness of the green forest, a battle ensued. After having reached its climax, the battle seemed to be drawing to a close with the enemy drawn to his knees, blood dripping from multiple wounds in his body.

“Shoot!” Ashe screamed to Sage, but the blue haired girl was frozen in fear. She could not deliver the final blow, precisely, she did not have the heart to squeeze the trigger one final time.

Xenia was different. She could; she had murdered before and she had the motive to do it again this time. Had there been a gun by her side, she would have picked it up. At the time, she had never used a gun before, but it was not rocket science how to use one. She would have just pulled the trigger and finished Sebastian off.

Xenia snapped out of her trance to find herself holding her assault rifle, finger on the trigger, nozzle aimed at the same tree that had caused her to lose full consciousness in the first place. She settled the gun down and changed her position, this time resting on her bottom, her right elbow resting on her right knee.

“Huh,” she muttered, head snapping up due to the sound of constant beeps. It was her collar.

====

She had been teleported from the tree house and transported to a random area in the forest region filled with nothing but trees that all looked the same, tall and skinny. She had been matched up against a young green creature known as namekian. She had heard about namekian’s but this was the first time she had ever encountered one. From what she knew about them, they were a tranquil, asexual race that derived from a green planet named Namek. Her scientific knowledge of them could not have been entirely accurate because there was nothing peaceful about the namekian warrior who stood before her. He was more like a devil incarnate. He seemed to gloat at the fact that he had exposed the top half of her feminine attributes.

Xenia could not help but blush, but from the frown warn on her face, she could have easily been mistaken for someone who was turning red with anger. She could not even speak; that was how mortified she was.

“Don’t mind me,” he said as she hid her certain two protruding organs back into her top. Her jacket had been shredded due to his sharp wind attack. With no use for it, she removed it and tossed it onto the dry muddy ground.

The thought of him watching her perversely as she tucked them in, left her with a sickening feeling. This feeling of nausea, it was the same feeling she had experienced that night, almost eight years ago. She tried not to envision the night, but the tragic day would forever be a memory. Her eyes had been opened to the harsh reality of the world she lived in that day. She had learned the true colours of mankind. She had learned that men were capable of being monsters.

The man she saw in front of her was no longer the namek, but instead her former bodyguard Aurelius. The behemoth of a man grinned, proud of what he had done that night.

Xenia’s facial expression turned cold, her eyes filled with murderous intent. She gripped onto her assault rifle with her right hand and firmly clutched the trigger with her left index finger.

Xenia, also known as Agent 07, entered a rectangular shaped room after her superior and mentor, Agent 01. The room was attached to identical rooms on either side it. The only thing that separated these rooms was glass windows. There was a range of guns on a table in front of her. From the looks of them, they were assault rifles. The wall in front was also made of glass, but directly behind it was a solid white wall.

From left to right, the assassin, Agent 01 of Aztec Corps gave her the names of the five assault rifles. She believed that all assault rifles did the same job, but that was what her ignorance towards guns had led her to believe.

Agent 01 picked up the middle gun. “This is an AK forty seven,” he said to her, “best suited for close range combat. It has a point blank range setting which allows the use to fire the weapon at any close target without adjusting the sights.”

He handed the weapon over to her. It was not as heavy as people made it out to be, but then Xenia was much stronger than the average human. She was a bit iffy about her superior standing behind her, but his intentions were noble as he helped her position her hands in the places that the gun was supposed to be held. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black remote. With a click of a button, a small section of the ground in front of them opened up and then something black slowly rose from the ground. On a white cardboard was a black picture of a human body, from its shape (no curves and wide shoulders) she instantly identified it as a male body. From that moment, Xenia had put two and two together. She knew what she would be required to do. After providing her with a clip and showing her how to load the firearm, he handed the weapon back to her.
She aimed at the target, eyes squinting as she slowly pushed down the trigger.

“Open your eyes fully,” he said.

She pulled the trigger.

“RATATATAT! came a loud sound as pullets flew against a glass wall, deflecting off of them. Bullet shells were scattered on the concrete floor and smoke hoisted from the nozzle of the gun.

“That’s why the rooms constructed from bullet proof glass,” he said, moving his eyes around the room.

That was not the point; she had failed to hit one shot on target.

“Your first time using a gun, any type of gun, right?” he asked, fifty percent sure.

“Yeah,” she replied softly, mortified by her effort.

“Practice makes perfect,” he replied.

Xenia squeezed the trigger.

RATATATATATAT!

She moved the gun from left to right as sparks vacated the nozzle, bullets sailing towards the namekian who she still envisioned as her bodyguard Aurelius. A strong gust of wind caused every bullet to evade him and fly off into every direction, some colliding against trees, others flying off into its leaves.

