Inhibition

Chapter 34

"Dang it!" Cat cursed as a rather large boulder missed her nose by inches. She ducked, and saw Finley roll out of the way to her right to avoid more boulders. This felt oddly familiar. Cat pondered this thought, and then stopped pondering when yet another freakin' boulder flew past her body. This one clipped her left arm, and she stumbled, falling to the ground. She hid behind a tree as she checked out the damage.

Finley popped back up to her right. Staying low, she slipped from tree to tree until she got to Cat. Once there, she leaned forward against the tree and kept watch.

"Bad?"

"Not really." Cat responded, checking out the forming discoloration. "Nothing broken."

Finley looked back at her. "Wicked bruise though." She smiled.

Cat laughed. "Yeah, I'll give you that. It'll be awesome in the morning." Her enunciation said the pretty color was not fair trade for the pain.

"You ready?" Finley held out her hand.

Cat gritted her teeth. She levered herself up using her right arm, then slapped Finley's outstretched hand. "Yep. Let's do this."

They separated; Cat went left, Finley right. Finley created a barrier of wind, added turbulence, and let it go. It flew through the clearing, picking up dirt, leaves, and other debris. The swirling mass made it nearly impossible to see. That is, until Cat jumped down from a tree, tunneling through as she went.

She hit her opponent hard, and heard a thud to her right that meant Finley had done the same. Cat went to punch her opponent's face, but her wrist was grabbed, and she was thrown to the side. Before she could recover, a heavy body rolled on top of her. Her opponent smiled down at her as she struggled, until she kicked up hard with both feet, adding a bit of extra force from her magic. Her opponent flew over her head and across the clearing.

Cat looked up. Aidan had nicely been introduced to the tree across the clearing. She heard clapping, and looked to her right. Finley had felled her opponent some time ago, and now sat atop her hog-tied victim. She was leisurely clapping, and shaking her head, wide grin still in place.

Cat stood up and gave a little bow, complete with arm flourishing. She walked over to Finley and they high fived, still smirking.

Coach Will stepped through the ring of trees.

"Very impressive, girls." She surveyed the practically destroyed training grounds. "Very impressive, indeed."

Aidan stood up then, and dusted himself off. Coach Will looked at him smugly, almost as if she expected him to break out into tears at his loss. Instead, after shaking most of the dirt and leaves out of his hair, he walked over to Cat and Finley.

"Good job girls," he said calmly as he patted their heads. Then the hand turned to hair destroyer! Finley ducked her head as Aidan rubbed his hand across her head, ruffling her hair do. Cat just laughed when Aidan's hand got stuck in her hair. She even ignored the pain in her scalp when he cursed and tried to relieve his hand by force.

After finally being detangled, Aidan went to help his teammate, Ian, Aubrie's boyfriend. Once he was . . . untied, Aidan helped walk his limping teammate to the medics.

"Wha'd'ya do to him, anyway?"

Finley shrugged. "Let's just say he won't be having kids for a while."

Cat looked at her. Then she sighed. "Fine, but you get to tell Aubrie."

It was almost imperceptible, barely there, but Cat could've sworn she saw Finley flinch.