Colosseum - Round 2 - Bandit vs Mami

[Storyteller]

The bandit smirked at the weapons rack in front of her. The medieval toys had been replaced with blasters, pistols, and a few things that looked interesting enough to warrant playing around with. After glancing up at the Imperial colors that floated behind her, she glanced across the elevated battleground at the young woman who stood before a large demonic standard.

Mami wore a smile herself. After the last victory, she had all the confidence she could need to face her next adversary. As the gong sounded, the magical girl readied herself for her next adversary.

Judge – Edward/Minato

Bandit posts first and may do so at any time after 10 PM CDT.

Description of fight area and other information can be found here - <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://omniverse-rpg.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=4362">viewtopic.php?f=28&t=4362</a><!-- l -->

Please refer any questions to that thread.

Word Limit: 750
Posts: 3
Time Limit: 48 hours
SP use is enabled. SP does not regenerate between rounds. Injuries may occur. Neither injuries nor SP use are factored into judgment, only the quality of writing

[Bandit With No Name]

The nameless warrior’s new metallic fingers creaked and she flexed them into a fist. The sensation of Gildarts’ stolen limb had only just started to become comfortable to her and she was prone to fiddling with it in every idle moment. She gazed over the gulf of smog and grotesque mist that stretched between her platform and her opponent’s, the acrid stench of the arena slicing at the inside of her nostrils.

Shaking the jitters out of her new hand, she grinned at the flaxen-haired girl. She appraised her wide, glossy eyes and saccharine aesthetic and exhaled heavily. “Don’t tell me,” she grumbled, “She’s got some kind of weird ass transformation she’s gonna do before she actually starts fighting.”

Quickly, the backdrop changed. The girl offered a coy smirk and held her hand out, a ring on her middle finger gleaming amber before flashing dramatically. She drug her toe across the ground in front of her and in its path flowers rapidly grew and stretched up around her. Her hands came together and clasped in front of her, a bright light flashing before she folded them down in-between her breasts. Her hair seemingly lit on fire before a feathery accent and hat revealed themselves, shortly followed by a series of magical ribbons that wrapped around her midriff.

“Yup,” the bandit said flatly, pulling her rifle up into her shoulder, “fuckin’ magical girls. Every time.”

The girl’s complex and wondrous transformation continued, the ribbons morphing into a corset. She flung her arms and a torrent of rose petals flooded the arena, somehow, and a theatrical blaze consumed her legs as expensive-looking, calf-high boots took the place of penny-loafers.

A beam of red energy flashed just in front of the girl’s face, and all of her dramaturgy and fancy lights came to a sudden, jarring end.

“Hey!” Mami shouted obstinately, “what’s the big idea?”

Lowering the rifle from her cheek, the raider shrugged. “Are we fighting, or are we still in the ‘fighting evil by moonlight’ phase?”

Frowning, the girl rushed forward and jumped onto the springboard that was offered on the corner of her platform. Crouching down, the pad assisted her already-powerful legs and flung her high into the air, nearly impacting the invisible ceiling. She flipped head over heel and tossed her hands out the side, stalling midair, and a halo of muskets appeared around her waist. The majokko’s primitive firearms immediately began firing, each tumbling away into the fog below as it spent its single shot.

“What the FUCK,” the bandit swore and ducked down and held Gildarts’ arm over her head as a shield. The musket balls rained down upon her as she scurried across the metal, desperately searching for cover.

Diving behind the massive gun installation that had been offered to her, she took a breath and shook her head. “Who uses muskets?” she complained, slamming a new energy cell into her weapon. “I mean, seriously. Muskets.”

Peering out from the edge of her hiding place, the gladiator searched for her opponent. Finding her on a stage to her left and near the middle of the arena, she began to hammer down on the trigger. Beams of crimson red slashed across the field, and as Mami’s multiple, unnamed muskets fired, she snatched them up and deflected the plasma that blazed in her direction. When each shot impacted her guns, they split and she cast them aside in quick, fluid movements that could have only been perfected over a lifetime of practice. Or magic.

Rolling her eyes, the bandit sighed, “Magical god-damn girls.”

Tossing the rifle over her shoulder to be caught by the sling, the bandit quickly climbed the towering canon that she had been hiding behind and slid into the seat. She flipped the power switch, grasped the handle with both hands, and swung the anti-aircraft canon into place.

