Chapter 4: The Battles Progress (2)

Jordan stands at attention, awaiting for the bell to sound. A big grin runs across her face as her confidence radiates. Her womanly charms, accentuated by her morph suit, made it hard for the men around her to keep their eyes from wandering. She knew who she was, and her brown eyes lit with slight madness from the desire to fight, which only added to her charms. Her blond hair flows around her body as water currents flow down a mountain. Her rippling muscles are tensed as a bowstring is ready to let loose its arrow.

James stands opposite her, slouching with little care for his surroundings. His greasy, black-tattered hair hung low over his face, almost obstructing his thin square glasses. The glare from the fluorescent lights blocked Jordan from seeing his black eyes. His light suit only highlights his midnight-oiled skin. Many would wonder if his morph type would be a panther but were always shocked to find out.

The bell rings. Jordan jumps back, landing in a squatting position. Golden fur with spots grows around her arms and legs. They elongate, contorting into vehicles for running. Her new streamlined figure shoots off towards her opponent with each four-legged gait, tail extending, pointing straight.

James crouches slightly, raising his hands into an open-handed stance, ready to catch her. But, instead, his skin starts to glisten more while the spacing between his fingers is filled with a webbing opaque-like filament of a new membrane.

Jordan leaps out, fangs wide open to nash at James’ throat. He ducks down with a split to and raises his hand to grab her, flying over him, but Jordan kicks them to the side to be used as a stop. Her passing tail wraps around his exposed neck, dragging James while balancing Jordan in place. Next, she uses her tail to pull the choking James in front of her. Jordan’s eyes dilate as her savage smile widens, revealing her sharp, glistening teeth.

James flails around before finally grabbing ahold of Jordan’s tail to rip open her grip. Jordan’s claws millimeters away from his face stop. “AaGhaaaa,” screams Jordan. Her body twitches uncontrollably for a moment. Then, her tail loosens its grip, and James kicks her away. Stumbling and swaying a little, she regains her footing, turning back to look at James with heavy eyes full of contempt.

Jordan lowers down and charges at James. Her left arm changes back to normal, along with her white sleeve to the shoulder. Jordan rips off the sleeve and charges at James. She jumps over, wrapping the cloth around his throat. Discharges spark from his body as he claws at his throat while the cloth transforms to look like his skin. James’ face continues to redden as he is lifted up higher until his eyes roll up and his body stops moving. At that moment, Jordan let go as she lowered her body to his mouth to listen for his breath. She waves for the medical team to come to the stage, walks off back to the student box, and sits down by herself in her human form, looking back out at the arena.

Commander Sheilds' voice echoes over the microphone, saying, “Now, would cadets Flo Bella and Cadi Reid walk up to the stage.” Two figures leave the student box while walking up to the center with a look of determination. They split in the middle, stopped ten paces away, and turned to each other to face their opponent.

To the left, Flo Bella stood crouched down, ready to sprint. Her well-toned and tan physique showed her dedication to her physical fitness and training regimen. Her short, shaggy hair usually emphasized her playful nature, but now only made her stern face wild and ready for a hunt. Brown fur grew all over her body as her legs extended and narrowed into a canine figure. Her ears extended and became pointed as her teeth sharpened, and her lips blackened into a wicked smile.

To the right, Cadi Reid stood firm in a squatted box stance. Her pale skin showed beautifully in contrast with the black exoskeletal armor that was rapidly growing over her well-developed muscles. Her left arm was covered in claws, with an armored mask covering most of her face, leaving only her ponytail hanging down to her shoulder.

Flo begins with a frontal assault; claws grow from her finger as she pulls back her arms, ready for a strike. A giant flexible pole with a barb shoots towards Flo's chest, but she jumps forward, opening her mouth full wide.

The tail misses the thrust while Flo's teeth close around Cadi's neck, but her shell grows up around her neck, blocking the teeth. Flo rotates around to Cadi's back and let's go, landing beside the tail. Flo grabs it under her armpit to keep this whip planted, but the tail relaxes as Cadi spins her body around with her claws aiming at the throat.

Flo lets go and kicks away the limp tail. She raises into a stance and catches the claw with her hands. The girls push against each other, not giving any ground, only for Flo to spin their bodies sideways as the tail is inches away from striking her face. Both fall to the ground, but Cadi responds faster than Flo, kicking from the ground as it wraps around her like a python.

Cadi raises her claw around Flo's neck. "concede," said Cadi. Flo smiled as she swung her leg back to kick the claw away, but the tail tightened around Flo.

"Ahhh"

"Now!"

"Fine. I give," said Flo with a grimace.

Cadi lets go of Flo, who dusts herself off while reverting back into her human form, and walks back towards the dugout to the other students while Cadi looks at the instructors' seating with a smile.

"The winner is Cadi Reid," boomed the voice of Cammander Sheilds. "The next match will begin in five minutes."

Cadi straights herself more and returns to where the other students are staying at. She sits next to Lucy and makes small talk about what the feast could be. They smile and laugh while Flo sighs and gets into a comfortable position, waiting for the next fight to start while thinking about what she could do to win the next time they face each other.

Nicolaus could feel the tension building up as he was stopped in front of the exit, but it crumbed away as Sarah slapped his back and laughed, passing him and walking up onto the stage first for him to follow behind.