The first thing Pinkamena felt after he said those words was confusion, then immense pain in the back of her head and her spine after he pulled his arm back, her still in his grip clawing his arms to try to get him to let go, and threw her through the wall! The walls may have been made out of sturdy wood, but it was clear whoever this was, had no lack of strength, it was almost to the point of inhuman.

She lay on the floor on the other side of the wall, looking up at the hole she came through. Chunks of wood stabbed in her back, slight bits of steam coming from under her as they were pushed out and her body began to heal.

The behemoth of a man walked through the hole foot first, walking into the light and revealing the details of this person. Her assumption was correct, he was indeed around seven feet tall, maybe even taller. And he was huge, she could practically see the muscles bulging underneath his clothes, as if they were barely able to hold them in. He wore a large, black overcoat which was currently unbuttoned, revealing the white t-shirt he was wearing underneath, that had completely covered both of his arms. There was a big outline of body armor that she could see under his shirt, which meant he was wearing body armor. A pair of black jeans covered his large legs, and a pair of black steel-toed boots covered his feet. But, other than his massive size, there were two things about this guy that caught her interest.

The first was his face, more specifically, the lack of what she could see. His hair was in a spiked up buzz cut like a soldier would have, the color of it an almost white gray, like an old man would have. But she couldn’t make out any more details, due to the gas mask on his face. It was a dark black and covered his entire face, the only part visible was his green eyes behind the facemask. There was a red valve at the bottom of the gas mask to help him breathe, a blue canister on each side of it. The strange thing about this gas mask, was it seemed to release something out of the canisters each time he exhaled, she could tell because it was in sync with the rise and fall of his chest. It was a gas of some sort, but seems to evaporate soon after coming out of him. It was dark white, similar to the steam that came off of her when her body heals, but thicker, almost like fog. And she also wondered how his voice wasn’t muffled by the gas mask, or maybe he was just being loud enough that it didn’t sound like he was.

Then there were his hands.

His left hand, like the rest of his body, was huge! Easily able to crush a person’s skull like a grape. But it also had multiple scars on it, battle scars, if she had to guess.

But it was his right hand that caught her interest, and surprise.

It wasn’t a human hand, it wasn’t even made out of flesh. In the place of a human hand, there was a metal one, made out of carbon steel. It was the same size as his other hand, but unlike the human one, it wasn’t shaking out of rage, it was simply just clenched into a fist, moving only when he exhaled. That explained why he didn’t even react when she dug her claws into his hand, he couldn’t feel it since metal didn’t have nerves.

“Holy shit are you a cybor-”

Before she could continue, he stomped his foot on her left hand, the familiar sound of bones being crushed filled Pinkamena’s ears as she felt the brunt pain from her hand. She let out a short scream as this happened, but he didn’t give her the chance to do anything else. He quickly grabbed her by the throat, nearly crushing her windpipe as he lifted her up.

Then, he let go of her, and while she was still in the air, he hit her in the stomach with his robotic arm, sending her straight through the steel doors in the narrow hallway. Her spine shattering in the process, she was getting far too familiar with the feeling of having all her ribs being broken.

Since her windpipe was still healing, she was unable to make a single sound as her body slammed into one of the tables in the meeting hall. It got pushed back in the process, but it at least prevented her from being thrown any farther.

For whatever reason, Starlight had still been in the meeting hall, though this time it was only her in there. She had been sitting in a table a few feet away from where Pinkamena landed when she was thrown in, writing in a small, dark blue book, a journal of some sorts? It didn’t matter what it was, because as she looked up in surprise and fear when she saw Pinkamena slam against that table with enough force to push it back a couple feet, she immediately closed the book with the pencil still in it and put it in a pocket in the black vest.

Pinkamena tried to push herself up, but she could barely even flinch. She could move her hands, even the crushed one despite how painful it was. But the rest of her body wouldn’t comply. The pain in her back was beyond agonizing, the pain in her lower body due to all her ribs being broken was immense, but seemed pathetic in comparison. Her pain tolerance was high, but even this would make her whimper. Which she couldn’t even do since her throat was nearly crushed, all she could do now is make light wheezing noises as she breathed and tried to push herself off the ground. She was lucky she could even breath, it was surprising none of her ribs punctured her lungs and that she wasn’t drowning in her own blood right now.

“Pinkamena! What happen-”

“Stay back!”

His voice bellowed throughout the room as he walked through the steel doors he threw her through, stopping Starlight from getting up from the table.

“Michael? Why are you-”

“Stop. Talking.”

She closed her mouth quickly and could only watch in fear as Michael walked towards Pinkamena, his eyes filled with rage and focused only on her. Pinkamena could feel the steam come off her body and out of her mouth as her body rapidly tried to heal itself, the spine taking the longest. She tried her hardest to push herself off the ground, her eyes fading from crimson to baby blue as she looked at Michael getting closer and closer to her.

“Pathetic,” Michael said as he looked down at Pinkamena, who was barely able to push herself up on two arms. He then slowly rose his foot up and slammed it on her back, slowing down the healing of her spine, and slamming her back on the ground.

