Adel closes the last compartment of my suit's hydraulics and battery. "I won't say 'good luck' because you won't need it. You'll make it, Princess. Go beat her ass, you know you can."

I quietly turn to her as she meekly smiles. She hugs me at my waist as I stand almost a meter above her. I gently place my mechanized arms on her back.

Today I'm going head to head with Cynthia. No guns, no projectile weapons; melee only. I only have my FAB-80 and claws; Cynthia has her jaw, claws, and tail.

~~

The van takes me to similar salt flats from last month, but with rocks arranged in a circle in some kind of terraformed stadium.

"Lovers and haters alike, prepare yourselves for a special installment of Jackal Hunter! Today the Jackal threat is cast aside, as we have on our hands a score to settle between Hedonia's two finest heroes! Behold before us, a grudge match between Cynthia Aldero and Lorianne Kruger!"

Don't have a grudge. Just get on with it.

"Lest we delay any further, you know what to expect! Nothing less than a clash of speed versus endurance, the diving hawk versus the crouching tiger! A battle indeed between two unfettered apex predators, but with as much mecha as muscle, as much flesh and blood as nuts and bolts!"

"Delaying no further, we shall commence in 5...! 4...! 3...! 2-"

Cynthia starts her sprint one second ahead of cue.

"Wow, and before I could count to 1, a red dash of Cynthia has already made her advance!" Jamia blares.

The black chrome on Cynthia's suit was shinier than yesterday. My dull UWWA-grey isn't much of a comparison. Though, I don't know if either of us really have a budget gap.

She jukes left, then right, then pounces up, as I slide underneath. As I turn to approach her backside, her tail whips around and she 180s to face me, and stands there, pawing and scratching the ground to keep me guessing her next move. I strafe as well, and we end up circling each other, before both charging towards the center. We both jump up to head level, and I step-stone over her head, and land after a flip. She growls while turning to face me– not sure if that's an audio file from the suit, or her voice through a synthesizer– and then charges again.

At this rate we'll just keep dodging each other. One of us has to stay still, and the other will attack, and then the fight will actually move on. Is she afraid, or something? Some guns would have been nice to keep the exchange moving along.

"Come on, let me give your shitty red higlights a trim," I taunt, slashing my FAB and extend my claws.

"Ha, not if I get to your hair first," she chuckles, then charging straight ahead, taking a turn for her right, extending her left claw and trying to catch me as I somersault off to my right. She does a 180 and whips her tail, clipping the tip of my left foot as I jump and dodge. I then charge towards her unguarded left side, claws open, and she bashes my open palms with her own. Right as I get a grip on the left side of her armored ribs, her own left claw grazes my helmet.

I stumble back. Cynthia roars, in either pride or frustration.

Don't ever forget, in the darkest of moments, I want to see you come out the other end.I want to see you come out of the other side. And I know you will.

She blindly snaps her jaws at me, as I kick her back in the chest and neck.

You'll be something incredible.

My right arm gets trapped in her teeth, and she thrashes about as I punch and kick in attempt to break free.

It's guaranteed. You're not the type to just forget about what she wants and just let her life slide by.

I stab her in the neck with my FAB, and she releases.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

You already are, you're the sole graduate of the Jackal Hunter program.

We push on each others' palms, trying to get the other on the ground. She has a longer footbase than I do, and I had more force at the start, managing to hold her polished steel jaws away from me, but with every second that goes by, my suit and I slowly lose strength.

You're the one and only Lori. Lorianne Kruger, Jackal Hunter.

Until now.

In spite of the dings in the rest of her structure, her jaw system is still completely untouched, and my blade didn't penetrate her armor. With my hydraulics nearly half empty in fluid, I feel my arms slowly caving in to Cynthia's maw as the teeth come closer and closer to my throat, my hands failing to hold apart her bite.

Is she actually gonna do it? Looks like it. Yet again, this is it. Facing death, but not even afraid anymore. Come and fucking get me.

No, then both our suits go limp as the power goes out. She collapses on me.

"There it is, you fucking won again, you happy?" I mumble to her.

