Part 18

Most of them got at least two hours sleep as they traveled, since it was after two o'clock in the morning by their local time when they arrived at their own trading post.

Tika spent most of the time working on her screen, reading and answering messages, communicating with the Meds and mothers of her breeding program, conducting business and research, and issuing her own Challenges to the Tiger People of the Shiva Region. At one point she sat thinking for a minute, then wrote a text message to Raz:

Raz;

I need to get to the asteroid my grandfather worked on as soon as possible. It is my very highest priority. Cost is absolutely no object, and you can name your fee for your part in this, but I need to be there as soon as possible, even if it costs trillions of credits. I will have the money. It does not matter if we work with the government on this or not, as long as I can go, and we use the quickest method. Try to keep this on a need-to-know basis for as long as possible.

Tika.

When they were ten minutes from their destination she did her stretches and warm-ups in the aisle of the tube car.

"Loral will meet us when we arrive." Tika informed the group as their car approached the platform. "He, the local Council, and the Transit Authority have limited incoming visitors at five hundred people, or there would be fifty thousand people at our trading post right now. At my request, they have allowed the two hundred most dangerous challengers, one hundred reporters, and two hundred of the curious from wild people around the world, chosen at random. There are also about four hundred Tiger People from ours and the surrounding zones, and their numbers have also been restricted."

"Keep your self-control." Davdan said, looking around the group. "Everyone watches the backs of the others. Tika may not be the only one Challenged, and we may be hunted without honor or warning."

An air of quiet determination settled on them, and then they arrived.

"Greetings." Loral nodded grimly as they gathered on the platform, and four members of the Transit Authority verified their identities. He turned and led them up the stairs. "It was chaos for a while, but it has been quiet for hours now." he stated as he climbed. "Our Elders are up there, keeping order. As you requested, sixty extra Meds have been called in, as well as twelve extra med flyers from surrounding regions. I do not know what you expect to happen up there, but I will tell you, I have never seen anything like this in my life!"

"Davdan, if any up there are contenders for the Grande Championship, my debut may be ruined. If so, I am sorry. I had not considered this." Tika admitted.

"None are so dangerous as that, Tika, but there are many dangerous fighters up there. Half are eligible for the tournaments."

"Oh. Well this should not take long, then." Tika nodded.

Loral snorted as he led them into the trading post, which had been cleared of all but locals. A few of those ran ahead of them, up the stairs and outside to try to find a place with a view of the proceedings. A couple sent messages ahead on their screens, informing those above of the arrival of the Green Band, and Leader Sandor.

"Greetings, great ones." Bamik grinned, handing Tika her weapons case.

"Thank you for fetching this for me, Bamik." Tika said as she opened it and made her selection without slowing.

"An honor to serve, Magnificent one." Bamik grinned, and he and four more of their local adolescent friends fell in behind the group.

Greetings and tributes were repeated by many there as they walked through the room, up the stairs and onto the grass between the door and the sign, where the local Elders had cleared a circular space in the crowd thirty feet across. The pole torches had been brought from the Elders' ground to provide light, and the hillock over the trading post entrance was covered with tech reporters and their recording equipment. The back of the crowd was beyond the firelight in every direction.

"Raz, give me volume." Tika said.

"I will use all our screens." Raz grinned as he set to work on his. "Our group's, that is."

The murmur of the crowd had been building since they had emerged from the trading post, and it continued to do so as Tika finished gluing her set of nine full size Claws to her fingers, closed her case, and handed it to Pina.

Silence fell as she stepped to the center of the open circle.

"Many of you have come to Challenge me, because you think I am an abomination, or because you think what I have done is an insult to the Tiger People, or whatever." she said, her amplified voice reaching everyone there. "I can understand these sentiments, and I might do the same if our positions were reversed, as I have always been proud to be of the Tiger People. And, since White Elves enjoy dual citizenship, I am still proud of being Tiger people. Therefore I welcome the Challenges.