A straight on approach obviously was not going to work; there was no use being stubborn about it, therefore a new approach was required. It was only when another surge of wind headed towards her that she realised what she had to do, and with that, she vanished from sight, causing the powerful surge of wind to snap a tree behind her into two, the top part of the tree colliding into another, and then causing a row of trees to fall like dominos.

It took the namekian a moment to realise where she was. Xenia aimed the assault rifle a few inches away from his cranium. Suddenly, the image of her former bodyguard faded, and the namekian returned. It did not make a difference who this participant was because he still reminded her of Aureliuis.

Xenia’s left index finger slowly pressed against the trigger.

“A namekian can regenerate any part of his body as long as his head’s intact, but when the heads gone, they are unable to function any part of their body. In other words, they die.”

[Piper Juunanagou]

“Stasis field engaging,” the computerized female voice concluded as Piper was violently tore out of clearing and plopped down into the middle of another empty space comprising of saplings and some ferns. A heartbeat later, the confused and mildly nauseous woman heard the sound of another heavy object landing just a few yards in front of her. Despite her initial disarray, Piper quickly realized that she’d just been ‘matched’ up with one of the other contestants in the forest zone for a good ole fashion brawl.

“I hope you’re not Vad,” Piper spoke out loud as she reached up to the side of her head and began to massage her throbbing temple. The medic continued to speak as she slowly dragged herself up off the ground. “I don’t need to deal with the awkward side-effects of yet another awkward scuffle with tha—”

“Speaking of awkward,” the other combatant remarked, cutting off Piper’s ranting and prompting the blonde-haired soldier to let out a long, drawn-out sigh of irritation.

...Sophia?

Of all the people in the vicinity that Piper would be randomly matched up with, this had to be one of the worst possible choices. After all, being forced to fight Vad wouldn’t be that bad as Piper could probably use it to try and bludgeon the saiya-jin into remaining on the straight and narrow some more.

“Didn’t you burn alive in the fires of that volcano?” Piper remarked as the priestess let out sight and allowed her small shoulders to droop down.

“Yea, that was me,” Sophia responded in a mildly despondent tone as she lifted a slender hand and pointed to a faintly glowing halo above her head. “I’m actually still technically dead,” she added as a look of disbelief spread across Piper’s visage.

“No way,” the medic said—her tone sounding more like an enthralled schoolgirl than that of a well-trained soldier. “You’re looking pretty damn well for someone who took a bath in some damn lava,” she added with a chuckle as a tiny grin spread across the priestess’s face.

“Well I’m going to guess this is a new body or something,” Sophia said with a shrug of her shoulders as the two women found themselves glancing up at the ceiling of the stasis field. “So are we supposed to fight?” The smaller of the two women inquire—her soft, unenthused voice positively encapsulating the mutual opinion about the idea.

“Well can they really make us do anything?” Piper said definitely as she placed a hand on the heavy collar strapped around her neck. Unfortunately for the medic, her question was answered not by Sophia, but by the piece of metal strapped to her neck, which emitted a minor electrical shock right into Piper’s spinal cord. Without so much as a gasp or a grunt, the soldier shook violently for a moment or two and then unceremoniously collapsed into a heap on the ground.

“Piper!” Sophia shouted as she went to help her old acquaintance. The other blonde managed to take a grand total of three steps before her eyes went wide and she also collapsed from an electrical shock.

“Fuh-fuh-fuck,” Piper slurred as she began the process of once more rising up from a state of momentary confusion and nausea. This time, the process took over a minute, but at its conclusion, both women once again found themselves staring with irritation at the roof of the stasis field—as if the tournament hosts were literally lording over them.

“All right, Sophia!” Piper suddenly shouted in an awkwardly forced masculine tone as her gloved hands shot back and closed around her newfound friend the energy rifle. “It’s time for me to bitch slap your silly ass like yesterday’s trash!” With that, the blonde-haired soldier leveled her rifle with the confuse, wide-eyed healer.

Dodge right and disarm me. Piper projected into Sophia’s head telepathically, causing the priestess to glance around sheepishly for a few moments before she connected the dots. Once Piper was certain her friend knew what she meant, the blonde dramatically flipped off the safety and hoisted the rifle up so that its crosshairs were right in front of her eye.

“Die, yuppie bitch!” Piper shouted as her finger found the trigger.

By the time the energized hail of bullets left the sleek, polished barrel of the weapon, Sophia was already two steps ahead of the game. Although Piper could clearly see the smaller woman charging at her out of her periphery, she did little but cackle dramatically as she swept her gun in the opposite direction—sorely ruining the days of numerous oak and maple trees.

