Chapter Twelve: The Second Round

Penny awoke later in the day to find that she had been placed on her bed, with an ice pack tucked under her cheek. She could not remember most of the fight that had taken place but knew it had not gone well for her.

" I was so close dammit" Penny scorned herself for allowing Lysette to beat her. At this point for Penny, this was no longer just about training, she wanted to defeat Lysette in battle. Though, she knew the only way she could achieve this was by pushing her guardian to her limits. Then, and only then, would victory be of a sweet taste for her.

After slowly making her way out of bed, Penny headed downstairs, to find Lysette with a small piece of paper, taking inventory of everything they had so they could be properly organized.

" Well I almost beat you" Penny groaned as she took a seat beside Lysette.

" Almost is not the same as winning" Lysette remarked which made Penny groan in disappointment. " I want to train again" Penny refused to allow the loss to pass. She had to avenge herself, and would do whatever it takes to achieve that.

" I am kind of busy at the moment" Lysette answered as she looked at a few cans that had been placed on the table before writing down another number.

" That is..unless I hurt you too bad from before.." Penny mocked which made Lysette put down her pen.

" Alright, now listen, I understand that you want to train. But you need to give your body some time to rest" Lysette tried to reason with Penny who was having none of it.

" I'll be outside, waiting for you. And if you do come out..I don't want you to hold back..I want you to bring the fight to me. No surrender. No mercy" Penny declared as she stood back up and made her way outside, leaving the front door open.

Lysette was confused by the determination but decided to follow Penny outside, closing the door behind her and meeting her in their makeshift fighting arena.

" Are you sure that you want this? " Lysette asked confidently, crossing her arms to diminish any thought that she now saw Penny as a threat. " One single mistake and she has already doubted me" Penny thought to herself as she prepared to launch her attack. But before she could take a single step forward, Lysette was already behind her, rearing her first back.

" You told me not to hold back.." Lysette hissed as she rammed her first right into Penny's ribcage. Penny fell to the ground in severe pain, unable to withstand the destruction of the impact.

" First you wanted me to push you. And then you wanted me to lay off. And now, you want me to come at you full force..and look what happened" Lysette mocks Penny who is wincing in pain at her feet.

" This is what happens when you don't listen to me. I am trying to help you get stronger, but cheap tricks are not going to be enough to beat me. I have hears of battle experience and there is nothing that you can do that would surprise me" Lysette mocks again. It was now or never, if Penny was to put up an actual fight against Lysette, now would be the time.

" You don't even go into wolf form, but Lycan courses through your veins. It is..who you are. And you have a speed advantage. You even have a recovery advantage. And your wisdom is boundless, But just because you have so many advantages, does not mean you are guaranteed to win" Penny groaned as she did her best to stand back to her feet.

" And I won't give up. I will not surrender. So if you are going to hit me, I expect you to do so alot harder" Penny bluffed a smile which seemed to aggravate Lysette slightly. After analyzing the situation for a brief second, Lysette decided she would try and strike Penny again, who, instead of dodging, took the blow right into the gut again. It took everything within Penny's being to not fall down again. But her determination, her stubbornness, refused to let her surrender to the pain.

" I said..harder" Penny demmanded as Lysette prepared herself to throw another punch. This time however, Penny managed to catch the punch with one hand, the impact, had it landed, would have surely brought the fight to an end. But Penny, much to the surprise of Lysette, stopped the blow with nothing but her hand. And even more surprising, Penny's Grip on Lysette's hand grew tighter and tighter by the second.

" And now...I'm going to show you my own strength" Penny's eyes began to slowly fade away into a dark- like void. One where no light could pass through, one that brought terror even to Lysette.

" Penny..? " Lysette called but Penny did not answer. Instead, her grip only grew tighter, crushing Lysette's knuckles beneath her unyielding strength. She was trapped and she was not sure how to get out of this. Though she tried to pull her arm away from Penny's grip, she could not get it to budge.

" Penny, let go" Lysette pleaded but Penny refused to let go. " You need to push me...you need to show me how bad you want to survive" Penny smiled, her voice now completely changed to something dark and grotesque.

" I can't..." Lysette pleaded again which only infuriated Penny even more who proceeded to raise up her foot and kick Lysette back as hard as she could, crashing Lysette into a tree hard enough, that the wood had split completely through, knocking the tree down and sending it tumbling down the mountain.

"I want you to push me" Penny said again as she looked on at Lysette's broken body. " Penny.." Lysette whimpered, trying to regain her consciousness. " This isn't you..you need to calm down.." Lysette pleaded as Penny approached her slowly.

" I am calm..I am just pushing you to your limits..." Penny said calmly as she bent down, so that her face was only inches away from Lysette's. " Run little doggy...run" Penny gripped onto Lysette's head, squeezing tightly, before throwing Lysette towards the cliff face, sending her crashing through several hundreds of feet thick rock.

Lysette layed under the rubble, knowing she had to find a way to calm Penny down but she could not quite figure out how. She had never seen power such as this, such strength, this was a fight that she would surely lose if she couldn't figure out a solution.

Lysette did her best to crawl out of the now giant hole in the mountain that her body had created, towards the light of day where Penny stood waiting for her.

Penny, being too focused on Lysette, had not noticed that she was being watched by someone. A girl, around her age, with thick brown curly hair, and a cautious demeanor.

" Um..hello" The girl said which made Penny snap back to reality, and as she turned her head to look at the caller, she proceeded to collapse. Whatever had happened, had drained her completely from all energy. Lysette, just now reaching the edge of the hole, fell down from the small height of the hole to the ground and smiled at the sight of Penny collapsed body. " Thank God.." She laughed again.