"However, I do not have the time to meet the Challenge of every single one of you. I will start with the most dangerous among you. I will cut you a lot, so that it is very ugly, until the less dangerous among you realize that you cannot beat me, and withdraw your challenges. I have never fought with Claws before, but I think I will still be dangerous enough."

That started an ugly and angry muttering among many there.

"Let me warn you all!" Tika called, bringing silence again. "If anyone hunts me without honor, or hunts anyone I know that way, I will kill them. I will break their skulls open and kick their brains all over the ground, so that no Med can save them, I swear this. Now, who is the most dangerous challenger?"

"Narla, you are the most dangerous challenger." Davdan announced. "Step forward and be recognized."

A tall, bony, very dark Tiger woman stepped into the circle and stood proudly, with her feet apart and her arms folded across her chest.

"I present Narla, of the Ravine Zone of the Southern Region of Sri Lanka, Magnificent, most dangerous of the Tiger Women of Sri Lanka and India, third among Tiger Women, tenth among Tiger People, twenty-seventh most dangerous of all the ranked fighters." Davdan announced.

"Narla, know that you challenge Tika, Tiger woman of the Northern Zone of the Vishnu Region of the Great Indian Forrest, Champion of The White Elves. She has defeated Magnificent and ranked fighters. The fighting judges of the world have been unable to decide her numerical rank."

"This I know." Narla called angrily. "Know this, Tika! Though I challenge you for the honor of the Tiger People, I challenge you without honoring you at all, for your very existence is an insult to nature! I hope you do not submit quickly, for I plan to kill you before you can do so!" With that, she drew her knife and took her stance.

"I am sorry you feel that way," Tika laughed, "As you were one of my favorite fighters when I was a child, and I have watched many of the recordings of your fights. But you should know that you cannot beat me, because you are too slow!"

"You are still a child!" Narla yelled angrily. "A stupid and soon dead child!"

"Leader Sandor will officiate, since I may not be considered impartial." Davdan stated.

Sandor nodded and raised his hand, and Tika took her stance.

"Begin!" Sandor called.

Both fighters sprang forward, but Tika dodged inside Narla's reach and clawed the inside of both the tall woman's wrists to the bone on the way in, severing several tendons. She clawed Narla for seven more moves in a second, then bounced out of reach.

Narla screamed and fell to the ground, her knife dropping helplessly from her hand. One of her eyes had been clawed out and hung deflated against her face, that side of her face was hanging off in bloody strips, one of her hands was trying to hold her guts in where she had been slashed deeply across her belly by multiple cuts, and she had over twenty other wounds.

"Submit, or I kill you now!" Tika yelled at her over the sound of her screaming.

Narla tapped out on the ground as a loop of intestine slipped from between her fingers.

Two of the reporters on the hillock were heard to begin vomiting.

An amazed buzz arose from the crowd.

"Victory, Tika!" Sandor called.

"Victory!" Tika called, grinning and pumping a fist in the air.

Four Meds came quickly through the crowd pushing a wheeled stretcher, and started treating Narla.

"So, who is next?!" Tika called.

"I am next!" an enraged man yelled, and stepped forward through the crowd. Except for his shaved bald head and an impressive collection of scars, he was one of the most average looking Indian Tiger men Tika had ever seen. He wore claws, mounted so that they protruded straight out from his fingertips, and took his stance immediately, shaking with rage.

"I present Sasim, of the Delta Zone of the Godavari Region of India, Magnificent, seventeenth among Tiger Men, twenty-eighth among Tiger People, sixty-first among all fighters." Davdan announced.

"Do you wish to say anything?" Tika pleasantly asked him.

"No!" he barked.

"All right." Tika smiled, taking her stance.

As soon as the Meds had wheeled Narla's stretcher beyond the circle, Sandor called 'Begin!'

Tika ducked under the straight thrust of Sasim's right hand and clawed up though his genitals with all five fingers of her left hand, cutting them severely, and gave him a short, clubbing overhand punch with her clawed right fist, slicing diagonally down through his nose, lips, and chin, and removing two of his teeth. Both moves were so fast they could barely be seen in the flickering torchlight. He screamed even more hideously than Narla had.

