[Eelskin]

Sportsmanship, part 3

?Ladies and gentlemen, the first readmission round is about to begin!? The announcer?s voice echoed around the arena, bouncing over every surface and resounding several times before fading. The audience cheered, but somewhat half-heartedly. Few people considered this more than an interruption in the actual events. From a corner of the arena, a faint chanting of ?Yellow Jacket? could be faintly heard but faded quickly.
The Emerald Dragon, whose real name was Phan Thi Mai, fingered her holosword in her belt and scanned the other contestants in the ring. There were seven others, each dressed in her costume and eyeing each other contestant nervously. They stood in a large circle, facing inward, with several metres of space between each two fighters. She tried to recognise the names of each one of them. Hell?s Fury? She?s well known. She must have faced someone good to have been eliminated so early on in the tournament. Yellow Jacket as well. That, there, that?s? ah? Huntress, I think.
Her thought was interrupted very sharply when she heard the name ?Silver Shadow? boom over the speakers. She looked at the other fighters and they all had their mouths open in surprise. Then I haven?t misheard. We have to get past Silver Shadow.
As she realised this, a circular area in the centre of the ring opened, and a platform raised up from underneath, and on it was the Silver Shadow herself. The winner of the championship in 2243, fifteen years prior, Silver Shadow rarely fought anymore. She acted as judge to the competition and was said to keep in practice, but wasn?t an active participant in the league anymore.
Figures she?d pick my round to re-join us in combat, Mai thought to herself. Silver Shadow was tall at 177 cm, almost as tall as Mai. Dressed in a glittering cape and a tasteful, immaculate and shining outfit, she waved to the crowd, who immediately erupted in joy and excitement at the prospect of seeing a retired fighter return to the ring briefly for an exhibition.

After a moment, she stood in the centre of the ring again, and each fighters? circle began glowing to invite them to step in. Once everyone had taken their positions, the entire ring began to glow with a very soft white light, and Mai felt the slow, familiar feeling of shrinking. Why do I even bother to get re-sized?? she wondered. She looked around at her and saw all of the other contestants fidgeting uncomfortably as they were reduced in height as well. Everyone except Silver Shadow. She watched all of her opponents shrink with a sly grin on her face, anticipating the fight that was about to occur.
Mai watched her in fascination. Her rate of shrinking seemed to grow gradually slower, and the light finally faded when she was only as tall as Silver Shadow?s mid-thigh. Some of the other contestants, not being as naturally tall, only reached her knee. She knew that in these matches, special rules apply; the match was over when the league-appointed fighter was eliminated; any contestants still active were then re-admitted into the tournament. Because it was effectively an eight-on-one fight, the common enemy had an advantage; all of the contestants began the fight at one-third of their former size, and fighters were only eliminated once they reached one-sixth. It would take no more than one, maybe two successful hits to eliminate someone in that case.
Mai bounced on the balls of her feet. Come on, come on, come on? the voice of the announcer seemed to be dragging slowly, and it had deepened until it sounded almost like a low man?s voice. Silver Shadow seemed to move in slow-motion, turning to survey all of the shrunken women surrounding her in turn, inactive weapons held at the ready.
And when the tone sounded, the eight shrunken women sprung into action.

Someone threw a pale blue dart, and four charged her outright, three facing her and one behind. Silver Shadow spun around, dodging the dart which missed her ear by less than a centimetre, then threw one of her own darts at The Crimson Sting, coming from behind, who, even with her increased speed, couldn?t dodge it entirely. The silvery glowing blade snipped her shoulder and caused her to drop in height by several precious centimetres. The arena lights flashed white, indicating that she had scored a hit before the match had been on for more than two seconds. Sting looked up and saw that Silver Shadow hadn?t even bothered to see if her attack had hit; she had already stepped toward the three attacking her head-on and was engaged in melee. The lights above flashed white, green, white, white, orange, purple, and a bright white again as the four women traded blows. When they separated, Silver Shadow was glowing several colours around her thighs and had lost almost 25 cm, though she still towered over everyone else. She had managed to score a hit on Violet Killer?s head, dropping her height immediately to less than 30 cm and switching off her holosword. She ran to her starting circle, narrowly avoiding being stepped on by the seven larger people fighting around her, and pressed a small button on the floor. Her circle opened up, and she slipped underneath. The circle closed behind her.

