A hollow shriek had exited Taki’s mouth when the lizard’s claws tore away the fabric of her form-fitting catsuit and drew shallow, bloody lines in her skin. She whimpered and wailed as the monster’s claws lingered on her skin, but then Zafina intervened and pulled the Lizard off her body. Taki staggered backward and her hands went to her bloody shoulders. The blood felt warm, and very real… but the really disconcerting aspect of it all was the pain… Never before had she experienced such pain in a VR environment. There were regulations about the amount of pain a person could feel in a VR simulation. In the early days of the technology, some people had actually died from heart attacks and shock because the pain was too real.<br/><br/>“Aaauw…” she let her finger go over one of the wounds and a sharp sting of pain immediately ran up her frame and prickled her mind. A loud crashing sound brought her back to – virtual – reality as she saw the Lizard topple over, with Zafina buried under his bulky frame. Still her companion managed to keep the necklock on their opponent intact, but it was only a matter of time before the sheer weight of their adversary would force her to hang on. The sword she had plunged in the things chest was still in place. But where was her other sword? She looked around and quickly found it, laying five feet away from her. She tiptoed over there and picked it up, and then wasted no time joining Zafina and the lizard’s interlocked bodies. “Let go of my friend, you freak!” She shouted at the top of her lungs before letting the razorsharp sword come down a second time onto the now restrained lizard. This time she had aimed at the thing’s neck, and her blade went through it like a hot knife through butter. She halted when she had sliced through three quarters of the thing’s neck. She didn’t want to go any deeper and risk injuring Zafina.<br/>