Kombat Champion

by

Morpheus

Part Two

I carefully stared at the business card in my hand, running my fingers over it just as I had been for the last day. When that Stan guy had given me the card, saying it could help me earn some money, he hadn't given a lot of details and the card itself wasn't much help either. Other than the gold border, the only things written on the card were a name and phone number.

" Beauchamp Meeks," I read the name...if it really was a name.

There was no business title, no address... not even a company name. It was pretty damn mysterious, which was why all I'd done with the card for the last day was stare at it.

"Are you going to call that number or not?" Nancy asked me, looking a little annoyed at my indecision.

After a moment, I nodded. It wouldn't hurt to at least call the number and try getting a bit more information. But I guess a part of my problem was that I was afraid it would turn out to be a waste of my time and I didn't want to get my hopes up. And what if it turned out to be some pimp thinking I'd make a great hooker... That would be a definite NO, no matter how much I might need money.

I made the call, though afterwards I didn't feel much more enlightened than before. The guy on the other end wouldn't give me any details, though he did set me up with an appointment to meet with Mr. Meeks in just a few hours, at two in the afternoon.

"Well," Nancy asked almost before I'd hung up, "What did they say...?"

"It looks like I have a job interview," I told her.

"For what?" she asked me with a curious expression.

I just shrugged, "I don't know yet."

"Do you want me to come along too," she asked.

"No," I shook my head, "I have a feeling that I'm supposed to show up alone..."

Nancy nodded, "Well be careful... This just sounds kind of weird."

"Don't worry," I grinned. "I can take care of myself..."

A short while later, I was back downtown, going to a small red brick, office building that I had been told to. It was easy pretty to find, as was the specific office that they had given me.

Inside the office were three people who were waiting for me. One was a large man sitting off to the side on a couch, perhaps a bodyguard. There was an attractive woman as well, perhaps a secretary or assistant. She was standing beside the person who really caught my attention though, the man behind the desk.

The man who was sitting behind the desk looked fairly large...and strong. He was dressed in a gray suit and had reddish brown hair and beard, both of which had a few gray hairs. And on the desk itself was a name plate which said Beauchamp Meeks.

"Mister Meeks?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes," he stood up, "And your name is?"

"Kestra," I answered, having no other name to give him at the moment.

Mr. Meeks remained silently for a moment as if waiting for me to give him a last name or something more. But when I didn't, he nodded, "I was told to expect your call, though I was not given your name. An obvious oversight from my associate."

"Stan said something about using my skills to make some money," I said carefully, feeling suspicious. I was on edge and ready to run or fight at a moment's notice. I had no idea just what I was getting myself into and wanted to be ready...just in case.

"My associate...Stanley is quite adept at recognizing talent," Mr. Meeks told me with a smile, "So when he tells me that you are a skilled fighter, I am inclined to believe him. You see, I am in the business of locating talented fighters for certain...competitions. And I will be honest with you in saying that these competitions are not precisely legal."

I had seen enough movies to have an idea of just what kind of competitions he meant. And he was certainly being frank about the whole thing. "You mean underground fighting..." There was a nod at that, "Fights to the death..."

Mr. Meeks burst out laughing, "Nothing so violent or final..."

I frowned, watching him and the man on the couch even more suspiciously now. But that didn't seem to bother either of them at all. In fact, they seemed almost relaxed and unconcerned.

"Let me explain," Mr. Meeks told me, "These competitions are not of the lethal sort. If they were, we would not be able to recruit any fighters... We just prefer to avoid the heavy rules and regulations of the more official organizations as well as maintaining an atmosphere where open gambling is not only accepted but encouraged. These factors provide an illicit thrill which most of our audience enjoy."

"People like doing things that they know they shouldn't," the man on the couch commented. "Especially if they know it don't hurt no one... It's sort of like smoking a joint or going to one of those old speakeasies that they used to have. It's knowing that you shouldn't be doing it which makes it so exciting..."

"Precisely," Meeks told me with a smile. "In fact, I used to be a fighter myself...back in my younger days. But I earned enough money to retire from the ring and started a second career as an organizer..."

I had to admit the spiel that Meeks was giving me wasn't a bad one. He didn't really come off as the gangster type I had first taken him for. Or at least he didn't come off as some sort of dangerous and threatening gangster type.

"I don't know," I said with a frown.

When I had gone out looking for a job, I hadn't thought to look for one as a fighter...especially not in underground fights. But I did need the money. I had to admit that it would definitely be under the table enough for my needs and I doubted they would ask too many questions. Plus there was one other factor which had recently became more important... After the fight with those punks on the street, I was getting the urge to try out my new body and skills some more... I wanted to see what I could do...to cut loose and really find out.

"This could be just what I need," I said, more to myself than to Meeks. "But I'm still not sure..."

Mr. Meeks nodded at that. "Fair enough. Why don't you come with us tomorrow night and see what it's all about for yourself? And if you decide that this is something that you would be interested in, we can sign you up to fight next week..."

"It pays good," the man on the couch said, making me wonder if he might be one of the fighters rather than a bodyguard.

"You get a cut of the box just for fighting," Meeks told me, "and you get more for winning. The amounts vary, depending upon your opponent and size of the audience."

After a moment, I nodded my agreement. "Okay, I'll check it out tomorrow..."

I felt nervous and excited at the same time and could barely believe I had just agreed to go to an underground fight. I'd always been a nice law abiding sort, so this was something new for me. Of course, going to the fight would be nothing compared to actually competing in it, which I was actually considering.

"Then meet me here tomorrow night at eight," Meeks told me with a smile, "and we shall go there together..."

I left the office, still feeling a bit surprised at myself. Fighting people and doing things like this were so out of character...at least for the old me. But they seemed to be getting easier and easier for the new me. Had the lightning somehow changed my personality a bit along with my body? Or more likely, were my new body and abilities merely opening my eyes to a world beyond what I was used to...and forcing me to reevaluate the world and my own place in it?

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Nancy asked me, probably for the third or fourth time since I got home. "It could be dangerous..."

"I'll be fine," I assured her with a smile, "They only want to show me around right now... And besides, I can take care of myself..." I pulled out one of my katars to emphasize the point.

Nancy frowned, "Maybe I should come with you..."

"Not this time," I told her, "Just in case... If anything goes wrong, I can take care of myself... But you..."

"I know," Nancy sighed, giving me a weak smile, "But I had been kind of hoping to see one of these fights..."

"Yeah," I grinned, "They should be pretty interesting..."

For a moment, Nancy just stared at me with a strange expression, then she sighed. I knew she was worried about me, and disappointed that she couldn't go to the fights too. But, I knew that it was a bit more than that. I'd seen that look on her face several times and knew exactly what it meant. She was wondering why I had been struck by lighting and transformed...instead of her. It had to be weird for her, knowing that I had been turned into Kestra, gaining all of her skills and abilities. And I had little doubt that Nancy was wondering what it would have been like if she'd been the one hit by the lightning and if she had turned into Vypra.

"I wonder what it would be like," Nancy sighed, verifying my suspicions about her thoughts. "I wonder what it would be like to be able to do those kind of things you do..."

"It is pretty cool," I grinned at her. But in a more sober tone, I told her, "But it comes at too high a price..."

Nancy just nodded while I thought about everything that I had abandoned and left behind. My old life might not have been impressive, but it had been my life. Even my family, as broken and messed up as it was, had still been the only family I'd ever known. Now I didn't even have one.

Just then, Nancy's husband Tom came into the room so we had to abruptly change the subject. "And did you hear about the new summer fashion?" I gasped to Nancy in mock excitement, knowing that the subjects of fashion and clothes were sure to keep Tom away from us while we talked.

Tom was a pretty nice guy, not to mention generous. He had to be just to let me move into this spare bedroom when he'd never even met me. But I was also a bit afraid that he might be just a little too naive and gullible. Someone else might try taking advantage of his generosity if it wasn't for Nancy watching his back.

"Just wanting to see if you ladies are doing all right," Tom told us.

"We're doing fine," Nancy smiled. "We're just talking about where Kes can try applying for a job next..."

"Okay," Tom nodded, then started to turn away. But he paused to turn back and give me a thoughtful look. "You know, you might have better luck if you dyed your hair something a little less...unique. Most employers are going to hesitate to hire someone with blue hair..."

"I've been thinking about it," I told him honestly, "But having blue hair has kind of grown on me..."

Nancy snickered at that, trying her best to hide it from Tom, but I saw. I just smiled innocently, knowing he was just trying to be helpful. Unfortunately, following his suggestion wouldn't do me much good as I had already found out that normal hair dye just didn't stick with my hair. As soon as I washed my hair, it came right out. So unless I wanted to dye my hair every day, that just wasn't an option.

"Besides," I told him as I got up, "I have a job interview tonight..."

"Really?" he smiled, "Good luck then..."

"Thanks," I told him with a grin. Since I was going to an underground fight, even if not to fight, I might very well need it.

Once Tom had left, I returned to talking with Nancy who wished me luck as well. But since she at least knew where I was really going, her wishes of good luck had a whole lot more emphasis on them.

When I met Mr. Meeks in his office a short time later, he was in a pretty good mood. The first thing he did was offer me a glass of wine before we took off for the fights. I turned him down, wanting to keep my head clear for the moment. And besides, I still wasn't completely sure that something might not end up being slipped into my drink. A girl can never be too careful.

"Then let's get going, shall we...," Meeks smiled, downing his own glass of wine in a single drink.

Mr. Meeks proudly showed off his limo as we climbed inside, and I immediately recognized his chauffeur. She was the same beautiful woman I'd seen standing behind him during our first meeting. And according to Meeks, she also served as his secretary and personal assistant as well, which explained her presence before.

"There are very few that I trust as much," Mr. Meeks had told me of her.

Our destination turned out to be on the other side of the city in a much nicer building than I would have imagined for an underground fighting competition. Hell, it even had a parking garage attached. Of course, it was used for other kinds of events during the day, ones which were a bit more legal. And when I asked, Meeks told me that it was used for boxing and martial arts tournaments.