Hell?s Fury was now below Silver Shadow?s knee, and backed away for a moment while she recomposed herself after the exchange. Huntress, who hadn?t been touched, leapt as Silver Shadow turned to watch for new incoming opponents, and grabbed the edge of her cape. As the cape whirled, she climbed it quickly, scrambling to be able to reach Silver Shadow?s head. Silver Shadow turned to shake her off, as several more opponents rushed in to replace those who had just fought, but Huntress held on tight. With one free hand, she pointed her holoblade directly in the back of the woman whose back she was riding on, and felt a measure of satisfaction as the lights flashed her colour of dark green and she dropped slightly as the woman she was hanging onto reduced. Silver Shadow raised her arm above her head and passed the blade behind her blindly, but managed to strike Huntress on her back. This was too much for Huntress to manage, and she let go, flying toward the rim of the arena. She struck the barrier, which briefly turned white, and she felt herself reduce again; when she got up, she realised that her holoblade had winked out, and she had lost the fight.

Mai ran by Hell?s Fury as she joined the fray. She comes only up to my waist! she thought as she passed her. I don?t know her natural height, but if she gets grazed even once more, she?s going to be out. Mai removed a marble from her pouch and watched the hologram take the shape of a blade as she held it. She made eye contact with Lady Arcane and Yellow Jacket, who each did the same, and the three of them loosed their shots at the same time. Silver Shadow saw them coming, but was unable to dodge all of them; Lady Arcane struck her in her backside and Mai hit her chest, while Yellow Jacket?s was avoided. The lights pulsed light blue and light green, and Silver Shadow dropped in height again, by another 18 cm.
Mai continued to charge in, swinging her holoblade high to strike at Silver Shadow?s midsection while Silver Shadow was focusing her attention on Dragonfly and Crimson Sting, in front of her. The lights flashed green, white, dark blue and red as the tiny fighters overwhelmed Silver Shadow?s defences. She managed to hit Crimson Sting only once in retaliation, on her hand. Silver Shadow dived to the left to avoid being flanked, and came up right in front of Yellow Jacket. Yellow Jacket tried to back away, but Silver Shadow quickly moved her holosword directly through her, from her left hip to her right shoulder. The lights glared white, and half of Yellow Jacket?s height was cut away in a single stroke. She fell to the ground in dizziness, and when she looked up, saw that her blade had disappeared.

Silver Shadow was just over a metre high at this point, at 105 centimetres, having taken hits from almost every one of her opponents. Dragonfly, Lady Arcane and Mai were the only three fighters who hadn?t been touched; Dragonfly was 54 centimetes, Lady Arcane was 55 and Mai maintained her position of second-tallest fighter with 60 cm. Crimson Sting had been hit twice lightly and had dropped to 42 cm, and Hell?s Fury was almost eliminated, at 31 cm. The arena?s computers calculated the height of each fighter and displayed it in the announcer?s booth less than a second after a change, so she was able to keep the crowd fully aware of the condition of each fighter at all times.
Mai and Hell?s Fury pursued the attack, coming up behind Silver Shadow, who had now been reduced to less than two-thirds of her starting height. Dragonfly and Crimson Sting move to her sides to flank her, while Lady Arcane stepped slowly away, throwing another dart. Silver Shadow, not facing any other attacks, dodged the dart and threw one in retaliation, catching Lady Arcane on the hip. Mai suddenly had an idea.
?Hey!? she called.
Hell?s Fury turned. ?What? This better be important!?
?How?d you like to be able to reach her head??

As Dragonfly and Crimson Sting advanced from opposite sides and Yellow Jacket disappeared into her hole, Mai explained her idea. Silver Shadow couldn?t hear, as she now had her full attention occupied by the two approaching women who seemed to look bigger at every moment. Crimson Sting, who was fast even at full size, came in first to jab at Silver Shadow?s thighs. She kept her eyes on Dragonfly, however, who had waited the extra second so as to get a surprise attack. She moved in and stabbed at Silver Shadow?s rear end, but Crimson Sting let loose a flurry of slashes at that moment, and Silver Shadow spun to avoid them. The lights flashed red twice, as two hits landed, but while she was spinning, she extended her arm to bring her blade through Dragonfly?s right shoulder. She faced Crimson Sting again, carrying the momentum from her spin, and brought her sword down for a low pass. She hadn?t adjusted for her most recent drop in height, though, and she swung too low. Crimson Sting easily jumped over the blade and slashed at her arm, lighting the room red for a third time. A blur of orange flew directly at Silver Shadow, and she ducked her head to avoid the dart?
?except it wasn?t a dart. Mai had taken advantage of the reduced weight of Hell?s Fury and had actually thrown her in the air, aimed directly at their common foe. She didn?t crash into Silver Shadow, but she swung her holosword as she passed by, and managed to strike her on the forehead, causing the room to glow orange brightly for a moment. Silver Shadow almost fell, as she shank rapidly from the combined efforts of everyone around her. She struck Dragonfly on the shoulder, and advanced upon her, bearing down on her and trying to escape from everyone else at the same time.
One-on-one, they were no match for her, and she advanced rapidly, pressing against Dragonfly?s defences with ease. Dragonfly parried and blocked as best as she could, and Silver Shadow was wearing her down, but her other opponents were bearing down on her from behind. Finally, she brought her weapon in from the right, forcing Dragonfly to parry, when Silver Shadow reached down to her shoulder. She was still almost twice as big as Dragonfly was, and she grabbed her right shoulder with her left hand and used her greater strength to swing her around while moving to occupy her space. She switched their positions just in time for Dragonfly to take a thrown dagger in the back from Mai. She looked up with horror as she shrank in front of her opponent and her holoblade winked out.

