Them’s Boxin’ Herds

It's been twenty long years since the predators were banished once again, and since then peace has returned to the world of Fœnum. The seven champions, ungulates from all corners of the world who despite their differences, banded together to save the world, have returned to their own lives. However, not all of them have given up fighting.

It was snowing in Reine City, a light snowfall falling from the sky like rain. A perfect day in every reindeer’s book. Our first match takes place in the middle of the town square, where Velvet, the champion of the tundra, had a boxing ring erected in the space so that all of the town could witness her opponent's humiliation.

About two months ago, Velvet ceased her use of ice magic as a method of combat and took up boxing. Finding it barbaric and more an activity for bucks, Velvet never expected herself to enjoy it. Of course, it didn't take her too long to realize how fun it was and how spectacular she was at it.

In two weeks, she bested every coach at the gym she was learning at, and took on some of the top boxers of Reine City coming out on top each time, leaving them with a cold shoulder and a couple of bruises, and took home a plethora of trophies and medals, so many in fact that she had to buy another trophy case!

Velvet was the best at everything she did, and this was proof of it: Mastering a sport she had no desire to get good at in no time at all. Velvet was happy, and was proud to be called a champion at something else…

But alas, someone had to try and take it away from her.

Miles and miles away from the glamorous Reine City was a tribe of nomadic cows and bulls, known to most of the world as cattlefolk. Simple beings who go where the grass grows, living together as a large family. Among this tribe was the champion of the prairie, Arizona.

When she was tasked with the responsibility to save the world, Arizona was only a calf. Although small, she had a big heart, and with her bravery and recklessness, she traversed the lands, conquered many foes, and did her part in banishing the predators. As she grew, however, her personality didn't change one bit. After realizing his little calf had plenty of energy needing to be spent, her father, Texas, taught her how to box when she returned home from her mission.

Unlike our reindeer friend from before, at first, Arizona wasn't the best boxer in the land, but that didn't get to her one bit. She kept practicing, without giving up or getting discouraged something Arizona wasn't capable of. With time, she grew to be a force to be reckoned with and continued to grow stronger and better until one day twenty years later, hundreds of matches later, the now grown-up cow left home in peruse of a new challenge to become champion once again.

Hence, why we’re here today. On this day Arizona came to Reine City as a calf to search for answers of where to find the prophet's key, where she met Velvet. infuriated at the thought of another champion eclipsing her, Velvet challenged the child to a fight and was quickly defeated by the simple country girl. The city never forgot this, and today would be the day when Velvet took back her reputation by force.

A pompous reindeer with only two months of experience versus a rowdy cow girl with two decades of boxing experience. Who will win? Read on to find out!

Velvet stood in one corner of the ring, her various winter sprites hovering around her, helping her apply her makeup. Her floof was properly groomed and brushed, and she was looking and smelling great, but she never did anything without a little bit of makeup! The reindeer, with cyan antlers and hooves, obviously had a similarly colored cyan top and shorts with cyan gloves to match, the gloves topped with a snowflake on the leather. She flexed her arms casually at the many different reindeer who were taking pictures of her. Some of them were fans, and others were with the local newspaper. She might make the front page!

A sudden cheering began from the crowd. In the distance, her opponent was walking toward the ring, raising her arms and flexing for the crowd. Velvet hadn't seen the crowd for years, having received the challenge by letter, so it was quite a surprise to see her again all grown up, with the brown, beige spotted cow now standing at an impressive six feet, just an inch taller than Velvet. Her hips were wide, her chest and arms thick and defined with muscle. Velvet had to admit, she looked rather intimidating, but she would have to boast more than looks and size to best her.

“Wow~,” Arizona said as she clambered into the ring, her burgundy gloves resting on her neck, “Lookin’ good, Velvet. You look good! How old are ‘ya now? Thirty somethin’?” The cow had a southern accent that many cattlefolk often had.

Velvet scoffed, her servants suddenly finished and zipped away. “Thirty?! Vhy I never! I've never been so insulted! I'll have you know that I'm still a perfectly young twenty-four.”

“Whatever ‘ya say.” Arizona said, unconvinced, “Why do ‘ya look like you're ready to go to the beach? We are boxin,’ right?”

Velvet scoffed again, looking down at her outfit, “Vell… You don't see me making fun of your outfit! Look at it, so plain!”

“This ol’ thing? Aw, ‘ya can say whatever ‘ya want ‘bout it. I need ‘ta her a new pair anyhow.” Arizona’s outfit wasn't all too special. A black top with a black pair of boxers, a star on the waistband. To be honest, Velvet’s simple cyan outfit wasn't all too special either, but she was too conceited to say that, “‘Ah had the feelin’ you'd come to this match lookin’ so fancy with your makeup and all.” She said, running a hood through her hair.