"Very appropriate," I told him.

There was a man at the entrance checking people to make sure that they were on the list. Apparently, he recognized Meeks, because with just one glance at him, he let all of us through without question. Then there was a bit of a lobby, where there was a bar and snack vendor set up, though no one seemed to pay anything other than tips.

"It reminds me of a circus," I commented, "Or a movie theater..."

"They are all entertainment events," Meeks told me, "Though some prefer a little more edge and realism to their entertainment..."

Then we got to the main area.  It was a large space, filled with a lot of seats and booths, looking down upon the fighting arena. The arena itself was something like a boxing ring...only about three times the size and with a padded floor.

The wealthy patrons were all dressed up in suits and fancy dresses, a stark contrast to the brutality of the event. But there was another section, with a somewhat less impressive view, where other people with less money were gathered. I could hear people calling out bets to one another.

"My booth is this way," Meeks told me, leading me to one booth which looked almost directly down on the ring. It was one of the best seats in the house, and I could see several similarly placed booths around the edge as well. Apparently, Meeks had a higher position in this thing than I'd first thought.

Once we were sitting down, several people came by and talked to Meeks for a minute or so each. They seemed to be mostly sharing notes and observations about specific fighters, or making a few bets. But one of the people who came by was Stan, the man who had handed me the business card after my fight.

"Hey," Stan nodded towards me, then told Meeks, "Have you seen her fight yet? Man, she can kick some serious ass..."

"Not yet," Meeks told him with a patient smile. "And do not worry... If she does agree to fight and is as talented as you say, you will get your finders fee..."

"Thanks boss," Stan grinned before turning to leave.

It was at this point that the first fight started. Two men came out onto the arena floor and took positions in opposite corners of the ring. To my surprise, both fighters had on padding, including padding for their knuckles. If hadn't known better, I would have thought this was a normal fight...

Then the fighters went after each other and I quickly realized this was anything but a normal fight. There was a referee of sorts, but he stood back out of the arena and didn't interfere. Apparently his job was only to stop things if they got out of hand. There were no rounds and the fighters were just to keep going until one of them lost.

"They're pretty good," I commented, watching the two men below fight it out.

They were using completely different styles, one using kickboxing, while the other one kept staying low, charging forward and punching...using his fists, elbows and knees a great deal. The fight lasted for about fifteen minutes before the kickboxer lost. His opponent had broken through his defenses several times and hit him with a barrage of close range blows...enough to knock him to the ground. The referee finally stepped in to call the victory.

After a several minute break, they were ready to start the next fight. This time it was a large man who almost looked like he could have been a sumo wrestler...against a much smaller opponent. In fact, the sumo's opponent was a bald woman who's body was covered with tattoos. There was no way this could be a fair fight...

At my look of amazement, Meeks explained, "Most official organizations have strict rules about fighters being in the same weight class or of opposite gender..." He smiled, "I find that removing those particular rules can make for much more interesting matches..."

Like most of the audience, I had been expecting the big sumo guy to win easily. He was obviously much bigger and stronger than her, and when he moved, he seemed to be a bit faster than I would have given him credit for. However, she was fast as well...and apparently stronger. She jumped up, kicked him in the face and knocked him back a couple steps. Then she hit the ground and rolled back, repeating the process whenever she thought he was open. But after several attacks like this, he finally caught her and got a grip on her. I thought that it was all over.

But to my surprise, the woman lashed out with her free hand and caught the big guy in the face, causing him to drop her. She moved around behind him and jumped up, grabbing him around the throat. He staggered around, but she had a sleeper hold on him and wasn't about to let him go. It suddenly reminded me of that movie The Princess Bride, where the hero was dressed up as Zorro and fighting Andre the Giant in a similar way. I wondered if she'd seen that movie too...

Once the big guy had dropped to his knees, he began hitting the floor with his hand in their version of crying 'uncle'. The fight was over. The tattooed bald woman was declared the winner.

"I would have thought you would know better than to judge a fighter by their appearance,"

Meeks smiled at me, apparently amused that I'd underestimated the woman just like everyone else. As it turned out, he had placed a bet on her and won a good bit of money from that fight.

The next fight had the man I'd seen sitting on the couch in Meeks' office yesterday. His opponent was a man who seemed like a pretty even match. He won...though just barely. Meeks was obviously pleased by the victory, apparently he had sponsored that fighter and whenever a fighter he sponsored won...he received a good bit of money...as well as bragging rights.

By this time, I was really getting into the fighting. It wasn't nearly as vicious and brutal as I had feared, at least not much more than normal fighting competition would be. It was almost like watching the Ultimate Fighting Championships... and the whole thing almost made me feel like I was in the Kombat Champions game, watching one of the tournaments. It was...exciting.

And by the time that the fifth and final fight was over, I had already made up my mind. I was in. I was going to fight.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Nancy demanded of me when I told her about my decision the next morning.

"It's not that bad," I told her.

But, Nancy wasn't about to be settled down that easily. She blurted out, "Illegal underground fighting? You could get in a lot of trouble...and it's dangerous."

"It's not that bad," I tried telling her again, rolling my eyes a little. It was funny how protective of me she was acting, and also kind of touching. It meant that she really did care about me.

"You could get hurt," she pointed out.

"Maybe," I frowned thoughtfully, "But you didn't see what my 'second wind' ability can do in real life... If I get hurt, all I have to do is use that and I'll be fine again..." I took a deep breath, "And I watched a couple fights last night... They're good...but not as good as me. I can beat everyone they had there. It'll be easy money."

Of course, I didn't tell her how badly I wanted to cut loose, to try out my abilities and see just what else my new body could do. I wasn't sure she could understand that. Hell, I barely understood it myself.

"But it's Illegal," Nancy pointed out, "As in, you could end up in jail."

"I know," I sighed, "And I'm definitely not thrilled about that part of it. But from what I've seen, this is a big operation. A lot of people have been involved in this for a long time. They've even got it going on in other cities and they send fighters back and forth... And apparently, they're really good about keeping the cops from getting near things."

Then I let out a long sigh. "Besides," I told her, "It's not like I'm going to make a career out of fighting or anything. The fact is, I need the money and this is the only way I can get it. It's not like I'm robbing anyone or doing anything like that... I figure that I can win a few fights and earn a bit of money until something better comes along."

Nancy just stared at me for a few seconds before nodding, "Okay. Just be careful..."

"I will," I promised her.

"And one more thing," she told me with a stern look which turned into a bit of a grin, "You have to get me in to watch some of your fights..."

"No problem," I grinned at her, "You can be my first cheerleader..." She stuck her tongue out at me at that and we both started to laugh.

I closed my eyes and moaned, my body squirming on the bed. A gasp slipped from my lips as I drove my fingers further into my body, savoring the intense sensations that came from my new sex.

"Oh yes," I moaned, licking my lips and using my free hand to play around with one of my nipples. "Damn this feels good..."

And as I lay on my bed masturbating, fingering myself into orgasm, I couldn't help wondering why I hadn't tried playing with myself earlier. It felt so good...better than it ever had in my old body and my old male equipment. Of course I had been pretty self-conscious about my new body and I had been focused on all of the changes to my life...

But several days ago, I had finally given into my curiosity and began exploring my new equipment in detail. At first, all I had intended to do was familiarize myself with my new vagina a bit more, or at least that was what I told myself. I guess a part of it could have been some sort of twisted thrill at being able to finger a girl all I wanted...and feeling it myself.

However, while I had been checking myself out, my body started to respond...to get aroused. It had felt pretty damn good so I kept at it, feeling the sensations build until they had finally exploded in a mind blowing orgasm. My reticence about my new vagina had pretty much vanished at that point.

"Very nice," I smiled, my eyes still closed as I finally finished 'finger fucking' myself. "I can add that to the growing list of good things about this body..."

The fact was, I was getting a little uncomfortable with just how comfortable I was getting with my body. It was feeling less and less alien and feeling more and more like it was just MY body. I suppose that it was the slow deterioration of my old sense of self-identity that was disturbing.

"I might as well take the good along with the bad," I smiled to myself.

Of course, I had already accepted that I was very likely to remain as I was for the rest of my life. I seriously doubted that I would ever be a man again... It was sad...and a hard fact to swallow, but I had little choice except to accept things as they were and move on.

After several minutes of just remaining where I was on the bed and savoring the afterglow of my masturbation, I sat up and smiled. I ran a hand over my breasts and flat stomach, silently thankful that if I'd had to be turned into a woman, that at least I'd been turned into a good looking one.

"And all those martial arts skills are handy too," I reminded myself.

But the mention of my martial arts abilities reminded me of something else. My first fight at the arena was scheduled for that very night. My emotions went a bit more sober at that for a moment, but I was feeling too good right then to let myself get too serious.

With that I went and threw a silvery white silk robe around my naked body, thankful that I had let Nancy talk me into buying it. In my old life, I'd just wandering around my house in my shorts and that would be fine. But now that I had a new body...and two people who lived in the same house, a robe seemed much more appropriate.

"Good thing there's no one else home," I grinned as I left my own room, tying the sash around my waist.

Both Tom and Nancy were gone at the moment, having gone off to work. And it was a good thing that they had or they could very well have heard me in my little...release. Hell, I wouldn't have dared play with myself like that if either of them had been home.

A few seconds later, I turned to look at the TV, frowning slightly. Their TV was a good deal smaller than my own had been, making me miss my own and regret the need for leaving it yet again. I think my TV was one of the things I missed most from my apartment.

"Oh well," I sighed, grabbing the remote and pushing the power button. "Oh yeah," I muttered when nothing happened.

I shrugged at that and pushed the power button again, smiling as the TV actually came on this time. I looked down at the remote, thankful that I could use electronics again...though only with a bit of effort.

Over the past week, ever since I had gone to the fighting arena to check it out, I'd had a lot of time on my hands to think. And during that time, I had not only discovered the pleasures that my new body could provide me, but other things which could be quite useful.

"Very useful," I muttered as I put the remote down.

