The large cavern, formerly a mall bristling with life but now only an abandoned ruin, was calm, the silence fitting the rundown appearance of all the relinquished stores. But in a corner, there was a peculiar structure, strangely out of place amidst the ruins. When the mall had still been populated, when the stores had still operated and advertised their products with colorful banners, the small cabin-sized box had probably been hiding in the shadows of the big businesses, inconspicuously. Now, though, it stood out like a sore thumb, like a palely colored dot on a black-and-white image. Contrary to nearly everything else in the old mall, it wasn't covered in layers of dust, its surface certainly not gleaming, but at least speckless. 

The spinning symbols on its side made abundantly clear what this box was, but the animated logo wasn't the only sign of life inside the mall. For besides the Venn Machine, there were two people standing. 

"Are you ready for this?" Janice asked softly, looking at her boyfriend. They were alone in the large cavern of the abandoned mall. Mary had already changed Steve into his fighting shape and the two of them were waiting in the creator's box, a VIP area for monster creators, respectively the actual creature's holding pen. 

Neither Janice nor Ben had the slightest idea what kind of monster Steve had become, for Mary had transformed him in secret, asking their friends to momentarily leave the mall. She hadn't wanted that the sight of Steve's monster body would influence Janice's and Ben's decision of what monster Ben would become himself. 

This was the usual style of operation at Monster Wars, Steve had explained to them. Fighters usually didn't get to see the shapes of their opponents until they locked eyes in the arena, this was to ensure that there wouldn't be any last-second "improvements" to exploit any specific form's weaknesses. It was different, though, for honor duels, where the challenger showed his fighting form to the challenged, to allow him to "choose the weapon" so to speak. And tomorrow's 'Rookie Event' would be different as well, with a KO style tournament. 

The hour before, the two lovers had pondered effective fighting forms, putting the experience they'd gained by being in all kinds of animal bodies to good use. They'd agreed on making a creature design each, so Janice had sketched out Ben's fighting form and vice versa. In the end, they'd used different approaches, but both designs looked promising to them. While Janice had tried her luck with puzzling, compiling Ben's form out of many beasts' parts, Ben had taken mythology as an inspiration for Janice's base form, and then enhanced it based on his experiences. 

All that was left now was putting these forms to the test - and Ben would make the beginning, with him confronting Steve now and Janice confronting Mary later in their second fight to the death - and first fight as monsters. 

"Of course I am ready." Ben grinned back. "The whole creature design stuff has like totally fired me up. I can't wait to experience how being changed into your creation will feel. And besides, I've always wanted to whup Steve's arrogant ass!" 

Janice giggled at this outburst. Of course Ben was only joking, he and Steve had been best buddies since kindergarten. And now these two friends would face off each other in a fight to the death. It was quite remarkable what craziness Venn Machines made possible. She smirked at this thought. "Well then, lead the way." she prompted her boyfriend, pointing towards the machine but he simply twinkled. 

"Ladies first!" he offered courteously. 

"Says the soon-to-be-monstrosity." Janice remarked, but nonetheless entered the Machine first, Ben on her heels. Inside, she began forming his shape, starting with a base form just as Mary had instructed her and then adding all the additional bits and pieces or overall changes. Ben waited patiently, but it took Janice several minutes until she'd created a bubble which contained something fairly close to what she'd imagined. It wasn't exactly what she'd created in her mind, but minor inconsistencies were a given when working with Venn Machines, and overall, the form looked quite much as deadly as she'd intended. 

"Any last words before the fight?" Janice asked after she'd finished. 

Ben grimaced. "Shall I bring you his head, Milady?" 

"You can try... if he even has one." Janice smiled back. "Somehow I have the impression that Mary's creature designs won't be run-of-the-mill. But neither are mine..." Her thumb pressed firmly down onto the button. 

Excited, Janice darted out of the machine, looking at Ben's door and waiting for him to emerge. Which he did. And he was even more impressive than she'd expected. A large, frog-like head with four eyes appeared in the opening, the large maw seamed by giant, triangular shark teeth. Six four-clawed legs heaved the main body in the open, but these were not the only limbs Ben had. Left and right of his head, a pair of massive arms sprouted, ending in giant, clawed hands, each as large as his entire head. And behind his legs, a muscled tail curved upwards, with a stinger floating over his head. 

All in all, Ben's monstrous form vaguely resembled a giant scorpion, but with major differences. First of all, he had only six legs to a scorpion's eight. Next there were the pincers, replaced in his case by massive fists. But what really distinguished him from a common scorpion was his obvious species. While a scorpion was an arachnid, with its chitin armor and multiply jointed limbs, Ben was clearly a reptile, covered in thick scales and sporting deadly talons. It was only fitting that they'd dubbed this monster the 'Scorzard'.