“You can’t even take a hit from me without something breaking, Igneous could take several of my punches and barely even flinch.”

A flicker of anger sparked inside her at his name, she begun pushing herself up again, raising his foot with her.

“How cute.” He said smugly as he raised his foot off her back, pulling it back as he kicked her in the ribs. He kicked her hard enough to cause her body to jump off the ground for a moment, then land back on it with a hard thump. She could do nothing as she coughed up blood, splattering on the floor before her.

“You know, when Igneous and I first fought, it actually did play out a little something like this. Except I was the one on the ground coughing up blood with broken ribs, though I didn’t have the benefit of a healing factor. But even then,” For a moment, the anger seemed to leave him as he turned to his mechanical hand. Then it returned as he clenched his fist, looking down at Pinkamena. “I put up a better fight than you.”

Pinkamena giggled quietly as she wiped some of the blood off her mouth, though it came out as quiet and hoarse since it was incredibly painful to talk and her throat was barely letting her do so. “He’s the one who took your hand, right? What, he catch you jerking off to-” Before she could finish, Michael punched her across the face, breaking her jaw and causing several teeth and blood to land on the floor in front of her.

“Your father took my hand off because I tried to kill him, specifically, how. Instead of challenging him like a man, I behaved like a coward and tried to poison him. And as I found out, your kind seem to have a resistance to it. Pissed off that I would resort to such a tactic, he cut off my hand. And on that day I swore I would kill your father, the toughest man I’d ever met, I pushed myself every day until I was at the point where I felt I could take him. So, you could imagine my surprise and anger when I heard that this,” He looked down at Pinkamena, his rage returning as he clenched both his fist. He pulled back his foot and kicked her in the ribs, this time hard enough to send her a few feet forward. Tumbling as she landed on the ground, on her side facing away from Michael.

“Puny!” Michael screamed angrily as he stomped towards her, picking her up with both his arms.

“Weak!” He said as he held her over his head with his arms, slamming her against the ground. She bounced once off the ground and landed a few feet away from him, barely able to make any sound. The fog seemed to be coming out more and at more distance, it also seemed to be turning darker, becoming almost black.

Michael looked down at her in rage, breathing heavily as he watched her desperately try to remain conscious. He raised both of his arms above his head, his fist clenched as he prepared to slam her, most likely ending her life.

“Little ant killed him! And for that, for taking away what was rightfully mine, I will end you!”

Michael started to bring down his arms, Pinkamena would have been unable to move out of the way in time. But Starlight, who had been watching fearfully, chose to intervene. She snuck behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso, grabbing on as tight as she could. Truthfully, that’s not what stopped him, there weren’t a lot of people strong enough to stop Michal from doing something he wanted to do. It was the act of her going out of her way to actually stop it, which was unusual since she hated conflict and usually did her best to stay out of it.

“Michael, stop! You’re going to kill her!”

Michael responded by moving his arms behind him and grabbing Starlight, prying her off of him with ease. He turned to her angrily, causing Starlight to take a few steps back fearfully, but she didn’t lose her resolve.

“Oh yeah? Why should I? She killed Igneous, who was mine to kill! And now she took the place of leader, but can’t even take down some bitch with an oversized gun? Do you really expect me to just follow someone like that?” Michael asked Starlight, as he practically trembled with rage.

“Yes! That is our job as The Council! We are supposed to guide the leader and do what is best for The Syndicate, personal feelings aside! Like it or not, she beat Igneous, and now she’s the leader. So you can’t jus-”

“Fuck the rules!” Michael shouted angrily, stopping whatever Starlight was going to say. “ I have given so much to this place, done everything I’ve been asked. But this?” He said shakily as he glanced back at Pinkamena, who was barely even awake as she breathed raggedly and lay beaten on the ground. “This is the first thing I’m going to have to say no to. And whatever consequences come afterward, I will face them!” The fog was still coming out of his gas mask more frequently, but had turned a little brighter, looking more gray now.

Whatever had been said after that point, Pinkamena was unable to tell. As her senses slowly began to dim, her body trying desperately to heal itself. She could do nothing but watch as Michael and Starlight argued, unable to hear what they were saying, but be slightly impressed that Starlight was getting him to stop attacking her at all, she really must have been good with people.

Pinkamena could feel the darkness consuming her, giving in and resting her eyes for a few seconds. Then she felt this feeling of something hard poking her forehead, making her slowly open her eyes. Igneous was standing in front of her, looking down at her with an almost bored look on his face. His left hand was in his pocket, while his right held a stick in it, which he was currently using to poke her. When he saw her eyes slowly open, a smile stretched on his face.

“Oh, good. You’re not dead.” He said as he tossed the stick behind his back, which, of course, never hit the ground as it seemed to disappear midair. Then, as if he didn’t have any interest in her at all, he turned around towards Michael and Starlight. Though Pinkamena still couldn’t hear what they were saying, she seemed to have no trouble understanding Igneous. “Listen to them, arguing like an old married couple. You know, they were in a relationship, once upon a time. Though they barely lasted three months after...you know what? That’s actually not my business.”