Mami’s large eyes shot open as her foe began laughing maniacally, each of the four muzzles recoiling in succession as lobbing beams of energy thicker than her arm. With no other option, the girl rolled to the side as the turret tore into the steel that she had been standing on, a smoking crater left behind.

A barrage of life-ending blasts pelted the platform, but the blonde warrior simply leapt into the air and reached under her dress. Pulling her hands out, nearly a dozen muzzle-loaders appeared all around her. And in a cloud of black-powder, they fired.

[Mami Tomoe]

Maybe this fight would have to be different. If Mami had to cut the Magical Girl act, she could and would somewhat reluctantly. Handling her opponent like she would a Witch or a Familiar clearly wouldn't work, as she seemed far from supernatural in any sense of the word. Mami leaped into the air as high as she could, summoned a dozen muskets and pointed just in front of her target.

The semicircle of muskets around Mami angled down and fired into the ground before her with holes. As quickly as she could the pint-sized gunslinger pulled a musket from under her skirt and landed in front of her challenger. However, what Mami had in mind wasn't exactly how she had used her muskets previously - with the barrel of the musket in her right hand she brought down the stock of her weapon as hard as she could.

"What's so bad about muskets?" Went Mami, though she was quickly answered by her opponent's next move.

It made contact, but not in the way she had hoped. It connected and made a sickening crunch noise, which she saw come from a disembodied arm that seemed to bend under the blow her stock sent through it. Her challenger discarded the arm, which momentarily made Mami want to vomit, and readied a hunk of mechanical-looking spiky metal that resembled a hammer. "That, for starters," went her opponent with an odd sort of confidence. Knowing she wouldn't be able to do much if anything to defend against something as heavy-looking as her opponent's weapon, she stepped back. She spun her musket and it hit her between the torso and upper right arm, where she clenched the stock and steadied it with her free hands. She'd need a better plan than trying to use brute strength, especially when she was trumped in that department by a longshot.

"What the hell made you want to use a gun for hitting somebody?" Her opponent lamented, then said mockingly, "I guess you wouldn't want to break a nail or some shit using something like this."

She was baring the colossal hammer with an evil-looking grin. It was then that Mami glanced behind her, hoping for someplace safe where she could think over her next move. Instead she saw the platform ended with a fall into some sort of disgusting sludge. She felt her stomach sink, though she knew she had to think fast, as she wasn't willing to risk testing whatever the sludge would do to her. It smelled bad enough, so it couldn't be anything good.

Mami quickly surveyed the area. She had an odd feeling she wouldn't be attacked, at least for another second and a half, which gave her barely enough time to see a beacon of hope - a hook hanging off the bottom of a steel platform to her right. It wasn't too far away, but it would be far enough from immediate danger. Noticing her time of safety was up, she ducked under a hammer swinging for the side of her head. She saw the barrel-end of her musket, which was still in harm's way, bend under the power of the hammer to the point that it looked almost comical. Knowing she likely wouldn't have another chance to escape, the flax-haired Magical Girl discarded the ruined rifle and broke into a two-step run to her right. At the edge of the platform she and her opponent were on she leaped with her arm extended out and her hand open.

Momentary joy filled the girl's heart as her hand wrapped around the metallic hook. It was soon replaced with a horrible feeling of guilt - running from danger wasn't exactly something she was proud of, but she was essentially helpless in a hand-to-hand fight. Her only hope in that field had been trying to surprise her opponent, which clearly hadn't work, as she didn't have the upper hand.

From the hook under the platform she swung over to another platform on even ground with her challenger's. If she couldn't fight up close, she could definitely fight at a distance. She ducked behind a steel barricade that reached her neck, summoned a dozen muskets. From there she started firing them and discarding them afterwards, summoning a new one to replace each lost one. While her opponent did have ranged capability, if she didn't give her any openings, she probably wouldn't have to worry about getting too badly hurt.

[Bandit With No Name]

The woman lifted her dense metal limb over her face as the clamor of rifles filled the air. The pellets cut into her exposed skin and sent sparks flying from her jagged armor, the nagging cannonade of the girl’s weapons already wearing the bandit’s patience thin.

“Ok,” she grunted as a pellet twanged off of the arm. “Yeah ok, I get it.” Another swarm of bullets washed over her, one punching a hole in her ear. Wincing, she hissed from between her teeth, “Yeah, you have a lot of guns.”

