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THE GREATEST VICTORY

The morning sun was shining down through the clouds upon the Ivan Elizabeth High School as model student Miles made his way into the building. The time was perfect as usual; it was not too late and not too early. There was ample time to amble to his locker and prepare his equipment for the day ahead. Already waiting at the locker next to his was nerd extraordinaire, Arthur. He resented the term 'nerd', of course. It carried negative connotations and looking at things realistically, surely it was everyone who was the nerd. Arthur was pursuing the most interesting things in life. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and any mythology that took his fancy, as well as keeping a watchful eye on the ever-increasing technological advancements of the internet from his vantage point before his monitor in his bedroom. Everyone else was still moping about in this reality, while Arthur was globe-trotting around the higher plains of existence! It was they who were the nerds. Incidentally, the word 'nerd' was the first thing he thought of when Miles approached and opened his locker, pristine and organised and not a pencil out of place.

 "What is that?" Arthur blurted out, eyeing Miles' new garments."It's the school varsity cardigan," Miles replied coolly. His usual dress code was smart-casual with an emphasis on the smart, today combined with the fetching cardigan in the school colours emblazoned with the initials 'IE'."Oh yes, it's very umm...shank!" said Arthur, letting out a giggle that came out more like a snort. Miles shot him a funny look. Arthur set himself an objective to compile a list of popular clothes-based adjectives for future references so this embarrassment would not be repeated. The inside of Arthur's locked was littered with such notes about assignments and homework tasks. It was like a giant to-do-list for him, but Arthur preferred, of course, to call it his list of objectives.Miles brushed off the cardigan uncomfortably, trying not to pay attention to the sneers from others. The truth was, he'd been asked by the school to wear the cardigan to see if he could set an example to the student body and have more students wearing clothing to show off their school colours with pride. He eagerly accepted the task; it was about time these people learned how to dress and he would gladly be the one to show them! Now however, he could see that the student body were really not so enthusiastic about the prospect and that his new cardigan was making him the centre of attention in a way he hadn't anticipated. Miles kept his head held high, as he ever did. He pulled his books from his locker, wrapped and neat and tidy. Arthur pulled some dog-eared but well-kept books from his locker and they set out down the corridor. Miles tried to keep out of sight behind Arthur as much as he could; even the Star Wars

T-shirt and sandal/sock combo looked better than he did, he had to admit. The jeers from the students were mainly concerning his sexuality at seeing his new cardigan. He hid his blush in a book. It didn't help his image, but his sexuality was something he was still figuring out himself and he didn't need other people to tell him what he was based on his school pride.

 The two boys had nearly reached the end of the corridor when they heard the voice of an angel call from behind them. Turning, they saw it was legendary hottie but all around nice girl, Regina."Boys," said she. "I've made my decision!"The boys glanced at each other, frozen in place. It had been a week now since they had summoned up the courage to speak to Regina. She was busy sorting through the usual huge crowd of suitors looking to take her to prom, but unlike most in her position she didn't place such a huge emphasis on her social position. Miles and Arthur approached her slowly. Miles was more confident than Arthur, who was visibly shaking."Hey Regina! That's...that's a great sweater!" Miles said, putting on his smoothest smile.Alarm bells were going off all over Arthur's mind, but he managed to muster some words, along with his usual snorting chuckle. "Y-Yeah, that's...you're hair is very nice today...Regina!"Regina gave them the kind of look that said You have just committed social suicide. Your non-stop express train to Loserville is now departing from platform L7.

 The boys were about to leave when she giggled. "You boys are so adorable! Thanks for the compliments." Miles and Arthur could scarcely believe their ears!Miles decided to take a gamble. "So, uh...have you decided who's taking you to prom?"Regina smiled. "You know, of all the guys who keep asking me, I think you two are the only ones who have sincerely complimented me. The attention from the other guys is nice, but "You're so damn hot!" doesn't really ring true to me. How about this: one of you guys is gonna take me to prom this year.""W-Which one?"Regina simply said "Let me get back to you on that one," and left.It was a sweet story, but now Miles and Arthur were confronting the not-so-sweet crunch time. There had been a rivalry between them ever since that moment - a kind of increase in competitiveness that didn't quite drive a stake between them, but left them slightly bitter about each other. Still friends, but friends doing battle.Regina stepped up to them and the words shot out of her mouth like bullets into the body of the combatants.