“What...do you want?” Pinkamena wheezed, barely having the energy to speak.

“What do I want?” He said to her, though he didn’t look away from Michael and Starlight. “Well, Igneous really wanted to fight Michael before he died, which is something I also would have liked to see. But, you killed him, so that can’t really happen. But you’re here, and you wouldn’t even be the second best option, but I don’t really have another option.” He glanced back at her. “So stop letting this guy toss you around like a child throwing a tantrum, and get up.”

Pinkamena tried to push herself off the ground with her hands, but her body, particularly her spine and ribs, weren’t ready to move yet. Her arms gave out and she fell back to the floor with a thud.

“I...I can’t. Even if I could, he’s stronger than me, I can’-”

“Don’t give me that!” Igneous said sharply as he turned his head and glared at her, a look of anger in his eyes that looked different than any kind she’s seen from him before. “Did having a couple dozens of peoples memories inserted into your brain make you forget?” He suddenly turned around, glaring down at her with a scornful look on his face as he clenched his face.

“You made a vow,”

For a moment, there was a flash of hatred, a burning loathing, but she wasn’t sure who at.

“When you were beaten and raped, when you were left on the cold ground, your body was broken and they didn’t even think you were worth killing, you made a promise to yourself.”

She felt that burning loathing again, but it lasted longer this time. And with it came a memory, a time burned into who she is. When those mercenaries, who were hired by her father, beat her to the ground. Then they beat her some more, they raped her, then they left her to die. And at that moment she had realized something, she had realized how pathetic she was.

How many times had she been pushed in a corner? How many times did she get out of it by herself? Not because of her friends, dumb luck, or otherworldly magic. But because she had been pushed too far, and decided to push back herself? Before then, none. She had depended on others to help her, always thinking she wasn’t strong enough. But at that moment, there was no one else. There was no one to help her, no one to stop him from killing her sister, killing her friends, no one but her. And she was tired of it, she was tired of being unable to do anything, being unable to push herself off the ground when no one else would.

She recognized this burning feeling in her now, it was self-loathing for forgetting the promise she made to herself, the promise to never be weak again.

“You promised you’d never let yourself be beaten down like that again, but look at where you are. First, you were nearly killed by some black bitch with a gun, now you’re on the ground, beaten and broken again. But this time, by one man with a grudge and a metal hand. Are you just going to lay there and do nothing? Or are you going to fight?”

Steam began to come from her body in more amount and more frequently than before, coming off not just where her injuries were, but her entire body. She slowly put her hands on the floor, small streams of steam coming off them as they got bigger and her nails slowly extended into claws.

“Because, from how you look now, it seems like you can’t even handle one guy. Are you really that insignificant? You may have passed the test, but it seems you aren’t worthy of us, or to even be alive.”

Pinkamena’s breathing became erratic as her jaw got bigger, making room for her now larger teeth, that looked similar to a lion’s teeth, but smaller. Her eyes were also changing, no longer fading from their usual crimson to blue. Instead, they were now a darker crimson, looking closer to the color black. They were also changing shape, the pupils no longer humans, but changing to slits like a snake. Her voice was also changing, becoming deeper and more demonic as her body shifted and changed.

“If you can’t handle one person, how can you expect to do anything? How can you expect to run this place? To protect your sister and your friends? To protect yourself?”

She continued to change, her body growing larger as it expanded, her clothes able to grow with her. Her skin also changed, but not to leather this time. Cracks began to form in her skin, the color of her skin changing to a bright red. It then began to harden, pieces of her skin falling where these cracks formed. Her skin was slowly turning into scales, this began to quickly spread over her entire body, even her hands. It reached her face, but stopped at her neck, reaching around to behind her ears and seeming to refuse to consume her face too, leaving her face and hair the same as previously. Pinkamena didn’t even seem to notice this, she only continued to growl in her demonic voice as she pushed herself off the ground.

“If you want to be strong, then you need to stop letting guys like him push you around. You have to fight every battle like your life and everything depends on it, because it does. If you die, everything you have been put through, everything you’ve done, your sisters death, will have meant nothing! So, get up,”

Igneous said as he stood up, turning around to face Michael and Starlight as he did, who were still arguing. Pinkamena was now on her feet, the steam coming from her body was now gone. All of her injuries were completely gone, and she now stood facing Michael, a sadistic smile on her face beginning to form as her reptilian eyes locked on to him, like a predator to its prey.

“And rip his heart out.”

That was the last thing Igneous said before he disappeared, fading away as soon as Pinkamena ran through him towards Michael. She was fast, even on just two legs, she would get to him in seconds.

Since Starlight could see behind Michael, she was able to see Pinkamena and warn him. But she was so fast she was almost a blur, the second she got a foot away from Michael she leaped into the air, preparing to pounce onto him.

“Behind you-” Starlight tried to warn him, but it was too late.