Since I didn't really have anything else to do at the time, I tried figuring out why my touch messed up any electronics that I touched...and apparently guns as well. After a little experimentation as well as some careful thinking, I figured out that I had some sort of invisible aura around my body that came out about an inch or so from my skin. And that aura interfered with anything electronic that got inside it.

After I figured out it was an aura messing with the things that I touched, I played around...doing a bit of trial and error until I finally figured out how to control it...at least to a degree. If I concentrated, I could pull that invisible aura closer to my body...  And once the aura was tight enough...skin tight to be exact, nothing could really get inside of it and be affected. Therefore, I could use electronics and things again...but only as long as I concentrated on keeping my aura close while doing so.

"Annoying," I told myself, "But effective..."

With that, I sat down and watched TV for a few minutes, though I quickly grew bored with that and went to the computer instead. I surfed the internet for a bit as well though couldn't really get into that either. My thoughts kept bouncing...jumping from topic to topic.

I spent a minute just thinking about my little game of grab-ass earlier, about all of the good things I had gained with my transformation. That was of course followed by the thoughts of all the bad things...of all that I had lost because of it. Ironically, I think my gender might have been one of the lesser things that had been lost. And of course, I thought about the fight I was scheduled to be in that night.

"The fight," I mused aloud, wondering what it was going to be like.

Finally, I let out a long sigh. I still had a good while to go yet before I had to be at the arena, but I decided it was about time that I started to get ready anyway. I stripped off my robe and moved to the middle of the floor to begin my stretches. If nothing else, the warm-up might help me get into the right mindset for the fight, because I sure as hell didn't intend to lose my first one.

I was backstage at the fighting arena, taking my time as I got ready. It was going to be my first fight...at least my first professional fight, and I was feeling both nervous and excited at the same time. Whoever would have thought that in just two weeks, I would have gone from being a male computer salesman to a female professional fighter. It was almost too strange to believe.

There were a number of other fighters wandering around as well, each of them getting ready for the fights in their own way. I couldn't help noticing that some of them were going with various themes and styles, much like the players in Kombat Champions. It almost made me feel nostalgic.

One guy was dressed up in black leather, with chains, studs, and the whole bit, looking like some kind of biker from hell. But, I'd caught him cracking a smile and joking with someone else a short time earlier, which kind of ruined his mean image...even after he went back to being in character.

Of course there were others as well, some of which didn't bother with anything too exotic. These types of fighters seemed to focus more on just being the best fighters they could be, without worrying as much about their image or fans.

Since it was going to be my first fight, I thought that I should come dressed appropriately. I was wearing the violet costume with blue and white trim which had come along with my body. Add to that my blue hair which was tied back in a long ponytail, and I created quite an exotic appearance. In fact, I looked like some kind of video game character...which wasn't a surprise to me at least.

"I fit right in," I chuckled, glancing at some guy who was busy putting on body paint spots to make him look almost like some kind of leopard. It was a cool effect though...

But, I did have one problem in that I didn't know who I was supposed to fight yet. Fortunately, Mr. Meeks came back to check on me before the fight, with Stan trailing along behind him.

"So who am I going to be fighting?" I asked him, feeling impatient and worried since no one had seen fit to inform me.

"I don't know yet," Meeks responded calmly. "Your opponents are selected randomly by drawing names... In fact, the drawing should occur very soon, and then you'll all be notified..."

I nodded at that, "Good," feeling just a bit more relieved that I wasn't being left out of the loop.

"A very impressive outfit," Meeks told me as he looked me over, "It creates quite an image..."

"Totally hot," Stan added with a lusty grin that made me a little uncomfortable.

"So," I grinned at Meeks, ignoring Stan for the moment, trying to change the subject from my outfit, "Are you putting a nice bet on me?"

"Honestly...no," he responded, giving a faint smile. "As much as I respect Stanley's ability to accurately gauge fighting talent, I have yet to see you fight myself. As your sponsor I have already made something of an investment in your fight, but I don't feel comfortable enough to risk anymore as of yet..."

"At least you're honest about it," I told him with a sigh.

"Oh, I do believe that you can fight," Meeks told me. "I just prefer not to wager too much on it just yet..."

It was around this point, though, that someone blew a loud whistle. I looked around, wondering what was going on until Meeks told me it meant they were drawing for matchups. And with a quick nod to him, I followed the rest of the fighters into the corner where someone was pulling out names.

My opponent turned out to be Jack 'the Tiger' Bresado, a decent sized man with shaggy black hair and a body that was ripped with muscle. His outfit consisted of a pair of loose fitting black pants...and black painted tiger stripes on his upper body. And from what I understood, he and the leopard spotted guy were actually brothers.

"The Tiger is gonna kick the little girl's ass," he gave me a threatening glare when our names were announced. "The Tiger is gonna enjoy this..."

I just stared at him for a moment, then turned to the biker guy standing next to me and asked, "Does he always refer to himself in the third person?"

The biker guy shrugged, "Pretty much..."

I rolled my eyes at that and muttered, "This is going to be interesting..."

It turned out that the Tiger and I were scheduled to fight in the second match, which I didn't think could come soon enough. I had just met the guy and already wanted to kick his ass right then and there.

When it was finally our turn, Jack 'the Tiger' and I went out to the arena floor while someone announced our names to the crowd. I looked around, feeling nervous at having so many people around me...watching my every move. I gulped, suddenly feeling a touch of stage fright.

Unfortunately, I quickly learned that I shouldn't have let myself get distracted because as soon as they hit the bell to start, Jack launched himself straight at me, hitting me with a powerful blow to my face. I went flying and hit the ground, already knowing that I was going to have a hell of a bruise from that. But I didn't have time to think about it as he was already kicking me in the ribs.

The crowd went wild in what seemed to be an even mix of cheering the Tiger and booing me. But I knew I couldn't let that distract me anymore... I had let my surroundings distract me from the start and was paying the price for that.

"The Tiger is gonna tear you apart," he grinned down at me, but I was already in motion.

I kicked his legs and knocked them out from under him. With a swift motion, I rolled myself back away from him, springing to my feet, then launching myself back at him. I grabbed his shoulders and flipped myself over him, using the force of my motion to pull him back with me and send him crashing to the floor.

The crowd cheered at my move, but I ignored it, and when the Tiger jumped back to his feet and came at me, I was easily able to block it...and the next few punches that he threw.

Though I was now a fighter, I didn't really know a whole lot about the martial arts...other than what I'd seen on TV and researched for Kombat Champions. I did know enough, however, to figure out that some of what my opponent was using was part tiger style kung fu...or some approximation of it, and part straight out street fighting. I had to admit that he was faster than I would have guessed...and he hit like a hammer. The side of my face still hurt from his first punch.

Now that I was grounded and focused, I realized that the Tiger wasn't nearly as fast as I was, or as naturally skilled. I was able to block and avoid all of his attacks, then return my own, easily getting past his defenses. The fight itself was over in just another minute and the crowd was going wild.

"Sloppy start," Stan told me when I left the arena, "But you followed through good..."

I just nodded, not needing to ask where Meeks was. I'd seen him up in his seat watching me as I left the stage. "I let myself get distracted," I grimaced, "It won't happen again..."

"Not if you want to get out of here with your teeth intact," Stan shrugged. "But you might want to get some ice on your face... You're gonna be having a real nice bruise tomorrow..." And with that, he hurried off again.

I had already had my fight, but I couldn't just go home right then. They didn't give out the prize money until the end of the night. Of course, I could pick it up from my sponsor later on instead, but I didn't think that I trusted Meeks enough to hold onto all of my money just yet, so I decided to stick around. If nothing else, I'd get to meet some more of the fighters.

While I was hanging around back stage, Stan close to me. Apparently, since he was the one to 'scout' me as they called it, he felt a personal responsibility to make sure I got off to a good start. He was even close by to answer any questions that I might have. However, I suspected that another part of his motivation might be that he had some kind of crush on me, which I found rather disturbing.

Then, it suddenly turned out that my night wasn't over quite yet. The bald woman with all of the tattoos that I'd seen the week before came in and glared at me for a moment before exclaiming, "I can take you... I challenge you... A grudge match... Tonight..."

"She means an additional match after the scheduled ones are over," Stan explained, "We usually have one or two challenge matches a week..." He glanced to the woman, "Usually the fighters bet their winnings from that night...but she didn't fight tonight..."

"I'll match your winnings," the woman glared at me, almost as if I'd done something to offend her. "Your winnings so far and I'll match them..."

"Good deal if you win," Stan told me. "But you don't get paid for the match itself, so if you lose..."

I walk out of here with nothing," I finished, earning a nod.

My first thought was to tell the woman to fuck off, but I was feeling a bit cocky after winning against the Tiger. I looked at the woman, remembering how she had fought the week before and nodding my agreement.

"The name is Kestra," I introduced myself.

"Sharon Sanwick," she responded coldly before turning and walking away.

"Does this happen often?" I asked Stan.

"Pretty much," he told me. "Sometimes people like to test the newbie fighters, and then you've got people trying to double their winnings against an easy win..."

"And which am I?" I asked him with a scowl.

Stan gave me a look and shrugged, "Both..."

It took me a moment to realize what Stan meant about me being an easy win. I was not only a newbie, and already made a newbie mistake, I had already been in a fight and had a number of good bruises to prove it. Sharon on the other hand had just come in and was nice and fresh, ready to go. She definitely had the advantage as far as that went.

"Just great," I groaned, "And I fell for it..."  Stan didn't say anything to that. He didn't have to.

Once the fifth match was over, it was time for Sharon and I to have our match. It was a grudge match...or a challenge match as the terms seemed to be interchangeable. And at the moment, I was ready for it...wanting to prove that I wasn't such an easy mark as she took me for.

As soon as the bell rang, Sharon and I attacked each other. We went at it with a series of punches and kicks, each of us effectively blocking and avoiding most of our opponents moves. Then she got back and launched a fast kick to my face, while I ducked down and threw a blinding punch to the unguarded space between her legs. For a guy, that punch would have ended the fight right then and there, but since she was a woman it would probably hurt a good deal but wouldn't actually cripple her.