"Two moves are enough for you I think!" Tika laughed as she bounced out of range.

He fell to the ground and tapped out on his leg. He managed to hold his silence then, but he was shaking violently as he lay curled around his pain.

Sandor announced Tika's victory, and she celebrated it as she had before.

Another team of Meds rushed through the crowd, who made way for them.

"Shit, she's really gonna do it!" one of the reporters was heard to loudly speculate in amazement. "She's really gonna beat all those fighters!"

"Next?" Tika asked with a grin.

"Just a moment." said a pale Tiger man with light brown hair on the edge of the circle. "I am next, but give me a moment."

He conferred quietly with five other fighters there for twenty seconds, then stood and addressed Davdan. "I am the most dangerous challenger left now, and Pachinski there is next after me, but we would like to yield our places in the order to Tai Phong, who would be next after Pachinski."

A very small oriental Tiger man of perhaps thirty years with short hair stepped forth, and bowed. He was only four feet ten, and at most one hundred pounds.

"It does not matter to me what order I fight you, really." Tika laughed, her whole being charged with the energy of her exhilaration. "And since he is obviously a speed specialist, he should be a better fight than you two."

"So be it." Davdan stated, checking her screen. "Bik and Pachinski, Tiger men of the Mighty Siberian Forest, yield their places to Tai Phong, Tiger Man of the East Shore Zone of the An Nhon Region of the Jungles of Vietnam, Magnificent, forty-fifth among Tiger Men, Seventy-ninth among Tiger People, two hundred twelfth among all fighters."

Tai Phong removed his knife belt and patiently performed a slow stretching and warming routine, then drew a very thin and light ten-inch stiletto, decorated with platinum filigree.

"Ah! Nice knife!" Tika nodded with a grin. "You have the dispensation for the extra length, with minimum weight for maximum speed! This should really be fun!"

"You should never have been born." Tai Phong stated grimly. "If your people are allowed to live, even more radical and hideous genetic experiments will be allowed after that, until the world is full of monsters, and the unity of the human species is lost. You must be killed, and the pregnancies of your spawn aborted, or you will be the greatest disaster that has ever befallen humanity."

"Now, that is not a very nice thing to say." Tika giggled. "We will be the best thing that has ever happened! Everyone will love us! And besides, I think you are in conflict with yourself. You fear the unknown, but I think you want to fuck me also!"

"If you had done the honorable thing, and had permanent contraception, and done your best to be sure that no others like you would ever be born, as I would have done if I found that I had a horrible genetic deformity, then I would want to fuck you. As it is, I must kill you."

"Believe me, I would do all that, if I had a horrible genetic deformity!" Tika laughed. "Come." she said, taking her stance, her left hand out, her right fist cocked. "I will test you a bit before I claw you up."

Tai Phong took his stance, his knife out low before him.

"Begin!" Sandor called.

Both fighters darted forward, and Tika dodged two of Tai Phong's flicking jabs and blocked a third, clawing his index finger on his knife hand a bit as her claws clicked off his blade, then bounced back out of range.

"Ahh! You do not have the Quickness gift, though your size makes you as quick as some who do, but you do have the Slowtime gift, I think!" Tika laughed as she danced around him, foiling his attempts to advance on her. "Still you cannot beat me, because you are still too slow! And besides that, you are not really a very smart fighter. You rely on your speed too much. Watch!" And with that she lunged at him and he swung at her, but her move was a feint and she dodged back and let his swing pass in front of her, then punched him viciously in his right side under his ribs with her clawed right fist, reached around his neck, and clawed across his throat with the fingers of her left hand. He fell to his knees and tapped out on his thigh, already losing copious amounts of blood from his neck wounds as he slapped his other hand over them, and coughed out a mouthful of blood.

"Victory, Tika!" Sandor called. "Great Gods, that was fast!"