It wasn’t until Piper felt one of Sophia’s cool hands on her arm that she let off on the trigger and turned to gasp. At that point, the healer ‘thrust’ forward with her other palm—landing an extremely weak blow against one of the more padded sections of Piper’s vest. With a fabricated shout of surprise, Piper let got of the gun and violently stumbled backwards as if she’d been hit with all the force of a freight car.

Drop the gun. Then, I’m going to come at you for a sweep. The blonde soldier relayed telepathically as she brushed nonexistent dirt from her vest and casted a fake glare toward the priestess.

“Did you think your silly toys would be a match for me?!” Sophia shouted disdainfully as she glanced to the left and tossed Piper’s energy rifle into a thick pile of underbrush. Turning back toward her ‘adversary’, she spit at the ground between them and hoisted her small fists in a show of defiance.

“Fine then!” Piper bellowed in an over-the-top voice as she thrust her extremely threatening index finger toward Sophia. “We’ll play this your way!” The taller of the blondes decreed valiantly as she kicked off the ground and erupted toward Sophia. As per the order, the priestess took a step back and gently lifted herself off her heels as Piper came to a screeching halt in front of her and swung a foot around to catch the ‘startled’ Sophia off her guard. At the last open moment to do so, the blonde-haired healer essentially hopped a few inches off the ground and quickly flew backwards onto the ground. Upon ‘impact’ with the floor of the clearing, she shut her eyes and let out an agonized shriek.

Now I’m going to throw you at that tree, so just make sure to catch yourself. Piper projected as she reached down and grabbed Sophia up off the ground. With relatively no gusto, the soldier spun for flair and tossed the healer toward a tree in the distance. As per the instruction, Sophia righted herself mid-flight and landed perfectly on the side of the tree.

“Damn you, harlot!” Piper roared as she lifted a clenched fist and shook it in Sophia’s general direction.

“Amateurs,” Sophia snapped in a pompous, high school cheerleader tone as she returned to the ground and took a moment to fix her hair.

[Jesper]

For a competition in which those involved were not only encouraged to kill each other, but expected to, Sophia’s time spent on the island had been incredibly dull. Sure, she almost got completely torn apart by what she surmised to be some sort of superbear, but other than that, the healer found herself aimlessly wandering out in the woods. That was the bear’s fault, she knew, but not having a plan made her feel…worried, paranoid, vulnerable. Sophia looked at her guide as she walked—she was barely paying enough attention to keep putting one foot in front of the other, as she mulled over her thoughts in such an intense way that only Sage could pull off. The healer laughed as Sage nearly walked straight into a tree, lifting her eyes to the path ahead just in time to avoid it.

Sophia cringed. She was almost wishing for a slapstick moment just to spruce things up. She desperately needed something to happen. It was odd to think that she was one to crave adventure, but when a peaceful stroll through the woods would be sufficed for the woman when she was still a priestess, she felt that she not only wanted something exciting to happen, she needed it. Of course, she thought that then.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Sophia jumped, feeling as though her chest was about to collapse. The piercing shrill of her collar alerted not only the two woman in the woods, but everything with a pulse in the entire area. Her breathing fell into shortened bursts as she fought off the urge to tear the device off of herself—she had no idea what such an action would do, and a potentially fiery death was something she was hoping to avoid. Sophia looked back at Sage, who seemed to be having a similar “Oh my God!” moment.

Searching…Searching…

A computerized voice belted out of the collar, pulsing through her brain at a volume that would wake the dead. It was overbearing, annoying; aggressive and frank, though distinctly feminine. The healer had very little experience with technology as it was—Kaden had been trying to get her watch a few movies, for example, as it was something that she hadn’t had the pleasure to experience—so she was naturally spooked by the event. A quick shiver ran up and down her spine as she looked to the apparition for answers. Her voice shook, though she tried to mask it. “Sage? What’s happening?”

“I…don’t know,” Sage always seemed to be stumped at the most inconvenient of times.

Signal located. Beginning combat protocol.

“…combat protocol?” Sophia repeated out loud. Whatever that was, it didn’t sound good. Crossing her arms, she scrunched her eyebrows; didn’t Sage talk about something like that before? She was always hard to fully understand, but she kept saying “combat days” and “die for real.” Neither of those phrases meant anything to her, but logic told her that she would have to be fighting something. She chuckled—there was nothing like fighting a bear to prepare her “combat.” Besides, with Sage’s control over the ice element, she was confident that any battle they got into would go smoothly.

And then…a flash.

Sage was no longer there.