Janice watched on as Ben exited the booth in a flowing motion similar to that of snakes and lizards. Swiftly, he hurried over towards the mirrors, his claws scraping over the floor. There he admired his new body, doing a few mock-stings with his tail, knuckling his fists together like a boxer and snapping his maw open and shut multiple times, each snap producing a disconcerting click when his razor-sharp teeth closed upon each other. 

Silently, Janice observed her boyfriend in his monstrous body. She had devised and designed it, so she was familiar with its capabilities, but seeing it live in front of her was something else entirely, and the thought that her boyfriend was this murderous looking creature still unsettled her a bit. 

After a couple of minutes, she finally coughed slightly, prompting Ben to stop his self-admiration and turning to look at her out of emotionless, reptilian eyes. Combined with the sight of his teeth, it rather appeared as if he was scaling her up for dinner. Janice tried to ignore the scary sight. "Um... are you okay in there?" she asked instead, and Ben used one of his fists to make a giant 'thumbs-up' gesture. 

That prompted a smile by Janice and she motioned towards the hall's exit which was leading to the holding pens. According to Mary, there'd be a Monster Wars employee waiting on the other side to guide Ben to his pen. "You ready for your big appearance, then?" 

Ben hissed acknowledging and let his fist bang together multiple times, leaving no doubts of his eagerness. Janice smiled. "Well then... give him hell!" 

Again, Ben growled and then scurried off towards the arena, Janice's eyes following him for a few seconds, until she turned towards the staircase which led to the creator's box. 


"Took you some time. I was getting bored!" Mary complained as Janice entered the VIP loge. It was medium-sized room with bulletproof glass windows offering a perfect view into the arena. Above the windows, the scaffold on which they'd watched the fights the last time ran along, also protected by heavy glass. The size of the scaffold had obstructed the view, therefore Janice hadn't been able to see the creator's box, but now she realized that there were numerous VIP boxes around the arena and directly below the common folk's stands, offering private amusement to everybody who, presumably, had the necessary money at hand. 

In some of the loges and above on the scaffold, there were people, probably staff, busy with cleaning and preparing the arena for tomorrow's event. Most of them were human but there was also a pair of Scorpion Girls scurrying around, by the look of it being responsible for the tabled area. For the first time she realized what a giant business this was! There were literally dozens of people working in this arena, but somehow Janice had the suspicion that Monster War's owners were neither paying a single cent of taxes, nor did the relevant authorities know of this business. At least not officially. 

"It's my first time creating a monster in a Venn Machine." Janice shot back after she'd managed to tear her eyes away from the sight outside. "Is there a way to do it faster? You barely needed a minute to change Steve!" 

Mary giggled. "Tricks of the trade, my dear." As Janice pouted, she continued. "But this is a trick I'll tell you: When you're inside the Venn Machine, simply say 'History' and you get a number of bubbles showing your partner's last changes. So you can choose old changes and either use or alter them." 

Janice made big eyes. "Really? I didn't know that there was such a function!" 

Mary smiled. "Few know, my dear. In fact, I have a colleague whose marriage shattered because his wife realized that he let himself being turned into a hot woman regularly." 

"Um... what's the problem with becoming a woman?" Janice asked with a frown. 

"Nothing." Mary answered with a serene smile. "Unless the one who changed you into a beautiful girl is your wife's sister who gets to bang you while she's a man." 

Mary giggled as her blunt explanation left Janice speechless, but suddenly her eyes lit up with excitement. "Look!" she exclaimed, pointing down in the arena. "It's begun!" 

At once Janice looked down, already having forgotten their conversation's previous topic, her eyes glued to the gates which were now opening, letting the monsters stroll into the arena. Out of her eyes' corners, Janice could see that most of the workers were stopping whatever labor they were doing and going to the guardrails, watching down in anticipation of the coming fight. 

There was Ben scurrying into the arena on his six legs, his arms threateningly raised above his head and his maw wide open, displaying his impressive teeth. 

"Wow, nice. You've taken a scorpion as a base but crossed it with a reptile! So you made him more agile without sacrificing much armor thanks to his scales. And this massive maw is a nice addition compared with the scorpion's. It's mouth parts may look intimidating, but they are not of much use against properly armored opponents-" 

Mary kept blabbering on cheerfully, but most of Janice's attention was focused on the other side of the arena, where Steve entered. She'd expected something bad and she wasn't being disappointed. What stalked into the arena looked like it came out of a nightmare. A multitude of black, multiply jointed legs carried a dome-like, smooth main body into the arena. Each of the creature's legs, it must had way more than a couple of dozen, Janice realized, ended in a sharp-spiked claw looking almost like a dagger. 

There was only the round dome and the many, many legs to be seen, nothing else, not even the slightest indication where the creature had it's front or it's back, or if it even possessed something like this! But then Steve reared up his strange body until his underside was almost vertical, revealing a wriggling mass of suckered tentacles which then parted as well and presented a large beak which had been hidden behind the slimy limbs. Steve clacked his beak open and shut a few times, seemingly oblivious to Ben's equally threatening gestures, and then the curtain of wriggling limbs closed again, followed by Steve settling down on all legs. 