“Vell I knew you'd come to this match looking like you just rolled out of bed. By ze way, have you ever heard of deodorant?” She shook her head, “Or iz that your natural prairie stink? Could you take a bath first?”

Arizona rolled her eyes and smiled, “‘Fraid you’ll get dirty?”

Right as Arizona put on her gloves, a large winter sprite entered the ring with the two women, wearing a checkered shirt, standing in front of the two and muttering something both didn't understand. If it wasn't already obvious from its getup, the winter sprite, belonging to Stronghood Hoofstrong, the jarl of the city, would act as a judge.

By now the stage was truly set. The town square was full of bucks, does, and fawns, all of which wanted a piece of the action, as they all knew it would be one hell of a fight that was worth watching. Already a team of camera-deer had begun setting up their equipment before the fight started. Just like the previous one, this was going to be a fight that would be remembered for years to come.

The winter sprite zipped out of the ring and came back holding a bell. Chattering something in its unintelligible tongue, it looked and pointed at Velvet, and then at Arizona. And then…

DING DING!

The match began!

Arizona backed up, and Velvet advanced, trying to keep her expression serious, though on the inside she was smiling. Unlike this time, Arizona didn’t have any fancy tools. She had only her hooves. She and Velvet were evenly matched. That said, Velvet had to admit that Arizona had grown into quite a muscular cow, she had a bit of bulk to her that Velvet lacked. Size isn’t everything. She told herself as Arizona kept avoiding her.

Having had enough of the game of cat and mouse, Velvet decided to strike, aiming a fist for Arizona’s belly to start with. Arizona saw this coming and slid to the right, avoiding the blow, and countering with an uppercut to Velvet’s chin. Velvet saw Arizona grin wildly as she flew back, and she growled, holding her jaw.

“What’s the matter? Finally met ‘yer match or somethin’?” Arizona said, backing up and tapping her red globes together.

Velvet rubbed her jaw, That punch HURT! Velvet could have sworn she broke something from that single uppercut. “Vell you certainly hit harder than all the others, but you’ll need to do a lot more than that to vin!” Velvet said smugly, sneaking forward.

Lost in her thoughts of victory, Velvet barely even noticed as Arizona threw a 1-2 punch combo at her abs, ending with a hook across the jaw. A wave of spittle flew from her mouth and she staggered, clinging onto the rope to avoid falling out of the ring entirely. Arizona laughed, raising her arms, “‘Ya need a hand there, partner?” Arizona taunted, walking to the center of the ring to wait for her opponent.

“S-Shut your dirty mouth!” Velvet growled, drawing an arm across her face.

Arizona shrugged, waiting for the reindeer to finish her recovery. Velvet entered a proper stance, ignoring the sting of Arizona’s punches, little did she know, it was going to get a whole lot worse.

“OOF!!” Velvet’s eyes bulged as Arizona rushed forward and hit her square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

“Learned that one from ‘ma ‘pa!” Arizona said proudly as Velvet fell to one knee, “Come on, I know you ain’t done yet!”

Velvet gasped for a breath, her rib stung and she was certain she would wake up the next morning with an ugly bruise. Finally, she got back up again, prompting cheers from her fans in the audience, who made up a good quarter of the fans in that audience.

“OUGH!!”

Arizona grunted as Velvet threw a strong jab right to her muzzle, she hadn’t even expected it. Goodness, her punches were fast! Her fist was a blur Arizona barely saw, and when she did, it was already too late. Her snout folded and crinkled as Velvet’s glove caved it in, droplets of blood flying out and caking Velvet’s gloves. Landing a direct hit, Velvet kept going, throwing hooks from left to right, sending the cow’s head flying from side to side, one hit so hard it knocked the cow’s mouthguard right out of her mouth, landing on the ground out of reach.

Arizona fell back, dizzy and her snout oozing blood from the assault of blows. She hung against the ropes, panting hard.

“Vet me know if zhis hurts~”

There was nothing Arizona could do to prepare her for the beating that she was in for.

WHAM!! WHAM!! SMACK!!

Arizona was wailed on with hit after hit. Velvet smiled as she bruised up the poor bovine’s face like she had done with so many other reindeer in the past. Lowering her fists, Velvet switched her attention to Arizona’s abs, treating them like a punching bag and hitting them with jabs, making Arizona gasp as the air was knocked from her again and again. She shut her eyes tight as Velvet prepared her final blow, an uppercut that sent a spurt of blood flying into the air as Arizona fell to the ground.