Instead, a familiar figure stood before her. Sophia tilted her head, her eyes ignoring the person for that moment while she took in her new surroundings. She was still in the forest, though she was obviously in a different part of it—a convenient clearing that was surrounded by a protective bubble. Sophia naturally felt the urge to reach out and touch it, but she knew that there were more pressing matters at hand, especially when she suddenly recognized who her opponent had turned out to be.

Just one thing after another…she thought, sighing and rubbing her temple tenderly. Why did it have to be her? This is so awkward…

“Speaking of awkward,” she said aloud, garnering of the attention of her friend. She had changed the color of her hair, but it was definitely Piper. The situation was almost stifling in its severity, but she knew that she would laugh about it somewhere, someday. After all, her facial expression was priceless. To someone like Sophia, who had literally gone to the afterlife and back, bad luck wasn’t such a shock anymore.

*

Sophia couldn’t help but be relieved as the “fight” went along. She knew for sure that she didn’t want to fight Piper; after all, even if they weren’t already friends, Piper had shown such physical prowess during the time they had spent together that the healer was almost afraid to cross her in any facet. The mental commands she had given her removed the “fighting” aspect from her predicament, however—an orchestration of moves rather than a brawl; a ritualistic dance rather than a bloodbath.

Of course, hitting the side of a tree was never pleasant, even with the ability to fly and a forewarning. She flexed her sore shoulder by moving her arm in small circles, fixing her hair with the other. The healer wanted to ask Piper what was going on, why they were acting out this play, but something about the way the soldier carried herself made her stay mum. Sophia had garnered several opinions on her situation judging off of collar she wore on her neck, but she had no way to be sure what was actually happening.

If someone was watching, they’d give them one heck of a show.

Sophia strolled towards her opponent, as cool in her movements as the breeze that had just rolled through the trees. She had taken upon the role of confidence, playing the stuck-up pretty girl, and when she was honest with herself, she was enjoying it.

Piper masked a smile, shooting her a telepathic message. “You’re getting into this, aren’t you?”

She had no way to communicate back without forsaking her role, so she decided to show her the old fashioned way—a half-hearted punch to her chest. Her knuckles glanced off of her ribs, miraculously if it was even felt, but Piper could prat fall with the best of them. Gasping loudly, she stumbled backwards, taking extra long to regain her balance.

“Good! Finish it with another left.” Piper thought to her. Nodding, the priestess lunged forward, smacking the woman in the nose smartly. Piper’s eyes widened as she landed soundly upon her backside. She looked up at her for a brief moment, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m so sorry!” Sophia spat, immediately raising two hands to cover her mouth, like that would take back the words she had spoken.

“Don’t be sorry. I won’t show you the same compassion, Sophia!” Piper shouted.
“Don’t be out-of-character!” she shouted telepathically simultaneous to her spoken part.

Piper rose up immediately, returning Sophia’s blow with a punch of equal velocity.

“Heh, old habits never die, do they?” Sophia said through a wince, wiping off a small trickle of blood with her thumb. “Believe me, friend or not, I’m not going to let you win. I’ll put you down myself, you stupid b…beh…” she paused—she couldn’t bring herself to curse, even if she didn’t mean it. “…mean person!”

“Is that seriously your best comeback?” Piper thought to her in disdain. Sophia vigorously fought off a smile as she wound back her fist for another clash.

[Tamsin]

The night had finally fully taken over the wodded land below. Although the stars shone prominently in the night sky, it was the large bright moon that was the more reliable source of illlumination and that had replaced the vestiges of sunlight from before. The fact that nightfall had barely started in the forest still remained an enormous enigma, considering that it was already night at the adjacent City sector when the competition started. However,
as the moonlight penetrated the invisible dome and shed light upon their fighting ground, the two contestants had long since ceased to care of the planet`s mysteries and focused on their much graver situation.

The prodigy maid and saiyan warrior stood amidst a wide clearing in the forest, facing each other in a stalemate. The fight had barely begun, yet both of them were already suffering from serious injuries. Zulenka was bleeding from his left thigh, but the silver-haired girl harboured no illusions that the fact gave her any advantage. Although she did not dare to look, the sharp pain in her abdomen told her of heavy bruising. Considering her rather frail physique, it was amazing she could still stand. She was reminded of her master`s recent words: "It's survival of the fittest, or really it's just plain ol' survival." He could not have been more correct. The brutal struggle that was going on was not even remotely reminiscent to the combat the adolescent had faced during her training. Victory was irrelevant...either of them would be lucky if they even lived to tell what had transpired.