"You bitch," she hissed, staggering back.

I just held back for a few seconds to let her recover, feeling a bit guilty for that punch. Of course it was perfectly within the rules of that competition and she wasn't a guy so didn't get the full effect, but I still felt a little bad, easily imagining how it would have effected me before my transformation.

Sharon recovered quickly, coming at me again. We went at it with another series of punches and kicks. This time, however, she didn't make any high ones which could leave her vulnerable. But that didn't do her any good as I kept getting past her defenses. She already had a number of bruises, and when I caught her in the middle of her stomach with a good kick and sent her flying, I knew I had won the fight.

Once Sharon had gotten to her feet and left the arena, she paused to glare at me for a moment. Then she finally said, "Good fight," before limping away.

"Not bad," Stan told me, "And I like that uppercut..." He cringed as he obviously imagined what such a punch would do to him, "Nasty... Very nasty..." I couldn't help grinning.

When I left the building a short time later, it was with a pocket full of cash. I'd earned a thousand dollars from my first fight just from showing up and fighting, and another four thousand from winning it. And add to that the fact that I had doubled my winnings by beating Sharon, and I left with ten thousand dollars more than when I'd arrived.

"Not bad for one nights work," I couldn't help grinning to myself.

I stood in front of Nancy's mirror, all dressed up and ready to go out. I was wearing a nice blue dress, a pair of high heels, and I even had makeup and blue fingernail polish on to finish it off. There was no doubt that I was quite a sight, though the truth was, I felt ridiculous.

"How can women stand this stuff?" I couldn't help asking myself. "And how in the world did I ever get myself into this situation?"

When I'd told Nancy about my victory at the arena last night, she had been ecstatic. She had even insisted that we go out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate. And of course, I was expected to pay for everything with my winnings...without my even getting a say in the matter.

Since we were going out to a nice restaurant, I needed clothes that would be appropriate for the situation. That meant another shopping trip, this time for things that were just a little more fancy, not to mention more expensive.

I frowned as I looked down at my high heels. Fortunately, they weren't nearly as difficult to walk in as I had been afraid. My sense of balance had gotten a hell of a lot better since my transformation.

"At least they make my legs look pretty nice," I admitted to myself.

For a moment, I just stood back and looked over my entire body, being forced to admit that I did look pretty damn good. Of course, it wasn't just that it was a nice dress but I also happened to fill it out pretty well.

Then my attention went to my face... My makeup was all done perfectly, not surprising since I'd had Nancy help me out with it. But what was more interesting to me was the fact that my face didn't show a trace the soft purple bruise I'd discovered on my face that morning.

I had taken a pretty good beating the night before during the fight, when the Tiger had punched me in the face and kicked my ribs. I'd been pretty bruised when I went to bed, but by lunch today, all traces of my bruises had faded away.

"It looks like I heal pretty well too," I smiled, mentally adding that to the growing list of good things about my transformation.

But that just reminded me of something else I had discovered just a short while earlier, or at least something that Nancy had pointed out to me while I was getting dressed up and ready. I had been in my current body for two weeks, but the hair on my legs and underarms didn't need shaving... They were just as smooth and hairless as when I had first changed, almost like I didn't even have any hair follicles in those places. Of course I considered that a good thing since having to shave my legs and underarms was not something I was eager to do.

"Come on," Nancy said as she stepped into the room, "Let's get going..." Then she paused to smirk, "Some women take forever to get ready..."

"Ha..ha," I responded, rolling my eyes slightly.

"You look very nice," Tom told me as I left the room. He gave me an appreciative look, though not too appreciative as he obviously didn't want to offend Nancy. In fact, he even glanced at her as if to make sure that he hadn't gone too far with his compliment. I thought that it was kind of funny.

When we arrived at the restaurant a short time later, I took one look at the menu and paled. "It's kind of expensive," I told Nancy, never having gone to a place where I had to spend so much for a meal.

"You're rich now," Nancy grinned at me, "You can afford it..." I only grunted at that.

Then after we ordered and were waiting for the food to arrive, Tom told me, "Congratulations on your new job... What exactly is it that you're doing?"

I frowned slightly at that. "It's not full time, but I'm giving self-defense demonstrations...."

Of course my explanation wasn't completely true, but it wasn't really a lie either. Technically I was giving self-defense demonstrations...at a VERY high level. But I doubted that he would have been all that understanding of me competing in underground martial arts tournaments with what was probably a lot of illegal gambling.

"Does that really pay that well?" he asked in obvious surprise.

"I do demonstrations for people with a lot of money," I told him, once again not quite lying.

Tom stared at me for a moment before saying, "Then you must be very good..." He sounded pretty impressed. "How did you get into that kind of thing?"

"Well," I said slowly, "It just kind of happened... I mean, I never really intended to get into martial arts, but one thing lead to another... Trust me, it was kind of a shock for me to realize that I'd suddenly gotten so good..."

"Really?" Tom asked me. "I thought that learning that kind of thing took years..."

"Yeah," I shrugged, not quite comfortable with the direction of the conversation. "I guess it usually does... I've been told that I have a natural ability."

At this point though, I decided that it might be better to find a safer line of discussion...or at least one where I wouldn't have to tell one lie after another. So I asked him what he did for a living and found myself listening to a long and detailed explanation about architectural design, which lasted through the rest of dinner.

When we finally got home several hours later, I had a good deal less money than when we'd left. But I had to admit that I did have fun. I had enjoyed the delicious food and all of the attention that I had gotten, being treated as a woman by Tom and the people at the restaurant. But mostly, I just enjoyed the company and being out with friends. That was something that I never really had much of in my old life...and never realized how much I had missed it until then.

When I woke up the next morning, it was with a faint smile at the memory of the dinner the night before. Even though the meal and new clothes for it had all put a nice dent in my wallet, it had been money well spent.

However, as I sat up in bed, I frowned. I was feeling a bit sick to my stomach or something... But it wasn't quite like a sick stomach... It was different...more like someone was tying my innards into knots.

I started to climb out of bed so I could go to the bathroom, when I froze, my eyes going wide. There was a bit of blood on the white sheets. I felt a surge of panic. My first thought was back to my fight with Jack 'the Tiger' and how he had been kicking me in my stomach... He must have hurt me worse than I thought if I was bleeding internally...

But after a moment, my initial surge of panic faded as a calmer reasoning replaced it... If I had been injured enough by the Tiger to have internal bleeding, I not only would have noticed something from it earlier, but I probably would have already healed from it, at least judging from how fast the bruises had healed. Instead, it dawned on me exactly where the bleeding was coming from and I realized that it could only mean one thing.

"Oh shit," I gasped. "I'm having a period..."

The moment I said it, I knew that it had to be true. In fact, I had been half expecting it and half dreading it. And now that I was finally having my period, I felt a twinge of relief that at least I knew for a fact that I was going to have one rather than just having to wait and guess.

"Just great," I grimaced bitterly, silently adding that to my list of bad things about my transformation. And it was damn near the top as well.

I remained where I was and let out a long stream of muttered curses, wondering what in the world I had ever done to deserve something like that. Then I finally decided to take care of my problem instead of just complaining about it, but even walking to the bathroom hurt.

Fortunately, Nancy had already gone over the whole feminine hygiene issue in great detail and had even made me buy whatever items I might need...just in case. At the time I had thought that it was kind of stupid, though now I was thankful. I even had a box of pads already waiting for me...

Once I had taken a shower and cleaned up, I got dressed and put on a pad, feeling disgusted with myself. I felt like I was wearing a diaper, though I realized it could have been worse. Nancy had given me the option of getting one of those things that would have gone up inside of me instead... I had shuddered at the very thought.

When I went out to have breakfast, Nancy asked, "What's wrong?"

For a moment, I just glared at her, then let out a sigh. "You know those feminine hygiene lessons you gave me? Well, they just came in handy..."

Nancy's eyes went open at that and she slowly responded, "I see..." She gave me a steady look for a moment before telling me, "I don't know whether to offer you my sympathy or my congratulations..."

"Gee...thanks," I responded wryly.

"Well...welcome to the club," Nancy told me. "It's official now. You're a woman..."

"Oh joy," I sighed.

"Don't worry," Nancy tried to reassure me, "It's not so bad once you get used to it..." However, that wasn't exactly very reassuring and I scowled in return.

The rest of the day was not a very good experience, nor were the next few days. I had cramps and I was bleeding from someplace that was entirely too personal for my comfort. The only thing that kept me from going insane was the fact that half the world's population went through that every month. And unfortunately, it looked like I would be among them.

But, much to my relief...and Nancy's envy, my period ended after a mere three days. It was over a lot faster than it would be for most women, but then again, I wasn't exactly normal. And I had a feeling that the reason my period ended so much faster was due to the same reason that I healed so fast. I just wasn't sure whether to add my short periods to my positive or negative list.

Once that whole messy unpleasantness with my body was over, at least for the month, I was able to focus my attention back on adapting to my new life. And that meant fighting since it was currently my only real means of making money. I had to admit that I was really looking forward to it though, as it not only let me make a living and try out what I was now capable of, but it was also a great way to get rid of stress.

When I went to the arena for the second time, I was ready for it and didn't make any stupid rookie mistakes. I defeated my opponent with incredible ease, though I consciously made an effort to make it look more difficult for me than it actually was so as to encourage other's to challenge me for a grudge match. It worked as the Tiger's brother, the Leopard, challenged me in order to regain his family honor or some such nonsense. I defeated him with ease and walked out at the end of the night with only a little less than I had made the week before.

A few days after my second match, Mr. Meeks contacted me with an offer of an extra fight... It turned out that there were similar arenas and fights in other cities. They traded fighters with each other to keep things exciting and new for both the fighters and the audience. He wanted me to fly over for a match the next day.

Unfortunately, I immediately realized I'd never be able to get anywhere without any identification so I would have to drive instead. Either that or take a train.