Fascinated, Janice stared at the strange creature which harbored her friend's Steve's mind. She'd transformed her boyfriend into a horrific monstrosity, but this was something entirely else! 

"Cool, isn't it?" Mary giggled now and Janice's head flew around. "It's a development from my last fight where I'd been this worm. The beak and the tentacles had been really useful, but my long body offered way too much in the matter of target. So I tried designing something better to defend around these weapons - a dome-like, chitin-armored shell which's housing all the vital organs and lots of spidery legs. They are additional weapons and provide lots of redundancy in case they get damaged. What do you think?" 

"What I think?" Janice stared at Steve's nightmarish body again. "I think he looks like an abomination- oh, sorry!" Her face went beetle-red as she realized that she'd just insulted her friend. 

But Mary simply laughed. "Oh, don't worry. That's what I intended, after all. I call his body the 'Dome-spider'. Do you think Ben will have a chance? Because I'm already seeing a few flaws in his design which would be easy for Steve to exploit." 

Janice furrowed her brows. "I don't doubt that there are flaws in my design. Its name is 'Scorzard', by the way. I'm a beginner in monster design, after all. But how can Steve exploit them? He can't even see! I don't see any eyes on his body!" 

Mary grinned. "Eyes are way too vulnerable. Beginners need them, but advanced fighters can use other means of orientation to eliminate that specific weak spot. Remember when I was the worm? Only smell and vibrations. That dome he has? It's also functioning as an echo sounder. We turned you into a bat before, don't you remember? He's 'seeing' like you had been then." 

Taken aback, Janice looked at her friend. When she'd been a bat before, she'd indeed used echo location for 'seeing'. And while it had worked perfectly, it had been very, very strange nonetheless. To use this unfamiliar 'sense', she'd been forced to loosen the reins on her animal instincts a lot more than she'd been comfortable with. Loosening the reins the same way while she was not a rodent-sized mammal, but a pony-sized killer-monster was not something she was prepared to do - yet. 

"Wow." she said therefore. "That's... crazy. I don't know if I could fight with such a 'vision'." 

"It will come." Mary consoled her. "Anyway... let's watch the spectacle. Because if I'm right, now they'll-" She didn't manage to finish her sentence, because the deep rumble of the start signal interrupted her. And both women's eyes flew down into the arena where their two boyfriends-turned monsters immediately went at each other with bestial roars. 

Ben dashed forwards, his six legs catapulting his Scorzard's body forward in giant leaps. Steve on the other side only scurried close to the ground, his many legs blurring over the concrete, their razor-sharp tips even striking sparks on the floor. Yet his indignation or inability to emulate Ben's leaps forced him into the defensive right away. Ben had planned his final leap which would bring him into range meticulously and suddenly, a snarling, teeth-baring, eight-limbed monstrosity came crashing down onto the dome-spider's carapace, safely out of range of its tentacles and legs. 

But Steve realized the danger and retreated his many limbs under his shell just moments before Ben's massive paws hammered down onto his armored back. The power of the hit was not only audible, but even palpable back up in the viewing stands, and Janice had no doubts whatsoever that this attack would have reduced any marble statue to crumbling dust. Unfortunately for Ben, Steve wasn't a marble statue. 

The dome-spider didn't even show a crack in its skull, instead its legs slit out again and swiftly it moved away a few feet, the Scorzard's second strike only hitting the floor and sending concrete shards flying. With bared teeth, Ben pursued, his fists ready to deal devastating blows. Breathlessly, Janice watched the spectacle below. Steve confined his actions to eluding Ben's attacks, apparently he was waiting for an opening, but in his second fight, Ben didn't repeat the mistake of his first and paid attention not to expose himself to a counterattack. 

At the same time, his blows were harmlessly bouncing off Steve's carapace, so for this deadlock to end, one of the two had take a risk. Janice didn't have to wait long. Steve was the first who had enough from the stalemate. Suddenly, he was not backing off from one of Ben's murderous punches but instead jumped right into him, exposing his belly's beak at the last possible moment. The abrupt change of direction caught Ben absolutely off-guard and his fists missed, harmlessly hitting empty air. 

Janice gasped horrified as Steve's mad charge brought him directly atop Ben's head and mercilessly, his tentacles closed around her boyfriend's neck. It looked almost as if the Scorzard Ben had become had donned a black helmet, though the wiggling mass of limbs below the 'hem' of the helmet left no doubt that this wasn't a comfortable head-wear. It had to be pure hell being trapped inside this! Not only were Ben's, nose, eyes and so on directly below Steve's brutal beak, at the same time, Steve's tentacles were at the mercy of Ben's massive teeth. 

Ben's fists hammered madly at Steve's convulsing spidery limbs, their dagger-like feet leaving deep gashes all over his breast and arms. Now that Steve's underside was exposed to Ben's arms, he was doing damage, smashing the fragile looking limbs first into bloody pulp and then tearing them out. Yet Steve had a lot of them to spare, and while he had his most potent weapon, his beak, directly atop Ben's most vulnerable body part, the Scorzard's stinger harmlessly bounced off the dome-spiders carapace. 

