The Strength of Silence

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

     THUD

     WACK

     BANG

    The little five year old was watching intently at the two adults in odd protective gear fight each other bare handed. They were in a weird boxed in arena with rubbery ropes around it. One of the adults was a woman with blond hair cut extremely short, pale skin, and sea green eyes. Her opponent was dark skinned with black hair in braids and her eyes were an amber color. The young brunette waited with bated breath as her grip tightened on the edge of the boxing ring for one of the rivals to make their move.

     The amber eyed woman was the one to make the first move as she swung her right fist towards the blond's face; but missed as her opponent ducked and dodged the attack. The sea green eyed female then brought her fist forward-

    WHAM

     And landed a punch to the stomach.

    "Omph!"

     This caused the receiver to stumble back and grit her teeth in pain.

    An overwhelming feeling of excitement bubbled within Gemma that caused her pupils to unconsciously turn into slits as black scales formed on her hands. Fangs poked the bottom of her lip while her eyes skillfully followed the women's movements as if in a trance-

    "Gemma!"

    The child gasped in surprise as she was turned around and face to face with her mother; worry etched onto the older brunette's face. Anya grasped her daughter's scaled hands, whispering "You're showing!"

    Gemma blinked owlishly, eyes returning back to normal, as she looked down at her hands; which was starting to disappear as well. Shrugging sheepishly, the five year old said, "Oops.."

    With her gaze softening, Anya reassured "It's ok, sweetie... just be more careful next time, ok?"

    "Ok, Ma!"

    ꧁☯︎︎꧂

    'I'm sorry, Jim! I didn't mean to leave your girlfriend in the basement and to forget to give Draal a signal!'

   "I had to sneak into her house just to put her to bed! And she's not my girlfriend!"

    SWOOSH

    'It's not my fault that Claire fell for Draal! And she's not your girlfriend... yet!'

     "Enough with the puns! How are you signing and dodging at the same time?!"

    "Skills.", Gemma dodged another blow from Jim's sword before pointing a finger at him, "Slow."

     Toby, Blinky, and Aaarrrgghh sat on the sidelines and watched with amusement as Jim tried to get a hit on Gemma; but kept failing miserably. The half breed's brother let out a whistle, "She's good."

    The four armed being chuckled at the red head's awed expression, "This is nothing compared to what she can really do."

    "Seriously?"

     The emerald eyed bull troll hummed out, "Good fighters."

     Blinky nodded, "Indeed so! From the moment they hatch or are born, Dragon Folk naturally have the instinct to fight embedded in their minds."