She landed on top of Michael, her right hand digging into his left shoulder as she sank her carnivorous teeth into his right shoulder. Michael yelped out of surprise and pain, she shouldn’t have been able to attack him like this so soon, even with her accelerated healing. But he’s fought Chimeras before, he knew how much speed mattered. He reacted quickly, ignoring the pain in his shoulders and quickly moving his arms above him. He grabbed the hand that was in his left shoulder by the wrist with his normal hand, and grabbed her by the back of the neck with his metal one, making sure to get a firm grip.

He quickly turned around while pulling her off of him, throwing her towards one of the tables. Her claws came out easily, he barely bled from the small puncture wounds in his shoulder. But pulling her teeth out of his other shoulder required more effort, and caused a bigger injury. Her teeth had sunk deep into his skin, nearly hitting bone. When she was forced out, she took a chunk of flesh with her, leaving a deep gaping wound where his skin used to be. Blood began gushing from the wound, running down his shoulder until it dripped onto the floor under him. He quickly put his hand over it to try to stop the wound, but his hand was soon coated in his blood.

Pinkamena, who had been thrown towards one of the tables with substantial force and her back facing the ground, only smiled. With acrobatic nimbility, she flipped herself mid-air. She then slammed her hands into the table she was being thrown at, a sound similar to nails against a chalkboard as deep claw marks were made into the table, but she managed to stop herself in the middle of the table on all fours. She didn’t look at Michael, she only stayed there with a sadistic smile on her face, staring at a spot on the table as blood dripped from her mouth.

Starlight could do nothing but watch in fear, her hands cupped around her mouth and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Wow...your meat is so salty and thick, your body is so much more muscle than fat, it’s a taste I could get addicted to!”

She said erratically as she looked at Michael, the eye on her right was constricted and the one on her left was dilated, adding to just how demented she looked. She then slowly stood up, forcibly removing her claws from the table. She stood up straight, her arms laying at her side lazily, the claws on her left hand slightly tinted In blood.

She then slowly opened her mouth, revealing most of her teeth had blood on them, especially the ones she had bit into him with. Then she opened her mouth a little wider, her blood covered tongue slipping out. And on it, was the saliva and blood covered chunk of flesh she took out of him, just laying there on her tongue as she hasn’t taken a single bite of it yet. And all the time she did this her wide, sadistic smile stayed on her face, and her gaze never wavered from Michael.

“Oh, how I’ve missed the taste of flesh!” She said somewhat muffled as she closed her mouth, her tongue and the meat on it slipping back into her mouth. She then closed her eyes as she began to chew, the sounds of her teeth tearing apart the meat was audible even from where Michael was. “And the best part?” She said with her mouth full, but no meat or anything came out, she wouldn’t let any of it go to waste. “The emotions I can taste and smell coming from it! All your rage, your guilt, your shame. But, my favorite emotion to taste?” She said as she swallowed, making a loud gulping sound as she did. Her eyes opened and locked onto Michael, but this time they were both focused. The look of bloodlust and ecstasy still evident.

“I love fear!” She nearly shouted as she glanced at Starlight, but returned her gaze to Michael.

Michael only continued to stare at her, not allowing his emotions to show. He hid his anger for her and shame for allowing her to sneak up on him behind a stone cold face.

“I see, I didn’t know you were able to transform, I had heard from Discord that you were able to reach a sort of halfway point. This was a miscalculation on my part, it doesn’t matter, I’ll still kill you.”

He lifted his bloody hand off the wound, causing the blood to gush out. He then ripped the cloth of the overcoat off his right arm, wrapping it around the wound and tying it, more or less stopping the bleeding. When he ripped the cloth off, however, he revealed to Pinkamena that it was more than just his hand that was metallic. His entire arm seemed to be made of the same material his hand was, reaching all the way up to his shoulder. There were scars where the metal and flesh connected, deep cuts and slashes. She couldn’t see wires or anything like she had expected, just metal melded with flesh, she was slightly curious what that felt like.

“My...you really pissed Igneous off. I wonder, if I were to rip that off, would it be just as painful as losing your real one?”

Michael kept his eyes locked onto Pinkamena, who simply stood on the table, blood dripping from her left hand and mouth onto it.

“Starlight, you need to go.”

He said, though he didn’t take his gaze off of Pinkamena. Starlight turned to him, her eyes still wide from shock and fear.

“What? I can-”

“I get your concerned, but you really need to leave, she seems just as intent on killing me as I her. And if you don’t leave, you might die. If I’m the one who kills you, it’ll destroy me. If she is, I’ll destroy her.”

“No! I won’t let you two just kill each other! I’m not-”

“Yeah, Starlight, you should go,” Pinkamena said bluntly as she hopped off the table, landing on the ground in front of it. The smile had not left her face, and her gaze had not left Michaels. “I’m going to choke this guy with his own entrails, if I’m feeling generous. You can watch if that’s what you’re into, but I don’t want a distraction. Besides, you might get to know me a bit too well if you stay, and I don’t even wanna know me. So, you might want to go.”