 "I've decided I'm going to prom with..."Both boys tensed up. Arthur had the sweats and Miles was even shaking a little."...Arthur!"Arthur's fists pumped the air in every direction as gasps fired from the crowd all around. Miles suddenly felt like he was falling - sinking into the pit of rejection and social death that he tried so hard to avoid. Regina walked Arthur off in one direction while Miles stumbled away wistfully. Of course she didn't choose him! Being a nerd was one thing, but being a "model student" was a whole other spectrum of social failure and he was sitting right at the black, depressing, unpopular end of it. Damn that Arthur and his geeky charms! Geeks are so in nowadays with all girls wearing geeky glasses and shirts...Arthur would probably even make Regina more popular! Miles felt a longing for revenge welling up inside him. And he knew exactly what could bring Arthur toppling down from his high horse. He turned and pointed, his finger directing his surge of ice cold revenge right towards Arthur.

 "Yeah, well he has kissed both of your ex-boyfriends, Regina!"Regina recoiled slightly and gave Arthur a questioning look."I-It was a party...there were drinks...it was...boyish fun?"Regina looked a little repulsed. Actually, Arthur was telling the truth. Regina's ex-boyfriends had been going through certain phases and significant drinking had led them to Arthur, but nevertheless she still beckoned Arthur to walk with her. Miles' job was done. Soon Regina would realise what a mistake she had made. That was when Arthur turned around and confronted Miles."You insufferable son of a wookie! You will pay for what you have done!" he shouted, striking out into a dramatic kung-fu-esque position. He had officially challenged Miles to a duel."Bring it on, four-eyes!" Miles clenched his fists and drew himself into a sturdy battle stance. The duel was officially on.That was when Miles suddenly saw Arthur's clothing begin to change! The jeans and T-shirt formed together and grew downwards, their colour shifting to brown as the long robes fell about his feet. As he drew his hood over his head, a silver device had appeared in his hand and at the touch of a button a shaft of flickering blue light about a metre and a third in length shot from the polished metal of the base. What Miles thought was a simple duel was about to get plenty more complicated. The lightsaber swung for his head and he dodged, latching onto Arthur's waist and driving him back against the lockers. His lightsaber swung wildly, piercing one of the lockers with a hiss.

 "Nooo!" cried a girl from the crowd. "My Justin Bieber collection is in there!"After "accidentally" decimating the locker some more, Arthur set his sights back on Miles and swung the

lightsaber wildly at him. Miles flung himself backwards and growled."You're not the only one who can change forms, y'know!" Miles' cardigan suddenly started to change. The colour slowly melted to black as the whole cardigan seemed to melt down over him like wet paint, dripping down his arms to form long, gaping sleeves and flowing down around his legs into thick, black robes that seemed to engulf him, distorting the air around where he stood. "Aah, this feels really gross..." From the gooey garments he drew a tall, pointed hat and placed it on his head as his nose grew crooked, long and warted, his chin extending out to meet it. In his hands there appeared a staff, covered at one end with bristles and branches tied to its tip. It looked awfully like...Miles sighed in exasperation. He looked like the classic cartoon image of a wicked witch. It certainly wasn't what he was going for.

 "I had heard that cardigan makes you look like a girl, I just didn't realise what an ugly girl it would be!" snarled Arthur with a snort.Miles let out a loud battle cry and assaulted Arthur, beating him left and right with the bristles of the broomstick and leaving him flabbergasted until he took an opportunity to rend it in two with his lightsaber. Miles summoned up all the strength of his witchcraft and pointed his bony claws at his opponent, cackling madly as Arthur's lightsaber turned into a frog with a puff of smoke."The Force won't save you now, dork!"Arthur stepped back, starting to change again. "You will BURN!" He cast away his brown Jedi cloak, revealing underneath all the clothes of a boy scout, a khaki buttoned shirt and trousers and outdoor shoes adorning him.Miles laughed. "We're duelling, not selling cookies!"Arthur drew a firelighter from his pocket and a piece of steel from the other, striking one against the other and blowing a breath though the ferocious sparks, sending fireballs hurtling towards Miles. One struck him in the chest and soon his whole attire was up in flames! He collapsed into a heaped fireball on the floor and Arthur laughed; victory had never been so easy!That's what he thought. The fireball stirred and from the smouldering pile of witch robes arose Miles, reborn like a phoenix and stronger than ever, his skin darkened by the flames. There was certainly enough of it visible to see, for he wore only a long grass skirt that flowed and swayed around his knees. His face was covered by a heavy, extravagent tribal mask dressed with feathers. The looks from the crowd seemed to say Well, it's an improvement on that cardigan.

