Power Rankings
By: K. A. Maxwell

Violet and Bridget walked into the stadium’s visitors dressing room. It was full of small-form Nyxazons, powerful women with larger bodies than most races.  Their skin glistened under the bright lights of the locker room. Some stretched, some lifted weights in the hundred of tons and others ate. 

When Bridget entered the room, a few of the smaller teammates stood and stared. The rest welcomed the return of one of their assistant captains. 

“Well, look who’s here,” said a Nyxazon who was as tall as herself. 

“I’m awesomeness here,” said Bridget who gripped hands with the Captain of the team, Renee Noctis. 

“Wasn’t expecting you to show up for a squash match,” she said. “It’s going to be overkill against the 458ers. So, the coach is taking the day off and letting me run the team today.” 

“Goddess, really? This is your first time coaching, isn’t it?”

“The 458ers are the biggest losers so far this season,” said Carolina Wysaneiros. She was short, blond hair, tanned but had very thick legs and a strong upper body, like a bodybuilding gymnast. “No wins and three losses, We’re letting the rookies and junior triple As take them on today.” 

“You’re free to join and watch,” said Renee. “Might be fun scouting the prospects.” 

A Nyxazon waved at her excitedly. She was about average height for a Nyxazon, roughly five-foot-ten with a sleek build. She dressed in an impossibly tight sports bra top that barely contained her breasts and shorts that tightly hugged her hips and glutes. She had short blond hair with two buns of hair bunched up next to each of her pointy ears. Her blue eyes blinked in admiration. 

“I’m going to be on the starting roster today,” Lilith Veloce cheered. “I can’t wait.” 

Bridget smiled. “It’ll be a great chance to show everyone your power, Lilith.”  

“Thanks! I will honor everyone!” 

Bridget ruffled Lilith’s hair playfully. “Of course you will,” she assured. 

Lilith skipped off and joined the other rookies and juniors of the team. 

Bridget turned to Renee. “They look really ready for a war.” 

Renee puffed her chest. “You bet they are. Let the 458ers use whatever they have against us. We’ll be ready if they pull any tricks or surprises.” 

“Surprises?” Bridget questioned. 

Renee shrugged. “Still have to be sharp against all opponents no matter who they are.” 

Bridget looked away and growled. 

Renee winced. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. What happened to you, was a special case.”

This caught everyone’s attention and a hush fell upon the room. 

Bridget nodded. “Yeah, it was a special case.” 

Carolina slammed her fist which made the room shake. “That should have never happened to you!” she exclaimed. “Those cowards dishonored themselves by using cheap toys to beat you.” 

Another Nyxazon growled and folded her arms. She was athletic, but her appearance was  intimidating with a stern expression on her face. “Carolina, these were security officers that used to be people Bridget reported to. They aren’t amateurs.” said Matilda Dunn. 

“I don’t care who they are; they should all face our wrath for what they did,” said Carolina. 

 “Let’s extradite their asses to Nyxazon.” said a short Nyxazon named Amelia Noxsher. 

Bridget groaned. “Come on guys, this isn’t the time.” 

“No, we’ve been waiting to talk about this since seeing it on the news, Bridget,” said Renee. “You’re here, we’re here, no better time like now, right?”

Bridget also looked around her teammates. Each one nodded in agreement with intense gazes. 

Bridget sat down, still a little tense.  Here and now, she’s alive, she’s in good health and she’s stronger than ever. Few people approached her level of power. But it didn’t take away the trauma and helplessness she felt when Rose gained control over her. That pain would remain for the rest of her life, no matter how strong she was. 

But her sisters-in-arms, fellow Nyxazon warriors, shared in her pain. Her chest tightened, but Violet squeezed her shoulder. “Come on, tell us,” she said. 

 That’s what Bridget would have said if the roles were reversed. 