But at least Meeks was understanding about my little problem and had even offered to put me in contact with some people who could help me with it. Of course, that would come at a price... I would have to pay just about everything that I had won already, and a bit more. But considering my lack of legal identity, I knew it would be worth it.

The new location that I was sent to was pretty much like the old arena. Sure there were different fighters there, the rules were a bit different and they had a larger ring, but there were a lot of similarities as well. I quickly beat the first opponent they had matched me up against, then took my time with the second one so as to give a better show. And by the time I left for home, I had a decent chunk of change in my pocket.

And then finally, I came to my third match at my home arena. It had been a whole month since I had been so inexplicably transformed and I knew that I was losing touch with my old life and old self. But that didn't matter so much in the arena. In the arena...in the fights, I could cut loose and not have to worry about any of that. In the fights, I was the king...queen of the ring. My past didn't matter...even to me. All that mattered was the thrill of using my new skills.

I was feeling pretty excited as I sat in the back area, waiting for them to draw names for opponents. Of course, I knew no one there could beat me... I'd watched them all fight and knew that none of them could match my speed and power, and that was without taking any of my chi abilities into account. Whomever they matched me against, it would be easy money.

"This is going to be interesting," I mused to myself, especially since Nancy had come for the first time. I was determined to take it slow and easy with my opponent so as to give her a good show. If I beat him...or her too quickly... Well, I'd learned that the audience didn't really appreciate that much.

I looked down at my fighting costume, smiling as I did so. I hadn't washed the thing once since I had suddenly found myself wearing it after my transformation. But I didn't need to wash it. I had noticed that it never seemed to get dirty or stained. It never seemed to have any hint of body odor either. In fact, every time I put those clothes on, they were just as clean as if I had just taken them out of the wash.

"It looks like this body isn't the only one with special abilities," I mused to myself, thinking that this would certainly make my cleaning bill a lot smaller.

"Hey Kestra," someone called from the side.

"Yeah," I responded, looking up to see Stan coming towards me. He was holding something in his hands...

Stan shrugged, "I've got something for you..." He handed me a thick folder that was tied shut, saying, "The boss said that you'd know what it was..."

"Thanks," I told him, quickly opening the folder.

I stared at the contents for just a moment before smiling. There was a drivers license, social security card and birth certificate, all issued in the name of Karen Tracy Roads. The name Kestra would have been a bit too out of the ordinary so I had decided to let people just assume that it was a stage name or nickname. And what mattered wasn't so much the name on the documents, but the fact that I now had the documents themselves.

"Not bad," I mused, noticing that they all looked perfectly real and authentic.

Of course, I reminded myself, they had better look pretty damn authentic. They had cost me enough. In fact, they had cost me just about all of my previous winnings that I had left, and I'd had to borrow a little bit more from Mr. Meeks to finish the payment off. Now I owed him...including interest, and I couldn't afford to lose my next fight or two. But at least I didn't think that this would be much of a problem.

"Tell Meeks," I looked at Stan, "I'll get him what I owe him pretty soon..."

And as Stan rushed off to deliver that message, I put my new documents into my locker, feeling rather pleased with myself. With those, I wouldn't really have to keep fighting in those underground fights... Of course, I reminded myself, I would need to keep fighting long enough to earn enough to start with...and that might take me a couple of months. I liked being able to show off my skills and make money so easily, though, I wasn't happy that it was from something illegal.

Just a few minutes later, I was heading out to the arena floor for my first fight. I was excited at the chance of fighting again, but just a little nervous as well. My opponent was someone who had come in from another city for the night and whom I had never met. In fact, I didn't know anything about him.

I had just stepped into the arena and readied myself, when I saw my opponent and froze... My eyes widened and my heart nearly skipped a beat at the sight... It wasn't that my opponent was big and scary, or anything else of the kind. The fact was, he looked familiar. Too damn familiar.

My opponent stood on the opposite side of the arena, a pretty average sized man who was wearing a yellow ninja costume. It was outlandish, but I recognized it from the game...from Kombat Champions...

"For our next fight," the announcer said overhead, "Pi versus Kestra...."

The announcer had pronounced his name like pie rather than pee...but there was no doubt in my mind as to who this was. My opponent was Pi the Yellow Snow, the obnoxious ice elemental fighter from the game. Or at least it was someone who looked a whole lot like him.

But before I could think things through, the bell rang and the fight was officially started. Pi immediately came at me with a series of blinding punches that I was only barely able to block. He was fast...faster than anyone else that I had run into in the arena. And he followed the punches with a swift kick that caught me in the side.

"You're pretty hot looking," Pi told me. I couldn't see his face through the ninja mask, but I knew that he was smirking. "I'll try to beat you quick so we can go out and have some fun together..."

I grimaced, then went at him with a series of my own punches and kicks. Most of them got through his defenses, though none did as much damage as I had hoped. Still, I had impressed upon him the fact that I was a serious fighter...  On the other hand, that might not be a good thing as he wouldn't be as likely to underestimate me and let down his guard.

Pi and I both went at each other and I knew that I couldn't go as easy with him as I had with the others. He was faster than he looked and stronger. I wasn't about to make the mistake of underestimating him, even if he did keep making suggestive comments to me as we fought. I damn near screamed at him when he called me a 'blue haired whore'.

And then, Pi performed an impossible move, jumping up high into the air and then coming down straight at me with his foot extended in a powerful flying kick. It was a move that no normal fighter would ever be able to perform... at least not in the real world. But I had seen that move before...in the game.

I blocked Pi's kick, but the force of it sent me flying back. I hit the ground painfully, then rolled and sprang back to my feet. He laughed and tried that flying kick again, though this time I dodged to the side instead and punched him, causing him to collapse to the floor.

At this point, it was pretty obvious that Pi was getting pissed off. I'd been taking everything he threw at me and sending back more of my own. And he was obviously used to being the best fighter in the ring. He glared at me, tore the mask from his face and revealed a dark haired man.

Then he snarled, "You think you're hot stuff... Well maybe this will cool you off..."

Pi extended his hands, and a powerful burst of yellow water shot out of them and hit me right in the chest, sending me flying halfway across the arena until I hit the wall. The blast had come so fast that I hadn't been expecting it, though fortunately it hadn't done much damage. Still, it had thrown me off my game and sent me flying away.

If there had been any doubts at all as to my opponent's identity, they were now gone. That kind of water blast move could only be used in the game...or by someone like me who could perform that kind of game move.

The audience was gasping in shock and he was eating it all up... He bowed to the audience with a big grin on his face, making me realize that he loved the attention. Just like in the game...

However, Pi wasn't finished with his fancy moves just yet. Fueled by the success of that move, and the audiences reaction, he let loose with more. He fired a wave of yellow energy at me from his hands. And from the game, I knew that if this wave hit me, it would freeze me where I was for several seconds. Fortunately I was able to jump out of the way.

"Pi the Yellow Snow," I snarled at him, "You are going down..."

He stared at me with a look of surprise, "How do you know my title...?"

But he apparently decided that it wasn't worth worrying about because he sent another of those yellow freeze beams at me. This time I was ready for it and didn't move... Instead, I used my special 'reflection' technique, using my chi ability to create a mirrored force field that not only stopped his own chi attack...but bounced it right back at him. Pi yelled but became motionless as his body was covered with yellow ice crystals.

Pi was frozen and motionless for the moment, though still aware. If this followed the rules of the game, he would remain frozen for up to half a minute or until I actually hit him with any attack. Since I wasn't about to waste an opportunity, I ran up to him and sent a flying kick to his body, sending him flying back into what had to be a painful impact against the wall.

"Who the fuck are you?" Pi yelled at me, getting even more infuriated as he stood back up.

I wasn't really surprised that Pi hadn't recognized me... He had been an obnoxious player in the game, running around to just about everyone and trash talking... Everyone knew who he was. I had always been a much more serious player and I doubted that I had made enough of an impression on him for him to bother remembering me.

Then Pi reached behind him and suddenly pulled a ninja sword right out of mid-air. There had been no sign of it strapped to his back a moment earlier, so he must have summoned it the same way I did my own weapons. He was so pissed at the moment that he obviously no longer cared about the rule against using weapons in a hand to hand fight.

Since I wasn't about to be out done, I waited until Pi charged me with the sword, then suddenly pulled out my katars and blocked his attack. He stared at me in shock and stumbled backwards, gasping in disbelief.

"Let me introduce myself again," I told him with a smirk, holding my katars up for him to get a good look at them, "My name is Kestra...the Jagged Wind..."

"You...you're from the game," he gasped in shock.

I nodded faintly, definitely wanting to have a little talk to him about that... But at the moment, I wanted to beat him even more. He was too obnoxious to take it easy on just because I had a few questions to ask him. In fact, I had a feeling that I'd have more fun beating the answers out of him.

At this point, the whole crowd was going even more wild. There was no doubt that they were all as confused as hell about what was going on, but we were putting on such a show that they just had to be wondering what would happen next.

I glanced up into the audience and saw Nancy, staring at me and Pi with a look of stunned disbelief. It was obvious that she recognized him too...and realized what that might mean.

Just a moment later though, I was too busy to pay any attention to either Nancy or the audience. Pi and I were going out it with our weapons... He slashed at me with his sword and I would block and counter attack with my katars. He had the advantage in range...but I had two weapons...and could use one to block while simultaneously attacking with the other. I even saw several opportunities to slash him, though I wasn't about to actually try killing the man. I might have been turned into a fighter, but that didn't mean that I had suddenly become a killer as well.

After a few minutes of this, Pi realized that he was at a disadvantage... I was faster than him and more skilled...though I hadn't really been pushing my advantage as much as I could have. Still, the realization obviously frustrated him.

I wasn't at all surprised when Pi lost his temper and shifted tactics again. He might not have been a bad fighter in the game, but he had always put more effort into trash talk and annoying people than he had on improving his own abilities. And now that he was in the real world...and going up against someone who could handle his video game abilities, he didn't know what to do.

