She slowly strode across the sand floor of the arena, keeping her
eyes forward and not on the crowd.  Her feet sank into the soft sand
with every step.  Hannibal had already made it to the middle.  She
looked him over several times.  She would have to assess him before
she could really start fighting.

Hannibal laughed when she reached him.  "Ha!  Such puny little girl,"
he said with a rolling accent.  "I'll squash you like bug."

"We'll just see about that, Tubby."

"Huh?  You dare call the great Hannibal Tomoe "Tubby?"  He raised his
arm and swung the club at her, but she easy dodged it.  He was almost
too easy to read.

"Come on flubber gut, let's see what you're made of!" she taunted.

"Flubber gut!  Why you little-" he swung again and missed as Psylocke
darted behind him, taking a whack at his knee with the staff.  He
yelped in pain and dropped the club to grasp his knee in pain, then
started hopping up and down on his good leg.

Psylocke almost snickered.  He wasn't fast, but he swung hard.  One
good blow would send her flying.  She raised the staff and slid it in
her hands to hold it at one end.  She swung it at his head, but at
the last tenth of a second, he blocked the staff, the force sending
it flying out of her hands.  With his other hand, her reached forward
and caught her by the throat, his large hand reaching nearly all the
way around it.

She could hear the crowd cheer as he lifted her off her feet.  She
felt his iron grip slowly squeezing tighter until she felts her
windpipe giving.  She started counting.  One two She swung at him
with her legs, but didn't have the momentum to reach him.  Three she
would only be able to last ten second before passing out.  Then she
would be at his mercy, of which she knew he had none.  Four She
grabbed his wrist with both her hands and tried to pull herself
upward Five she tried to swing her feet up again to kick in his arm,
but again, she couldn't get the momentum.  Six *This isn't how I'm
supposed to die,* she thought. *This can't be it!*  Seven

Hannibal gave her one last heave upward, then slammed her down onto
the sand.  Psylocke tried to break the fall, but the impact was
stunning.  She gulped in as much air as she could and lied there on
the sand for a moment.  She was furious and frightened all at once.
Angry with Hannibal.  Angry at herself for letting him grab her.
Angry as herself for feeling fear.  She sat up slowly.  *I'm Psylocke
Lammashta Kagura champion warrior for the Empire!*  Her fists closed
around the sand as Hannibal leaned in to pick her up by her shirt
top. *I'm gonna kick this guy's ass!*

"Now what do you think of me, puppy girl?" he growled.

"You're tough," she replied, a malicious grin starting to cross her
face.

 She saw his expression lighten.  She lifted her clenched fist to her
 chin.

 "But you're still fat." She opened her hand and blew the sand into
Hannibal's eyes.  He roared and covered his eyes, stumbling back.
Psylocke jumped to her feet.  "And I'm going to kill you."

She spun to the right and planted a back kick in his gut, then
sidestepped and executed a jump roundhouse to his shoulder.  Hannibal
stumbled back a little further, rubbing his eyes furiously.  Psylocke
scanned the ground and snatched up the staff again.

As her fingers wrapped around the center of the staff, she felt a
strange energy pass through them, working its way up her arms and
into her chest, coursing throughout her body, and finally into her
head.  It was the red glow of anger and passion searing through her
veins.

A white light flashed in her eyes, and when it faded, she found
herself holding the staff horizontally at shoulder height.  The staff
was broken in half.  One piece was on the ground, and the other was
what pinned Hannibal to the arena wall by his throat.  She released
the staff, and it remained in the wall.  The crowd around her was
whooping with cheers and jumping up and down in their seats.

"Wow!  Let's see that last move again!" the announcer bellowed.

Psylocke looked up to the jumbo-tron to see herself battering
Hannibal over and over with the staff, driving him back into the
wall.  She swung at his head again, cracking both the staff and his
skull.  She broke the splintered staff in two, then drove the sharp
end of one half into his throat.

She gaped at her own speed and strength, knowing that she never would
have had the strength to drive the staff into the wall like that.
Even worse, she couldn't remember doing it!  Too shocked to smile,
she graciously bowed to her audience and walked back toward the gate,
leaving Hannibal and the broken staff behind.

The guard stared at her with an admiring smile when she reached him.
"That was amazing!"

She blushed.  "Thanks uh sorry about the staff."

"Oh, that's okay!  Happens all the time."

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