Chapter 297 - 297. Stretchy

The referee had barely blown the whistle when the lion shifter sprang forward. Jane had completely expected this. It was normal for a feline predator to leap forward and pounce on prey. It was one simple thing she had seen on many wildlife shows and even read in school. 

Jane rolled forward and sprang to her feet just in time to bend backwards and dodge the swipe of the lion shifters' claws. He was refusing to let up the pressure and Jane was starting to think that she should have shifted herself. 

The next swipe was near her face and scraped her sunglasses. The reinforced material help up but a slight scratch was left. If it had been any closer she would have a new scar on her face along with a lost match. 

With a sharp intake of breath, Jane prepared herself to push forward. She couldn't let the lion shifter take full control of the match. But she also knew that he couldn't land a hit on her or else she would be down for the count. However, she was tougher now than she used to be and if she was fast enough she might be able to deflect the damage. 

The next swipe of the lion shifters' claws were her chance. Jane lifted her arm making sure the part with scales on it was what she used to deflect the blow. 

The claws were sharp enough to cut her, but not deep. Janes' scales were enough to mitigate most of the damage. The lion shifter did not expect the attack against him. He had fought so far with multiple opponents just laying on the attacks constantly. 

Jane used the stunned shock that the lion shifter was affected by and struck back. She swiped out with her own sharper nails and slashed his nose. The sensitive lion snout that formed from his shifting caused his eyes to water and vision to become blurry. 

This move was why Jane was able to skirt around the next blind slash from the lion shifter. She was able to get to the back of the shifter and kick the back of his knee. This forcefully lowered his level and caused him to swing his claws blindly in every direction.

The chaotic attacks only gave Jane the opening s to unload her combinations. Her kicks flowed between dodges and in to punches. Soon the lion shifter was losing strength and started to shift back to the normal human form. The man left on his knees panting was half the size of the previous danger. 

"You know, the females in the pride are usually stronger than the lion." Janes' words were completely unheard as the referee blew the whistle loudly to signal the match ending. The audience started to cheer at the upset. They had all expected her to lose against the brutal onslaught of attacks or use her super power to stop him in his tracks like the last opponent and potentially take him down that way. 

Asher was smiling like a fool as another staff member yelled for him to get to his next match. He was pretty happy that Jane had managed to get so far without using her shift. It meant that when she finally did it would make a blogger splash and surprise her opponent. But for now, it was his turn again. He just needed to hope that he would be done with his next matches before Art was reaching the finals. 

"Awe man. I need to go against the kid that beat War god? Really?" The woman that was on the ring waiting for Asher looked normal. However, she seemed pretty annoyed that she was about to face Asher. "You look scrawny but I'm sure you have some super beefed up super power. That has to be how you beat War god. He was just too big." 

The confused look on Ashers' face must have thrown the woman off because she also grew confused. "I hit him. A lot in the same spot. Like, over and over until he passed out." His shoulders rose in a shrugging motion and the woman turned her head to the side. 

"Seriously? That's all it took? Wasn't he supposed to win though? Wow. So he was all bark and no bite. Maybe I get to win now." The referee was looking tired of the additional banter and Asher wished he could somehow get the woman to reveal her super power. 

The whistle blew and the woman started to strut towards Asher. "Let's get this on. I have a medal to show off to the gym later!" She suddenly dropped in to a fighting stance and kicked out. 

Asher didn't even move. Her fist was too far away and he thought she had misinterpreted the distance. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Her arm extended and hit Asher right in the face causing him to fall back. 

Luckily he had practiced falling and instinctually rolled on his back and popped up to his feet. "You have stretchy limbs!" Asher shouted as he realized the super power that he had heard about before. 

"Well, yeah. Just catching on?" The woman laughed as she threw another punch. "I would have lost against a meat head like War god. But here? I can easily win." The punch extended and forced Asher to jump to the side as the woman whipped her extended rubbery arm to the side. 

Asher was sure that he wouldn't be able to get in close. She had a farther reach than he did and it would keep him from coming in rage. Especially since it seemed like she could instantly pull the extended limbs back in to her body. 

With his mind rushing a mile a minute, Asher moved side to side getting close to the edge of the ring. This was perfect to let the woman think that she was cornering him. With the womans' next punch Asher dodged but stayed close to the edge of the ring. 

A sly smile spread on Ashers' face, "You think you will win easily? You haven't landed a hit since you used that dirty trick before!" He knew that a little taunting could help so when her next punch came at him he was ready. 

The force of the punch was heavier since the woman thought that she was about to land the winning blow. Yet, when Asher fell back in to his back bridge her fist kept going. She couldn't stop the momentum against her rubber body. Her fist landed right outside the circle causing a loud whistle to pierce the air. 

"The match is over. The winner by disqualification is the Lucky Jinx." The referee shouted this to the announcer. 

"What? How? I was tryin hard to push him out." The woman was losing her mind seeing that she was the loser for such a stupid reason. Her accent was standing out without her self control. 

"I knew that you wouldn't be able to handle it. I thought you would be harder to beat but your punch was a little too soft to knock me out at the start." Asher was smirking even more as he stepped off the stage. "Try not to rush in to things next time." He gave a wave before he heard the referee shout again. 

"Lucky jinx, please remain here. The next match will begin in fifteen minutes and there is no time to go back to the waiting room." Asher had expected there to be less and less time between matches as the rounds became fewer. He was already in the finals match with his last and now most recent match. 

Asher wandered the area as the main ring was set up for the end of the tournament. He saw out of the corner of his eye a group of employees moving a large amount of ice. They were all pointed pieces. It was definitely a lot more ice than he would have expected if he were to guess the super power of the person known as ice blade. 

Jane found herself in a similar experience as Asher. She had been asked to move to the edge of the man area so that the employees could set up the final stage. They were cleaning and running about along with setting up new cameras to get better angles. She managed to overhear a few of the conversations from employees wandering about. They were talking about the past matches they had gotten to watch while waiting to change the rings. 

"I can't believe that guy grew a second head. It was like he was some sort of master shifter."

"Two heads? Really? I thought I heard that there was a shifter that was like a dragon and breathed fire?"

"You'll never believe it. You two are both right. The guy grew a second head and a tail then breathed fire. He can shift in to a dragon with two heads. It's crazy. Apparently, he works with stage shows and even in some movies. But his passion is tournaments and fighting. Go figure right?"

The gossip was just what Jane needed to make sure that she would be shifting for the final match.