Mai charged forward, ahead of her two allies. Silver Shadow noticed and fired a dart directly at her face, just as another, light blue, dart was fired at Silver Shadow?s back. Both darts found their mark; Mai moved her head out of the way, but it clipped her ear, and as the arena flashed white, she could feel her body shrinking slightly. Silver Shadow felt the dart strike her back and saw her own perspective change. She turned to find its source, and saw Lady Arcane standing some distance away. Silver Shadow turned and charged her, the one fighter who was isolated from everyone else. Lady Arcane was intimidated at the prospect of this relatively enormous woman bearing down upon her, and backed up quickly, not realising how close she was to the border. Her back touched the barrier, and with an expression of shock on her face, watched as this advancing woman became even bigger. She pulled herself away from the wall too late, and Silver Shadow was upon her, swinging her holoblade through her hips and shrinking her well past one-sixth of her original size.

At this point, the three remaining fighters caught up with her, and surrounded her. For a moment, nobody attacked; nobody even moved. Each of the three fighters eyed each of the others; Silver Shadow was still by far the tallest, at 68 cm, but Mai was still close to her height at the beginning of the fight, at 54 cm, down from 60. Crimson Sting was at slightly more than a quarter of her natural height, at 42 cm, and Hell?s Fury was just a graze away from being dropped, at 31 cm.
Silver Shadow decided to go for the target easiest to eliminate. She swung downwards at Hell?s Fury, but with the advantage of her speed, she ducked underneath Silver Shadow?s legs and struck her calf as she passed. Silver Shadow stepped into her space to avoid being surrounded once again, but as she did, Crimson Sting made two quick passes. Silver Shadow parried the first, but the second slipped though and struck her in the chest. As she shrank, she looked in horror to see that she was now the same height- no, slightly shorter than Mai! As the announcers relayed this information to the thousands of spectators, they roared in approval and Emerald Dragon heard her name being chanted by 60,000 people. Silver Shadow looked at her face in shock, and Mai smiled back.
Silver Shadow charged forward, her blade moving almost too fast to follow, and Mai began to consider that maybe making her angry wasn?t a great strategy after all. As she desperately tried to parry the attacks coming her way, she saw the room light up and felt herself shrink once, twice? and suddenly she was staring straight ahead into her opponent?s belly. Silver Shadow turned to parry an attack behind her, which Mai couldn?t see because her enormous foe?s body was blocking her view, but saw the room around her glow red and orange as her allies moved their holoblades through Silver Shadow?s body, and watched her shrink until Mai now came up to her chin. Silver Shadow turned to strike at Mai once again, to finish her off, but Mai was already bringing her sword up into her foe?s belly.

The room flashed a brilliant green, and then rotated between orange, red and green. Silver Shadow was no longer moving, and looking up into Mai?s smiling face, now reaching only her breasts when she was standing upright. The announcer blared out to the crowd that she had been reduced to a height of 22 cm, and the killing blow had been struck from a 34 cm-tall Emerald Dragon. Hell?s Fury, at 31 cm, and Crimson Sting, at 42, would also be rejoining the competition after growing back.
Silver Shadow yelled something to Mai, but the noise of the crowd was almost deafening. Mai reached down and Silver Shadow cupped her hands around her mouth to yell in her ear.
?Congratulations! Really great job! Good luck, back in the tournament!?
Mai looked back down at her to see her smiling brilliantly and giving her a small thumbs-up. She then turned back to the crowd and bowed deeply, and the announcer announced the departure of the special guest opponent for this match.
Mai didn?t notice any of it. I'm re-joining the competition. I'll be able to fight Azure Avenger again.

I can't wait.