The trees were sharp on her nose as she plowed through the thick grass that ringed around them. She was used to the soft, sterile scents of the hallways and cages, not something strange and foreign like this. And every scent was moving; there was a soft wind made by fans that blew the air throughout the Arena, so every second it was something new. Her ears were on overload, catching every little detail to the rustling leaves or a tiny twitch of bark. She had never had the chance to use her ears like this before. It was exhilarating.

Reflex's paws lightly stepped around soft footprints stuck in the ground. They had tiny pads on where she make out the toes. She had followed several old trails, ones that other mutants that had fought before. Her face was lowered slightly to the ground, nose close to the footprints. She sniffed every few seconds, smelling the slight stinging scent in every footprint.

Neon's entire smell was covered in the dangerous warning of poison. It seems that she hadn't been lying when she said not to touch her, and Reflex had no intentions of disobeying. The toxins that seemed to fall from the girl's skin had soaked slightly into the ground, leaving a clear trail to where she was. Her fur stuck up in sandy red clumps, animal instincts disagreeing with her hunting a creature like this.

She froze.

Her tail flicked against her leg, stirring around her fur. Her giant left ear flicked to point backward, greatly increasing her range of hearing. Her legs bent slightly, tucking herself closer to the ground. She waited, as tense as was mutantly possible.

The footprints had stopped; completely.

The last one was pressed deeply into the ground, a tremendous amount of force used in making it. Neon had jumped. But there was no other footprints she could see, no other sign of where she was. Her muscles shifted.

A rustle.

Reflex threw herself forward and launched right towards a tall tree.

Her claws popped out with blinding speed and she dug them into the soft bark of the tree. They started to slid down several inches but she had hooked her back paws into the ground and pushed up.

Her curved claws flashed and she was several feet up in the tree, muscles straining to keep herself attached in a vertical position. She caught sight of a thick branch only a short bit above her. With a couple more pushes and hooked claws into the bark, she flung herself onto the branch and stopped.

Chest heaving slightly, she sunk her claws deeply into the wood. Small breaths hissed out from between her fangs. Her ears still flicked, angling downwards to catch any sounds below her. She waited for a few seconds to catch her breath, adrenaline coursing through her veins.

She started to look down, peeking over the thick branch to the ground below. She only managed a second before her vision spun slightly, world swirling below her. She squeezed her eyes shut and released her claws deeper into the wood. The branch creaked slightly as she mangled it. She took deep, calming breaths, forcing her body to slow down.

She waited a few seconds after she thought it was safe, her heart beat slowing and breaths steadying. She stared back down at the ground. She couldn't see anything other than patches of grass and fallen leaves, but a flash of color interrupted the greens and browns. It was the blinding white of the standard shirt and pants that all mutants were forced to wear.

Neon was slinking in the shadow of the tree she was in, eery eyes staring up at her tense form. Reflex hissed softly, fangs bared. Her eyes narrowed, body tensing against the branch. Her claws flashed and she moved farther out on the branch, closer to the mutant. The splotches of yellow and blue on her skin contrasted sharply in the light.

Neon unconsciously angled her body weight slightly closer to the tree, arms stiffening around her chest. But she didn't move any more than that, seemingly content to watch Reflex pace along her branch.

The opposing mutants had a small stare off, black against pale green. Reflex tensed closer to the trunk, mouth open in a silent snarl. Hind legs shifting slightly, she pushed her balance backward. Her paws angled to press fully against the trunk of the tree, a stable force to push against. With her tail flicking back and forth, she strengthened her steadiness as best she could.

And then Neon was gone, disappearing around the base of a tree. The white clothing Reflex had been using to pick her out was gone.

Reflex hissed, claws digging in and out of the bark. She scanned below her furiously, green eyes narrowed. Her ears searched for the barest of sounds; a rustle of leaves, a breaking branch.

But there was nothing. Neon, the elusive mutant, was gone. The tree she'd gone around was opposite to Reflex, meaning she could be doing anything behind it. She had to get down.

The branch seemed much higher off the ground when she was inside it, the world swaying below her in a way that had nothing to do with how she was moving. Her tail straightened out, aiding in her balance. She shot one last angry look around before starting to make her way down.

She inched her way back over to the trunk, twisting until she was facing it. She sunk her claws into an area right above her head, digging them past the bark and into the wood itself. Slowly, she started to shift her weight off of the branch until she was completely hanging on the trunk, back paws slipping over to attach themselves to the wood as well. She hung there for a few seconds before moving again. She started to release one of her hands to start moving down when a stick snapped right behind her.

Reflex yowled and jumped, eyes widening and hands jerking. Both of her paws ripped out of the trunk as she started to fall, claws slashing through the air. She twisted and writhed, pulling herself around to face the ground. She caught a glimpse of Neon with a broken twig grasped in both hands before she slammed into her.

