Hook, Jab, and Stinker

“Ready…? Fight!”

Immediately, Long Arms threw a right punch towards Valkyrie’s legs. If it hit, it would be an illegal move. But right before the punch landed, his arm stretched and curved upwards into a perfect right uppercut. His red glove came shooting towards her chin.

She quickly jumped back, giving herself some distance from his extreme reach.

Long Arms retracted his missed shot, but this time, he dashed forward, readying a left hook. She could tell because of the movements in his mechanical ligaments.

Valkyrie pivoted left and threw a left hook towards his liver, but he quickly blocked the blow with his other arm. She then pivoted to the left again and threw a right cross. Long Arms extended his neck back, and her punch only whiffed the air where his head had just been.

Then he laughed maniacally.

Valkyrie ignored it. She moved back, preparing to defend whatever onslaught he was going to throw. Her only option was a counter when he was least expecting it. Otherwise, he’d just dodge everything with his incredibly flexible body.

It was like fighting a slippery fish rather than an actual fighter. There was no human aspect for her to grasp onto. His legs could stretch, his arms could stretch, even his neck could stretch. Like an old, inflatable tube man! She smiled at the thought. She wasn’t alive when those had existed, but she had seen videos.

Long Arms, sensing her distraction, shot another punch towards her left. She easily slipped away, but then the arm turned at a ninety degree angle midair and sped towards her again. She quickly pulled back, but the arm bent again and shot forward. This time, with increased speed.

Did his punches not need momentum? She didn’t know. But she quickly rolled to the right, avoiding the swing that swung overhead. Then she immediately dashed in with fire blazing in her eyes. She moved at speeds incomparable from before. The look on Long Arms’s face told her everything.

This was her chance.

If there was one thing she was sure about, it was that his torso seemed to be the least flexible. So using that vulnerability, she used all of her momentum to throw a tight, right-handed hook to his exposed abdomen. Perfectly inline with his solar plexus.

It cut through the air with extreme speed; pressurized gas released from the back of her elbows, speeding it up more. It was going to hit. And it was going to hurt. She was sure of it. But a second passed, and she didn’t feel an impact…

What? She pivoted around. I missed? How could she have missed? But before she could wrap her head around the thought, a bright, red object came barreling into her view. It got larger and larger, accelerating faster and faster—

Her body didn’t move. No, it couldn’t move. It was coming too quickly. It looked so slow, but her body wasn’t moving fast enough.

Move!

She yelled for her face to get out of the way. She tightened her thighs; her toes were about to cramp. Using all her strength, she sprung to the left as hard as she could. She was going to make it. But with her enhanced eyes, she saw it before the pain even registered. His glove barely missed her head, but it suddenly twisted and headed straight for her liver.

She immediately contorted her body as best she could, using the air releasing from her elbows as leverage. It wasn’t enough to dodge the entire blow, but that was fine. A stomach shot was better than a powerful blow to the liver.

Then the trajectory of the punch changed again. And it suddenly shot upwards. Past her stomach, past her chest, rushing towards her eyes…

…

Voices… She could hear voices in the distance…

“Three…”

It sounded so murky. Like she was underwater. There was a ringing in her ears… Was she knocked down?

“Five…”

The referee? Her instincts kicked in. She had to get up. She had to push through! She couldn’t lose like this.

“Seven…”

Move! She willed her body to move again. Her vision started to clear. She could see the ref, but something felt different. No, it didn’t matter. Get up!

“Eight…”

She got to her feet, stood up and cracked her neck. She was fine. She was perfectly fine. None of it hurt. None of it happened.

“Are you good?” the ref yelled through the crowd. His voice still sounded so far away. “Can you fight?” He examined her eyes.

She nodded. Everything looked a little cloudier than before.

“Raise your hands.”

She raised them. There was static in the air. And her eyes had trouble focusing, but she shook her head and ignored the feeling.

The ref moved back. Then he signaled for the match to resume. And as she was inching closer towards the center, a bell sounded the end of the first round. Long Arms sneered before he walked back to his corner.

“Val! Come here quick!”

Coach. She hustled back to her corner and sat down. She was completely out of breath and her legs were shaking uncontrollably.

“Are you fine, lass?” He took out her mouthguard and squeezed her some water.

She pushed the water away after a small sip. “How…” She still couldn’t understand. “How did I miss?”

“He can twist his body too. You just barely missed.”

Even his body?

“Val…” Coach looked a bit sad. “Do you want to stop here?”

Stop? “No… Not yet.” She couldn’t stand seeing him like that. “I have to… make your dream come true too.”

“What are you? An amateur?! Enough is enough, lass.”

“No, I can do it…”

“You can’t! Look at your legs! And—” He focused on her face.

“What?”

“What happened to your eye?”

My eye… Her left side was dark. She blinked a bit more. It didn’t clear up. “Coach, my eye… I can’t see.”

“We have to stop the fight—”

“No!” That was out of the question. “I can keep going.”

“Your eyes are wrecked, Val! You can’t even see the gears turn anymore!”

“No, I got it.”

When the bell rang to signal the start of the next round, she pushed off from her seat, but a sudden dizziness came over her. It felt like the world was falling upside-down.

She fell to her knees.

People were shouting, Coach was yelling. But she couldn’t hear what they were saying. They kept mouthing at her, but she didn’t understand. She couldn’t hear anyone.

Her vision blurred. Long Arms looked like he had eight limbs. The digital scoreboard looked like a tally marker with all those scratch lines. But she had to get up.

Not yet.

She tried to push off the floor. She tried to reach for the rope to pull herself back up. But then, the lights started to dim. Everything started to go black. And the darkness completely swallowed her whole…

She didn’t get up. She never got the chance.