Pi yelled out a few more insults, then cut loose with his signature move. He sent out a beam of yellow energy from his hand, which missed me and hit the wall behind me, covering it with a thick sheet of ice. Then he tried again, taking one shot at me after another without much success. I was able to avoid or block all of his attacks.

"You're running out of chi energy," I told him, half surprised that he hadn't run out already.

Then he created a thick ice wall between the two of us, which he retreated behind to plan his next move. I was getting tired of this, though, so I channeled some of my chi energy into my katars...making them glow a faint blue. And with a loud yell, I charged straight for his ice wall, cutting straight through it and continuing straight towards him.

"You won't take me alive," Pi cried out as he slashed at me with his sword.

But Pi's sword wasn't a threat, not with the wild way that he was waving it around. I easily blocked his swing, then with a twist of my wrists, tore it from his hand and sent it flying across the floor. And before his sword even hit the ground, I had knocked him down and had one of my katars to his throat.

"I think I win," I told him coldly, seeing the look of fear and defeat on his face.

"I...I give up," he whimpered, looking almost as if he were about to cry. "Please don't kill me..."

"I won't kill you," I told him, putting my katars away a bit but leaving it there enough so that he knew I still had it readily available. For a moment, I just stared intently at Pi, my mind whirling with questions. "I just want to know how you got this way..."

Pi stared back at me and cautiously sat up. He gave me a nervous, suspicious look and nodded faintly. "I don't know..." He shook his head, "I was playing the game about three weeks ago when I guess my computer got hit by lightning or something... I woke up looking like this..." He shook his head again and scowled, "Hell, I don't even look like myself anymore..."

"I know what you mean," I told him with a frown. "But that's it...? You were just playing the game and got hit by lightning?" At his nod, I stood back and let him go, hardly able to believe that his story was nearly identical to my own.

I didn't say a word as I slipped my katars back to the limbo or nothingness where they were stored. I glanced to where Pi's sword had hit the ground, but it was gone...perhaps having vanished back to that same nothingness on it's own. I had noticed that my throwing knives tended to do that after they'd been thrown.

Then I shook my head and walked out of the ring, not paying any attention to the stunned and excited reactions from the audience. Nor did I pay any attention to the people who surrounded me after I stepped out... They were bursting with excitement and questions about what had happened, though I easily ignored them. I had much more important things to worry about. I had thought that I was unique...that what I had gone through was a one of a kind accident that could never EVER happen again. But Pi's existence had just proven me wrong...

"Something is going on," I told myself in realization, not at all pleased with it. "Something big..." I frowned, feeling a nervous chill run up my spine.

After this, I wanted to go and talk to Nancy about Pi and what he had told me, but I had to hang around if I wanted to collect my prize money. It was a bit too much money for me to just up and throw away.

But after that first fight, everything else that night was somewhat anticlimactic. None of the other fighters could put on anywhere near the show that Pi and I had...though it was sure fun to watch them try in a ring that was coated with ice.

And also unfortunately, after the display that I had put on in my earlier fight, no one wanted to challenge me to a grudge match. That was pretty disappointing to me as I had been hoping to double my prize money again. It was a good way to earn some extra cash...

Eventually though everything was over and I was able to go and collect my prize money. It wasn't as much as I was getting used to taking home from the fights, but it was still money in my pocket...or rather less money that I would owe Meeks.

Mr. Meeks was definitely not happy with my display and when he saw me, he immediately launched into a bit of a rant. "What the hell kind of show was that?" he demanded, "This is a fight, not some kind of circus... I can't believe that the two of you cooked up those fancy tricks..."

I frowned and listened to his rant for a minute, then told him, "Those weren't tricks." I gave Meeks a steady look, "There's more to this world than you imagine..."

"Really," he started, giving me a grim look.

I frowned, then reached behind me and pulled out one of my katars. He was a bit stunned since he was obviously pretty sure that I was unarmed. Then I held my katars up so he could get a better look and channeled a bit of my chi energy into it, just enough to make it glow.

"There's more," I said, slipping my katars back into it's vanishing sheath. Then I pulled out a throwing knife from my sleeve and set it down on the table. "Touch it," I told him.

Mr. Meeks scowled but picked up my throwing knife, even checking the balance with a skilled eye. It was apparent that he was no stranger to knives. But as he was holding the blade, it just vanished. It faded away as all my throwing blades did a short time after they had left my hand.

"What the?" he gasped in disbelief.

"I have a few special abilities," I told Meeks. "It's a long story, and I thought that I was the only one..." I scowled, "But obviously that's not the case. I won't use them in a fight...at least not normally. But Pi didn't give me much of a choice..."

After this explanation, Meeks was still a bit annoyed at the disruption to normal operations, but he wasn't about to push the subject. Especially not since just about everyone in the audience had been thrilled by the show...

"I just hope that they don't expect more," I muttered as I left Meeks.

I had barely left Meeks when I suddenly found myself face to face with a well dressed man. There was another man behind him, who I suspected was probably a bodyguard from the way he stood.

"Hey, that was a great fight," the man grinned at me, his eyes flashing with excitement. "I couldn't believe it... All that incredible action... Those skills... And of course, those special effects. Incredible."

"Um...thanks," I responded, not sure how to handle such praise.

"Who did your choreography?" he asked me in a rush.

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

However, the man pushed, "Your choreography was spectacular..."

"There wasn't any," I told him with a frown. "That fight was kind of spur of the moment..."

"You came up with all of that on the spot?" he stared at me in disbelief. "Amazing..."

I nodded at that, "Sorry, but I've got to get going. I have a friend to meet up with..."

"I understand," he told me, suddenly looking a lot more serious. "But while you're still here, I was wondering if you might be interested in a job offer..."

"What?" I asked him, suddenly suspicious.

The man pulled out a business card and handed it to me. Then he stood there with a confident look on his face, as if he expected me to recognize his name. But when I looked at the card, the name did sound a little familiar though I couldn't place where. The business name, however, was familiar.

"Chase Maxwell from Clarion Movie Studios," I read aloud. If I remembered right, Clarion movies were fairly cheap ones...the kind that usually went directly to the video store shelves.

"I'm just starting to direct a new movie," the man...Chase told me, "And I was hoping to give you a role in it..."

"What?" I blinked in surprise, momentarily forgetting all about my search for Nancy.

Chase nodded, looking quite serious all of a sudden. "I'm making a new movie with Tyler Reese..."

The name Tyler Reese was definitely one that I recognized. He was an actor who made a lot of action movies. He wasn't A list and had only been in a couple of movies that actually went to the big screen. Most of his movies were direct to video...and made by Clarion studios...

"I'd like to offer you a role," he repeated, then went on to explain.

It turned out that the movie was another action movie, which wasn't at all surprising considering that Tyler Reese was the star. However, what did surprise me was the role that Chase was offering me. He wanted me to play the main villain's right hand woman...the enforcer who killed off the hero's wife and who then fought him throughout the movie before finally getting killed in the end.

"It sounds interesting," I admitted, feeling more than just a little excited at having been offered a position in any movie...

"With the way you moved out there," Chase exclaimed, the excitement lighting up his eyes again. "You'd be great..."

"I'll think about it," I told him honestly, not just saying it because it was polite.

Chase nodded, "Please say yes... Give me a call within the next couple days..."

Once Chase was gone, I looked through the crowd of people who were leaving the arena to see if I could spot Nancy. I couldn't find her, but I did suddenly see another face that I recognized... It was an old man with a white beard...and he was staring straight at me.

"What the hell?" I gasped in surprise.

The old man who was staring at me looked exactly like the Kombat Master from the game... That was the non-player character who was their spokesman, who appeared on the screen whenever you logged on and who acted as the referee in all of the tournaments.

But just then, someone walked between us and I lost sight of him for a moment. And by the time the path was clear a second later, there was no sign of the old man.

"Wait," I blurted out, wanting to bet a better look at him. But it was too late. The old man was nowhere to be seen.

I just stood there for a moment, not sure if I had actually seen the Kombat Master...a fictional video game character, or if I had just been imagining it. After all that had happened with me and after meeting up with Pi, I obviously had the game on my mind. I could have just been seeing things...putting mental connections were there were none. But I didn't think so.

"Damn," I spat out.

Then I shook my head, feeling shaken and uncertain. I had been having a hard enough time just trying to adapt to my circumstances, and now it looked like my 'accident' might not actually have been one. Something extremely strange was going on and I didn't like it at all. It made me feel like someone was playing games with me...and my life.

"Maybe Nancy will have some ideas," I muttered grimly, "Because I sure as hell don't.

I frowned slightly as I looked at the business card in my hand, wondering why it was that all of my latest job offers seemed to come in the form of business cards. It was kind of odd, though I had to admit that it seemed to offer a certain style as well.

"A movie with Tyler Reese," I mused, thinking of the offer that Chase Maxwell had made to me the night before. I had to admit it sounded interesting. Very interesting.

"Are you still thinking about that movie thing?" Nancy asked as she came into the room, noticing that I had the business card in my hand.

I just nodded at that, "Yeah. It is pretty tempting...but I don't know if I can do something like that right now."

Nancy frowned, "I know what you mean... Things have been kind of weird for you lately..."

"That's putting it mildly," I gave her a weak grin.

We sat there for a few minutes in silence before Nancy finally said, "About last night..."

I looked at her, "About Pi?"

She nodded at that, "Yeah."

We had talked about the fight with Pi a little bit on the ride home, though not too much. Instead, I had been lost in my own thoughts as I had tried to make sense of all that had gone on. First I'd run into Pi and then there was the old man who looked like the Kombat Master.

"He told me," I said slowly, "He told me that he got struck by lightning... And he said that it happened three weeks ago..."

"Three weeks?" Nancy asked.

I nodded at that. She knew quite well that I had transformed four weeks earlier, so he had changed a week after me. My own change had made no sense whatsoever, but now that I knew that Pi had been changed in the same way...and while playing the same game...

"There's something really weird going on with that game," I told her grimly. "Somehow it's tied to that game..."

