Voodootown

Chapter 3 part 2

She ducked and spun forward under his right arm, turned around to face him as he stumbled past.  She hadn't even needed to fast forward to avoid the opening move of the challenge.  As he turned back to her, she thought about ignoring Flow's advice and finding out what Squat could do first hand.  The bear hug had been a poor tactic, almost as weak as Squat's choice of words.  She figured he wouldn't be bright enough to know how to use a gift of such strength.

He came in with a second attempt to wrap his arms around her and she spun out again, still at normal speed.  But he stopped short this time and swung a wild backhanded punch at her.  She ducked most of it, and cursed her distraction when it connected and nearly opened up the stitches on the top of her head.  She spun in an involuntary cartwheel and was only saved from being tossed from the ring by the wall of pins.  They bent outward, but she stayed in the ring.  If she'd been thrown out, she would have lost the match--for the first time ever.

The crowd, even her fans, roared approval.  Twister stood and stepped forward as Squat gloated.  "How's that for going to the dance?"

"You should have apologized earlier," she said.

Then she switched herself into fast forward and everything around her slowed.  First, Squat lunged toward her at half speed, then quarter.  When she was fully cranked up, his movements were barely noticeable.  She stepped casually around him and watched as he toppled forward in slow motion.

She had never told anyone the details of her gift, though she thought Ju Ju might have some of it figured out.  The dolls that had seen her fight thought she was simply very quick, but that wasn't what she did at all.  Instead of something so basic, Twister could do much more.

She sped up the world around her a bit more, so the fight wouldn't take hours for her.  Squat stepped up again, but this time threw a punch straight at her.  She looked at it from both sides as it oozed forward.  Then, she stepped to the edge of the ring and pulled a single pin out, hid it behind her back with one hand.

Once again, she adjusted the rate that time flowed, to about one quarter normal.  She could jog around, hurry a bit from place to place during the fight and she would still look like a blur to the audience.  Squat swung again, a better-looking punch than anything he'd thrown so far.  She let it come close and then leaned her head back out of range.  As she did, she saw Ju Ju and Sticks trying to warn Squat.  She smiled at their too little, too late moment.

All it took to bring Squat in again was a slow, inviting wave of her hand.  He charged at her before she could even finish the motion.  She circled one foot behind her to clear a path for him, then slammed her weight down onto the pin.  She finished the move by skittering back, out of the reach of his arms.  At the sound of ripping fabric she looked up.

Squat was frozen in place, but not by her ability to manipulate time.  He stared down at the pin that went straight through his foot into the ring floor.

In a moment, he might figure out that all he had to do was pull the pin out, Twister knew.  If he did that, then she'd be as good as beat.  He'd catch her eventually and squash the stuffing out of her.  She rolled to the side of the ring, picked out one more pin, then hurried around Squat's back to his other leg.

She grunted as she slammed it straight down, deeper than the last one, trapping both his feet.  Squat didn't even try to swipe at her as she stood.  "Uh...listen," he said.

She reset time to normal, looked at him for a moment.  "Too late."  She turned her back on him and scooped up a handful of pins.  Without another word, she jumped at him, bent her knees up and drove them into his chest.  He toppled backwards, and Twister landed on top of him.  More fabric in his feet ripped.  If he'd had human bones in his ankles he would have broken them.