Starlight recoiled, not out of fear, but anger. She bit the corner of her lip, lowering her head and hiding her face.

“Why does everyone think I’m so weak?” Starlight mumbled angrily, as she clenched her fist in anger.

She then raised her head back up, looking at both Pinkamena and Michael. “I am not a damsel in distress! I can handle myself, I have been my entire life! And I am not about to let two of my friends kill each other over a fucking grudge! So I am going to stay right here, and make sure you two don’t die!”

Starlight screamed, panting slightly as she closes her eyes, trying to calm herself down. Michael had not taken his eyes off Pinkamena, who now had her gaze on Starlight curiously. Then, she shrugged as she looked back at Michael, her smile stretching a little wider as she clenched her fist, ignoring the pain as her claws dug into her hand and caused blood to drip from it onto the floor. She slouched down, preparing to leap forward any second.

“That’s cute, you think you can stop me.”

She rushed forward, almost faster than Michael could react. As soon as she leaped forward he jumped forward, sliding on his knees under her, but she had been ready for that. She unclenched her fist, steam coming from the palm of her right hand as it began to heal. Then she slammed the same hand against his mask, smearing her blood against it and blocking his vision. He reacted quickly, pulling back his metal arm, clenching his fist and swinging it upward, colliding with her stomach. The sound of several ribs cracking was heard as she was hit, but it would have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been for her scales. As she came closer to the ground behind him, she put her other hand in front of her and landed on it, using it to bounce off of and land on her feet.

Starlight could do nothing but watch as events almost faster than she can keep up with transpired in front of her.

Pinkamena leaped towards Michael as soon as she landed, a look that can only be described as sadistic excitement on her face. He quickly stood up and turned around, having heard the sound of her feet hitting the ground and then pushing her forward from behind him. He had figured out long ago that odds were, if he were fighting a chimera, they would try to take his sight or one of his other senses. In preparation to fight Igneous or any other chimera, he had trained his other senses. All he needed to do was survive long enough to wipe the blood off his mask, then he could take her down.

He wasn’t able to see her, so the best he could do was swing and hope it hit something. Which he did, then he felt that thing wrap its arm around his metallic one. The scales on her arms were harder than the rest, it made her arms feel really heavy and tough. It was tough enough to stop a punch from his metal arm, though the force behind it did stop her where she was. She took this opportunity to wrap her left arm around his metal one, locking it in place.

She then tried to stab him in the lung, but he must have been wearing some very tough body armor, she wasn’t even able to break through it and hit the skin. It got stuck in the body armor, and she struggled to pull it out. He took this opportunity to wrap his other arm around the one that was stuck in his body armor, his grip making sure she couldn’t get out, no matter how much she struggled.

“I’m impressed you’re able to stop my punch, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve got you trapped, now all I have to do is-”

He was interrupted when she headbutted him, then before he had the chance to do anything, she jumped up and slammed both her feet into his chest. She pushed against his chest, pushing him backward and her forwards. In the process she dislocated her right arm to get it out of his grip, her left one snapping at the elbow to do the same. As soon as she was out of his grip she jumped back, immediately putting her right arm back into its socket. Her smile still didn’t leave her face, she kept her gaze locked onto Michael, not even flinching from the pain she inflicted onto herself.

Michael regained his balance soon after he jumped back, taking the chance to wipe the blood off his gas mask so he could see properly. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Pinkamena across from him, more out of surprise than anything.

“You’d hurt yourself this much, just to get out of a situation?” He asked as he watched her push her arm back into the socket, his jaw tightening as he watched her.

Her smile widened as he asked that, moving her right arm around as it readjusted. “After everything I’ve been through, do you really think something like that would hurt?” She said as she glanced at her left arm, noticing how limp and loose her upper arm looked, she could even see where the bone broke under her skin. She quickly used her right arm to snap the bone back in place, looking back at Michael as she did.

“Besides, my wounds heal fast, yours don’t.”

Michael only watches as she moved her arms around, slightly impressed by both her pain tolerance and her healing factor. It was certainly faster than Igneous’, but that just meant he could hit her more.

“That might be true, but this body armor is made out of Silicon Carbide, one of the hardest materials known to man. I had intended to wear this for when I fought Igneous, but he’s dead. Cut and slash at me all you like, but you won’t be able to get through.”

He took another step forward, his confidence swiftly returning. He seemed to almost be waiting for her, as if daring her to make the first move.

“Can’t get through, huh?” Pinkamena seemed to ask herself as she looked down at her hands, specifically, at her claws. For a few seconds, her face went blank, as if she was trying to come up with a plan. Her smile quickly returned, however, as her claws seemed to slowly start retracting silently.

“Then I guess,”

She felt the scales on the rest of her body begin to leave, seeming to move through her body to her hands. The scales on her hands got thicker and bigger, the color even changing to a darker red.

“I’ll just have to hit you,”

She clenched both of her fists, the sound of her knuckles cracking could be heard even by Starlight, who was desperately trying to think of some way to stop both of them, but could barely do more than watch. Pinkamena tilted her head to the right almost like a dog, her grin widening more as she did, showing more of her carnivorous teeth.