Ben seemed to realize that he was in trouble, too, and now his fists tried tearing the mad spider-creature from his head. But Steve wasn't moving a single inch and Mary chuckled evilly. 

"That's futile." she explained with an evil smirk. "Steve has tiny teeth inside every sucker on his tentacles. These teeth have buried themselves into Ben's scales. It's like Steve has glued himself to your boyfriend. He won't get him off unless Steve wants it. And I'm pretty sure that with his beak, it won't be long until he's munched himself through Ben's armor and close to something vital..." 

Wide-eyed, Janice stared at her friend and then down into the arena again. And indeed Ben's moves were becoming more and more frantic. Now he was even starting to hammer his head, with Steve firmly perched atop, against the concrete walls. But while these started to show cracks, Steve's dome-like armor didn't even suffer so much as a dent. And then, suddenly, Ben started to shudder, his limbs twitching unnaturally - until they gave way and he collapsed on his belly. For a few more seconds, his body twitched but then ceased every activity, until Steve's tentacles and legs were the only things still moving in the arena. 

"I think it's over." Mary remarked. "It was a good fight, though. Steve's experience tipped the balance, but I think that he will do well against other rookies- oh my!" Startled, Mary looked down into the arena and Janice did the same, staring at the two monsters below unbelievingly. By now, Steve had untangled himself from the wreck of his opponent and slowly lurched away, leaving large smears of blood behind. They couldn't see his underside directly, but it was clearly that he'd suffered horrible wounds. Close to two thirds of his legs were gone, and the tentacles looked brutally mauled as well. 

Ben on the other side, who'd lost the fight, looked remarkably intact - if you weren't counting the head in. It was practically gone, only his lower jaw still recognizable and grotesquely sticking out of a red, bloody pulp. Apparently, Steve had badgered Ben's skull ruthlessly, his beak ripping away eyes, nose, upper jaw and bones until he'd reached the brain. Janice shuddered inwardly as she tried to imagine how it must have felt having a monster slowly carving away your face. They'd dialed down the pain, but still...

Even Mary seemed to be taken aback by Ben's brutally maimed corpse, and it took a few seconds until she'd managed to find her speech again. "All right..." she said with an awkward undertone. "I think I'll accompany Steve to the Venn Machine now. I don't think he wants to stay in this shape longer, not with these injuries. As for your boyfriend..." Now she sounded even a bit apologetic. "The cleaners will take his body to the Venn Machine and change him back." 


"Hooookay..." Ben said roughly fifteen minutes later, the four of them sitting at the generous table of the creator's VIP box. Down in the arena, the cleaners were still busy removing the remnants of the fight. "That was crazy. Real bat-shit crazy. And it was totally intriguing. The most exciting thing I've done so far!" 

Inwardly, Janice let loose a giant sigh. She'd feared that after getting his brain eaten out alive, he'd be traumatized or at least 
unwilling to continue. But apparently, her fear had been unnecessary. 

"I mean, it was like totally crazy!" Ben continued. "The moment I was in that arena, I felt all this power and rage. And there was my opponent, a monster like me and I wanted to show that this is my turf! Pure adrenalin! And I didn't shed a second thought to the fact that this was you in that crazy shape!" 

"And the way Steve... um... killed you?" Janice inquired cautiously. After all, she might face a similar death in combat soon, so she wanted to know if her boyfriend was simply bearing this with a grin, or if it really wasn't a big deal to him. Ben instantly understood and put on a more serious face, shrugging. 

"I can't say that it was pleasant." he said. "But at the same time, I was charged to the hilt with adrenaline and locked in a murderous fight. Of course there was damage occurring to my body, even terrible damage, but in the heat of the battle I didn't really notice... emotionally, at least. Intellectually I realized when my eyes were gone, but I had different things to worry about, so there was no time thinking about this... does this answer your question?

Janice nodded and Steve grinned. "Does that mean that you'll forgive me for braining you?" he asked sweetly and Ben laughed, jokingly shoving a finger in his friend's face. 

"Just you wait!" he said twinkling. "After this tournament tomorrow, I won't be a novice anymore whom you can pummel as you like. Let me tell you this: There will be blood!" 

"Challenge accepted!" Steve laughed. "Actually, you weren't half-bad. Quite good, rather. When you started breaking my limbs directly after I had entangled your face, I thought that I would run out of tentacles and legs before I would reach your brain. I was seconds from letting go when you suddenly started trying to tear me off, and that's when I realized that I had the advantage!" 

Ben gasped. "WHAT? I had you that close to defeat?" 

"Um, don't jump your horses." Mary chimed in. "Close to defeat is a bit far-fetched. Let's call it... a dire situation for my boyfriend here." 