“Alright, I’ll tell you. I was the strongest security officer on campus and I allowed a weak Botanese to paralyze me,” said Bridget. Her gaze fell to the floor. “I feel like I’ve dishonored everyone for allowing this and needing to be rescued.” 

Amelia sighed. “I bet the fear of your power motivated your co-workers to this extreme. People loved how you performed. These cowards envied you and couldn’t admit to it,” 

“Yeah!” Carolina agreed. “They didn’t have the courage to challenge you man to woman. Instead, they resorted to cheap tactics to bring you down.” 

“It’s not our fault we are who we are,” said Matilda. “Lilith, remember what happened on planet E-76329? What was it that they said to you?” 

“They wanted me to ‘go away and behave’, like a good girl,” said Lilith, folding her arms. “I thought when you play sports as hard as we do, you gained respect.” 

Carolina chuckled. “The locals on Planet Elprup said I was ‘too big’ to be worthy of their time. Even like this, being this short.” 

Bridget kept quiet and listened. 

“This has been happening for decades now, to all Nyxazons” said Amelia. “What the hell did we do to deserve this?” 

Matilda’s eyes narrowed. “I know. Some guy once challenged Bridget to an exhibition fight during a championship expo, remember that?” 

Bridget remembered that. A local male resident of planet ZX-420 challenged her to a fight because she was a Nyxazon. She resisted agreeing to the match because of his obvious lack of power. He persisted in the attempt to please his ego. Bridget relented and they fought. Even while holding back, it still ended with a simple punch to the gut. 

“Wasn’t he so pathetic?” said Renee. “He believed he was better than Bridget even though he wasn’t high-powered.” 

“Um,” A Nyxazon near the back of the room raised her hand. She was a red-haired, curvy Nyxazon. She was a little shorter than Lilith with her hair tied in a braid and had ginger colored eyes. 

“May I say something?” asked Mildred Sombrosa. 

“Sure Milly, speak up,” Renee responded. 

“I met a lot of fans who were good. I also have close male friends on the planet where I stay,” said Mildred. 

“So what? Your experience was different from ours,” said Carolina. “You look more like a thick normal female elf who can hide among a crowd.” 

“They think you’re like a wood elf who likes to shoot arrows from trees,” said Matilda. 

“But I love shooting arrows. It takes a good eye and patience to shoot one ton arrows from ten kilometers away,” said Mildred. 

Carolina pouted. “You sure you don’t like to show off?” 

Mildred blushed and shrugged. “Well....” 

“My point exactly. Everyone else doesn’t understand how we live.” 

“To be fair, our planet isn’t exactly a hot tourist attraction,” said Crystal Dunchoi. She was the other assistant captain. She towered over the others at six-foot-seven. “There’s only a few places with anti-gravity where people can stay. Other than that, if they can’t handle at least ten times gravity they’d have to wear a power suit.” 

“Our food is also dense,” said Matilda.

“Goddess, I think people fear our food too. They must think they would get fat from eating a bite,” said Mildred. 

“One bite might be enough for it to fall right through their stomach.” Amelia gestured with her hand up and down. “That will make them stop worrying about their weight.” 

“Is that Nyxazon Tourism you’re talking about?” asked a new voice from the doorway. It was the General Manager of the Nyxazon Knights, Cynthia Warcrest. She wore a purple suit and carried a tablet. She was also very tall. 

Everyone greeted her. 

“Hello ladies, sorry for interrupting your discussion. I overheard you mentioning our home,” said Cynthia. “I, for one, can’t wait to head back to Nyxazon. It’s been a long road trip to start the season. But we will return to a huge home opener.” 

“Goddess, I want to shift back to normal already, I hate being this short,” said Carolina. 

“I want to meditate and perform prayers in nature,” said Matilda. 

“I just want to gorge on food all day and get stronger,” said Amelia. 

“Me too.” said Crystal. 

“We need to show our planet to others through our eyes, not someone else’s, “ said Renee. 

Cynthia huffed. “We can only do what’s within our control.” 

