Beat, Prey, Love: Exhibition Mode

Kathy

"Hey, you're Kathy, right? Calamity Jade?"

The woman in question turned around to find a tall Black woman grinning at her from behind a curtain of red and black braids that spilled over her glasses and past her broad shoulders. They were the same height but Kathy recognized this woman was wider and more thickly built, even accounting for the added bulk of her varsity jacket. Beneath it she wore a nerdy graphic tee that stretched over her bust and below that, puffy sweatpants and brightly colored basketball shoes. Excitement radiated from every pore of her rich brown skin and she stared at Kathy with unblemished confidence.

"Yeah, that's me. Do I-"

"I'm Simone Robinson! I'm Nisha's friend. And Teresa's. What do I have to do to get on the card?" The woman interrupted, her voice loud and boisterous. Kathy recognized her accent from the students she'd met who'd grown up in the South part of Los Angeles.

"You're trying to fight? Tomorrow?" Kathy asked as they stood there in the dorm hallway. "You sound pretty eager. You sure?"

"Hell yeah. I'm a scrapper." Simone smiled. "Maybe me and you can lock up or-"

"Aht aht." Kathy stopped her with an upturned hand and noted the girl . "I'm booked. Sorry. But if you show up, I'm sure we can find someone to baptize you into Beat, Prey, Love. Have you fought wet before? If you're looking for me I assume you know we're mostly about wet MMA."

"Yeah! I've got a whole lil gimmick as 'Athena Thee Goddess.' My gym calls me 'Savant' cause I learn quickly, so I figured 'Athena' since she's the Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare. There's layers to it."

"Yeah, yeah, that's cool." Kathy said, barely waiting for Simone to stop rambling. She'd asked her a question, not given her an essay prompt. "If you have an outfit already then just come by the Lucky Shot Bar tomorrow before 6."

"Wait, really? Oh let's do it! I'll see you there!" Simone smiled wider, hugged Kathy, and then sped past her down the hallway. Simone dropped something from her backpack, then stopped short and sped in the other direction to pick it back up, before turning one final time and disappearing down a corner. Kathy made a note to ask Teresa or Nisha about this girl the next time she saw either of them.

"Oh wow. You actually weren't kidding. It's a whole gladiator goddess theme." Kathy remarked as Simone left the dressing room still fiddling with her glasses. Her red and white garb looked like something out of a Greek pantheon or a Roman Colosseum, with a revealing halter top, a skirt cut to look like leather straps, and leg bands shaped to look like gladiator sandals. It was an impressive getup from a girl who'd barely seemed capable of keeping her personal items in her bag. The cuffs of Simone's red and white MMA gloves covered the ends of soft forearm sleeves meant to look like bracers. She'd almost missed that Simone was now wearing red contact lenses to match the red of her outfit, and the more Kathy looked at Simone's outfit, the more it looked like cosplay, or the closest facsimile to cosplay you could still fight in. It was as dramatic as its wearer, but it also displayed the body Simone's clothing had partially obscured. The woman was obscenely curvy with heaving breasts that each looked like they might be bigger than her head and a thick, jiggly ass that bounced with each step. Her thick waist maintained an hourglass shape between her broad shoulders and massive hips and thighs but Simone's body was a kind of athletic soft that left Kathy wondering what kind of style might fit a woman shaped like someone's horny fanart; luckily she wouldn't have to wait long.

"Hanna, you still looking for a partner?" Kathy asked the ice-themed blonde standing near the edge of the waiting area they used backstage.

"Yeah, Karina called out, so I need a dance partner. Why?" Hanna Bergstrom, now 'Snowbae,' stood as tall and nearly as shapely as Simone; they might all be the same height but standing between the pair of stallions made the slimmer Kathy feel absolutely anemic. Hanna was a solid competitor, one whose tenacity, durability, and aggression typically covered her small technical deficiencies. Snowbae was a consummate brawler who could be depended on to come forward, throw hard strikes, and wrestle with the natural athleticism of a brawny star soccer player. Her outfit, a longsleeve leotard patterned after the outfit of a figure skater, showed off her powerful, dangerous thighs and fair, pale complexion. Hanna was just as wide as Simone but with more obvious muscle, and as the two women met in front of her and began discussing a potential scrap, Kathy wondered if Simone had just bitten off more than she could chew.

"Yeah. F'sho f'sho. Let's run it, snowbunny. MMA in the boxing ring, 5 minute rounds, no decision, right?"

"It's Snowbae, Athena Thee Dumbass, not 'Snowbunny.'" Hanna shot back. "But yeah. you got it. I don't think I'll need many rounds though. You look soft."

"You know full well I said what I said. If you don't like it? See me in the ring." Simone shrugged.

"Deal." Hanna snapped, already climbing the stairs to the ring. Kathy looked over and saw Simone standing on the apron of the ring, holding the top rope for balance while she twerked. Simone moved her body like a stripper, curves in rhythmic motion as she looked over her shoulder back at the audience. The crowd gave an appreciative whoop for her before she finally entered the ring proper and moved to the red corner. Her red and white outfit made a nice visual contrast to Snowbae's blue and white, to say nothing of their complexions. Kathy could scarcely have asked for a starker contrast between Simone's dark brown skin and black and red hair and Snowbae's pale, Nordic complexion and silver-blonde hair. Between their similar physiques and contrasting aesthetic Kathy thought they looked like the same model of car in two different paint jobs.