"Yes! Victory!" Tika laughed, dancing around a bit in joy as another crew of Meds hurried to the fallen fighter. Then she calmed herself and took a deep breath, and smiled at the crowd.

"Those three fought well for the honor of the Tiger People. The bravery of the second and third was great, to fight me after seeing what I did to the first, who was more dangerous.

"But the rest of you must see that none of you have a chance to beat me, or even to get a blade into me, as you are all significantly less dangerous than those three! I am unmarked after those three fights, and I have used little of my endurance. I respectfully ask the rest of you to withdraw your challenges. If you insist on continuing, I will claw you so horribly that it will give you nightmares, and each challenger will get worse than the one before!"

There was a long silence, then Davdan spoke. "Are there any here whose challenge still stands?"

None responded for five long seconds, though many looked around, expecting others to speak up.

"In that case, I will say goodbye, and thank you for coming to see me!" Tika called, smiling and waving to the crowd, and walked into the trading post.

The rest of her group followed, along with Sandor and his mate Shinra. Loral and the local Elders prevented any from following until they had left the tube platform. There was a car waiting to take them to Davdan's Enclave house when they arrived on the platform.

"I congratulate you Tika, on another masterful performance!" Naz laughed as they boarded the car.

No one sat, as it was less than two minutes ride to the Enclave house.

"Yes, congratulations my love!" Pina laughed, and she and Slin hugged Tika from either side as the rest added their congratulations.

"It might interest you to know," Naz added with a grin, "That while we were on the tube back from Houston, I gave the entire world open odds that none of the hundreds of fighters who wished to challenge you would be victorious against you today! And of course I bet all of my available credits! I might add that it is almost unheard of for one who faces more than a few sequential challenges to remain undefeated at the end of the day! Many were foolish enough to give me high odds, and I now have over twenty-one billion, two hundred million uncommitted credits, plus the eight hundred million I have riding on the big bet!"

"Ah, that is good, Naz!" Tika laughed. "I have made almost twenty billion tonight from those who watched my fights, and I should double that over the next few days till the demand settles! I tell you, this being famous is not so bad at all!"

"I thank you for deferring the officiating of the fights to me, Davdan!" Sandor chuckled. "All it required was the speaking of the words 'Begin' and 'Victory, Tika!', and I have made over two hundred mega just from having a speaking part in the recordings of Tika's fights! Despite my relative lack of experience as a fighting judge, the judgments did not tax my intellect very much!"

"Bah!" Tika laughed in happy consternation. "Bik will get two hundred million just for giving up his chance to fight!"

"Well, we all have twenty million credits and more, just for standing there, trying not to vomit!" Pina laughed. "You sure kept your word about making it ugly, my love!"

"You all seem so calm about it all!" Shinra said, shaking her head. "I am still quivering! That was the most incredible fighting I have ever seen in my life! I will have to watch the recordings ten times to even follow what happened!"

Conversation was suspended for a moment as the car stopped, and they disembarked onto the platform.

"Sandor, Leader of the Council of All Tiger People, I welcome you to the lands of the Green Band; proud Tiger People, seekers of greatness, and Honorary White Elves." Tira told him.

"Except me on that last, of course, and I also welcome you to my home." Davdan smiled as the elevator door opened.

"Thank you." Sandor smiled. "I present my life's love Shinra, who has been my mate for ninety-six beautiful years."

"And still in love." Shinra chuckled. She was of average height, with steel gray hair tied back and falling to the backs of her knees. She wore white athletic shoes and a brace on her left ankle, though she was spry and healthy and did not favor it. She smiled up at Sandor and wrapped a hand in his thick white beard so she could gently tug his head down and kiss him.

"I tell you, on our hundredth anniversary, we will have a gathering such as this world has seldom seen!" she laughed as the elevator door slid open.

Davdan's screen vibrated silently to alert her to a call. "Be comfortable, everyone." Davdan said as she checked her screen and led them to the seating area in the living room. "I must take this."