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CORELINE- Doc Vince, chapter 6

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Exhilarating.

   That was the only word that could properly describe riding on the back of the huge saber tooth feline as it sprinted through the jungle, turning the area into a blur of green all around her.

   It was insane, of course, riding a big predator in such a way, at such breakneck speeds, but as the wind whipped over her mostly bare skin and through her long blond hair, and as she felt the solid muscle of Kitten working beneath her, Doc Vince couldn’t help but grin like a fool.

   Or at least, she couldn’t until Kitten, apropos of seemingly nothing, came to an abrupt halt, his massive paws kicking up a cloud of dirt in the process.

   Of course, inertia being what it was, Doc Vince didn’t neatly come to full and complete stop along with the huge cat. Instead, she was sent careening through the air, moving nearly as fast as she had been going a second ago.

   This would’ve undoubtedly been a death sentence for most people, who would’ve just flailed around in a panic until they struck a tree or hit the ground at an unfortunate angle with bone shattering force.

   Thankfully, Doc Vince wasn’t most people, but one of the most talented and accomplished people to ever live, who counted multiple Olympic gold medals in gymnastics among her long list of triumphs. Reacting to the situation she’d abruptly found herself in with almost superhuman speed, the blonde quickly twisted her body, spinning and twirling in midair in a display that would’ve put even her previous performances to shame, and landed on both feet, with her back straight and both arms held skyward, not wobbling in the slightest.

   At another time in her life, not so long ago, she would’ve been upset that there had been no one around to see her pull that off.

   Now she had other concerns.

   “Do you do that to Mari, too?” she demanded of Kitten, gazing at the tree she probably would’ve smashed into if she hadn’t gained control of her unplanned flight.

   Though after a moment’s thought, her dark scowl began to fade, giving way to an exasperated look, as she realized that Kitten probably *did* do that to Mari.

   /It’s not exactly hard to imagine her thinking it’s fun, anyway./ She mused.

   Still, not exactly happy, but a little less pissed off, the blonde turned to Kitten, only to tense at what she saw.

   The huge feline was clearly not happy; she recognized immediately from his posture that Kitten was in battle mode, ready for a fight.

   Had he been facing her, she would’ve expected that she’d have to go another round with the great beast. Fortunately, his back was to her; she wasn’t sure what had drawn his ire, but she clearly wasn’t it. Kitten was instead facing a cluster of bushes.

   Moving slowly and silently, Doc Vince advanced toward the brush, ready for anything. She carefully moved some of the branches aside, immediately seeing what had gotten Kitten’s attention.

   It was another pair of large cats, of a very similar breed to Kitten himself, if not exactly the same one. Though not exactly kittens themselves, they were clearly younger than Kitten. Both were much smaller and far less massive, with their long, gangly legs giving them a decidedly adolescent appearance. Their saber teeth seemed to have grown to full size before the rest of them, being nearly as large as Kitten’s, which only increased their overall awkward appearance.

   Unfortunately, it looked like they might not get the chance to grow out of their current, gawky phase, because the pair of large cats were currently being menaced by half a dozen snakes. Each of them were thicker than Doc Vince’s arm and more than twice as long as she was tall, with needle like fangs dripping yellow-green venom. The serpents hissed threateningly as they approached the clearly frightened young cats.

   Doc Vince turned to look at Kitten, suddenly rather interested in what the huge feline was about to do.

   The blonde wasn’t an expert on the behavior of big cats, but she was pretty certain that they tended to be less friendly towards their own kind than canines, who were usually pack animals. Even the most social felines usually only cared about members of their own family.

   Clearly, no one had told had told Kitten about any of this, because the huge beast released a roar that shook the leaves of the nearby trees and then charged directly at the group of snakes. One snap of his massive jaws cut one them cleanly in half, both pieces of its body writhing in a mixture of pain and agony as they died. Kitten tried to dispatch the others in a similar fashion, but they withdrew with surprising speed, scattering.

   Kitten growled as they circled him, hissing menacingly. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.

   Doc Vince hesitated. She would rather *not* tangle with a bunch of huge, venomous snakes, and really, why should she? This wasn’t her fight. The blonde certainly hadn’t told Kitten to leap to the other cats’ defense, after all.

   On the other hand, Doc Vince knew that Mari would likely not be pleased if she found out that she had just watched while Kitten fought this battle alone, especially if the massive cat fell to his serpentine foes. Doc Vince didn’t fear the brawny brunette… but at the same time, she’d still rather not make an enemy out of someone who apparently had a habit of wrestling a predatory cat the size of a very large horse for fun.

   One of the snakes lunged toward Kitten, fangs out, moving with a speed that would’ve put any striking viper to shame.

   Even quicker, Doc Vince sprang into motion. Ripping a branch off of nearby tree, she leaped forward, thrusting her makeshift spear out and straight through the triangular head of the serpent. She drove the end of the stick into the dirt like it was a railroad spike, pinning the already dead snake to the ground as its body writhed about wildly.