“But a lot of people treat us like we’re monsters that destroy things,” lamented Matilda. 

“We save people from disasters. The moment we screw up, they see us as hazards,” grumbled Carolina. “We don’t deserve this.” 

“We don’t deserve this?” Bridget questioned. “But we had other Nyxazons who committed crimes, right?” 

“Some,” said Cynthia. “But their actions belong to them, not to us.” 

Bridget was not sure about that. Her incident that got Lieutenant Wats demoted happened because she decided to intervene on a bomb threat. Back then she was an ensign, but her Nyxazon Training made her instincts sharp. 

She stopped a potential attack despite disobeying orders from Wats. The result was a political incident, but the worst she got was a slap on the wrist and a fine. Eventually, she got promoted over Wats. 

That action saved lives and caused no deaths. 

In the aftermath, the leaders of the factions used GVU Security as scapegoats. 

A hand tapped Bridget’s shoulder again and looked up at Lilith, one of the rookies. 

“Don’t start doubting yourself. Oh my Goddess, you are so awesome and one day, I want to get strong enough to give you a great fight.” said Lilith. She floated up and kissed Bridget on the cheek. 

Bridget blushed and thought back to her fans and the people that did support her. She thought about Ms. Money and Ms. Dealbreaker back on Neerg who helped to rescue her. Many people of all genders and races that day, risked their lives for her freedom, for the freedom of a Nyxazon. 

That thought made Bridget smile. As long as there were people like them that supported her, hope was not lost. 

Violet nudged Bridget. “What are you thinking?” 

“I thought about who supported me and helped to free me. I didn’t realize it, but if everyone really hated Nyxazons the way they did,  I don’t think I’d be standing here alive right now.” 

That triggered more murmurs in the room. 

“That’s stupid. You weren’t going to be paralyzed forever. When that effect wore off, you’d smash them,” barked Carolina. 

“Maybe, but they had the weapons to kill me,” Bridget confirmed. “They didn’t use them right away. That guy who used to be my CO stopped a female human from hurting me with one.” 

More gasps and murmurs filled the room. 

“Bridget, you’re not saying those guys who took you don’t hate Nyxazons, are you?” said Amelia. 

“Bridget has a point. Maybe they were just bad people. But good people are out there too, right?” said Mildred. 

Carolina zipped in front of Mildred and glared. “Shut up Milly, people hate Nyxazons because they can’t handle us being better than them!”

Mildred stood up, and loomed a few inches over Carolina. She glared back in-kind. “I’d be more open-minded if I were you!”

At that point, the team looked at each other, some of them glared and growled at others. The tension in the room became an overpowered powder keg. 

Bridget flew in between the two. “No! Stop!” 

Renee joined Bridget in blocking the two. “Let those conflicts rest, ladies. We have to support each other through every single battle on the field. Without that, we’ll become weaker and it will only be our fault for allowing our opponents to take advantage.” 

Mildred and Carolina calmed down. 

“Sorry,” said Mildred. 

Carolina nodded. “Sorry. I’ve just seen too much bullshit.” 

“It’s okay,” said Bridget as she stood next to Crystal and Renee at the front of the dressing room. “Thanks, you have all been a mountain to me, and I will keep being awesome to you.” 

“Anytime Bridget. We’re all here for you,” said Renee. 

“As long as we talk about things that make us angry, we’ll understand each other better. We’ll grow stronger and less angrier and less wanting to smash stuff. So let’s keep talking,” said Crystal. 

“I think we can all agree, by the word of the Goddess, Bridget, we will find that Rose guy and crush his ass!” said Carolina. 

“Yeah!” The group shouted collectively. 

Bridget forced a smile as the strategist part of herself processed this. The whole team going after one person sounded way too much. But, her right hand clenched and she fought down the urge to rip apart Rose on sight. It would be too easy to do it. 

Cynthia clapped her hands. “Alright ladies, Renee will handle things for today’s game. And go hard, rookies and juniors. This is your chance to show us your might!”