But the young human did not lose heart. Although she did not know what her opponent was fighting for, she was more then aware of her purpose. Suzaku had vowed to Maleficus that she would come back and find him, that she would be at his side no matter what. In spite of the situation she faced, she wanted to keep her word.... she had to. Looking at her opponent, she noticed that he was breathing heavily just like her, the cells in their bodies using the oxygen to convert blood sugar into valuable energy. Like a hunter, his eyes glittered with ruthlessness as he was ready to punish the girl for injuring him and his pride. But the maid gazed determiningly right back at him....she was not willing to be his prey.

Taking the remaining two knives from her belt, she placed their grips among her fingers along with the two she was already holding. With her weapons at the ready, she charged forth and reinitiated the encounter. On the opposite end, Zulenka went into a defencive stance, ready to handle whatever she might throw at him. As the adolescent swiped at her foe with the Ki blades, the Saiyan managed to jump backwards and avoid the attack in
time. Trying to capitalise on the oppening, he counterattacked with a direct punch. The steel knuckles and bare fingers collided with cold metal as Tamsin used her knives to block the fist. The strength of the titanium-made items was enough to withstand the sudden pressure, but it still caused the girl to be thrown back. As she regained her equilibrium, the silver-haired female saw several Vad`s in front of her. Recognising the stunt from before,
she pressed the small buttons located on the grips of her knives and all of them discharged a ki blast...passing through the images in front of her harmlessly.

Realising at that moment where her opponent was, Suzaku executed a somersault, dodging the warrior`s strike that came from behind. As the gravity forced her to fall towards the ground, she fully gripped one of her blades and aimed to strike her opponent. Take aback by the failure of his After-Image, Zulenka barely moved forward to avoid it and the knife cut vertically through the back of his breastplate...a moment longer and it would have torn through his spine. In a fit of anger, the officer retaliated by forming a blade across his forearm and swiping at the maid. He had as much success as his opponent before him, the girl barely jumping back in time for the blade to only cut through her outfit.

The splatter of liquid metal, that resulted from the swipe, hit the adolescent`s left wrist. Wanting to capitalise on the unique opportunity, Vad seized her arm firmly at that exact location. The metal suddenly formed into a tight bracelet attached to the Saiyan`s iron glove, locking the arm into place. The adult grinned devilishly, thinking he had gained an advantage...but he was quickly proven wrong. Cleverly, the girl swung herself onto his
back, forcing his arm into a bad placement across his chest and putting herself into a prime position for a crippling strike. Annoyed at how Tamsin turned the tables on him, Vad used his metallurgic powers to disintegrate the bracelet. This resulted in the maid sliping down his back...the knife gripped in her hand accidentally penetrating his shoulderguard and planting itself deep into his flesh.

A fierce howl of pain sounded sharply across the clearing, having emanated from the wounded warrior. In an almost automatic response, the elbow of his healthy arm smashed to the side of Suzaku`s head, causing her to finally fall off of him. Hastily, she jumped back onto her feet, fully clenching the grip of yet another of her blades. As Zulenka turned around to face his adversary, Tamsin aimed another blow towards his chest. The Saiyan
grabbed the blade with his hand before it could touch the armour, warm blood trickling from his fingers as a result. Fueled by his immense ail, he aimed a powerful kick into the adolescent`s thigh and the resulting crash threw her off balance. Seizing the momentum he had finally gained, Vad sent a pummel squarely into her chest. The resulting pressure supressed her lungs, leaving Suzaku breathless for a moment. For good measure, the field
officer executed a full circle movement and struck her with a high kick. Blood and saliva escaped her mouth and the last of her knives fell out of her hands as her body helplessly flew quite a distance away, rolling a few times upon impact before coming to a complete stop.

Trembling from the physical trauma, Tamsin raised her head. Her face was mauled from the hit, her left eye turning black and blood trickling from her nostrils. Pulling herself towards the direction of her enemy, she tried to get up....only to feel complete numbness in her right leg. Although she could not know whether or not her thighbone was broken, she assumed that the hit had at least supressed her nerves. In the situation she was in, it was crippling enough to put her at Vad`s mercy. The warrior himself was not doing well either. Pulling the dark blade from his shoulder and repairing his armour, he winced in pain and fell onto one of his knees. The gaping wounds he was inflicted were finally taking a toll on him, blood coming out of the openings in his armour and his stamina faltering. But his dark eyes held an almost hellish spark within them, his diehard nature not allowing him to stop until the bitter end. Gathering his strength and getting back onto his feet, he began to limp towards Suzaku...wanting to deal the final blow.

