[01] Forest Sector FIGHT

[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.

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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?”