Now Ben looked almost crestfallen, which prompted an amused giggle by Janice. So it hadn't been as one-sided as it had looked? I think I'll have to file that away... she thought. Bluffing when you're short of defeat. Well, it makes sense. We're not fighting dumb monsters, but sentient, intelligent monsters... 

"Well then." Mary interrupted Janice's thoughts. "Let's get to the analysis then. Do you wanna begin, Steve? After all, you fought him." 

Steve waved his hand. "No, I'll leave you the field. You're way better in this analysis stuff than me, and with my echo location sense I didn't manage to get that many details. Just tell what you think could be improved and if I think there's anything you've missed, I'll put it in. All right?" 

Mary nodded. "Got it. Okay, the first thing which I'd consider as a design flaw of that Scorzard of yours is the stinger. It's actually a very popular weapon in monster wars, but it's mainly used by rookies because it's in most fights, as you've seen today, quite ineffective. You need 'tweaks' for it to work, but I can't see how we can implement these in your creature. For a real scorpion, the stinger's mainly a transport vehicle for-" 

Janice and Ben found themselves eagerly listening to Mary's brutal but spot-on analysis, taking notes and asking occasional questions while their friend continued lecturing about the pros and cons of Ben's Scorzard's natural weapons. 

"What do you think about Mary's analysis, have you already drawn lessons from her 'tirade'?" Janice asked via the interface of the Venn Machine. Ben chuckled on the other side. 

"You mean, like applying changes to your monster form? Yes, you could say that. Not many, and nothing big, I rather enhanced several features which should make you even more dangerous. You'll be more compact, your limbs will be thicker as well and your claws are a bit shorter but at the same time stouter." He shrugged. "I designed them as something to penetrate in your enemy's flesh, but if Mary will be as heavily armored as Steve before, they will rather break than go deep and do some damage. So I went for blunt force instead. If you hit Mary with these paws and claws it will hurt, regardless if she's a butterfly or a tank!" 

Janice grinned. Alone the fact that they were speaking of her, a normal, not exceptionally tall woman using claws to tear at enemies sounded totally strange. Yet in a few minutes, she would not be a woman anymore, but instead a monstrous, living fighting machine, and shortly thereafter she'd be locked in a deadly fight. The thought made her shiver with anticipation, and she looked at Ben again. 

"But the... 'main feature' so to speak you haven't modified?" she inquired, thinking of Ben's core-idea he'd modeled the monster around. In a way, it was even more crazy than becoming a worm or spider like Mary and Steve, and Janice was more than a bit excited about finding out if it would work and, more importantly, how it would feel.

"Nope. I want to see if such a change gives you advantages or disadvantages." Ben echoed her own thought. "Does that mean that you're not upset that I'll make your form... chubbier?" he asked carefully then. 

Janice had to laugh at his pained look. When it came to weight and figure she was very self-conscious, and Ben still hadn't forgotten the epic temper-tantrum she'd thrown when he'd presented her with a beautiful dress at their second anniversary - which was two sizes to big. But if she was changing into a monster, she'd do it right and not half-assed. No need for beautiful, sparkly unicorns in the arena which were mesmerizing but didn't last ten seconds against whatever ugliness the opponents would field. "Oh, don't worry, love." she twinkled therefore. "As a monster, you can make me as fat and ugly as you like - as long as I'm deadly." she stressed the last word and Ben exhaled a relieved sigh. 

"Phew, good to hear." he exclaimed. "Well then... are you ready to become fat and ugly." 

"Don't forget 'deadly', dear." Janice said back and stretched her arms out. "Do it!" Her heart was beating madly now. In a few seconds, she'd be a monster designed to fight... and kill! And then, her heartbeat changed. 

Slowly, almost lumbering, Janice moved her stocky, heavyset body out of the Venn Machine. Her torso was indeed chubby to the point of being borderline obese, but these were layers upon layers of protective scales, fat and finally muscles. Almost a foot of natural armor all around. This meant lots of mass to carry, but her four, massively muscled legs were up to the task, each almost the diameter of a small tree. They'd debated going for six or even eight legs, but then each single leg would have needed to be thinner, increasing the danger of suffering impairing damages. Her total mass was that great that she felt how her terrifying, scimitar-like claws at the end of her reptilian toes penetrated into the hall's concrete with each step. 

Janice turned left, her claws leaving deep marks in the floor, towards Ben who was looking with a mixture of awe and trepidation, evidently torn between marvel at his creation and trepidation at the monstrosity he'd turned his girlfriend into. There was only one peculiarity. Janice wasn't seeing him once, but thrice. And this wasn't because she'd tripled him. But rather because he'd given her not one, but three heads. 

