Kahli stood there, glaring at Taubitha and her fresh manicure, which included three colors that totally clashed with one another.

"Nice nails, Taubitha."

"Nice humongous foot, Kahli."

Froufrou squelched in discomfort.

"Oh my gods, what is that thing? It looks absolutely disgusting! I swear I think I barfed a little bit in my mouth the second I noticed it. And you took it in here and made people gussy it up like it was something of beauty? Like, oh my gods, that is so, so nasty Kahli. So fucking nasty. Look at how its tentacles writhe, it's just, like, it's so gross."

"Leave Froufrou alone!" Kahli spat.

Tabuitha cackled. "Froufrou? You named the fucking thing Froufrou? What is that, some sort of a sick joke? Gods, it's like I'm constantly being disgusted just by being within five feet of the thing."

"Yea, well, that's her [skill]. It's called [Putrefy]."

Taubitha cackled so hard that she snorted in her trademark oinkish fashion. "Oh my gods! [Putrefy]? The fuck kind of a [skill] is that supposed to be? Like, seriously?"

"Yes, seriously, it's her [skill]!" Kahli glowered at her ex-friend in true disgust, the kind of disgust that a [skill] alone couldn't impart. This was a wholly behavior-based form of disgust.

"Well you ought to meet Princess," said Taubitha as he ushered a small, equine-looking creature with two spires on its heads to trot up and snort in a snide manner at Kahli and Froufrou. The small pet had glittery horseshoes plated on each of her hoofs. "Her [skill] is called [Acid Blast] and it's fucking awesome, not that you asked."

"[Acid Blast], huh?" Kahli looked at the strange pet. "What is she again, Taubitha?"

"Are you kidding me? She's a FONY! Isn't it OBVIOUS?!"

Kahli didn't not think it was obvious immediately that the little horse creature was a phony. What's more, what kind of phony was it? A phony what? She asked this of Taubitha.

"What kind? What do you mean, what kind? She's a fony kind of fony! I mean, duh, look at her wings!"

Kahli looked at the creature's feathery wings. They were beautiful and fluffy. "Ok, um, I still don't know what kind of a phony she is, though. Is she, like, a fake pet? Are her wings fake? I'm just really confused as to how exactly she's a phony."

"Oh my gods, Kahli, you are SO fucking STUPID! She's not fake, she's a fony! You know, the beautiful little one-spired creatures that fly and sprint around spreading fairy dust everywhere?"

"Uh, but Taubitha, Princess has two horns." Kahli looked down at the miniature flying horse, who huffed and turned away from her with frustration. Kahli winced. "And, um, I think Princess might be a boy."

Taubitha stopped talking, which was difficult for her, and delivered a scowl so foul that Kahli felt a little uncomfortable. Indeed, it wasn't just Kahli that was uncomfortable - little did she or her ex-friend notice, but all of the other people at the nail salon had either left or started hiding behind the furniture in order to watch from what they hoped was a safe distance.

"That's it! Let's throw down, you skank!" spat Taubitha as she tore off her white silk top in a flash.

Kahli gasped. Taubitha was, inexplicably, absolutely ripped. She still had the same butterfly tattoo on her right shoulder, but even it looked tough now, for whatever reason.

"Um, how did you get so strong?" asked Kahli in surprise.

"Well, first of all, I never gave up on gymnastics, unlike YOU!" she spat, adjusting her active leggings with a fierce vigor. "And second, I've been grinding nonstop since I got my system!"

"I didn't know you'd already found another boyfriend."

"What? That's not what I meant!! Don't you know anything about systems, you big footed bore? I've been stressing my body to the max in order to force leveling! I spent, like, three hours punching a wall."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Kahli laughed. Taubitha spending three hours of her life punching a wall was a hilarious thing to imagine, even if it did end up serving a purpose.

"Don't look so smug. Sure, it sounds crazy. I get that. It sounds a little unhinged to punch a wall over and over again in order to level up. Yea, okay, maybe you're right, KliKli. But now I'm level 23. Are you level twenty fucking three?"

Level 23? Kahli was feeling a little intimidated, though she did her best not to show it.

"I've fought a dragon, Klikli! A fucking dragon. And I won!!"

Then, Kahli suddenly felt a little better. Sure, Taubitha was a higher level than her, and she'd beaten a dragon in a fight. But Kahli had beaten a mega dragon in a fight. And she had to remember that, no matter how unassuming she might've felt, Froufrou was the Harbinger of Doom, wasn't she? So who cared about Taubitha and her stupid system and her stupid fake fony with horns or whatever. Sure, maybe the creature she'd [paired] with had a cooler [skill] than [Putrefy], and sure, maybe Princess hadn't started with a negative level like FrouFrou had, but that didn't mean that Taubitha had an ancient prophecy on her side like Kahli did. And sure, even if Kahli was still not really sure if she was happy about the fact that she was somewhat implicated with a prophecy of doom, at least she knew it had to give her some sort of advantage over her friend-turned-rival. And then, of course, there were her own [skills] Kahli had to think about...