Velvet paid no attention to the crowd as they shouted and cheered, calling her name. She was used to the attention (though that didn’t make her love it any less!) and quite frankly was expecting this outcome. She was undefeated, and today wouldn’t be the day she’d be defeated. The winter sprite came back into the ring and started counting up. Velvet was ready to take home yet another award and make the city forget all about the battle twenty years ago when…

Arizona got up.

“VHAT?!” Velvet shouted as the crowd suddenly got excited for her, “B-But how?! L-Look at you! You look horrible! I beat ze shit out of you!” Velvet never swore as it wasn’t very lady-like, but this time she couldn’t stop herself! She had never put that much effort into her punches in her entire career. Her hair was ruffled up, blood was still falling from her battered snout, and despite the cold, Arizona had worked up quite a bit of a sweat, Velvet included. Normally Velvet hated getting sweaty, but there were more pressing matters at the moment.

“Is that all ‘ya got?!” Arizona challenged, doing a ‘come and get me,’ motion with a hoof.

Velvet had almost forgotten one thing about Arizona: Her persistence. She’d keep fighting no matter what happened. No matter. Velvet thought as she reentered her boxer stance, I’ll just make sure she doesn't get up next time.

POW!

“OW!!” Velvet cried as Arizona threw a clean hook right across the snout. Blood dripped onto her top and her floof, causing her to get angrier. “Why you little-”

But it would be Velvet’s obsession with keeping her floof looking perfect that would be her undoing. Arizona advanced, readying a fist, she whacked the reindeer hard in her belly. Holding onto her shoulder, Arizona pummeled her opponent with continuous hits, the arena was filled with the sounds of Velvet gasping for breath as the air was knocked from her lungs.

Arizona wasn't done just yet. Retreating, Arizona flexed an arm, showing her developed bicep to the crowd as she drove a strong powerful fist right into Velvet’s face, her muzzling crinkling at the impact. Blood and spittle flew in the air as the proud Reindeer collapsed, vision blurry and vitality completely exhausted. With that, the self-proclaimed Ice Queen had fallen, defeated at the hooves of her rival once again.

The gathering of reindeer went dead silent. So silent you could hear a pin drop as the Winter Sprite referee came back to begin a countdown. Everyone started counting in their heads.

1…

2…

3…

4…

Arizona turned around, flexing for the audience, waiting for Velvet to rise again, just in case she had to double down and cave in her face again.

5…

6…

7…

“Ah’ think we're done here,” Arizona said to the referee.

8…

9…

10!!

The audience went crazy! Never in their wildest dreams would they imagine that a boxing prodigy like Velvet would be defeated, but somehow it happened, and defeated by the same cow who beat her twenty years ago, what are the chances of that? Some of the audience who had bet outrageous amounts of money on Velvet’s victory either stormed away angrily or fell to the ground in despair, while some of Velvet’s hardcore admirers started swearing out Arizona or bursting into tears.

None of them would be heard as the referee raised Arizona’s arm high in the air, and the camera-deer, who had been focused exclusively on Velvet, turned their cameras to Arizona.

Down below on the canvas, Velvet growled angrily, pounding a gloved fist onto the mat. How could she be defeated by the damn bovine twice?! She was, no, she still is the best boxer in the land, how could she fall to a simpleton such as her!? It was supposed to be Arizona who was on the floor, it was supposed to be her who was getting all the attention and the trophy that Arizona was now holding proudly.

“‘Ey.” Amidst the roaring crowd, Velvet heard a voice. She looked up, her head aching with the movement. It was Arizona, holding a hoof out to pull herself up. “That was a damn good match, that was. Good job, pardner. ‘Ya almost got me.”

Arizona stood there, genuine kindness in her eyes. She evidently seemed to mature in more ways than one. Where was the snooty remark? Where was the rubbing her loss in her face!? Honestly, Arizona’s good sportsmanship was probably worse than her bragging. Ignoring the cow girl, Velvet put her head back down on the mat. Maybe if she wished hard enough, she would wake up in her bed and realize this was all just a bad dream. A really bad dream.

Realizing she didn't want her compassion, Arizona shrugged. Oh well, you couldn't impress them all. Walking away from the reindeer, Arizona went back to basking in the attention.

Velvet growled again, wiping her bloody snout on her arm. How could this get so wrong? How many more times would her reputation suffer? Could it get any worse?!

“Hey! Velvet! Hold still, don't move an inch!”

A camera was shoved in her face, and with a small click, Velvet’s defeat was captured on camera. Velvet whimpered as the reindeer with the camera hopped out of the ring. And not even a day later, Velvet lying bleeding in the ring was on the front page of the newspaper…