“Really fucking hard!”

She suddenly jumped forward, being in front of Michael in seconds. She pulled back her right arm and tried to punch him, but he reacted quickly and put up both his arms to block it. When her fist connected with him, there was a blunt scraping sound as scales met metal. He was actually slightly impressed by the amount of force behind that punch, then he saw her other hand.

He had expected the sudden density increase in her hands would make her punches slower, but it didn’t! He’d seen chimeras turn their parts of their bodies into scales for defense, but he’s never seen them used offensively like this!

“You gotta be quicker than that!” She said as her left hand rammed forward, aiming for the area right under his arms. He wasn’t fast enough to stop it, and her hit collided. Some of the blow got absorbed by his body armor, but not enough of it. She hit hard, hard enough to knock the air out of him. He dropped his arms for a second, but that was all she needed.

She wrapped her right hand around his normal arm, pulling it down and jumping up towards his neck as she opened her mouth.

“I wonder what you’re tongue ta-”

Before she could finish, he seemed to bite something inside of his gas mask. Then a small compartment opened up on the front of the gas mask, shooting out a burst of small, clear, venom like liquid. It shot into both of her eyes, burning into them instantly. Smoke and steam irradiated from her eyeballs as the acid began to burn into them, causing her to drop to the ground on her knees, her scale hands covering her eyes, the tips of her fingers turning back to normal as she bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from screaming

“You cunt! What are you, a fucking clown?!” She said as she clawed at her eyes, ripping out the parts that the acid got into as it healed back.

Michael looked down at her and smiled, he had figured a chimera would go for his neck. As a counter, he built a contraption in his mask that shot a short burst of Sulphuric Acid whenever he bit on a button in his mask, but it depended on where he was aiming his face where and if it hit or not.

He only smiled as he raised his right leg, preparing to take advantage of her lack of vision.

Despite Pinkamena’s agonizing pain, she smiled.

Michael slammed his foot down, expecting to crush Pinkamena’s skull. His eyes widened when he saw her jump to the right effortlessly, his foot slamming into the ground. He swung with his right arm at her, but again she dodged it, seeming to read his moments without even being able to see.

“How are you-”

She slowly pulled down her arms, showing her face to him. Her eyes were destroyed, blood running down her face like tears. There were deep claw marks above her eyes, healing almost as fast as they were made. Parts of her eyes were clawed out too, some parts of it were even melted as they healed, steam coming out of them as they did. Her eyes were bloodshot, her pupils unable to focus as they kept changing between being constricted and dilated, her entire eye shaking as if she couldn’t keep her eyesight stable.

And even though she must have been in excruciating pain, she never stopped smiling.

“I can hear the sounds of your tendons and ligaments moving, I don’t need my eyes to know when and where you’ll hit me!” She said as she jumped forward, pulling back her right arm in an attempt to attack him.

But she was unable to see Michael smile, or his right arm moving faster than she could get to him.

She felt something cold and hard hit her like a train, pain erupted from the left side of her face as her jaw was shattered. her entire body getting whiplash as she was forced downward, her face colliding against the knee of Michael’s left leg as he slammed it against her. There was enough force behind his leg to knock her body back up, and gave him enough time to bring both his hands down on her back. She slammed into the ground, bouncing off of it with her spine broken. When she landed back on the ground, Michael didn’t give her the chance to react as he slammed his leg against her stomach, her scales protected her ribs from getting more than cracked, but she was still sent a few feet forward. But thanks to her scales absorbing the blow and adding to her weight, she wasn’t sent nearly as far as she would have been.

“It’s impressive and all that you have such great hearing compared to most chimera, but…”

He held his metal arm in front of him, though he knew she couldn’t see it, or the boastful smile he had on his face under his mask.

“This arm is almost entirely made out of metal, no bones, muscle, or tendons. It makes next to no sound, which means you ca-”

“Yew bogue buy jaw, yew badturd!” She slurred as she pushed herself up with her arms, her lower jaw loosely dangling from her face. Steam started coming from her back as she slowly pushed herself to her feet, her spine quickly healing itself. She turned her head towards Michael as she put her right hand under her chin, pushing her lower jaw up and connecting it back with her upper jaw, making a snapping sound as they did.

Michael watched in amazement as she pushed through the pain, ignoring it as if it were nothing, it almost made him respect her.

She slowly rose to her feet, moving her jaw back and forth as it readjusted. She seemed to start looking around, though her vision was still impaired. She could only make out blurry figures, the thing was, there was only one of them. Michael was several feet in front of her, but she couldn’t see Starlight anywhere. Maybe she had given up on stopping them and just left, though from the little she knew of her, that didn’t sound like something she’d do.

Oh well, she didn’t really care either way, just one less distraction.

“You know, when I fought Igneous,”

She said as she stood up, putting her hands around the bottom of her hoodie. She quickly lifted it upward above her head, tossing it to the side regardlessly.

