"Ready for a whooping, Wilde?" The hippo across from me mumbles around the mouth guard.
"In your dreams, Higgins." I bump my gloves together in front of me.
"Psst. Nick." Judy waves me over to the sidelines. She grabs my tie and yanks my head down. "Higgins always gut for the gut first. Dodge that, and you'll throw off his whole rhythm. Now, go. Try not to need to go to the ER, okay?"
I wink saucily at her. "I'll do my best, Carrots. How about a kiss for good luck?" I stand slightly away so that she knows that I'm just messing with her. The tips of her ears go red, and she releases my tie.
"In your dreams, Wilde. Now go kick some hippo butt."
I mock salute her with my glove. "Will do, ma'am."
Higgins and I cross to separate sides of the arena, waiting for Savages mark.
"Fighters ready? Fight!"
Higgins comes pounding over to me, throwing a Jumbopop sized fist flying towards my gut. I dodge, slip inside his guard, and hammer him on the chest. Right, left, right.
Quickly stepping back before he can crush me in a bear hug, I jump up, landing on his elbow, and shimmying up the rest of his blubbery arm before he realizes what I'm up to.
~~•~~
Nick sits on the huge hippos shoulders like a cub does on his parents. He smiles and waves, milking it. Higgins start to try to swat him off with thick, meaty hooves, but Nick only dodges and starts raining blows down on his head and neck. Nick can't afford to take even one shot from the hippo. If he does, he's road kill.
Suddenly, he swings down, and hanging from Higgins's headgear, punches him under the blubbery chin, sending an instant message to his brain. Lights out. The hippo slowly crumples and falls, face first, while Nick scrambles to safety.
The sidelines erupt into wild cheering, and Jack smiles. "Well done, Wilde. Impressive. Alright. Next up, Officers Hopps and Jackson."
Jackson makes a mock terrified face, and saunters into the middle if the arena. We both know who's more likely to win.
"Fighters ready? Fight!"
Jackson immediately goes into defense mode, circling the arena, never letting me get close enough to land a shot.
I quickly dart up, and aim for his calves, but two rabbit sized paws quickly reach down and block me.
"Tsk, tsk. C'mon, girl. Show us what you're made of." Lee says. "Forget about not hurting me."
I let a wild grin escape. "I do hope your date will be able to recognize you."
"Who cares? I'll tell her that it was a grizzly." He winks. "Go for it."
Thirty seconds later, he's on the ground, smart enough to not try to stand up.