"Because you and Pi were both changed into you characters?" she asked unnecessarily.

"Yeah," I agreed, "But there's more..."

I hadn't told her about seeing the Kombat Master as well... In fact, I hadn't even been sure that I really had seen him, or if it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. Hell, it could have just been someone who had been there to watch the fights and who just happened to resemble the game character. But that struck me as pushing coincidence a little further than I thought it should go at the moment.

"Maybe I'm being paranoid," I told her, silently wondering if you were still considered paranoid if they really were out to get you. "But I saw something else after the fight..."

And with that, I told her all about my seeing the Kombat Master. I quickly added my own doubts, that it might not have been anything more than coincidence or my own imagination. But Nancy seemed to agree that it seemed a bit too much of a coincidence.

"This is starting to get weird," she told me.

"Starting?" I blinked in surprise. "It got weird a month ago..."

"Yeah, I guess," Nancy looked at me. "But at least you're adjusting..."

"No choice," I told her. "It's either that or go insane." Then I shrugged, "I guess people can adapt to just about anything..."

"You're living proof of that," she smiled.

"Any ideas about Pi and the Kombat Master?" I asked her.

Nancy shook her head, "None. It's just too...weird."

I nodded, understanding completely. Something strange was going on and it was so far out of the ordinary, out of everything we knew about reality that we had no way to really make any sense of it.

So instead, we changed topics again. Nancy asked me, "What are you going to do about that movie?"

"A real movie," I mused, "And a it's got Tyler Reese in it..."

"But you'll just be playing the villain," Nancy grinned.

I thought about it for a moment and nodded, "Sounds like fun..."

Then I held the business card up and stared at it again, giving it a thoughtful flick with my finger. And at that moment, I finally decided to go ahead and do it. I was going to call Chase Maxell and say yes...

I frowned and let out a long sigh, feeling just a little bit frustrated. My clothes weren't exactly comfortable, and I had spent half the day doing the same thing over and over again. It didn't help that there were people yelling all over the place.

"Why did I ever take this job?" I muttered to myself.

It was my first day on the set of the movie, or at least my first day in costume and in front of the camera. I'd been around there for several days before this to get the costume made up for me and to get my lines. But still, I was amazed at just how quickly I'd gone from being handed the business card to be being on set. It had only been a week and a half.

Unfortunately, I had already discovered that things weren't as easy as I had imagined they would be. There were a couple people who were upset at me because I took over the role of the villain enforcer, a role that was previously supposed to go to an actress friend of theirs. But since she didn't have the martial arts background, she found herself replaced at the last minute by yours truly.

Then there were the problems with my trying to memorize my lines. I might have had the necessary martial arts talent for the role, but I didn't think I had the acting background. I was damn well going to try, though, and Chase Maxwell was being very patient with me.

But, my biggest problem so far was Tyler Reese, the star of the movie. He wasn't quite as patient with me when I screwed up my lines, but what was worse was his arrogance. The man seemed to really buy into his own press and believed that he was a fantastic martial artist. However, I knew better and it took all of my self-control to keep from giving him a real lesson in martial arts.

"Ugh," I muttered as I took my hair and looked at it. It was now raven black, having been dyed that color that morning. I hadn't realized I was going to have to dye my hair for the movie, and that meant that I would have to do it every morning. "Talk about a pain in the butt..."

I was relieved that I had been able to talk them out of cutting my hair for the movie though. At first they had insisted on it, saying they thought my character should have shorter hair. But once I made it clear that I had no intention of cutting my hair for them, they dropped the subject.

"And these clothes," I muttered, shaking my head slightly.

Of course I had to admit that the black leather outfit they had me wearing made me look like a real badass bitch, but it was somewhat uncomfortable as well. The fact that it was warm and sunny out and I happened to be wearing black leather didn't exactly do much for my comfort level either.

After our short break was over, it was time to get back to work filming. Chase Maxwell was blocking, going over where everyone would stand and what they would be doing. I nodded, remembering the script that I'd read through. Fortunately I wouldn't have to say anything in this scene, merely stand by the main villain and look tough. I could do that.

"That was horrible," Tyler Reese complained after the first take. "You just stood there..."

"I thought that was what I was supposed to do," I snapped back at him. "In fact, Chase's exact words were to stand here and look mean..."

"Don't get smart with me," Tyler snapped.

But I just smirked, "What's the matter...? You need a girl to be dumb so that you can keep up with her?"

Tyler gave me a glare which made me think that I might have gone a little too far. "Listen," Tyler growled, "Chase may think that you're some kind of hot shit because you can throw pyrotechnics around in a staged fight, but you don't know the first thing about being a real fighter..."

It was then that it dawned on me. Chase must have been bragging about my fight with Pi and it had hurt Tyler's pride. After all, he was supposed to be the hot fighter on set and he couldn't let some girl out stage him.

"Oh, I'm really impressed," I snorted in response, rolling my eyes as I did so. That obviously upset Tyler even more.

"If you really think you're such hot stuff," Tyler glared at me, "Let's have a little...sparring match."

I let out a sigh at that, then shrugged, "All right... Where?"

Tyler just grinned, "I know just the place..."

It turned out there was a sparring area set up just a short distance away, where the various stuntmen in the movie could practice their martial arts moves. After taking just one look, I knew that Tyler was right when he'd said that it was just the place.

Most of the crew on set began to gather around as the two of us squared off in the middle of the training area. Tyler had an arrogant air about him and looked at me as though it was going to be an easy victory. He was obviously looking forward to showing off his skills by beating the person Chase had been bragging about.

"You ready to learn what real fighting is about?" Tyler smirked, "I've fought in tournaments against some of the world's best...so I'm just the guy to teach you."

"So go on and teach already," I rolled my eyes again.

Tyler came at me, a little faster than I would have expected. However, he still wasn't as fast as I was and I easily blocked and avoided his first couple of attacks. He sped up and put in more intensity, while I just smiled and acted as casual as I could, avoiding each and every attack and intentionally making it look effortless.

"So," I let out a yawn, 'When is this lesson supposed to begin?"

I had to admit that Tyler was definitely better than I'd given him credit for. I'd seen his movies and knew he had a great reputation as a fighter, but I had always assumed that a large part of it was the fact that every fight in his movies was carefully choreographed. But he was better than that, better than a few of the people that I'd encountered in the arena. However, he wasn't as good as I was. In fact, he wasn't even close.

It didn't take long for Tyler to begin realizing how outclassed he was, though to his credit he kept it up. He got frustrated, but not too much so. In fact, he became more focused which meant that I had to put forth a little more effort as well. I even started to retaliate by giving him a few punches and kicks as well, one of which sent him flying a dozen feet before he hit the ground.

"Enough," he grimaced, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "I give..."

There was a gasp of surprise from our audience, which had grown even larger without my realizing it. They had seen the whole fight and most of them were looking at me with expressions of amazement.

"Damn you're good," Tyler admitted, looking embarrassed.

Then I noticed a look on Tyler's face and let out a faint gasp. I suddenly realized that this whole sparring match hadn't been about his pride and proving that he was the best... At least not completely. It was him trying to prove how tough and macho he was... It was him trying to impress me...

"Maybe we can go out to dinner sometime," he suggested with a more pleasant smile. "Maybe tonight... You can tell me how you did that kick..."

"Oh God," I groaned, realizing that Tyler Reese...a movie star was hitting on me. I could almost feel sick to my stomach, and not at all in a good way.

Tyler gave me what was obviously his most charming grin, "You're as skilled as you are beautiful..."

I decided that I couldn't let him go any further and cut him off right there. "I'm not interested..." Then I added, "You're not my type..."

"I am if you give me a chance," he smirked.

"Ugh," I grimaced, unable to help but roll my eyes at that. Was I ever that bad back when I had been a guy? I sure as hell hoped not. It was almost pathetic. "I'm not into guys," I told him with a sigh, hoping that he'd get the hint.

Tyler stared at me for a moment and let out an, "Oh... You're gay?"

For a moment I just stood there, then I nodded, "I guess I am..."

After all, I still liked women, and since I now was one myself, I guessed that did make me officially gay. Hallelujah, I'm a lesbian.

Just then, Chase called out, "Enough lollygagging... We've got a movie to make..."

Tyler grimaced and walked off, looking pretty embarrassed at not only having just been shown up by a girl in front of his film crew, but that he'd just been hitting on a lesbian as well. I almost felt sorry for the guy.

I let out a sigh and started walking back to the main set where we had been working, when a young woman who was about 20 or 21 came up to me. She was very pretty, had fairly short blonde hair and a small stud through one side of her nose. I recognized her as one of the camera operators named something like Tanya or Amber, though I wasn't quite sure.

"Hey," she greeted me, "I'm Tina..." She gave me a gentle smile as if she wasn't sure if I remembered her or not. I was kind of thankful that she did give me her name again because I wouldn't have remembered it right otherwise.

"Hey," I nodded back.

"That was a great fight," she grinned at me, "I loved that look on his face when you sent him flying like that." Then she laughed, "It was priceless...."

"It was kind of fun," I admitted with a grin back.

"So," she paused, suddenly looking embarrassed, "I heard what you told him... Are you? Gay, I mean?"

I let out a faint sigh at that, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hit on you or anything."

But Tina blinked, "Actually...I kind of wish you would."

I blinked at and stared at her, realizing that she was a bit self-conscious. Then it dawned on me... "You're a lesbian?"

"Yeah," Tina gave me a nervous smile. "And I think you're gorgeous. And the way you do that stuff... Absolutely incredible."

"Um...thanks," I responded, not sure how to respond to that revelation.

For a moment, I just stood there, feeling a bit confused. In the month and a half since my transformation, I had been far too busy to think about any kind of romance. I had no idea what my transformation would mean for my already less than stellar love life. Hell, I didn't even know if I was going to suddenly find myself starting to like guys or not, so I had done my best to try not even thinking about the subject.

"You're very pretty too," I told her honestly, knowing that I would have given my left nut to be with someone like her before my transformation.

"Maybe we can have dinner sometime," Tina suggested with a nervous but eager smile.