“I was blinded by rage and grief, I did everything I could to kill him as soon as possible, I honestly got lucky when I did, his cockiness and confidence playing a huge role in my victory.”

The leather jacket under her hoodie was torn and ripped in some places, but was otherwise fine. The white t-shirt underneath had holes and tears in it, revealing her scaled skin underneath, that still seemed to be quickly healing in some places. There were also multiple bloodstains on it from prior injuries, it seemed there were more bloodstains and rips then there was a shirt. Parts of her pink, bloodstained bra could even be seen, along with a small, silver chain necklace with a golden, heart-shaped pendant at the end with a red jewel in it, seeming to be untouched.

Michael was slightly curious by that necklace, it didn’t fit the rest of her clothing, why was she wearing it?

“I didn’t really get the chance to test myself out, you know? My body collapsed soon after, and when I fought The Silent Killer, I had neglected my body to the point of barely functional. That won’t happen again though, not if I can help it. But now?”

The scales on her body began to fade away, her skin slowly turning into the same leathery texture as when she first transformed, her nails extending into her claws. Her body was now a lot lighter, and a lot faster. Some of her scales fell off and landed on the ground, while other bits just faded away.

“You’re not stronger than Igneous, though I really don’t know how strong he, or you really are. But, I’m in no rush to kill you, the only thing motivating me is my urge to end your life! So, I can take my time, I can let loose. I found someone I can play with, but, best of all,”

She jumped forward, a lot faster than before now that her scales weren’t weighing her down. She was soon behind Michael, her left hand dripping blood after cutting deeply into his left arm. She might not have been able to cut through his body armor, but there were plenty of parts that weren’t covered.

“I can finally fight someone that I don’t give a shit about, with nothing stopping me!”

Blood gushed from the cuts in his right shoulder, causing him to put his hand over it to stop the bleeding. He quickly turned around, only for Pinkamena to have suddenly disappeared.

“I can move faster than you can keep up with!” He suddenly heard Pinkamena say from the right, though she attacked from the left, her claws scraping against the metal. For a moment he was barely able to see her, his eyes struggling to keep up with her.

But even though he was injured, he kept his cool. There was even a small grin, as if he still had an ace up his sleeve.

Pinkamena suddenly came from the left, swiping her claws at the side of his face. But, just as quick as she was, his metal arm grabbed her wrist, stopping her where she was. The smile on Pinkamena’s face was gone, replaced by confusion. He then tightened his grip, lifting her off the ground and pulling her over him, slamming her onto the ground beside him.

He then twisted her wrist, breaking her hand with ease. But she didn’t seem to acknowledge the pain, she ignored it as she looked up at Michael, almost surprised at what had just happened.

“How-”

“Wanna see something cool?” He asked as he leaned his face down to her, a chilling tone in his voice as he smirked at her.

His left eye began to change color, changing to a darker yellow. The sclera changed to yellow too, the pupil changing size, shifting between large and small. The pupil had a gray line around it, the pupil being a dark yellow, while the sclera being a brighter yellow.

“I realized after fighting my first chimera that the average human can’t beat a chimera, not even at their best. So, while Discord was fixing my arm, he was talking about how he’d been playing around with the idea of cybernetic enhancements. You see, my original left eye was a lazy eye, which for someone who fights as much as me, it was somewhat of a hindrance. So, I offered to be a test subject. He cut out my eye, and replaced it with this one. It’s really high maintenance, and you wouldn’t believe how itchy it can get sometimes. But for the ability to see things faster than the normal human eye can?”

He slammed his foot on her elbow, nearly shattering it on impact. But Pinkamena still didn’t flinch, a smile even began to form on her face as he did.

“Easy trade.”

Pinkamena slowly turned her head to the right, looking at her broken wrist and the foot on her arm, slight streams of steam coming off of it. But she didn’t seem worried or panicked, if anything, she seemed almost excited as her smile seemed to spread even more, unable to stop herself from letting out a quiet chuckle.

“You just keep surprising me!” She said as she stabbed through his knee with the other claws, the blood covered claws coming out on the other side, causing him to kneel down on his other leg. He grunted loudly, bringing his other arm down on hers. The second it made contact she jumped forward, sinking her teeth into his arm.

He almost screamed as she did, causing him to quickly let go of her broken wrist with his metallic arm, wrapping it around her head and trying prying her off of his arm, but she only seemed to sink her teeth deeper into his arm.

She took this moment to move around her other arm, the bone quickly fixing itself. In seconds it was fixed, steam began rising off her right arm as the scales flared up again, but instead of the whole arm, it was just her hand, making the transformation faster.

He brought his metallic arm over his head, preparing to slam it against her skull in an attempt to break her teeth. In this instance, Pinkamena powered down her left arm, her claws retracting into normal nails as the rest of her arm turned into what it was. She somehow transferred this into her right arm, making it bigger and stronger than it normally was. She never learned how to do this, it just felt...natural to her. Kind of like how this entire transformation stuff has been. Was it instinct? Or did The Whispers play a role? Right now, she didn’t really care.

