Sportsmanship (Incomplete)

[Eelskin]

Hello people! I finished this story a while ago, but I realised I hadn't posted it here. I'm including all four chapters in a .doc file at the bottom of this post, which you can download if you don't feel like waiting for me to post the later chapters, but I'll still be updating this story with a new chapter every few days. This story was not completed and I currently have no plans to do so, although anything could happen.

This is a straight-up SW story. There is no sex or cruelty, but plenty of action.

Enjoy!


Sportsmanship


Chapter 1

Liz looked at her opponent, sizing her up. She had seen her record, she knew that she hadn't lost a fight since joining the league fourteen months ago, had studied her fighting style and memorised her favourite techniques, and was as prepared for the match as she possibly could be. Liz was a veteran of the ring, had been fighting here for almost three and a half years, but she still got nervous at the beginning of a fight. Now, as she watched her opponent wave to the crowd and pose for all of her fans' cameras, Liz studied her movements and gestures. Her leg is hurt. She watched more closely to be sure. Yes. She?s covering it well, but she?s avoiding putting much weight on her left leg.
She looked over the crowd and could hear her stage name being chanted. Liz, better known as the Azure Avenger, was almost unrecognisable in the street by day. She wasn?t particularly tall, at 165 cm, and she usually worse loose clothes that hid her body. But here, in the arena, her bright blue skin-tight outfit was in sharp contract to her red hair, done in a long ponytail to avoid it getting in the way during a fight. She had the body of a gymnast, with small but pert breasts and not an extra ounce of fat on her.
As the announcer droned on about the record of each of the contestants, their records and hometowns, weights and heights, nicknames and swordplay schools and favourite colours, Liz tuned her out. She breathed deeply, crouched and stretched again, though she had already gone through her entire stretching routine before she had stepped into the ring. She stomped on the sleek black surface of the circular ring, testing the friction against her foot, and made a mental note of the distance between herself and the edge of the ring. It looked as though stepping off the edge of the elevated platform would result in her falling down 20 metres to the arena floor, but she knew that there was a solidly reinforced, near-invisible plastic enclosing them which didn?t obstruct visibility at all, but had been tested to withstand up to 1,500 ksi of pressure without breaking or bending.
Just hurry it up, she thought.
As if granting her wish, the voice of the announcer boomed over the arena. ?Fighters!? She yelled. ?Take your positions!?
Liz watched as two slightly glowing circles formed in the floor, close to the centre of the ring, one blue and one green, about 2 metres apart. She took her position in the blue circle and removed her holosword from her belt. It was 17 centimetres long, and almost weightless, a thin black cylinder with a rubber grip and indentations specially measured and fitted to her fingers. She tossed it from hand to hand in anticipation.
Her opponent, who went by the stage name Emerald Dragon, was a tall Vietnamese woman with short-cropped black hair. The green fighting uniform she wore exposed her long legs, from mid-thigh down to her bare feet, and her arms were thin, but well-toned and very well-practiced. She held her weapon and took her stance, waiting for the tone to sound. She smirked and winked at Liz when she caught her eye. Liz didn?t respond.

The tone sounded, a large, full sound which resonated throughout the enormous room. Liz held her holosword out in front of her as a translucent blue streak of light emanated from one end in the shape of a blade, 55 centimetres from the pommel to the tip. She eyed her opponent?s weapon, which was of a similar style, but bright green, as was her starting circle. She only had a moment to study it, though, as Emerald charged forward as soon as her weapon materialised in her hand.
Liz had been waiting for this, as it was one of Emerald?s favourite strategies; attack immediately in the hopes that her opponent would be caught unprepared. Emerald swung the blade upward, towards Liz? head, but Liz ducked to the left and dived forward, extending her arm at the same time to catch Emerald?s midsection with the tip of her blade. She couldn?t feel whether or not she had connected, since the holosword passed harmlessly through its target. She heard the tone that announced a successful strike, though, blasting through the speakers, and saw that the lights over the entire room briefly flashed blue, indicating that it was her point. She turned to face her opponent and straightened up, holding her blade in a defensive position. The announcer?s voice came on the PA system again, declaring that the first point had been struck, and the noise level of the crowd grew until Liz couldn?t even hear the speakers.
Emerald, disappointed that her starting attack had missed, was even more surprised that she had been touched. She glanced down at her right flank, where there was a faint blue glow on the spot where she had been struck. The spot pulsed slowly, and she looked back up at Liz, chiding herself for being careless. She noted that Liz now appeared a few centimetres taller, and adjusted her stance accordingly.

