Rookies 1

a

Trust Machines story

by

clancy688

The loud *CRACK* with which Mary's powerful jaw crushed Ben's neck pierced every bone in Janice's body, and instinctively, she tensed her muscles, an angry snarl breaking free from her snout. Of course Ben's 'death' at Mary's fangs was only temporary, but seeing your mate being killed in front of your eyes still does give you a lot of outrage, no matter how 'temporary' the condition is. 

As Mary heard Janice's growl, she released her fangs and Ben's yellow and black (and red) spotted body fell limply into the grass. Apparently satisfied by Janice's threatening behavior, she responded with a loud growl as well and then made an inviting gesture with her head. She didn't have to do it twice. Instantly, Janice went up from her observing crouch and prowled forward on four paws, following the much larger, yellow and black striped shape in front of her to the meadow's center which doubled as their training grounds. 

Angrily, her gaze swiveled towards Ben's lifeless shape as she passed him. He was lying on his side, muzzle slightly opened, the cattish eyes staring off into eternity. His whole body was covered with bleeding gashes, courtesy of Mary's paw strikes, but the most prominent injury (besides his crushed neck, of course) was the large rupture in his belly through which his guts were leaking out, painting the grass red. This had been one of his first wounds, one massive paw strike by Mary against his underside as he'd foolishly tried jumping on her back. The injury had soon hindered him, made him sluggish, until Mary had managed to grab his neck and end the battle. 

Well, mistakes were there to learned of, and Janice had decided to take all the lessons of Ben's and Mary's fight before to heart. Although it was pretty clear that she didn't stand the chance of a snowflake in hell against Mary. Which had been, of course, a deliberate design feature by Steve back when he'd created their current bodies. 


After Mary and Steve had introduced them to Monster Wars, both Janice and her boyfriend Ben had decided to try it out as well at the Rookie Event this upcoming weekend. The Rookie Event was supposed to introduce beginners into Monster Wars by pairing them off with opponents who were doing their first fights as well. Therefore there would be no outright massacres where a veteran of a dozen fights could bring all of his experience to bear on his clueless contender. That being said, the 'only beginners' rule only applied to official fights (and wasn't that a nice choice of words for an at best extralegal business?), not to fights outside the arena. So when Mary and Steve had offered their friends two full days of training on how to fight (and kill) as a monster, Janice and Ben had accepted gladly. 

When Mary and Steve had collected them this morning for the training, driving a large, rented van, they had first taken them to a backwoods mall in the middle of nowhere which, surprisingly, had featured a Venn Machine. There, Steve had explained them how the next eight hours of training would be conducted. He would change Janice and Ben into their 'training shapes', Mary into their 'trainer shape' and then drive them further into the hills where they could use the entirety of the scheduled change time to make themselves familiar with being dangerous creatures. And at the end, there would be a real fight against Mary in which they'd try to put everything learned to use - and experience combat death. 

Slightly irritated, Janice had inquired about the dying part. 

"Is that really necessary?" she had asked. And "How can you be so sure that you'll be able to win against us?" 

Mary had only grinned arrogantly while Steve had explained his reasoning.

"'Dying' for the first time is always an obstacle for Monster Wars fighters. The first time is, of course, the hardest, afterwards it gets easier. So in order to prepare you for the upcoming Rookie Fight, to take you your fear of the unknown quantity 'death' (while venned), it is best to give you an experience of it beforehand."

And Janice had had to agree that it actually made sense. Which hadn't meant that she had embraced the concept with delight. 

The next part, of course, had been their 'training shapes'. Actually, Janice had anticipated that Steve would change them into real monsters right away. As she'd asked him about the undoubtedly nightmarish shapes he had in mind, Steve had simply laughed.

"No, no. Don't worry, you'll soon enough be a fearful monster. But for basic training, less conspicuous shapes are entirely sufficient. We're in a public mall, after all. Imagine the hubbub if I change you into giant, tentacled, beaked worms!"

So a couple of minutes later, Janice and Ben had found themselves inhabiting not their human bodies, not monster bodies, but in jaguar bodies. Yeah. Much less conspicuous. 

Mary, who was posing as their teacher, had become a tremendous tiger, outweighing them probably by 200 pounds. As Janice had first emerged in the body of one of the largest big cats on the planets, she'd felt an incredible rush of power. As Mary had emerged right after, she'd suddenly felt like a small, tiny kitten. At least now it was clear where Mary's belief in her future victories was coming from. 

Actually, being a Jaguar had been a total blast at first to Janice. She had never before used the Venn Machine to become a true animal, and suddenly she'd found herself inhabiting 200 pounds of heavily muscled apex predator. All her senses had been incredibly sharpened, she was making out the most distant details with her eyes, was hearing the softest noises and smelling a previously unknown multitude of odors. 

Additionally, her whole body had suddenly been working different. She had had no arms anymore, instead four legs, but walking on these had felt perfectly normal. Then her mouth had been replaced by an animal's muzzle - she'd tried speaking first, but instead of language, only incomprehensible growls had surfaced. 