Even though it was hopeless, the prodigy maid desperatly tried to get back onto her feet. She began to sob, her agony becoming excrutiating. But she kept trying, remembering Maleficus`s words: "Come back to me. When we are whisked off to battle for combat, just promise me to find me again." She wanted to live..she needed to
live. She promised her master that she would be there for him.

"My knives..." she suddenly remembered and looked for them. They laid a distance away behind the Saiyan, some planted into the ground and others covered in crimson. Although she was trained in hand-to-hand combat, she knew she stood no chance in her state againt her armoured assailant. She needed her weapons...she needed them so badly.

The dark blades suddenly began to tremor slightly. As she began to lose herself in her pain and despair and sobber harder and harder, Tamsin`s eyes widened and remained fixed on the blades. With each step Vad took towards her, the metal objects began to vibrate increasingly violently. Vad finally came to within a foot from her and observed her with a dark and foreboding look. He said nothing as he grabbed one of his gauntlets and removed it from his arm. Fluently, the metal suddenly changed shape, forming a short blade. The warrior looked at the final product. The girl had stabbed him numerous times. It was only fitting that she would die in the same manner. Not wanting to waste any more time, especially with his wounds draining him of his remaining energy, he raised the sword to
skewer his foe...

As she faced certain death, the maid let out a scream. The Ki knives suddenly sprang to life, launched by an unknown force. As if they possessed a mind of their own, the weapons turned their bladed sides forward, speeding towards the unwary Saiyan....

[DA 2009]

SAGE VS. FROZEN

Sage took another step back, her nerves threatening to overtake her. It had been a fluke what she’d just done, and one that bore a double-edged result. She had injured him; that was good. She’d also made him angry; that was bad. The blue-haired hybrid was unsure if she could repeat the small victory. Frozen Dragon began to advance towards her, menacingly. Both joined Dante’s Abyss willingly, so both had as much at stake to win.

Frozen rotated the joint of his left arm; it was beginning to go numb from blood loss, with purple liquid streaking stains down his otherwise unblemished white skin.

“That was a lucky shot, my dear,” Frozen growled. The changeling was a tactician at heart. Although it displeased him to act with anything more than proper etiquette, he was, first and foremost, calculating. By taking advantage of her fears, keeping her on defense, he assured himself the upper hand. He could sense her vulnerability, and saw her as he would see a frightened animal backed into a corner. It was like a scent that drove him to go in for the kill. If he didn’t, she would surely kill him. All the better that she happened to have saiyan and human blood, his two most favorite things in the world to eradicate. “But now, I’m going to have to end this little skirmish. If it’s any consolation, I will always remember you after I’m done killing you.”

He held up his right hand, the powers of his icy elemental ki coming to life. Sage’s rosy eyes widened, knowing now that she wasn’t as immune to the cold as she thought she was. Briefly, her mind flashed back to the conversation shared between her and Sophia, not at all long enough ago. Sophia told her what it felt like to die, to be dead, and the fleeting thought that maybe Sage was about to experience that same feeling firsthand danced through her brain. Frozen roared and leaped into the air.

Everything happened so fast.

Purely on instinct, or maybe a latent resurfacing of her early combat training, prompted Sage to react. She squeezed her eyes shut and sent out a frigid blast of bone chilling snow flurries. They pierced Frozen Dragon’s skin like razors. Having already charged up the blast of elemental ki in his right hand, Frozen impulsively brought up his left hand to shield. Unfortunately, this focused all of Sage’s defense in one location. The snow flurries devoured away at his extremity like little magnets, encasing the entire limb in ice first, and then slowly penetrating all the way to the bone until it began to crack. Without any chance of stopping it, his left arm shattered like glass into a thousand pieces. It was too late to stop now, though; Frozen was already committed. He used the power of flight to push through the miniature snowstorm. If he could just reach her with his right hand, he would go for her head, and then it would all be over.

The recoil of the blast sent Sage stumbling backwards. Once more, her ice powers summoned, seemingly of their own accord, as she tried to formulate another attack. Then Frozen crashed into her, and she jerked her head to one side as they both tumbled onto the ground. Sage slammed hard onto the forest floor, surprisingly not feeling the weight of the changeling pinning her down.

Briefly, she wondered if she might be dead. She opened her eyes and turned her head to face forward. Frozen was staring down at her, mere inches away. His face was contorted in pain, and his throat expanded and contracted in strangled gasps. The girl couldn’t understand why, until she glanced down. At the center of his body, threads of ice pushed into his flesh and out the other side. It was just like she’d done before with Orion, only this time, she hadn’t stopped; she hadn’t even realized she was doing it. Sage looked back at Frozen, into his good eye. Somehow, she found herself overwhelmed with the urge to cry as realization flooded her mind.