Kathy watched Athena turn from her corner to her opponent and make a strange gesture, as if pulling something from her back. Athena mimed holding something with two hands, before gripping her right forearm with her left hand. "Goddess greataxe; unsealed." Athena declared, now pantomiming pointing a weapon at her opponent. Snowbae mocked her outright, and Kathy winced: Athena's display was cringeworthy, more suited to an anime or fantasy drama. Simone was a woman halfway between an actor and a fighter. As a fellow student and fighter Kathy found her posturing tiring; as a promoter she recognized that this kind of showmanship was what she'd asked for when they'd pitched Beat, Prey, Love as a promotion for characters, not fighters. Athena Thee Goddess was a character. It remained to be seen if she was a fighter.

The bell rang, and the two women tapped gloves before circling, hands clenched and ready to strike. The very first striking exchange left Kathy convinced she'd made a terrible mistake by pairing them together.

Athena's left glove bounced off Snowbae's face as if the woman had been standing still. Her head jerked back before she reset her guard and resumed her stance. She didn't retreat, but neither did Athena, and when Snowbae threw her first punch Athena leaned forward and caught it on her shoulder and glove and had already put her response in the mail. Kathy struggled to reconcile the goofy, giggling, Black woman who'd asked her for a spot on the card with this titan throwing punishing shots from a tightly compacted stance. Athena pushed forward, leaning and stepping this way or that to set up her next punch, this time following a small flurry with a thudding kick to Snowbae's ribs that left her wincing. They pressed together now, Snowbae's desperate clinch meeting Athena's eager lust near the ropes of the ring.

"You like that, Snowbunny? You wanna keep going or can we skip to the fun part?"

"Fuck, off." Snowbae snarled, lurching to turn Athena's back to the ring instead.

"Aight bet. Let's keep going." Athena didn't push away, instead content to try and plant kisses on her opponent's neck while rubbing her hips and thighs. The crowd cheered the violence and the extracurricular action, booing lightly when the referee finally separated the fighters. Kathy marveled at how uncertain Snowbae looked now; the woman wasn't an elite fighter but she was solid, and sturdy, and dangerous. Except tonight she looked like a tree being slowly fed into a woodchipper. Or a glacier in a desert.

Snowbae couldn't keep up with Athena's speed and power or the variety of strikes or angles Athena presented. Instead Athena chopped at her with stiff punches and kicks that left Snowbae increasingly adrift in the ring, driftwood tossed by waves. They both pressed forward and threw but only one of them staggered around the ring on increasingly unstable legs.

The end came all at once, on a sequence as strange as the woman who'd thrown it. Athena's jab landed, and so did the thrusting knee that followed it and moved her closer to her prey. She pivoted into a right hook that drew Snowbae's hands low to defend it, and then closed the show with a left hook that torqued Snowbae's blonde French braid around like a whip and turned her mouthguard into a comet streaked by saliva and blood as it sailed into the crowd seated around the ring. The curvaceous titan took one half step toward her pivoting opponent and stumbled, tilting precariously before pitching forward. The speed of the collision left Kathy unsure if Snowbae had intended to grab Athena or throw a punch or simply put her hands out to brace her fall. She accomplished none of them, missing the ropes and instead leaning awkwardly over the second rope, arms limp and head down. Her impressive bust jiggled with each labored breath and she made no movement to untangle herself from the ropes. Kathy circled around the ring to find Snowbae completely unconscious.

She couldn't remember ever having seen Hanna unconscious, she realized. Flor had punched her into submission and Kathy had bent her into a submissive, pliant lover, but she and Flor were two of the best Beat, Prey, Love had to offer, and neither of them had done anything like this. She looked at the timer and gasped.

Athena had utterly melted Snowbae in less than two minutes, like snow beneath the summer Sun. Her opponent vanquished, Athena paraded around the ring, nearly unblemished face smiling broadly. She stood a little off from Snowbae and twerked again, as if asserting dominance. "Say my name, y'all: Athena Thee Goddess!" She yelled, again looking back over her shoulder as if monitoring crowd appreciation for the way she threw her ass around. She winked and stuck her tongue out before moving out of the way as the referee, doctor, and Snowbae's corner attended to the unconscious woman.

Athena walked back to her corner and let the proceedings unfold. Kathy watched her perk up as if recalling some forgotten information; Athena gripped her right forearm again and pantomimed putting something behind her. "Goddess greataxe; sealed." It was only slightly less cringey the second time, though the goofy smile on her face and the way she caressed her own voluptuous frame suggested that Athena was utterly pleased with herself and her performance. The thunderous applause of the crowd suggested that they agreed. Kathy had expected a sultry, steamy slugfest between two girls who looked like they were built to fuck demigods. Instead Athena had utterly melted her brawny, curvaceous opponent like an ice cube in the sun, and had done so too quickly and too completely to enjoy much sexual attention.

"Well fuck; that fucking nerd is gonna be a problem" Kathy shook her head.