Ben had experienced similar wonders, and Steve and Mary had watched amused while the two new jaguars had tried out their bodies. After several minutes, the tiger, Mary, had intervened and shooed them towards their rented van, and Steve had driven the trio of big cats, now perched in the cargo area, further into the hills until they'd reached a remote valley at the end of several miles of gravel track. 

Janice had prayed silent thanks to her maker as the van had finally stopped, with her enhanced hearing the van's rumbling over dirt had come pretty close to torture. 

As soon as they'd exited the infernal machine, the real ordeal had begun - Steve's and Mary's training. Steve had given them the instructions on what to do and Mary had demonstrated. It had been fairly basic stuff first - running, smelling, getting familiar with all the new features of their animal bodies. 

But it hadn't taken long until they'd started on actual combat training - using paws, claws and jaws, their natural weapons, to get at their opponent. Paws and claws had been fairly straightforward, but at least Janice had had inhibitions in using her teeth for attacks. She'd been a human for all her life after all, and as a human she'd cared for her fragile teeth, where biting on a cherry stone could cause a trip to the dentist. 

Mary had simply stared at her with her yellow tiger eyes and then picked up a wooden branch as thick as human Janice's wrist with her mouth. She'd walked up in front of her and flexed her jaw's muscles. The branch had splintered immediately, as if it had been out of glass. Then she'd motioned at Janice to try it as well with a slightly thinner branch.

Janice had followed suit and picked up the branch, then she'd gathered all her courage, trying to not to think about dentists, and bitten on the log as hard as possible. To her amazement, it could have been made out of butter, that easily her fangs had sliced it into tiny toothpicks. This had been the turning point for her, and from thereon she had more and more readily embraced her predatory body's weapons. 

Next there had been mock fights against Mary, they had tried to attack Mary and she had evaded or countered their charge - and afterwards, Steve had explained to them what their mistakes had been. It hadn't taken long for each and every bone in Janice's new body to ache - despite the pain dial down on 10%. A 400 pound tiger giving you a friendly smack with its paw is similar to a harmless, little collision with an fully loaded U-Haul truck - when the truck is driving at 50 miles per hour and you're a pedestrian. 

Lunch break had been training as well - Mary had taken both of them into the woods to hunt their food. They'd managed to take down a deer, although Janice had to admit that most of the taking down, let's say 90%, had been done by Mary. Nonetheless, she'd shared her prey with them and again Janice had had to overcome an inhibition - feeding on a bleeding carcass which had been a living animal only fifteen minutes ago. 

This time, she'd tried out a trick Steve had told her about before. 

"Your animal or monster instincts are always there. If there's something you have to do but your human mind is unwilling, then gradually let your instincts take over until it works." 

Her jaguar's instincts had indeed been there, lingering in the back of her head, a sharp, alert presence, thinking of prey and hunt, and so she'd gingerly let her animalistic side take over control. And it had worked. 

Suddenly, there hadn't been a dead deer in front of her. Instead, there had been meat, food! And next to her had already been two other competitors busy with consuming the precious protein. She'd given them a sharp growl and then dived into the meal herself, ripping large chunks of meat out with her powerful jaws and swallowing them. 

It hadn't taken longer than 30 minutes and the two jaguars and the tiger had stripped the deer to the bones. Filled, Janice had made herself comfortable on a nearby sunny stone, and she'd used the following break with contemplating whether she should be appalled now or satisfied. In the end, she'd opted for satisfied. 

After the break, the training day had continued with even more mock fights, until it had been seven hours since they'd been changed into their animal bodies. And Steve had them informed that now it was the time to test their newly acquired skills for the first time. With the result of his jaguar body being killed by Mary after less than five minutes. 


Quite a bit arrogantly, Mary looked at Janice now, licking her still bloodied muzzle clean. 

Well... Janice contemplated. There's no doubt that she will get me in the end. Even if we were both the same species her experience would give her one hell of an edge. But since she also outweighs me by a couple of hundred pounds... but let's see if I can at least inconvenience her... a little. 

Janice distorted her muzzle to a cat's version of a grin. She felt how her tail was twitching in anticipation of the coming fight. 

Good... then let's see if I have mastered Steve's little trick good enough...

In her mind, she replayed his words again: "Effectively fighting as a creature is the art of balancing your human will and your body's instincts - if you banish your instincts, you won't be able to utilize your body's powers to the max. And if you let the instincts take over completely, you'll basically become a wild animal which won't be able to detect the traps a more controlled opponent will set up for you. The trick is to use your human mind to decide what you want to do, but use your instincts to decide how you want to do it. You'll do the steering, your instincts will do the driving. Strategy by the human, tactics by the beast." 

Slowly, Janice began giving her instincts more and more control. By now, the process was familiar and her feral thoughts didn't appear to be alien to her anymore. More and more of the jaguar's instincts slipped into her thoughts and gradually, her opponent changed face. It wasn't Mary anymore who was facing her. It was a tiger, an enemy, an intruder in her territory. 