While Janice's base for Ben's form had been a scorpion, a real, existing animal, Ben had decided to borrow from mythology. And settled on Cerberus for his 'Cerbersaur', the three-headed dog out of Greek legends who guarded the underworld. Just like Janice, he'd heavily altered the concept, up to the point where only four legs and three heads had remained from the original model. From her shoulder, three necks emerged, even thicker than her legs. Each neck was finished off with a reptilian head looking like a cross between a snake and a crocodile. The heads had large protruding and interlocking teeth, with canines which would have made a saber-tooth cat proud. But the snouts were not nearly as long as a crocodile's and instead triangular, giving them a decidedly snake-like look. 

The top of each head was covered with small horns at the front, not large but definitively a bone-shattering experience for any opponent these heads were rammed against. Near the base of the neck, though, two larger horns sprouted almost vertically, creating a hard barrier between the neck and any foolish attacker. Even more, directly behind the horns something like a cobra's hood spread out down to the base of the neck, like a protecting blanket. Every attacker first had to carve his through the horns and then through the thick, scaly blanket to reach a neck, but at the same time, this arrangement of flexible, layered armor provided amble agility for the heads.

Ben's intent was clear. She was slow and sluggish on foot, but at the same time heavily armored and sported agile heads. Attacks against her main body would be nearly futile, for to get through a foot of scales, fat and muscle one had to tear and bite for a considerate amount of time, during which Janice could bring the deadly teeth of her heads to bear. At the same time, she had not one, but three potent and nimble offensive weapons to strike at any opponent. 

The battle doctrine for this shape was simply: Head-on attack. If the opponent faced her, he'd have to deal with three vicious heads. If he tried to flank her, he'd have to avoid her highly flexible neck on each side, taking a detour big enough for her to be theoretically able to turn to face him in time. An attack from above would bounce off her protective horns and blankets, not to mention her armored back. And an attack from below towards her throats would bring him into range of her terrible claws. 

And if an enemy still manage to penetrate, there was the concept of redundancy. As long as he didn't have multiple heads as well, or more than two main limbs for attacking, he'd only be able to engage one, at the uppermost two of her head. The third would be free to pummel the attacker from the side. 

On paper, all of this sounded fairly sound. But there were two things to consider. First: No battle plan survives enemy contact. And second: Would Janice be able to coordinate a three-headed body or would this strange new configuration of senses be more a hindrance than a help? 

Much to Janice's surprise now, it felt... normal. And different than she'd expected. She'd thought that with three heads, her mind would puzzle together one big picture of the sights and sounds all her eyes and ears would perceive. Instead... it didn't. There were three separate 'images' and three separate 'sounds' in her mind. And not like watching three televisions at once either. As a human, she hadn't been aware of the boundaries of her sight. She'd simply seen what had been in front of her and stuff at the side had become more... sketchy. But without a clear threshold of 'here be darkness'. The same was true for her threefold sight now. She saw three things at once, but there were no boundaries 'between'. It was really hard to describe. 

Instead of further racking her brain, or rather brains, about this strange of things she walked closer towards Ben until she was towering over him. Oh my God, he looks so small and fragile from this point of view! She thought while lowering her heads down to him. 
Slowly, her boyfriend touched the snout of her middle head, a motion barely noticeable through her thick scales, then he tried enfolding one of her tusks with a hand, failing. Janice let loose an amused growl out of three jaws. Normally, Ben's hand was large enough to enfold her upper arm. The he now couldn't grab around one of her teeth was exhilarating! 

Startled, Ben retracted his hand, eyeing her warily. "Careful, not that you're eating my hand by accident!" 
I would never do such a thing! Janice thought, but closed her three mouths obediently. Looking at the same things multiplied by three was kind of boring. though. Therefore she started turning her left head around to study her new appearance, at the same time she lowered the right towards the bottom, a long, thick, snake-like tongue moving out and 'tasting' the smell of the floor, flooding her mind with the all kinds of human smells - and a few non-humans. 

Wow, I'm actually doing three different things at once! Janice marveled and it was true. There was still only 'one' of 'her', a single mind, a control-instance so to speak but she could order each of her heads (and therefore probably brains) to work on a different task. She was at the same time smelling the bottom and studying her appearance, doing each task with 100% of focus. It was actually totally mind-boggling that it wasn't... mind-boggling but natural. 

"Um..." Ben asked, his stare swerving back and forth between her two occupied heads and the middle one which was still fixating him. "And you're able to control all three heads?" 
A bit offended, Janice nodded with her middle head and glowered at him with the other two for a few seconds, until delegating them to their specific tasks once more. How else is what I'm doing looking to you?

Ben laughed nervously. "Oh, right. Yeah, dumb question, really. But it's just so strange seeing you having three heads. There's only one of you, right?" 
Again, Janice nodded. Then she motioned with her heads towards the entrance to the arena. If it was the monstrous body or her own excitement, she couldn't wait to put this shape to work. 

"Ah, right..." Ben said, than gave her a small smack on the middle nose. "We don't want to keep Mary waiting, do we? Well then... go and kick some ass. Do better than me!" 

