101 Ways to Skin a Hoodie

Chapter 3.1

Voices roar around me, but they're muffled, like I'm listening to them from underwater. I open my eyes- well, not my eyes per say- and the LEDs shining down from the ceiling pierce into my throbbing eyes. I squint and look around. Samantha's opponent is doing some sort of smug victory lap around the cage.

The aliens are starting to stir in their audience-platform things. Shit. I have to make it clear that the match isn't over yet. And Samantha's not going to be waking up anytime soon, so I suppose I'll have to take some liberties with her body.

I try to get up, but like the sound filtering into my eardrums, it feels off. The body feels sluggish, like it's rejecting me as the host of it. At least I manage to roll onto my side, but this does more harm than good. The crowd quickly falls silent, all their eyes on me. Of course, the other combatant wheels around too.

"Do I need to finish the job, kid? You're not cut out for this."

She starts to walk back over to me, and I manage to crawl backwards bit by bit. I feel like I'm getting more dexterous by the second. I just need to hold out a little longer. That's not going to be made easy, however, as the girl is closing down on me.

She comes up next to me, raising her leg to stomp on my ribs. As her foot comes down I manage to flop to the side, and her bare heel slams into the hard floor next to me. This just makes her angrier, but this time when she raises her foot again I jerk my leg out, tripping my assailant.

She falls to her knees, and I push myself up to mine. She starts to get back up, but finally- I'm quicker. Maybe it's that I'm acclimated to her body by now, or maybe Samantha is just fully out now, so that there are no longer two souls vying for control of one body. Either way, I'm up faster than my opponent. She seems startled by this, and jumps back quickly.

Alright. Now that I'm up, I've won. I grab the staff that Samantha had been using off of the floor, and I spin it around myself, stretching my limbs for the first time in awhile. Although I suppose they're not really my limbs. But it feels like I'm stretching for the first time after a long rest, so I'll keep using the possessive to make it easier on the sentence flow.

My opponent looks on edge, probably wondering how Samantha had made such a quick recovery. Ah ah ah, it's not her though. I grin to myself at my little inside joke, and rush at her, pole extended.

And the match is over quickly after that. I do one last little jog around the arena, whose spectators are now completely silent, but it's not to brag. I'm just using the last little bit of time in this body before I return to my incorporeal state of being. Once I've had my fill I suck my soul back out of Samantha's extremities, and I return to her head, watching as her body crumples back to the floor. After her opponent's this time.