“Yes ma’am,” Lilith and the younger players said.  

Everyone dispersed. Bridget kept in her casual clothes and watched everyone prepare. Her heart still raced from the recent events. 

But, with supportive people on her team, there’s no way she could lose. 

“Bridget,” called Cynthia. “A moment?” 

Cynthia and Bridget walked into another room and the general manager pressed a blue button with a “P” on it. A field glowed and the sounds they heard from the dressing room vanished.

“Something wrong?” asked Bridget. 

Cynthia shook her head. “No, nothing’s wrong.” She took out a card-sized envelope from her binder and handed it to Bridget. 

Bridget opened it and read it, and her own heartbeat picked up. “By Goddess, is this for real?” 

“It is. Sorry if it’s short notice. A priestess from the Council wants to meet with you tonight.” 

That evening, Bridget, Violet, Lilith and Mildred returned to the penthouse suite. The mood was electric after the team crushed the 458ers 670-0. That win extended the Knights’ undefeated streak to four games. 

Lilith was the highest scoring player of the day with 45 tries. Even with the 458ers on their hoverboards, the prospects smashed through their defenses. 

“That was very impressive, Lilith. I’m so happy Renee gave you a chance to show your might,” beamed Mildred. 

Lilith blushed. “I wouldn’t have had the chance if it weren’t for Renee.” 

Mildred nodded. “But you made the most of that.” 

Bridget laughed. “You have a bright future ahead of you if you keep smashing like you did with that team.” 

Lilith’s eyes lit up. “Really?” 

Bridget smiled warmly. “With determination like yours, you’ll become one of the best.” 

Lilith’s smile grew wider. “Thank you. It means a lot coming from you.” 

Bridget shrugged. “Just speaking the truth.” 

Lilith sighed. “But they were a very weak team. I still have to get stronger and be ready for the real challenges. I hope I’ll face way stronger teams.” 

Bridget nodded. “And you will. Train hardcore, eat tons and say your prayers to the Goddess. You’ll get stronger in no-time.” 

Bridget checked the clock. She had only an hour left before the meeting. 

“I have to get ready.” 

“For what?” asked Violet. 

Bridget pulled out the card from her pocket and handed it to Violet. Mildred and Lilith flew and hovered over Violet’s shoulders as she read.

“You’re going to talk with one of the Goddess’s representatives?” Violet shrieked. 

“OMG, I thought the priestesses stay all day in their chambers. I heard they prayed and never left the council house.” said Lilith. 

Mildred giggled. “No, Lilith. Where did you hear that from?” 

“Social media, all the priestess memes and the secret lives they live. Maybe she has a secret crush on Bridget.”

Bridget laughed. “She’s not my type, Lilith.”   

Lilith licked her lips. “So then, your type is around our age?” 

Violet bumped Lilith away. “We have to get you something to wear, maybe something formal and classy. When was the last time you dressed up?” 

Bridget bit her lips. The others hovered over her with disapproving glares.  

“Seriously?” they said. 

Bridget stepped back. “I eat, sleep and train.” 

“Goddess, please give us strength.” Violet rolled up her sleeves. 

Bridget settled on a deep green sleeveless dress that showed off her powerful arms. Its neckline plunged deep to show her powerful chest muscles that served as a platform for her barely contained large breasts. Her dress clung and stretched through her thick waist and powerful hips down her powerful legs and exposed her large calf muscles. Once dressed, Bridget surveyed herself in the mirror. 

“Do I look worthy of the Goddess?” asked Bridget. 

“Oh wow,” gasped Lilith, face flushed. 

The other Nyxazons nodded in approval. 

“You absolutely do,” said Violet. 

Bridget glanced at her exposed arms, she flexed them, her biceps bulged with no restrictions, no hiding and no compromises. 

People will definitely see her as she was:  a beautiful force to be reckoned with.