Reflex screamed, thrashing her claws out. They made contact with bare skin, ripping it open. She saw a sudden flash of red and heard a scream not her own before her legs suddenly froze.

She toppled, falling forcefully on one side. Her shoulder thumped against the ground, sending waves of pain through her.

A burning, tickling sensation ran up her legs, reaching her chest and flowing through her body. And when she tried to sit up, she couldn't.

Then it roared through her arms, moving as quickly as water. Her hands twitched once before they were unmovable.

And then her head, mouth parting slightly and eyes fully blown open.

She couldn't move at all. She was stuck with her claws extended and half stuck in Neon's back, mouth open in a silent scream and back half bent.

She looked around in horror, unable to move her head to the side to get a better view. And then saw her legs. Her legs touching Neon's bare side. Neon's bare poison dart frog side.

She watched through completely widened eyes as Neon cried out only once, face drawing up in a scrunched wince. She stayed frozen before moving slowly forward and detaching Reflex's claws from her skin. There was a slight trickle of blood that began to bleed around the slashes in her clothing. Reflex could see even more strange spots of color around the three wounds on her back.

Neon's wince deepened, fingers probing around her wounds. They weren't bad, already slightly closing up. She then looked over at Reflex, frozen on the ground.

"You're paralyzed." She turned away again, pushing herself up to unsteady feet. Her black eyes swiveled to meet Reflex's. "That's what my poison does."

She almost turned away, before her brows lowered and she stared into Reflex's open eyes.

"Your eyes are going to dry out," she said softly. She stepped closer, hands reaching out. Using on the barest touch of her fingertips, she closed Reflex's eyelids. Her vision went black, but the sting that had been building up since she was poisoned started to disappear.

But now she couldn't see; there was little she could do, unseeing and paralyzed.

A sharp buzzing filled the room, the same one from the beginning. She would have flinched if she could move. The same man's voice who had started their fight in the Arena came on, announcing in a dull, dead voice.

"Please reclaim FPD10 and CC01 immediately." It cut off as soon as it had started, leaving Reflex in dead silence. Her ears were pinned backward, unable to pick up any sounds other than the ones directly around her, her greatest skill stopped. She couldn't see either, just the blackness of her eyelids. And feeling was restricted to the dirt below her and the grass rubbing against her fur.

Neon's voice met her ears. "They're coming to pick you up." And then she was gone, and Reflex could hear soft footsteps padding away. They got quieter and quieter until they were gone.

But in only a few seconds, hands thick with fur landed on her shoulders. They gripped her tightly, tiny pinpricks of claws meeting her skin. She wanted to struggle, to move. But she was paralyzed.

Frozen.

Helpless.

The Eraser - for that was what she assumed it was - carried her away from the thick and complicated scents of the Arena to the burning sterile sting of the hallways.

But her eyes were forcibly closed, her ears pinned so far backward they could hear very little, and there was little to smell now.

She could hear Eraser stepping, and his big paws thumping against the ground sent tremors up her spine. It walked seemingly without end, marching on and on. She had never remembered the path being this long.

Suddenly, her right ear twitched. It smacked against her head roughly, but it she could barely feel it. But it was what had happened that excited her. The poison was wearing off!

The Eraser carrying her paused for a second, its body stilling. Reflex furiously tried to move, but only her right ear was moving, and sluggishly at that. But it was an unending series of twitching that went on and on.

Suddenly she was moving again, the Eraser jerking her forward in short, sharp bursts. He was jogging, rushing her forward. Her ear moved quicker now, the left beginning to twitch. The tip of her tail brushed against her leg, sliding slightly back and forth.

She was being dashed forward, shoved forward in powerful motions. The Eraser's claws were digging into her skin, and she could feel one of them break the skin on her arm.

But now her claws were twitching out, half protruding from her paws. She started to try to struggle, furiously trying to force her body to twist side to side. She was moving, too. Her chest rolled slightly, pushing one of the Eraser's hands away.

But she could hear a metal bang, a sudden stop in speed. She jerked forward, almost moving out of the Eraser's grip. A sliver of light appeared at the bottom of her eyes, bright and blinding.

She stopped for a second, not moving. The motions that had gotten her through the hallways halted, and she was frozen, only the Eraser's furry arms that pressed against her back.

And then she was tumbling, pitched forward through the air. She landed with a crunch on a harsh, unforgiving surface so cold it burned against her chest. A metal clang echoed behind her.

When she came fully back to movability an hour later, she was locked inside of a tiny cage in a cold empty room.

And the second chapter is done! Yeah!

So while I've only used one OC so far, Neon, the next chapter will have many, many OCs that will be in the story. So now is your chance to submit! Review here or in my SYOC page.

Also, I will be adding any OCs I'd like to see in my story on my other story. People don't have to make them, but they're there for inspiration if anyone needs it!

Frost OUT!