You bet! Janice thought and mustered Ben with all heads again, opening them for a terrifying roar, letting loose a mental giggle at the sight of Ben momentarily blanching. Then she turned, slowly but steadily walking towards the arena. On her way, she passed the mirror and delegated one of her heads to watch her moving. The sight was... impressive. A massive, dinosaur-like creature walking confidently towards battle, two of its evil-teeth sprouting heads opened a bit and focusing the front, the third looking to the side and mustering its mirror-image out of vicious, tiny, yellow eyes. 

I still can't believe that this is me! the girl-turned monster marveled while she lumbered into the adjacent area. But it feels so good!

There a Monster Wars employee already awaited her, silently motioning for her to follow him towards her holding pen. He also had what looked like a portable subwoofer in his hand, probably to signalize blind and deaf creature where to go. He didn't appear impressed by her form, but then again, he'd probably already seen hundreds of different creatures, one more would only be business as usual. 

As soon as he'd deposited her into the pen, the other door of the pen, which led to the arena, opened and eagerly, Janice clomped out onto the battle-grounds, her three heads intently searching for her foe. She was sure that Mary would pull out all the stops and probably await her in a form even more vicious and strange than Steve had worn before. But what then entered from the other side surprised her nonetheless. For it was, again, a worm. 

Confused, Janice walked up to a point one third into the arena and then stopped, roaring defiantly at Mary out of three throats to cover her growing insecurity. It was vicious, and strange as well, yes. But a worm had been the last thing she had expected. Didn't Mary say that her last fight had shown her that a worm body isn't that suited for combat? Her body simply being too long and offering too big a target?

Firmly, Janice battled her fluttering nerves down and instead forced all her concentration on Mary's worm form. The first obvious difference to her previous body was her 'head'. If one could even call it this way. This time, there were no tentacles hiding a giant beak. Instead, there was only a gaping, round hole, the inner side covered by small, inclined teeth, the outer side sporting six massive hooks. And immediately, Janice grasped the purpose of this maw. 

It's perfectly designed for attaching itself onto an opponent's skin! she realized. The hooks will keep the maw firmly in place and the teeth will burrow themselves deep into the flash. That's... disgusting! It was good that her current body wasn't capable of shivering, otherwise the mental chill she now felt at the thought of such a thing hanging on her belly and eating itself through her guts would surely have given away her anxiety. 

But there were more differences. Mary was moving different as well. As the tentacled worm, she'd crawled, similar to an earthworm or a maggot. Now though, she was slithering, like a snake and Janice watched intently out of three pairs of eyes as Mary started coiling herself into a tight bun, with only her 'head' being raised and pointed directly at the Cerbersaur on the other side of the arena, her hooks clenching from time to time.   

Hm... interesting... Janice mused. As the tentacled worm, her body was fairly stiff and therefore exposed. Now, though, she's flexible and if she's coiling her body in such a tight bun, it actually gives her lots of flexibility, at least in a defensive posture. Plus- wait a moment... what is THAT?

Startled, Janice focused on the worm's gaping maw. Having three heads available for peeking meant that each head was spotting different details, and her left had saw something moving inside the dark hole, something shiny... pointy. Janice looked on in disbelief as Mary extended some kind of long tentacle out of her body-maw, the end sporting a massive stinger. The stinger was easily half a foot wide, and the tentacle longer than Janice's entire body. Mary swerved it around a bit, her hooks and teeth twitching ominously, and then, suddenly, she pointed her 'head' down and accelerated her tentacle with stunning force at the floor. 

Disbelieving, Janice watched out of three pairs of eyes as the stinger-tentacle penetrated deep into the floor. Apparently satisfied with this demonstration of fighting-prowess, Mary retracted the limb into her mouth again, moving back into her tight coil. The message was clear. Now it's your turn, honey!

Defiantly, Janice screeched back, her three wide-open maws spluttering saliva all over the arena. But inside, she was deep in thoughts. This weapon of Mary's had changed everything. Her teeth are not for eating through her victim! Janice realized. It's actually for giving her even more of a stronghold when she propels that stinger through her foe. That went through concrete like a knife through butter, I don't think that even my armor would be enough to stop it. I bet she has a shitload of muscles tucked away in that body of hers, acting like some kind of catapult for this stinger. So if she latches herself onto my back, it's over. Taking a hit on one of my heads would be different, though. After all, I have two to spare- wait a moment!

An idea flashed through Janice's mind. At first, it seemed crazy, but the more she thought about it, the more promising it looked. Did Mary know that she had three heads? She'd told her that as the worm before, she had relied on smells and vibrations. So maybe she hadn't realized that Janice had extra-heads yet? The woman-turned Cerbersaur mustered the stinger-worm attentively. It was still waiting contentedly on its side, and there were no indications of eyes, or even a "sonar-dome" like Steve had sported before. 

Janice had to use all her composure to keep herself from chuckle-growling. She really didn't want to give away her three-heads at the last minute. Of course there was always the danger that Mary already had realized this, but there was only one way to find out. And if she really knew of Janice's three heads, she would probably evade the attack Janice had in mind. But if she didn't... then she'd almost certainly face her. Because what she'd be doing shortly would normally be suicide. 