 As he raised his arms the flames around him seemed to rise up all around him, surrounding him in the blaze. Arthur cowered slightly as Miles drew back and blew outwards, propelling a

huge burst of flames towards him. Arthur struggled to avoid being engulfed by the torrent of flames the islander was breathing towards him, until he felt himself starting to change again!The boy scout uniform bleached to white and fell about his feet again, the robes only hanging over one shoulder, revealing a chest which seemed to be gradually getting more muscular as his body also grew in size. "I can feel myself growing in strength!" In his found he a found a heavy trident, which he considered just stabbing Miles with until he felt a strange sensation all around him. As he finally grew enough to raise the bottom of the toga from the floor, a massive amount of water streamed out and encircled all around him, raising him above the floor as he rode the waves towards his enemy. He gripped the trident and grinned deviously. He was Neptune, god of the sea! The perfect form to extinguish the petty candlelight in Miles' mask.

 Miles just stared as gallons of water gushed from Arthur's toga. "That's not the first time you've been gushing from down there in public, is it?""Shut uuup!" With a jab of the trident in Miles direction, a huge flood of deep blue water flowed through the corridor, almost filling the whole space and sending Miles flying and flailing through the waves. Arthur laughed triumphantly; this time there was no way he could not be victorious!That was when he discovered that Miles had changed once more. From within the waves came a powerful figure charging, huger than a person and pushing forward with a huge force. Arthur's trident wavered and the waves diminished and he saw a huge, lumbering football player in full gear, charging directly towards him! The fear of the oncoming tackle overcame him and as his life flashed before his eyes he felt a rumbling in his stomach...The white robes fell away revealing only a mawashi and Arthur had some idea what was about to happen. His stomach started to expand, layers of fat piling up in his gut and blowing him up to ridiculous proportions, almost unable to hold his weight up for a second until his legs and arms thickened to match his belly. 

 "So this is how it feels..." Arthur said, panting as he expanded. "...to not be able to see your feet!""I'm surprised you can see them at all, sat in the dark in your bedroom all day!" retorted Miles.With a huge movement he flung his weight at the football player as he approached, the sumo wrestler's superior weight stopping that footballer in his tracks. The huge impact had a peculiar effect on Miles too; his football gear exploded from him revealing a mawashi and a huge amount of body fat, rivalling even Arthur's mighty man-bosoms."Eww!" cried

Miles. "I look like your mother!"The pair grappled and pushed with each other, struggling as neither really succeeded in moving the other until finally Miles formulated a plan. "You will not defeat me, Arthur!" With a mighty grunt he thrust his fingers forward, poking Arthur right in the bellybutton. Arthur stepped back and blushed."What have you done?!" he cried, his belly starting to grow even more! Layers piled up until he fell to his knees, the fat flopping all around him like jelly. His neck disappeared into the ripples of his chest and Miles laughed, his flab receding until he retook his human form.