   Reacting to the new threat, two of the remaining snakes rounded on the blonde, while the other two kept their focus on Kitten.

   /Fabulous./ She thought, scowling as the snakes reared up, hissing at her.

   “Come on, then,” Doc Vince said softly.

   One of the snakes lunged at her, and she moved right, dodging it. The second struck then, clearly hoping to get her while she was off balance.

   Doc Vince responded by reaching out and grabbing hold of it right below its wedge shaped head, displaying uncanny quickness. Not stopping it, but rather redirecting its momentum, she shoved it atop its companion, causing it to bite the other snake, which released a hissing shriek of pain and fury.

   She rather hoped that the snake’s venom would be as deadly to its fellow serpent as it was to everything else, but it appeared as if that wasn’t the case. The bitten snake certainly didn’t seem like it was much worse for the wear; if anything, its fury had filled it with a new vigor, and it struck at her once again.

   Doc Vince was barely able to stop it, using both hands to grab it right beneath its head and hold it back and away from her as it snapped its jaws, thin strings of yellow-green venom flying through the air as it did so.

   /Damn it, why does everything in this blasted jungle need to be so big and strong?/ She wondered as she struggled to hold back twelve feet of angry, deadly serpent.

   The other snake, liberating itself from its companion, turned its attention back to her. Its fangs appeared to have actually been broken, to her relief, but that hardly meant that it was out of ways to attack. With an angry hiss and uncanny speed, it began to coil itself around and up her body, and soon it was wrapped around her from feet to chest.

   /Oh no…/ She thought, all too aware of what was coming next.

   The snake squeezed, and the air was driven from her lungs. In moments, she could see spots dancing before her vision, and she could feel her strength starting to desert her.

   Doc Vince allowed herself a second to glance toward Kitten, seeing that the giant cat was still busy with his own two snakes. Clearly, no help would be forthcoming from that quarter.

   She’d need to get herself out of the mess she’d found herself in, as usual.

   Gritting her teeth, the blonde flexed every muscle in her body as much as she could. Which was quite a bit; even relaxed, her muscles were extremely firm and solid. Flexed, they were as hard as steel and just as unyielding. The snake that had been trying to squeeze the life out of her released a hiss of confusion and displeasure as its target suddenly seemed to become as impervious to it as a marble statue. Doc Vince inhaled deeply, feeling a rush of relief as sweet air made it to her lungs, revitalizing her.

   Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep every muscle in her body tense forever, and she still had the would-be constrictor’s friend to worry about. Even her muscular arms were growing tired of holding it back.

   With a burst of speed that surprised even the lightning quick snakes, she changed her grip on the serpent that was trying to bite her face off, grabbing its upper jaw with one hand and its lower jaw with the other, carefully avoiding the venomous fangs.

   “Raugh!” she snarled, arms bulging with power as she pulled in two different directions, causing the snake’s head to actually come apart, spraying dark red blood into the air.

   The other snake seemed to realize then that it was perhaps in a fight that it couldn’t win. As Doc Vince tossed the other snake aside, it rapidly began to uncoil herself, likely planning to retreat and regroup with its still living friends.

   Doc Vince didn’t give it the chance.

   “Come here, you!” she growled, grabbing hold of its body just beneath its head and squeezing.

   The snake actually released a strangled, gurgling sound.

   “Don’t like it very much, do you?” the blonde demanded as the serpent writhed and struggled wildly.

   Finally, it went limp and still.

   “Well, that was awful,” she grumbled as she tossed it aside.

   Doc Vince turned her attention to Kitten, intending to help him with the pair of snakes he’d been dealing with. However, the massive feline didn’t need any assistance from her. One of his snakes had already been torn to pieces, and he had the other trapped beneath a paw the size of a bicycle tire. As she watched, he quickly ended it with a swipe of his razor-sharp claws.

   Kitten turned to her, and she’d be damned if he didn’t manage to look smug. She couldn’t quite help but smirk back.

   They both turned to the pair of smaller cats. The two felines both let out a sound that wasn’t quite a meow, but also wasn’t quite a roar, either. Whatever it was, it was every bit as awkward as the rest of them, but Doc Vince thought it was meant to convey gratitude. Maybe.

   Their vague message conveyed, the two smaller cats scampered away, disappearing into the underbrush within seconds. Doc Vince approached Kitten.

   Which was when it happened.

The snake that Kitten had bitten cleanly in half, not finished writhing and flailing yet, bit her, one of its surprisingly thin, wickedly sharp teeth sinking in the meat of her left calf.

   The odds of that happening must’ve been a million to one. Unfortunately, that didn’t make the venom now in her system any less of a danger. She suddenly felt woozy and nauseous.

   Most people in her position would’ve been as good as dead. Once again, Doc Vince was *not* most people.

