Between Kits and Kaia, Kaia was better at hand to hand combat. In a fight, Kits kept her opponents from touching her by adjusting her body temperature. She burned them, or gave them frostbite, or a combination of both. Not many creatures can resist the automatic response to get away from something too hot or too frigid.
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Kaia didn’t have that issue. She was immune to temperature too, and used quick shapeshifting as a strategy. Against Kaia, temperature didn’t matter. And she was fast.
Punches and kicks and knees to the ribs hurt. They hurt even more trapped beneath Kaia.