Liz moved in slowly, stepping lightly. She went on the offensive, now, thrusting her holoblade toward Emerald?s chest, only for Emerald to bat it away, up and to the right. Emerald was quick, and quickly shifted her momentum to swing at Liz? face, but Liz ducked backwards and swung her blade around to swing through Emerald?s legs. The blade again passed harmlessly through her flesh, but blue marks appeared over the woman?s thighs and the room flashed blue twice more in rapid succession. She stumbled backward as her height decreased again, far more than she would have liked. Looking at her opponent, she estimated that she would come up now only to Liz? chin, when at the beginning of the fight, no more than 30 seconds before, she had actually been taller than Liz by 14 cm.
The crowd cheered again, and Emerald swore under her breath. She re-adjusted her stance to accommodate for her larger-seeming opponent and longer blade. This was part of the rules: as fighters shrank, their blades stayed at the same length so as not to give them a disadvantage. Indeed, since the blades were completely weightless and smaller fighters were quicker and harder to hit, they actually had an advantage. Liz knew this, though, and shifted her fighting style to compensate. Emerald moved in cautiously and thrust her holoblade towards Liz? arm, and Liz moved her own sword in position to parry. It was a feint, though, and Emerald quickly brought her weapon downwards to strike at Liz? unprotected feet. Liz jumped over the extended blade and took advantage of the fact that her opponent had left herself unprotected to thrust her weapon directly into the top of her head.
Emerald?s entire field of vision went blue, and she backed up, bringing up her weapon to defend blindly against whatever Liz may be doing. When her vision cleared, though, she gasped. Liz wasn?t pressing the attack, standing and waiting for Emerald to return. The pass through her head, though, had cost her dearly, and she saw that she now only as tall as Liz? waist. She gasped. She had never lost so much height from a single attack, and she began to consider the ugly possibility that she might not win this fight. The audience roared, and a chant of ?Azure! Azure!? began to be audible.

Emerald lifted her blade, which now seemed to extend almost a metre in front of her, and charged ahead, deciding to take advantage of her now increased speed and manoeuvrability. As she approached, she feinted right and dodged left as Liz brought her blade down where she thought Emerald was going to be. Emerald had already run halfway around Liz, though, and Liz swung her blade in an arc behind her to try and attack her tiny foe. Emerald ducked underneath the wild swing and stabbed forward, intending to place her blade directly into Liz? back.
Liz, however, kicked out behind her with her left foot, connecting solidly with Emerald?s left knee. Emerald yelled in pain and dropped to her right knee, moving backwards, but in a flash, Liz was turned around and took advantage of her opponent?s distraction, slicing through her midsection.
The entire room turned blue, and the lights were held, except for a white spotlight centered on the two fighters.
?Ladies and gentlemen!? the announcer?s voice boomed over the audience. ?The Azure Avenger has just beaten the Emerald Dragon, reducing her to a third of her former size, without suffering a single blow! Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, I haven?t seen anything like this in all my years of announcing! This is truly?? Liz tuned our her voice again. She replaced her weapon, the blade of which had dissipated, back into the holder on her belt and looked down at her feet. The Emerald Dragon was still on one knee, staring at her switched-off holosword in disbelief. She slowly looked up at Liz, still not quite comprehending that she had lost the match so quickly and so brutally. Liz smiled down at the tiny woman, who now only reached her knee, and turned to her crowd of supporters. The sound of their applause and cheering washed over her, and she closed her eyes and extended her arms in appreciation.

This tournament is off to a good start, she thought.