Adrenaline

Characters
Darling Charming

Cheetah

Story
Speed.

Speed is key.

It didn’t matter how strong a person was, it didn’t matter how skillful they were. If they couldn’t keep up; it was all meaningless.

Everything falls when in comparison to speed.

Speed is weight. Weight equals force.

A rock on its own won’t cause damage when it is stationary, but the force behind it when it is thrown is what kills.

In the end all that mattered was speed.

And Darling Charming was learning this lesson in the worst ways.

All that was happening to her was that she was getting hit; punched and kicked. That wasn’t the problem though. The problem was the weight of the force behind each blow that landed on her body. Even though they were only fists and feet, it felt like Darling was being stricken by the force of a brick wall behind each and every blow.

This thing she was fighting was moving at blinding speed; one which none of the other students of Ever After High whose eyes could keep up – except for hers. Still. Even if she could see her opponent’s movement – it didn’t matter if she couldn’t stop her movement. Her body just couldn’t keep up with the beast woman. Had she had something like Faybelle’s black lightning magic, perhaps she would have a chance.

Each blow hit her like a freight train and there was nothing she could do at this moment, but take it all until the woman was through with her. Anyone would have given up the will to fight against such an impossible odd, that they would just forfeit the fight in order to live.

But not Darling.

She was feeling something else.

One more kick to her abdomen, but it was like she was hit by a cannonball; just from that alone she could’ve have lost consciences as she went sailing through the air.

When you fall from a great height, it isn’t the fall that will kill you; it was the sudden stop at the end. In this situation, the same logic applies just instead of vertical; it was from a horizontal perspective.

Darling hit the wall hard; hard enough that a normal person’s world would have turned to black. She hit the wall hard enough that had there been any air in her lungs at all; surely, it would have been expelled out of her mouth at that moment. She hit the ground hard after that.

If Darling had time to think about the matter that had just conspired, she would have thought, “That was one of the most painful second I had ever experienced.”

She gasped for air. Had it not been for her knight training with Bishop and Rook in Wonderland, surely she would have been out of the fight before it had even began. Still, she was wheezing for breath.

Why did she fight? Why did she go against this beast of a woman when she was outclassed? The truth of the matter was she didn’t know. Why were these schools fighting? Why were the mirrors that separated all the dimensions beginning to shatter, one after another? She had no answers for these. All she could do was worry about the here and now. Right here and now, there was a woman that threatened the safety-ness of her friends; and even if she couldn’t beat her, she had to at least buy sometime - even if it was only a few moments.

She was the only one that could do this. At this moment, she was the only one that could fight.

“I guess that’s that” a voice spoke.

The blur that was striking at the princess stopped on a dime in front of her; it was a beast woman. She stood there stretching out her limbs like as if everything that had just conspired in the last couple of seconds was not even enough to loosen up her joints.

“You prince types are all the same.” This woman that called herself, “Cheetah” spoke. “You talk a big game, but in the end it’s meaningless.” She looked over her nails as that was more important at this moment. “You just can’t keep up.” she decided she would need to get her nails done after all this stuff was over.

Darling was breathing heavily on the ground; hacking up the lung that was just beaten out of her. At this moment, anyone that faced this kind of odd would have just given up.

She couldn’t, her pride as a “Charming” wouldn’t let her.

The young knight of Wonderland picked herself up off the ground, a bit of blood trickled down the side of her mouth.

“You know you’re right,” she looked over at Cheetah, placing a hand on her neck as if to rub a spot that was sore, “I may not be able to keep up with you.”

She smirked.

“But I can at least entertain you, for a few moments.”

She flicked her hair.

A blinding light shot forth through the room.

Cheetah seemed unfazed by the light; at least it looked like she was going to have some fun at least.

Darling shook out her leg and placed her footing out behind her, she rested her arms on her knees.

Cheetah crouched down on all fours, as if she was about to go into a triathlon

They both smirked.

Bang! You could almost hear a referee as he fired the gun. What happened next was something that no mere mortal’s eyes could see.

It was like two blurs racing through the room, clashing with one another as they intercepted. The speed and force between the two destroying their surroundings. The ground and walls ripped apart as two beings with the force of a freight truck strking one another, hoping to get an advantage over the other. From an outsider’s perspective, it was like a force of nature tearing the place apart.