"What are you just standing there for? Fight me, damn it!" Tabitha squawked like an angry vulture as she charged towards Kahli. Princess, similarly, galloped over towards Froufrou with horns pointed to kill.

"Leave Froufrou alone!!" said Kahli. She couldn't let her chance to use a system and [skills] go away just because there was a nonzero chance of her [paired] companion causing the apocalypse. Also, she'd just spent good money getting the thing's tentacles painted! There was no way Kahli was letting this stupid, miniature horse with wings hurt her ghastly, unspeakable horror from the Pit of Despair! So Kahli summoned a large boulder by her foot with her [skill] and smiled.

"Wow," Taubitha laughed. "Nice [skill]. What is that, a foot tumor?"

Kahli rolled her eyes and kicked the boulder far, far away from Princess.

"Nice aim, idiot! That's, like the opposite direction toward Princess! That makes no sense at all! Is your [skill] otherworldly stupidity or something? Now come over here and fight me, let our pets play nice!"

Kahli wouldn't justify Taubitha with a response. If Princess really could use a skill called [Acid Blast], she wasn't necessarily confident that her squelchy companion could survive a one on one fight with the fony. Plus, she knew what was going to happen. Sure enough, the boulder started to change directions after crashing into a nearby massage chair.

"Oh my gods, like, what's happening?" asked Taubitha with a gasp as Kahli's stone started spinning and zooming right back around. Towards Princess, even, and as it gained speed it once again ignited in flame.

Closer and closer the boulder flew, and Princess seemed none the wiser. Instead, the strange little horse-thing was snorting ferociously at Froufrou, backing the poor squelching beast into a corner as it tried in vain to escape.

"Don't worry, Froufrou!" said Kahli as she ran up and beside Princess, putting the boulder right in a perfect path to hit the fony.

Princess reared her hooves and whinnied. Princess' voice was terribly high pitched, so much so that Kahli felt her ears might start bleeding at any moment. And then, with a satisfying WHAM, the rock slammed into Princess' side and sent the fony soaring through the air haphazardly.

"Princess! How dare you hit her, Kahli!" Taubitha growled as her eyes started to glow red. "I'm gonna fuck you up!" Taubitha started to grow long fangs, and her jaw enlarge to five times its normal size, which was already quite large.

Kahli gasped. What was happening? Was this one of Taubitha's [skills] coming into play? She watched as her ex-friend grew long claws from her already-pointy nails and her meaty legs became enormous talons.

"Get ready to get your shit kicked in, bitch!" growled Taubitha as she launched her massive form towards Kahli.

"Fuck's sake, what do I do?" Kahli asked to herself, to Froufrou, to the void itself.

The void.

Her left foot started to vibrate uncomfortably. Was she going to suddenly wake up in the void next to the big jellyfish again? But this time, instead, her foot just started twitching, and through that twitching, Kahli got a strange spacial sensation that made her suddenly aware of three things, and she processed them all at the very same moment.

One, that Taubitha was indeed using her [skill], but that apparently Taubitha's [skill] used stamina, or [STM], to sustain itself. And so this disturbing form that Taubitha had taken to attack her was running on limited time.

Two, that Taubitha was a little off-balance as she leapt towards Kahli, and that her right leg especially was just one harsh movement away from being twisted into an awful, nasty position that would send Taubitha reeling into incredible pain.

Three, that Taubitha had clearly lied about her level. At first, Kahli wasn't sure what gave her this sense, but then she remembered that having a system allowed someone to view others' character sheets, to a degree, although she hadn't done much of that presently. Still Kahli was absolutely doubtless that Taubitha was far weaker than she'd been letting on. But why? Why lie? Clearly, Taubitha had known that Kahli had a system too at this point. It didn't make much sense, but it was what it was. And what it was, was an advantage.

So sure, the sight of Taubitha transforming into some half-monster half-tauman hybrid might've rustled a normal person's jimmies enough to keep them from focusing on the fight. But Kahli was for whatever reason not exactly a normal person, was she? She looked quickly back at Froufrou out of the corner of her eye and felt affection for the wretched creature of the apocalypse. No, Kahli was definitely not normal.

She readied her big left foot and placed it behind her summoned boulder. It was showtime.