“I-it’s…not real…it’s…n-not r-r-real…” Sage pleaded brokenly, unsure of which of the two she was trying to convince more.

“I…wasn’t…supposed to die…” Frozen choked. Blood dribbled from his mouth and splattered onto Sage’s cheeks.

She squeezed her eyes shut, and pushed Frozen off. The threads broke, and the changeling rolled onto his back, pushing the ice spears up through the front. Sage sat up and scooted herself backwards, drawing her knees close to her chest, and covered her mouth with her hands. She wanted to look away, to tear her eyes off of the creature before her, but she couldn’t.

Frozen’s chest heaved violently, and then he let out a long, sickeningly peaceful sigh as his last breath left his lungs. Then he went still.

[DA 2009]

PIPER VS. SOPHIA

“CHICK FIGHT!” Audric hooted. He vigorously tapped a single key. “Zoom in! Zoom in! Zoom in!”

Before long, the fight between Sophia and Piper completely consumed the program monitor, obscuring all of the other windows. With a lecherous grin, Audric focused on the more…entertaining…points of view for the bout. Dukes merely rolled his eyes. After a few moments, though, both of them were staring in complete bemusement at the interactions between the two women. Their reactions and dialogue prompted something of an incredulous response.

“Are they for real?” Audric whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

Damon merely remained silent, suppressing a sigh. They were fighting, and that was all that mattered. As long as the board had a good show, he would simply have to pick his own battles.

-----

Piper took the “punch” square on the chin, but then used the opening to “backhand” Sophia across the face, smearing some of the blood dribbling on the priestess’ chin. It became clear that although they were coordinating their attacks, neither of them had a very polished fighting style. In fact, the duo probably fought better than they could have doing it impromptu.

“Your…mother wears combat boots! HA!” Sophia laughed. Piper shot her a look, and Sophia found it even harder to not snicker. “You are a bad fighter! I am…so much better than you! You…weakling! Hahahahaha!”

“Okay, don’t overdo it,” Piper warned.

Sophia couldn’t help it; it was getting pretty darn fun, gosh dang it. She thought back to all of the times she’d been taunted or insulted, and somehow couldn’t remember the exact words, so she just improvised—leaving out the obscenities, of course.

“You’ll pay for those words!” Piper countered.

As their fight ground on, they both eventually realized that somebody was going to have to win. The shock from their collars prompted their action, and Piper realized with certainty that it was going to happen again if they both miraculously walked away from the ordeal with no consequences.

“One of us is going to have to win sooner or later,” the medic prompted.

Sophia paused a moment between their attacks. “I’m not going to lose to someone like you!” she said pointedly, giving her a ‘why does it have to be me?’ look before smoothing over her composure.

“I don’t want to lose either!” Piper replied. “And it’s not like we can flip a coin or something.”

Sophia sighed, breaking character so very briefly once more, and the two continued their back-and-forth charade. The quicker they ended it, the quicker they could both go on their respective ways. With the control they held over their fight, the two would receive only minimal injury: a cut here, a bruise there, nothing compared to what it might have been had they encountered “serious” opponents.

Once more, they went to a standstill.

“Okay, how about this? One attack, for real. We both hit each other at the same time, and whoever gets up first, wins,” Piper suggested.

“Now it’s time for me to finish you off!” Sophia laughed haughtily, taking her cue.

In a moment of mutual engine starting, they both launched themselves wildly at each other, screaming war cries. Piper felt sorry for the poor girl; she was in over her head. Even though their fight was fake, Piper had complete confidence in her own abilities, and knew that Sophia didn’t stand a chance. All she had to do was wait for Sophia to launch her attack, Combat Teleport away, and score one from behind. It wasn’t the nicest thing in the world to do to somebody she knew, but that’s just how Piper rolled; she had her mission, and she’d done everything she could to help Sophia.

Sophia was just about to strike, and everything unfolded exactly as Piper predicted. The medic instantly vanished and reappeared behind Sophia, straightening her hand until it was rigid as a knife blade. The medic would only knock her out, and they’d both be safe, all according to plan. That is, of course, until Sophia tripped on a root protruding from the ground. With a surprised squeak, she face-planted into the dirt, and Piper’s karate chop missed by a mile. The priestess flipped over just in time to see Piper re-wheeling to get her on the ground. Reacting reflexively, Sophia grabbed the punch Piper was about to throw and thrust forth a wave of venomous ki.

Unfortunately for Piper, physical contact did not come at the best time. Her mediumship activated simultaneously with Sophia’s attack, and she was so overwhelmed by the sensation that she dropped to the forest floor like a stone, completely unconscious. Sophia breathed raggedly, completely overwhelmed by the sudden rush of adrenaline. She got to her knees and looked over the motionless medic, unsure of whether or not to try and shake her.