In a way, that was what speed was.

Darling and Cheetah punched one another.

The world of speed was something else, while in this place; it seemed as if the outside world was slow as molasses – time moved differently here. If you flipped a coin, it could literally feel like hours; but as the coin hits the ground; it just shows that only mere seconds have passed since you entered this strange place.

In this place, not even sound itself could keep up with its inhabitants.

In the world of speed, it is only you, your opponent, and the beating of your heart.

It was exhilarating.

Darling threw a punch, Cheetah ducked underneath – with recoil; she swung a kick to strike, but only to be blocked by Snow White’s prince. Darling threw another punch, only to be blocked; Cheetah threw a punch of her own, only to be dodged – she threw a punch, only to be punched in her chest.

Under normal circumstances, these movements were nothing special; but in this state, it was amazing. When it comes to fighting, three of the five senses of the body were mainly used; but in the world of speed, one was missing – sound. Sound itself cannot keep up; meaning that all these two can do to react is only what they could see and what they felt as they get struck. This was one of the interesting things in the world of speed; to be able to fight in a soundless vacuum.

Cheetah threw out two kicks, both aimed at the chest and head of the woman; only to be parried away. She leapt into the air to swing her other leg at her head, but Darling just bobbed and weaved underneath; appearing on the other side.

Darling threw a kick, but just as she did – she too was blocked. She threw a punch, only to have Cheetah leap over and appear behind her.

Cheetah threw more punches, only to be dodged.

Darling launched a couple kicks, only to be blocked.

Could you imagine it; that not even half of a minute has passed since these two have started this fight -that to these beauties; that it seemed that the world itself seemed stop only just for them.

Darling launched a punch, only for the beast woman to catch it. Tightening her grip around her wrist, she reached out and grabbed her shoulder with her free hand. Throwing her whole body in it, Cheetah tossed Darling into a wall.

Even the speed world was dangerous to those that lived in it.

She hit the wall hard, but Darling had no time to dawdle as she saw the other woman leap into the air towards her. She dodged the oncoming flying punch. While both girls seemed to move normally to one another, they were still moving at blinding speed – and speed still equaled weight behind every blow threw. Cheetah’s fist ripped into the wall as she just barely missed her target.

Without even giving the other girl a chance, Darling kicked her in the solar plexus; sending her flying.

As time itself in the real world has barely passed, everything that was in free fall there appeared in “Speed World” as if they were suspended in mid-air; even the rubble that was torn from the ground and walls. Cheetah found herself crashing through some of this residue from their fight in this world.

Cheetah quickly got her bearing, but Darling wasn’t giving her a chance to have any of that. With a flying elbow, she ripped apart another piece of rubble in free fall as she struck her across the face.

Cheetah quickly dodged a punch meant for her as Darling’s first ripped apart a piece of rock behind her head. With a knee strike to the solar plexus, she separated some distance between the two; but as soon as she did that, she leapt at Darling.

Darling’s body was hurting. Unlike the woman she was fighting, she didn’t really have natural high speed ability. Her magic in itself was more akin to “Time Manipulation” then true high speed. While Cheetah was truly moving as fast as she could, Darling was merely slowing everything around her to a crawl; in a way, she brought the other woman to her level rather than meeting her on her own. Though in the end, did this fact really matter?

Darling head butted Cheetah in mid-air.

So the real question was, “Which was going to run out first?”

Darling threw a punch, but only to be countered, but she quickly dodged a fist aimed at her.

“Was Darling’s magic going to run out? Or was Cheetah’s stamina going to run dry? Which of these two beauties was going to outlast the other?”

As if reading one another’s thoughts, they both launched a kick at one another; only for the two to clash at their shins.

At first, the only reason these two were fighting in the first place was because they were the only ones that could match one another; but as these mere seconds have passed, in this world of speed, something else kept them fighting.

They crossed fists, landing squarely at one another’s jaw.

Their blood was pumping; they could feel the adrenaline coursing through their veins.

You could see the smirks on their faces as they were both launched into opposite directions; striking walls with enough force they could even snap forests.

This was exhilarating.