I nodded at that, then smiled back, "Tonight? After filming?"

"That sounds great," Tina grinned. Then she looked back towards the set where everyone was getting back into position and said, "I guess we should get back to work..."

"I guess," I shrugged, feeling rather happy for some reason. I looked at Tina and felt even better. I couldn't wait until dinner that night.

The rest of the day filming when better than that morning. We finished the scene we had been working on after several more takes, then went on to film a couple more scenes where I could be a bit more active. It helped that I was a bit more in my element with the fighting scenes, and it helped even more that Tyler's attitude towards me had changed. Now that he respected my fighting ability and knew that nothing would ever happen between us, he became a lot more respectful and professional. It was a huge relief.

Once the filming was over for the day though, it was finally time for me to spend a bit of time with Tina. I was definitely excited about our dinner, though I had to admit that I was pretty nervous as well.

Ever since my change, I hadn't allowed myself to even consider the possibly of having any kind of romantic relationship with anyone, so I didn't really know how to deal with the fact that the possibility of one presented itself now. Could I tell her about my past...about who I really was? And if I did, how would she react to such a thing? Would she think that I was some sort of freak and be totally disgusted?

In the end, I decided to just be myself and not tell her anything about my transformation or who I had been before. After all, I'd have to be insane to tell anyone that kind of thing on a first date, especially when there was no doubt they'd think I was insane.

Before long Tina and I were sitting back at a restaurant. It wasn't a big fancy restaurant or anything else, but it was a step or two above Burger King. And to my relief, she was nervous as well, and the fact that I wasn't the only one really made it all easier on me.

"What you did today was great," Tina told me after we'd been sitting there in a nervous silence for nearly a minute. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

I was silent for a moment, then carefully told her, "I wasn't something that I ever really intended to learn... It just sort of happened. I mean, I just sort of picked it up and before I realized it, I knew how to fight..."

"Amazing," Tina responded, "You make it look so effortless..."

"So," I started, changing the subject, "What about you? How did you get into making movies?"

Tina perked up a bit more as she began talking about herself and giving me her life story. It wasn't really much of a story, just that she had always loved movies so had gone to film school and now worked behind the camera, with hopes of one day being able to direct.

I was a little uncomfortable with talking too much about myself, and for good reason, so I kept diverting the topic of conversation every time things got a little too personal. It wasn't perfect but it was about the only way that I could deal with her without actually lying about myself.

There was no doubt that I did like Tina, and as our dinner and conversation went on, long after we had finished eating, I found myself liking her more and more. She was bright, energetic and a genuinely nice person. And of course the fact that she was good looking and thought the same about me didn't hurt any either.

However, I was becoming a little worried that she might be expecting too much from any relationship that we might be starting. And I was still a bit confused about what I wanted...and was capable of giving from a relationship myself. Ever since my change, a lot of the things I had taken for granted had been wiped away and I was still working on figuring out where I stood.

"I recently went through some pretty traumatic personal experiences," I told Tina as gently as I could, trying not to scare her off. "I'm not sure how to handle this all right now..."

"What are you saying?" she asked carefully, looking a bit defensive.

I took a deep breath, then said, "I was hoping that we could take this a bit slow for now..."

Tina let out a sigh of relief, then smiled, "Okay... I can handle that..."

After we left the restaurant, more than an hour after we had finally finished eating, we spent another few hours just going for a walk around a nearby park and talking to each other. It was all pretty nice and I was kind of hoping that the evening wouldn't end, though of course it had to.

"I hope that this isn't going too fast for you," Tina teased me a little as she moved to give me a quick kiss.

However, our quick kiss quickly turned into something just a bit longer and more passionate. God it felt good to be able to kiss a girl again. It had been so long since I'd been so close and personal with a girl...even before my transformation.

When we finally pulled apart a few minutes later, I gasped, "Wow..."

"We're gonna have to do that again," Tina grinned at me.

"Tomorrow?" I asked her with a grin back.

Tina grinned back at me but didn't say another word as we were soon locked into yet another kiss, followed by two more. And when we finally broke off and went our separate ways, I was in a damn good mood. I felt like I was floating on air. And the best thing was...I was going to go through it all again the next day.

I leaned back and let out a long sigh of relief, thankful that I finally had a chance to just sit back and relax. Over the last few weeks, I had been so busy that I'd barely even had time to breath...or at least that was what it felt like sometimes. Of course my last couple weeks might have been extremely busy, but that didn't mean that they were bad in the least. In fact, the last two weeks had been some of the most fun I'd ever had in my life.

Then I let out another sigh, pulled my strange gremlin aura in and turned on the TV which had been provided with my hotel room. I figured that I had better make use of it while I could since I would be moving out of it and going back home...or at least back to Nancy's place in another day or so. After all I was only there so that I could film a movie, and I had finished it the day before...or at least my part was over.

But even though the TV was now on, I didn't really pay any attention to it. After all, interesting could TV be when compared to my real life? I had been hit by lightning and completely transformed, become a somewhat professional fighter and had even been making movies... What could TV have that was more exciting than all of that?

I smiled as I thought about making the movie... It had definitely been pretty interesting, especially the parts where I got to spar with Tyler Reese on screen. Of course that was all choreographed and wasn't anything like a real fight, but it was still a blast. I even had fun doing the part where I lost the fight with him and his girlfriend put a bullet through my head because he couldn't bring himself to kill a girl.

"I don't think I'd mind doing that again," I grinned to myself.

Of course, I just might get another chance. Chase had said that he was pretty impressed with my 'kick ass fighting' and that I was picking the acting stuff up pretty quickly. I thought that he was exaggerating a bit, or at least about he acting part, but he had said that he was seriously considering me for the lead in his next movie. I had to admit that I was pretty excited by the idea of being a star.

"It's not like it pays a lot," I muttered to myself, still grinning. Or at least the acting didn't pay all that much compared to how much I could win fighting in the arena, but that wasn't really the point. And besides, as an added bonus, it was legitimate and legal work as well. "I guess that would mean paying the IRS too..." That was a part of it that I definitely didn't like.

Making money by fighting in the arena wasn't something that I had given up just yet anyway... Even though I had been making a movie for the past two weeks, I'd made sure to go to my fights as well. That was easy money that I wasn't about to just throw away, especially when I had fun showing off my skills. And I had to admit that another motivation was the thought that I might run into more people like Pi and myself, though so far there had been no sign of any others.

"But at least it's easy money," I reminded myself with a grin. I knew that I had been making a good amount of money for Mr. Meeks as well, which made him more than happy to pay for my plane tickets to the fights and back.

And then of course, there was Tina. The two of us had been seeing quite a bit of each other, and not just on set either. In fact, we'd been getting together just about every night after filming, except when I had fights, and we were getting pretty close. I wasn't sure about using the word love, but we were definitely in lust with each other. Most of the time when we got together, we ended up doing some pretty heated making out...and I had little doubt that it wouldn't be much longer at all before I was ready to take things to the next level.

I glanced at the door and smiled, knowing that Tina would be over as soon as they were filming for the day, and I couldn't wait. In fact, I had been thinking that it might very well be the day to take our physical relationship to the next level. I felt that I had finally accepted myself enough to do that.

"I can't believe how fast I'm getting used to this," I said, looking down at my body. Every day it was less and less like a 'new' body, and more and more it was just becoming 'my' body. There were even times when I couldn't quite remember what I had looked and felt like before my transformation. "It seems so long ago..."

It had been almost two months, and so much in my life had changed since then. I had changed so much since then...and not just physically. There was no doubt that I was also stronger mentally...able to accept and deal with things in ways that I never would have been able to consider before. It was amazing what experience could do for your outlook on life...and of yourself.

"And I'll be back with Nancy again tomorrow," I smiled. Tina might be my girlfriend, but there was no doubt that Nancy had become my best friend. She knew things about me...about the real me that no one else in the world did. She was the one who had been there for me when I really needed it.

I felt a strange mix of emotions as I thought about the fact that I'd now saved up enough money to move out of her spare room and get a place of my own again. Hell, I could even afford to replace just about everything that I'd abandoned when I left my old life behind. Having that kind of independence and privacy again would be great, but at the same time, I'd feel a bit sad to leave Nancy as well.

"It's not like I'll never see her again," I snorted to myself.

I could see Nancy again whenever I wanted. And I could also see Tina... My only concern was being able to see them both easily. If I lived closer to Nancy, I might not be able to see Tina as much as I'd like, and if I moved closer to Tina, the same might be true of Nancy.

Just then, there was a knocking at the door. "It's unlocked," I called out, knowing that it was Tina. She always knocked the same way, a sort of hesitant knock at first, followed by a couple more insistent ones.

"Hey," Tina grinned at me as she came inside, bringing a smile to my face.

"Hey yourself," I greeted her with a kiss.

But as we broke apart from our kiss, I noticed something on TV from the corner of my eye. It was a breaking news report on a local channel, about some lunatic creating a huge scene at the nearby mall. I barely gave it much thought until they put a live camera shot of the lunatic onto the screen.

"Oh shit," I gasped in surprise, my eyes going wide in amazement.

"What?" Tina asked, then stared at the TV herself, "Oh wow..."

We watched the images on TV for a few more seconds, with my heart nearly jumping up into my throat. This lunatic was running around, throwing things around the mall and creating chaos. According to the news, he had been caught shoplifting, or of at least taking what he wanted from one store and walking out. When a security guard had tried stopping him, he went ape shit on the guard...and anyone else who came at him.

"I need a ride," I told Tina in a cracking voice.

"What?" Tina asked in surprise.

"I need a ride fast," I told her grimly as I picked up the duffle bag that held my uniform. I gave her a steady look, "I'll explain later, but we have to go NOW."

Tina was obviously confused, but she did as I wanted and without asking any questions, though I could see a thousand of them in her eyes. My mind however was more concerned with the lunatic at the mall. When I had seen him on TV, I had immediately recognized him. I recognized him...but not from real life. I recognized him from the game...

To Be Continued