 "You are defeated, Arthur." With his head held high, he turned and walked away. He felt pretty good about himself. That was a fine victory, although it wasn't following the traditional rules of sumo. He was just heading off in Regina's direction to see if she had been watching and rethought her earlier choice when he heard a peculiar snarling from behind him...He turned just in time to grab the jaws of a huge panther pouncing onto him from afar. It was Arthur, his eyes full of the burning rage of defeat. In the primal blizzard of anger he had changed once more into this new animalistic form. Miles struggled to keep the biting jaws away from his face, feeling something happening to him. He watched as his hands, clasped on the jaws of the terrible panther, grew thick orange fur! His fingers shortened and from the tips emerged sharp claws. Elsewhere, more changes were happening; his legs pulled up into haunches and his feet became hind paws. His mouth grew out into a feline muzzle as he grew terribly long, fearsome fangs and teeth. A tail sprouted from his spine, bearing orange fur intercut with shadowy black stripes. With his new tiger form his strength was great enough to cast Arthur aside and pounce onto him, his fangs digging into the panther's back and bringing it whimpering to the ground. Miles growled, stepping slowly backwards. What he saw he could never have prepared himself for.

 Arthur's fur began to shed in clumps, shrouding him and making it hard for Miles to see the changes happening. He saw the green scales emerge from his skin, the snout from his face and the tail grow longer and spined. Huge wings sprouted from his back and within seconds they were beating, pulling the fearsome dragon upwards into the sky and unleashing a firestorm down on the tiger. Miles dodged, finding himself becoming human again. Whatever was in him that had been allowing him to change had worn off after the false victory! He stumbled down the hall on his cumbersome tiger feet until finally they changed back, his tail pulling back into his body and leaving him a human once more, defenceless at the mercy of the dragon above. Oh no, I'm a man again! thought he. It's funny...the thing I've always wanted to

be considered as, now the worst thing I could possibly be!He could only run and dodge the unimaginable torrents of flame raining down upon him, but when he ran behind the dragon it swept its tail out in a reflex, bashing against his abdomen and leaving him on the floor, winded and wounded. He crawled...there was no hope now...he was just a human again...this pathetic human that he was, wearing a cardigan that he had stupidly hoped would make a difference in the school...the only difference it made was how people acted towards him; even worse than usual. He rolled onto his back as the huge dragon stepped over him, ready to eat him and claim its victory. It was completely armoured, except for a spot on its underbelly that would normally be unreachable...If only there was a way, thought Miles. As if by some divine intervention, he found the way in his hands. A sturdy bow and a single arrow, which he drew and kept poised waiting for the right moment. Ha! he thought. Now I have the power to deal the final bow!

 "Hey!" cried an unfortunate hall monitor from down the hall. "Why aren't all you people in class?!"This interruption distracted the dragon; it looked up and investigated the mysterious monitor standing with his eyes affixed with a glare of authority. While the dragon was lashing out, it stepped further over Miles, leaving him the perfect opening! He aimed the bow upwards and fired, it plunging right into the dragon's weak spot and leaving it screeching and stumbling about. It raised up on its haunches and craned its neck upwards, casting a huge fireball into the sky, before crashing down from its death throes. It lay there on the floor slowly shrinking until finally becoming human again, leaving nothing in the corridor but Miles sat clutching his stomach and Arthur sprawled out on the floor, smothered in the shame of defeat.Miles and Arthur stood and looked at each other. It had been a long and hard battle, but Arthur knew when he had been truly defeated and fought no more, leaving the battlefield with his tattered honour and dignity.

 Miles approached Regina, hopeful that now he would have a real chance with her, an opportunity to climb the social ladder! He ripped off his cardigan and cast it aside, kneeling down on one leg and addressing the fair maiden. "Oh sweet damsel! Wouldst thou do me the honour of being my companion to the prom?"Regina stood fast, her mouth agape. She looked from Miles to Arthur and back to Miles. "You guys are...weird...Like, really weird...I think I'm just gonna go to prom with Ashley..."She backed away slowly, leaving Miles even more embarrassed than he had been with the cardigan on. Arthur was soon by his

side."I'm sorry, Miles. Such a shame to have missed out on that.""Well, she's in a league above me anyway...""I don't know, Miles! The way you dealt with that dragon back there, I'd say you're in a league way above her."Miles smiled and the pair embraced. The long and hard duel had not torn them apart over a girl, but rather left them both proud that they had at least made the effort. The valiant heroes strode off together down the hall as if riding into a climactic sunset. They would not soon forget this day; a landmark achievement in the everlasting turmoil of the high school social classes. Well, to everyone else they were still dorks. But to them, their could be no greater victory.

by AllisonTowers