“Piper? Piper?” she whispered. “Are you okay? Piper, does that mean I win?”

[DA 2009]

MAL NOVA VS. XENIA

Xenia peppered the tree line with bullets, riddling holes everywhere. Her demeanor was calm, cold, detached. If the namek was thinking anything right now, she figured, it wasn’t going to be her previously exposed chest.

Maleficus darted through the trees, seeking protection from the stray bullets and using his elemental ki to ward away any that were lucky enough to get through. Obviously, the princess hadn’t figured out that an AK-47 didn’t mean anything against an opponent who could simply deflect anything fired upon him. Still, the namek realized that as long as she kept up the spray, he wasn’t going to be able to get anywhere near her; it may not have been a good offensive tactic, but it was a decent defensive maneuver. The woman was a classically trained fighter, and Mal knew that he could trip her up using his fighting style; she couldn’t fight against what she wasn’t trained in. He hid behind a tree, something he knew his father would never have done, but his father also wouldn’t have been as crafty as him.

Xenia concentrated the full spray towards the tree, aiming approximately neck-height. She moved in a little closer, trying to get the full advantage of close-ranged combat. All she had to do was separate the head, dispose of the rest of the body, and he’d be done for. Then she could move on to finish what she’d started with Orion, wherever he may be on this godforsaken island.

Mal winced as a bullet made it through the tree and erupted from his shoulder; that was going to hurt in the morning. He turned around, pushing a full concentration of his wind ki towards the tree. The might of the gale uprooted the natural structure, rending it from its perch of soil. Xenia looked up as the tree fell directly into her path. Her finger released the trigger and she reacted by stopping the timber with her psychokinesis. With a grunt, she mentally heaved the wood to one side. She glanced around, looking for the elusive namekian, but he was nowhere to be found. Methodically, she eliminated a possible venue of attack one by one.

She couldn’t see the namekian slowly creeping up on her. She couldn’t see him, because she had no way to sense ki, and that was the only way the stealthed namek could be detected. Mal grinned. With a ferocious roar, he materialized into view and embraced Xenia from behind in an inescapable chokehold, pushing the collar up against her chin as he suffocated her throat.

“That’s right…go to sleep,” Mal whispered in a mixture of soothing and sinister.

Xenia gasped, and tried frantically to get the namek off of her—dropping her gun in the process—but he moved in time with each step, each struggle; she wasn’t going anywhere. Just before she completely blacked out, she activated her combat teleportation, slipping from his grasp. As he wildly looked around, he felt himself being lifted up and thrown into a tree. He slammed hard into the timber, breaking it in half, and he crumpled to the ground.

Xenia raised her gun to finish him off, and then thought the better of it. This namek was beneath her. She gave a cold, half-smile, snorted, and began to walk away. He wasn’t who she wanted to die.

[DA 2009]

VAD VS. TAMSIN

Vad instantly stopped the knives with his metal binding; it was a foolish decision to even try to attack him in such a manner. He still remained poised to plunge the sword into Tamsin, but he wasn’t as sure of himself as before. His body sagged, and he let out a groan as he dropped to the ground, sword and all. That last bit of effort drained away all the strength he had left.

Hey babe… Vad thought. He writhed on the ground, trying to get up. I’m doing what you told me to…but damn it if it wouldn’t be better if I had you with me.

Tamsin trembled, unsure of just what exactly was going to happen next. She grabbed her fallen knives, knowing that whatever did happen, she was going to need them. She could barely move herself; their exchange of injuries left both in a critical state of affairs. When it became apparent that Vad wasn’t going to get up, she slowly crawled away to make her escape. Her master had told her that she would need to do what was necessary to ensure survival, but if she didn’t have to, she wasn’t going to. The maid’s priority was first and foremost to find her master and assist him however she was able.

Vad grunted and rolled over, watching Tamsin go. It wasn’t in his nature to give up; he’d fight until he couldn’t fight anymore. She wasn’t dead, and he could still move, so this battle wasn’t over in his mind. He clutched at his sword, dragging himself to his knees and crawling along after her on his elbows.

“Don’t…run away…from me…you…coward,” he breathed raggedly. He could feel his blood beginning to boil at the despicable act. “Stand…and…fight…me!”

With a heavy grunt, he flung his sword at Tamsin, trying to stick her with it. He stumbled on the throw, and the projectile blade missed. She was going to get away. Once more, Vad dropped into a heap.

“I’m sorry, babe,” he whispered.