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She had improved since their last sparring session. Hybrid realized this almost immediately as he began to circle her and finally acknowledged it once she retaliated against his attack. Her response was quick and her movements were swift – it was strange to think of himself as a bulky attacker, but against Halo, it certainly seemed so. He had always relied on his speed and stealth to win his fights, but now that he was paired with someone who was smaller and quicker, he realized he wouldn’t be able to use any of his old tricks to win this. He would either have to outmatch her speed or use what little strength he had over her. He also realized that his familiarity in his Secui form would be key: Halo had fighting experience, but not necessarily in her Lupus or Secui forms. From what she had told him last time (or from what he had observed, he forgot which it was) she was far more comfortable in her Optime form. He would have to use this somehow – he just didn’t know how.
As Hybrid lunged at Halo, she shifted her balance and moved herself so she was facing him almost square on. As Hybrid snapped for her neck, he felt her teeth graze his neck and then sink in to his skin. He yowled in pain, but could not avoid her attack. Since he had been in mid-strike in the mid-air, he could not move or twist away. Her attack landed and Hybrid ended up snapping at the air. She had moved lower than him, and was now practically hanging off his neck with her teeth. Even with Halo’s teeth digging in to his neck, he still tried to pull her down by swiping at her with his clawed paws. It didn’t work; her centre of gravity was too low and she was too solid in her stance. She was a rock. However, Hybrid was still taller and could potentially get away, if only he could shake her teeth. He twisted and tried to make her let go, but every movement only brought shooting pain up and down his neck. He quickly tried to dive straight down with his head now that he knew where his opponent was. She was practically underneath him, so he scrunched in his neck – as best he could, at least – and tried to bite the top of her neck, rip off an ear, or dig his teeth into her skull. As he tried to bite, he kicked off with his back legs to put all his weight down onto his bite. He used his front paws to stabilize his movements, not wanting to fall and let Halo take a huge bite of his flesh and leave him with a bite-sized gash in his neck.