   The young woman owed her tremendous athleticism to more than more than just pushups, sit ups, and plenty of juice (though there had been no shortage of that). When she’d been younger, she’d travelled the world, learning ways to unlock and fully harness her enormous potential. One leg of this globe trotting journey had taken her to a remote enclave, where an obscure order honed techniques to master the human body as much as possible. Masters of this art claimed to be able to consciously control every cell in their bodies. They were also said to be able to imbibe a lethal dose of poison, sink into meditation, and then expel the toxins through their pores, with no harm whatsoever coming to them.

   Doc Vince had never attained *quite* that level of mastery, mainly because she’d been impatient to move on and discover something else, especially after she’d learned enough to multiply her already staggering physical prowess tenfold.

   /I *should* be able to pull off something similar, though./ She thought resolutely.

   The blonde didn’t bother trying to go into a meditative state, however, feeling certain that that would never work for her. Quietly sitting still had never been her thing.

   She was, and always had been, a woman of action.

   Doc Vince breathed deeply through her nostrils, moving toward one of the smaller trees in the area, which was about twice her height and a bit thicker than her shoulders were broad.

   Then, with a loud, wordless yell, she fired a punch at the tree. The entire plant shuddered, leaves falling from it as bits of bark went flying. She swung her right leg at the tree, her foot actually taking out a piece of the trunk with one blow.

   Soon, her limbs were a blur as she unleashed a flurry of attacks at the unfortunate tree, each strike doing more and more damage, reducing a little bit more of the thing to wood pulp.

   Not that abusing a random tree was her aim. The blonde knew that if she wanted to make this work, she needed to exert herself, to wake up her body, to get every last cell fully activated and thrumming with energy.

   And it was working; she could feel it, even as she felt the effects of the venom, too. Doc Vince could’ve seen it, as well, if she’d looked at herself rather than focusing every last ounce of her attention on the task at hand. Already impressive muscles bulged to greater size, suddenly looking more chiseled than ever. Biceps swelled, veins standing out in stark relief. Her powerful legs looked like they’d been carved from solid marble. Even the smallest movements seemed to create a cascade effect of rippling muscle.

   Gritting her teeth, Doc Vince willed her body to expel the venom, to purge itself of the deadly poison. She swore she could actually feel it responding, but it wasn’t enough yet.

   Releasing a primal roar, she wrapped her powerful arms around the trunk of tree, which she had already largely destroyed, and began to pull. Every last muscle on her seemed to bulge at once, and for a moment she looked to be nearly twice her usual size as her magnificent body exerted a titanic effort.

   There was a great tearing sound, and suddenly the roots of the tree came up, taking a huge amount of dirt with them. Doc Vince had just pulled a tree out of the ground like it was a carrot.

   She lifted it above her head, and for a moment, she looked like more than a beautiful, incredibly powerful young woman. For a moment, Doc Vince was strength and determination personified.

   Then she hurled the tree away, tossing it into the underbrush where it landed with a deep thud.

   Almost the instant it hit the ground, the blonde seemed to deflate somewhat, and she was “merely” a human of mind boggling strength and capabilities again, not a golden haired goddess any longer.

   Then she bent forwards, hands on her flat, hard stomach. With a rather awful hacking sound, she spat out a wad of yellow-green mucous.

   Doc Vince knew at once that she’d succeeded in expelling the poison. Though winded, she no longer felt the least bit ill. She stood up straight again.

   And was nearly bowled over by Kitten, who came galloping towards her. For a moment, the blonde thought that the giant cat had abruptly decided it was time for round two of their little scuffle from earlier and tried to brace herself for an attack.

   She need not have worried about that.

   Kitten reared up, draping his massive front legs onto her shoulders, and even Doc Vince had to strain to stay upright under that much weight. However, it was anything but an assault.

   The giant feline looked down (for he was much, much taller than she when he stood up on his hind legs) and licked her. Doc Vince grimaced as a wet, bristly tongue that was nearly the size of a bath towel ran across her face several times.

   She was sorely tempted to pick up and throw the massive feline again, but she hadn’t helped Kitten fight off the snakes just so she could get into another fight with him. She endured his display of affection for as long as she could stand it, then withdrew a couple of steps.

   Kitten took his front legs off her shoulders, allowing himself to fall back to all fours. Doc Vince awkwardly patted him on the head. “Good kitty,” she said.

   Kitten released a loud sniff that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle, uttered one more soft meow-roar, and then, to Doc Vince’s surprise, turned and sprinted away, disappearing into the dense jungle almost immediately.

   Obviously, he had taken her as far along her route to the city of Victrix as he was going to.

   “Really?” she grumbled to herself, annoyed at the huge feline for decided to part ways with her right after she had helped it fight off the serpents.

   Well, there was nothing for it, she supposed. Taking only a moment to get her bearings, she continued on her way back to civilization, now on foot.
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ElSqiubbonator's avatar
I have one more question. What sort of city is Victrix? I assume it's more "civilized" than the rest of Venus, but what's it like there?