Angrily, Janice snarled at the much larger animal which returned in kind. Janice felt her entire body itching and nearly she'd have charged, only in the last moment she managed to stop herself. 

Ups... so this is the threshold... she thought and throttled her instincts back a little bit. There, good. That seemed a good balance. She still wanted to expel the tiger from her territory, but now she had herself firmly in control. 

So that's probably where Ben failed before... where he let his instincts slide just a little bit too far and charged - and got hurt in the process. 

She roared her defiance at the tiger and interested, the animal eyed her, then jerking its head in a sort of nod. 

Did the tiger... did Mary just praise me? Janice pondered, but then her opponent roared mightily - and charged. 

Suddenly, Janice saw herself confronted with 400 pounds of accelerating muscles and teeth. Only her already utilized instincts saved her, and in the last moment, she managed to jump away. The tiger's powerful jaws slammed shut only inches from her tail, and then it was her turn. The jump to safety had brought her into biting range of the tiger's limbs. With a hungry snarl, her own jaws closed around on of its hind legs' thigh and she felt her canines penetrating deep into warm flesh. 

The tiger growled in fury and Janice intensified her bite. Only a little bit longer, and the limb would be- 

White hot pain erupted over her flank as an incredible force hit her, tearing her away from her prey and throwing her through the air. Howling, she flipped her body during the flight and landed on all four paws, staring at the tiger in rage. The enemy had still the paw raised with which it had punched her away, and its claws were fully extended, the tips dark red. 

Janice glanced at her flank where she suddenly felt a slick dripping. Mary's paw strikes during the training before had always been without claws - now she had used her wicked weapons on her for the first time and they had been terribly effective. There were several long, bleeding gashes now which ran over the whole length of her flank. But while the wounds looked hideous, they were only superfluous, only torn flesh, nothing vital. 

The tiger, on the other side, had received his own share of the deal. Satisfied, Janice registered that it was limping, the hind leg she'd attacked bleeding from deep wounds. Taunting, she roared at the tiger, and furious, the bigger animal charged again. 

This time, though, it was more cautious, and the opponents prowled around each other, trading paw strikes but making sure to stay out of range of the other's fangs. 

I can't keep this up forever... Janice thought after several minutes. Mary is bigger and has more energy. I'll be tired before her. Plus... she risked a short glance to her flanks. None of the new wounds had been as deep as the first, terrible strike, but all of them together had already transformed her fur's yellow and black into a crimson red. ...I'll probably run out of blood before her. 

The tiger had lost a lot of blood as well, but not nearly as much as Janice. She was already noticing a faint buzzing in her head, similar to a tipsy - only that this tipsy was the harbinger of death. 

But on the other hand, while the tiger's limp had become worse, Janice still had full control over all four of her so far relatively undamaged legs. 

So let's see if I can use this...

The next attack would be tricky. She would need exactly the right combination of cold-blooded calculation and animalistic instincts... and with a terrible roar, she started what she knew would be her last attack - one way or the other. 

Surprised, the tiger staggered back a couple of steps as it took in the charging jaguar. But then it recovered itself, interposing its jaw between Janice's target, his throat, and the big cat. Only that this wasn't Janice's real target. 

The tiger's eyes went wide as Janice changed course in the last moment and then gathered all her strength for the final jump. The tiger's jaws only hit air, and 200 pounds of jaguar impacted on the tiger's flank, the combined weight of the two animals suddenly bearing down on the tiger's injured leg. It simply gave way, and with a shocked roar, the tiger toppled on to its side. 

Yes! I did it! Janice thought as she felt her opponent crashing down below her. Suddenly she found her muzzle only inches of one of the tiger's front legs and her instincts taking over again, she snapped for the limb. 

She realized too late that she'd done a mistake. She should have gone for the tiger's throat, but she hadn't, and now her jaws closed around its front leg, her unguarded throat almost directly above the tiger's muzzle. It didn't waste the opportunity. 

Janice felt her canines just penetrating into the tiger's limb as something penetrated deep into her throat in return. Mercilessly, those fangs went deep into her flesh, and then, with a violent jerk, the tiger below ripped her entire throat out. 

Shocked, Janice released the limb and stumbled away. Fountains of blood spurted out of torn arteries and painted the grass in front of her deep red. Her body tried to breathe, but no air was arriving at her lungs. Everything became dizzy, then her legs simply refused to carry her and she plunged to the ground. 

Well... Janice thought while she felt her life flowing out of her body rapidly, ...at least I've tried... and I've hurt her! 

From the corner of one eye she could see Mary limping closer, probably to deal the finishing blow. Somehow, this didn't bother Janice at all. She was feeling light... detached. There was no pain anymore. No fury at the intruder. No wish to avenge Ben. 

Must be the blood loss... she concluded calmly as Mary's jaws closed around her neck. Suddenly there was a massive pressure and a violent *CRACK*, similar to what she'd heard before when Mary had finished off Ben, only much louder, and then... nothing.