"Lucky, lucky, you," she barely muscles the weight of her unpowered suit to get up and raise one fist, before collapsing to the ground on her back, heaving.

I struggle to arise as well, trying to walk away.

~~

Out of the lockers, we cross paths again in the hallway between.

"Hey, bitch. Nice try today," she says while drying her hair off with a towel.

"Shit, you're even uglier outside of your gear."

"Pot calling the kettle black much? You sound old and cranky. Retirement really is in the cards for you."

I just stare at her and her stupid tuft of red hairtips.

"You're better off as a Chosen, if all the stress and biomods hasn't killed all your eggs already."

How did she know I applied to be a Chosen?

We both stop. She's looking down at me, being nearly 20cm taller. And just like that, our hands are on each other..

"Awfully quick, aren't you–"

I sweep her off one foot and put her in a partial headlock before she finished her sentence. She lets out one whimper of shock, before jetting her feet backwards to leverage against me. Her right hand worms into my elbow, and I struggle to hold on. Her left becomes a fist and she blindly swings at my shoulder, landing a couple of weak hits.

She manages to grab my left shoulder, barely, and I move my feet back as well until we're both on the ground. Her left hand grabs my hair, and I choke tighter on my right arm. She lets go of my ponytail, lands a punch across my cheek, and I swing back from above, left, right, left, and then she blocks them all. I then swing a leg over her left arm, and then I suddenly realize her right leg is pushing against my neck. She hits me in the gut, and I kick blindly with my right leg, hitting her chin, and kick again with my left, landing in her groin. She flinches, turning face down, as I stumble back up. I raise my right foot to stomp on her, but her elbow deflects my foot and I land on top of her again. She manages to grab me by the back of the neck, too close for me to strike or grapple, and stares at me for a second, before pressing her lips against mine.

Right as I shove myself away, still trying to comprehend what just happened, already there are hands trying to pry us apart. It took at least 3 others each to remove Cynthia and I, still snarling, veins bulging. She stares at me, chuckling in some kind of sick delirious amusement.

"That's enough," the 6 bystanders shouted.

We both try to shake free and continue the fight. More come and work to hold us apart.

How anticlimactic. I had the upper hand. Can't even redeem myself.

~~

The dents in the barrel keep getting bigger with every kick and stomp I give to it. I pick it up, feeling my biceps grow to almost twice their normal size, and slam it down, only to almost fall on top of it, partially fainting.

"Thought you were supposed to rest right now," Adel flips me over, stuffing a cracker covered in cake frosting in my mouth. I struggled to swallow the sugary toothpaste substance, and just about cough it back out. She then holds a bottle of water to my lips, and I grab it with a shaky hand.

"Don't smash any more shit up in here, please. If you can't be kind to yourself, at least do so for the things around you."

I grumble. She grabs my hand and pulls me up. A searing split-second headache makes my knees buckle as I make my way up, and Adel's other arm hooks around my armpit, and she throws me over hers, carrying me like a shoulderbag.

"She... kissed me... why...?" I slur, hardly conscious.

"I... don't know. She's like, what, 17? Probably isn't too sure why herself. Anyway, did trashing an empty barrel make you feel any better?"

"Not... really... but nothing else I wanted... to do," I mutter between heaving breaths.

We reach the living room and she lays me down on one sofa, and sits on the floor next to me. "Why are you upset about losing? Aren't you quitting anyway?"

I don't really know why. She responds with silence as well.

"You look upset."

"I am, because I was certain you were going to win. You clearly could. But your heart isn't in it. And I guess you can't beat someone who's having fun..."

"It never was. This is just the way I was sent in life."

"Which other way would you have rather went, given the opportunity?"

Wasn't really taught about many other paths in life. Could never sit still or really do anything well in a classroom. I tend to break things rather than fix them like Adel, so "tradeswoman" wouldn't be the first recommendation to me either.

"I talked with Elin to go to the Compound, she just said she's down for whatever," I mutter.

"Okay... well..."

For the first time ever, I see her sniffle, and a tear runs down her cheek.

No point in saying sorry. That'd just dilute the meaning of the word.

Adel quickly gets up and walks away.