In that moment, the deep subsonic rumble indicating the begin of the fact interrupted Janice's thoughts, and she felt her body being flooded with adrenaline. With an inhuman cry out of her three throats, Janice rumbled forwards, concrete splinters flying left and right as her claws ripped themselves into the floor to propel her massive body forward. Her monstrous form had been designed for an all out, frontal attack, and that was precisely what she was doing now. For a moment, Janice saw Mary freeze in puzzlement, but then the stinger-worm started coiling itself tighter, the stinger hovering right at the boundary of its mouth.

Janice didn't fault Mary for her reaction. Normally, such an attack against this form would be suicide. Her forward vector would leave her with no possibility of doing a last-second evasion, and if Mary would bring her main weapon to bear, the force of Janice's movement alone should be enough to drive the stinger through her armor right into her brain. On the other hand... So it seems you really don't know that I have three brains! Janice thought gleefully while she dashed towards her opponent. Experienced by yesterday's fight as a jaguar, she loosened the reins on her new instincts and suddenly found herself more a passenger than a driver in her body. She was still able to influence her actions, but overall, the monster had taken over, opening all of its three mouths in a vicious, murderous snarl while fixating the stinger-worm. 

Her side heads moved out in a pincer-movement, the middle one aiming straight at the worm's front and the other two carving to the sides to strike from the left and the right. Almost in slow motion the two monsters came closer and closer. Ten feet. Five feet. Four feet. Two. One.

The impact was massive. Just as Janice had expected, Mary had sprung forwards in the last moment, aiming for her head. One second, she was seeing out of three heads, a massive worm hurling itself at her. And the next, the middle sight, in fact all of its senses, were blotted away with a brutal blow. Pain flooded through her system, but thanks to the usual adjustments, it was bearable and her surviving two heads were already biting down on the worm shortly behind its 'head', fixating it in place. 

Out of her side heads' eyes, Janice could see the remains of her middle head, and the bloody ruin of what had originally been a body part of her nearly sent her into shock. The whole forward half, complete with the eyes and the snout, up to the horns, was buried deep in the gaping maw, the giant hooks ripping deep holes into her jaw and keeping it firmly locked in place, one even sticking in her eye socket. But the goriest sight of all was her neck. Just as Janice had predicted, Mary's stinger had effortlessly sliced though her head's armor, ripped the brain in pieces, destroyed the spinal cord and now exited out of a gaping hole in her neck. 

A truly fatal strike usually. But Janice's body wasn't 'usual', and the loss of the middle head made her instincts bite down on the worm with the surviving two heads with additional fury. Janice felt how her tusks penetrated deeply into the worm. A shocked shiver went through her opponent, Mary stopping moving for a short moment. Guess you're surprised that I'm not dead yet, aren't you? Janice thought gleefully as her friend started wriggling madly, desperately trying to get out of Janice's jaws, even loosening her hooks.

But the power of Janice's heads was too big, her teeth already embedded too deeply in Mary's flesh and out of other options, her friend's long stinger-tentacle started striking again into the ruin of the middle head. Janice didn't mind Mary shredding the remains of her limb. In a far removed corner of her mind, a faint noise whispered that she should be horrified by this violation of her body. At the same time, though, her rational thoughts prevailed. This gave Mary a harmless target to strike at so that Janice had her mind free to consider other things, like bringing bodily mayhem and destruction onto her enemy. And thanks to the fact that her middle head's spine had been obliterated with the first strike, it didn't even hurt! 

On the other hand, there wasn't much left for Mary to actually strike into, and with every extra strike there was less, so there would come a time when the tentacle wouldn't need to travel through dead flesh anymore, making it a danger to her side heads. In the end, it was half instinct and half deliberation, but when another of Mary's more and more frantic strikes broke through Janice's middle head's tortured flesh in a spray of gore, her right head stopped biting down on the worm and instead went upwards towards the tentacle in a lightning-fast strike. As her jaws closed around the tentacle, Janice knew she'd won. 

Her left head kept the worm firmly in place below her ruined middle head, the right head fixated her opponent's most deadly weapon in an unyielding lock. It was trapped between her heads and there was only one thing left to do. Janice started walking forward, using her massive feet to shove the stinger-worm under her belly inch by inch. It trashed madly, trying to escape, but Janice was merciless and ignored the beats and punches the snake-like body dealt to her belly. Convulsions which would have broken every bone in a normal human's body were mere tender strokes to her heavily armored shape. Finally, all of the worm except its foremost parts were tucked away under her body. 

Well... Janice thought while Mary wreathed under here. I'm not sure how heavy I am, but Ben said something about a good-sized car... so I wonder what I will happen when I do this! And with a loud crunch, Janice buckled her legs and went down on her belly, crushing the worm below her in a bloody pulp. 

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