“I’m going to put you down like the animal you are!” He shouted as he brought his fist down, not even noticing the change in size of her arms.

She quickly moved her hand above her head, focusing the scales on it to make them stronger and thicker. There was a loud thunk as Pinkamena stopped his hand, not even looking up at him as she did. He looked down at her in surprise, as she slowly pulled her teeth out of his arm, her teeth coated in blood.

“That’s...not...for a newborn? How do you already-”

“What can I say?”

Pinkamena licked some of the blood dripping off her lips, pushing herself up off the ground. Michael brought up his other arm, severely injured and bleeding profusely, but he did his best to ignore it, even though he was quickly becoming nauseous due to the blood loss. He slammed his other arm onto her hand, she flinched, but she continued to push herself up. Due to the blood loss and injuries his left arm has taken, he’s not able to hit as hard as he usually could.

Pinkamena suddenly jumped upward, tossing his arms above his head briefly. In those few seconds, she punched him in the stomach in the same spot as earlier, causing him to cough up blood. She quickly kicked his other legs, causing him to collapse on both his knees.

“The voices in my head are pretty good teachers, and I’m a quick learner.”

She pounced forward, forcing Michael on his back, slamming her knees onto his arms, pinning him to the ground. She seemed to do the same thing with her left leg that she did to her right arm, powering down her right leg and transferring it to her left. Though not nearly as much, she needed more of it to keep the metal arm down, but even though his left arm was weakened, she still needed more than she had normally to keep it down.

“You know, there’s something I’m a bit curious about something.”

She sat on his chest, looking down at him with a grin almost playfully. Her arms changed into the forms they were before, but this time there was no scale or leathery skin, it became normal again, even the size was the same as it was normally. The only difference was her claws were still there, the rest of her body seemed to slowly be returning to normal. With the exception of her teeth and crimson eyes.

“What would happen,” She said as she slowly brought her hands down to Michael’s face, unable to do much more than look up at her, struggling desperately to get up. She slowly put her hands behind his head, her sharp claws cutting his face even by just grazing it.

“If I were to take off this mask?” He looked up at her, still desperately struggling to get out from under her, but his face and voice still seemed considerably calm. Though that was more of because he didn’t want her to see how surprised and worried he was.

“It would kill me, quite quickly, with little pain.”

Pinkamena frowned disappointedly, rolling her eyes as she suddenly pulled her hands back.

“Pfft! Boring! No quick deaths, not for you. No, I know exactly what I’m going to do to you.”

She slowly lowered her hand, the claw coming from her point finger barely poking his adam's apple, bits of blood dripping down her claw.

“I think you deserve the same kind of death I gave Igneous, except…” She slowly dragged the claw down his neck, causing him to gulp as she did. She slowly dragged her claw down to his chest, stopping when she got to his heart.

“I think I’ll take my time with you.”

She slowly began cutting into the t-shirt, though she noticed the body armor was indeed impossible to get through by just slashing, she would still be able to get through by applying just enough pressure.

“I’m going pull out your heart, slowly, and show it to you. Maybe even play around with your insides for a bit, see just how much of you is real.” She said sadistically as she put her other hand on his chest in the same spot, applying pressure with all claws, slowly ripping a hole in that spot.

What she didn’t notice, was Michael’s metal arm moving around in the pocket in his pants, pulling out a small syringe, filled with a dark red liquid.

“Do you think the body could stay alive after the removal of the heart, even for just a few seconds?” Pinkamena asked as she strained to tear apart the body armor, showing his scarred skin underneath.

“Don’t know, I don’t intend to let you find out.” Michael said as looked up at her, moving his metal arm closer to his neck

“Oh?” Pinkamena said as she raised both her claws above her head, preparing to tear into him. “Stop me.”

Before she brought down her claws, Michael stabbed the syringe into his neck, quickly moving his thumb to the plunger, preparing to inject himself with whatever was in it.

“NO!”

There was the sound of someone's shouting, then the sound of something small quickly going through the air. A small, blue tranquilizer dart penetrated his neck, causing him to look to his left in surprise, his hand shaking as he dropped the syringe on the ground, it shattered on the ground. His entire body relaxed as he passed out, the sedative working fast.

Pinkamena turned her head to the right, looking towards the source of the dart. Starlight stood a few feet away from her, breathing heavily as she held a tranquilizer gun in her hand. Her hands seemed to be pretty steady as she aimed, even though she was clearly angry as she looked at Michael, seeming almost disappointed in him for something.

Her constricted eyes shifted to Pinkamena in a second, her hands moving just as fast. Pinkamena didn’t have to chance to react as she shot, the dart hitting her in between her eyes. She slowly pulled it out, looking down at it. The words ‘Carfentanil’ inscribed into the side of it with bright white letters.

“Oh....shit, you can stop me. ”

Was Pinkamena’s last words as she dropped the dart, quickly losing feeling in her hands, and the rest of her body. She could feel her world spin as nausea and dizziness overcame it, and before she knew it she was on the ground, her world quickly turning to black as she lost consciousness.