Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Survival of the Fittest

Stingerella versus Toady

Lily rejoined her friends on the east side of the coliseum. Rantipede went over to the west side of the coliseum as a loser. His teammates wouldn't even look at him; they were so disappointed with how his match turned out.

Back on the ground floor, standing several feet apart from one another, were the next two combatants, Stingerella and Toady. Now, they were the ones who were free to move while everyone else could do nothing but watch.

"So Lily, would you rather face Stingerella or Toady?" Theo asked.

"I don't really care which one I face," Lily replied.

All of a sudden, Theo's complexion turned really pale. Casey and Lily looked at him quizzically.

"I just realized something. With the way the brackets are set up, Casey and I are going to have to face each other. The question is will it be in the quarterfinals or the semifinals?" Theo inquired.

Lily was conflicted. She didn't want to see two of her friends fight one another. If that's what ends up happening, she is not sure who to root for. How can she possibly choose one over the other? Theo's her best friend. They've known one another for years. As for Casey, he's the team leader. Not only that, but Casey is…well he's Casey.

"Don't worry my love. I'll go easy on you," Toady said.

Stingerella didn't verbally respond. The rangers as well as the other fingers of poison wondered what that lack of response meant.

"By the power of Dai Shi, inner beast arise!" Stingerella shouted as she transformed into her more powerful form. "Queen of the toxic dance—Stingerella!"

"By the power of Dai Shi, inner beast arise!" Toady exclaimed as he morphed into his more lethal form. "Skin stronger than armor—Toady!"

A red explosion went off behind Stingerella at the same time that a yellow explosion went off behind Toady.

Stingerella opened up the match by assuming her handstand stance. She swiftly walked on her hands over to Toady before kicking him three times. Toady puffed out his chest, and Stingerella fell out of the handstand position while Toady was knocked backwards a few steps.

"Ouch! My ankles! I think you broke my ankles!" Stingerella shrieked, rubbing her ankles with her pincers.

Toady rushed over to Stingerella, and knelt beside her. "My beloved, forgive me. Are you all right?" he asked visibly concerned.

However, Stingerella was playing possum. She wasn't really injured. She was faking it. The only female finger of poison took her right pincer and stung Toady in the chest the same way she had stung Casey back when the rangers first met the fingers of poison.

Toady howled in pain, falling to the ground. His body was curled up in a fetal position, and everyone in attendance could hear how much pain he was in.

"Ooh! I remember what that feels like!" Casey remarked from the sidelines.

Stingerella rose to her feet and strolled over to her love. She stood over him, and looked down at him.

"Sorry Toady, but I'm in it to win it," Stingerella stated. "Scorpion attack!"

"Toad power!" Toady said just getting his force field up in the nick of time.

The swarm of scorpions were eating their way through the force field made out of slime. One sting and it would be game over for Toady.

"Please hold," Toady pleaded as he watched his force field get eaten up by the hungry scorpions.

"I'm impressed by Stingerella. I am supposed to be the master of trickery and deceit," Gakko commented.

A few moments later, the scorpions managed to eat their way through Toady's force field. Toady first tried rolling on the ground in an attempt to squish the scorpions. The scorpions raised their tails. Toady frantically clawed at the scorpions. He managed to get a bunch of off him, but there were still a bunch left. The scorpions lowered their tails, stinging the amphibian. Just like that, Toady was forced to de-morph.

The giant monitor lowered once more. There were four warriors—Casey, Theo, Gakko, and Naja—who had yet to compete in a quarterfinal match. Two images appeared—one on the right and one on the left—as the next match was randomly selected. The left image stopped on a picture of Gakko. The right image stopped on a picture of Theo.

By process of elimination, that meant that the fourth quarterfinal match pitted Casey against the leader of the fingers of poison—Naja. In other words, it would be leader versus leader. The first semifinal match was already set—Lily versus Stingerella.

"Come on, T! You've beat him once. You can do it again!" Lily said encouragingly.

"That's right! Gakko is going down!" Casey added.

If there was one thing Theo hated, it was losing. Lily won her match. Theo didn't want to be the first ranger to lose. The jaguar personally saw to it that he excelled at everything he did. He was glad that his teammates had so much confidence in him because he was starting to lose confidence in himself. Theo started to doubt whether or not he would even make it to the semifinals.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I really didn't want to do that to Toady since he was my favorite finger of poison, but let's face it, Toady isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. So, now you know the rest of the brackets. Anyways, Gakko versus Theo is next. Any predictions? Thanks to everyone who has supported me along the way. Let me know what you think by leaving me a review. Thank you for reading! P.S. Did anyone notice how Toady and Stingerella were in love and their sashes just happen to be red and yellow? Oh, and what do you know? Casey and Lily are the red and yellow rangers! Coincidence? I think not.