Blood ran over her cheek, and her brown eyes glared from behind the white skull. “Too bad you don’t know how to use em.”

With a primordial shout, the woman charged forward, the muskets’ unceasing assault buzzing and zinging all around her. She stumbled as one of the lead balls sank into her thigh, a spray of blood blossoming. Pushing through the pain, her sprint continued. Bounding forward, she hit the spring pad and catapulted over the massive gap between the platforms, looking down into the swirling green mist below.

The strap of her rifle snapped as she tore it from her shoulder, and she plowed her artificial fist into the battery. The device fizzled, red sparks spat, and it rapidly became hot in her hand. At the apex of her flight, the bandit hurled the malfunctioning apparatus down at her opponent’s well-covered position, energy pulsing from inside.

The AER9 clattered off of the barricade, the stock shattering into wood and plastic; Mami’s eyebrow perked in confusion as she saw the super-heating object break into a pile of abused chunks. “Wha-“ she started to say before she was engulfed in a wall of red plasma, uprooting her from her entrenchment and sending her crashing into the unforgiving alloy below her.

Groaning, the magical girl rolled to her side, placing a hand on her burned cheek. Blinking hard, she cleared her vision just in time to see a grinning skull plummeting down upon her, a streak of fire following shortly behind. Mami was barely able to avoid the initial impact of Sledge’s Hammer as the bandit slamming it down, and the resulting blast-wave once again plucked her from the ground. The young gladiator shrieked horribly as she was lobbed over the edge, falling out of view.

Prying her maul from the deep indent it had left in the perforated floor, the bloodied marauder whipped her hair from her face and sniggered, “I’m kinda surprised she didn’t announce the name of her attacks before she used ‘em.” Leaning the hammer on her shoulder, she casually sauntered to the border and gazed down.

Seeing nothing, she squinted and took a few steps in either direction, searching the putrid depths of the land below for any sign of movement. Nothing. Not a mote of displaced mist. Not a puff, nor gust, nor horrible howls of pain.

Sighing heavily, the rogue planted the head of her club down and kneeled on the haft, lowering herself to her knees. “I’m gonna regret this,” she whined, shaking her head. She placed both hands and peered carefully over the lip.

Mami’s foot slammed into the bandit’s face, jerking her head back. Using the momentum, the acrobatic teenager swung away, pivoting along the ribbon that anchored her to the hook on the underside of the platform. At the last moment, the ribbon that was wound around her waist unraveled, and she yo-yoed out, snatching the opposing ledge of the hovering catwalk. Easily hoisting herself up, she leveled yet another summoned flintlock at her reeling adversary.

The bandit lay still for a moment, and Mami peered over her, wondering if she had succumb to her injuries. Instead, the brawler wrenched her hands to the side, a loud pop indicating her nose had been shoved back into place. She slowly stood, a menacing simper spreading over her blood-smeared lips.

The was a short stall before Mami tossed her weapon aside and summoned a quartet more of them, each of which appeared in a staggered line over her. The first fell into her hands and she fired, and then quickly discarded it just in time to catch the next. Swinging her massive mallet, the bandit intercepted the first two shots and then sprinted to close the distance.

Mami caught the final two simultaneously, her left and right fingers squeezing down, a pair of fancifully-etched musket-balls screaming out from the barrels.

[spoiler]Lots ofUnamed Muskets
AER9 Instability
Sledge's Hammer
Ribbons (for hanging off of hooks)[/spoiler]

[Mami Tomoe]

This had to be one of Mami's hardest fights so far, and that was saying something. She had fought more Witches than she could count on two hands and two feet, more Familiars than even that, and on top of that she had fought a dragon and a possibly-Witch and a trio of deathgame competitors with nothing but a spork.

This battle, however, was completely different.

It could in a way be compared to her experience in the Abyss, yes, since her conflicts there had been back-to-back (There also had only been two there as well). Her fights beforehand never had been like that. They were usually one and done, fights Mami could actually prepare for and in some ways expect certain outcomes from. This was different in the sense that she knew absolutely nothing about her opponent, so what she may as well have been doing was flailing helplessly and hoping something connected properly.

To a degree, her fight with Desco had been like a fight with a Witch. Her attacks had been slightly predictable, and she could use strategy to some degree without fear of being too easily outwitted. With her opponent now, however, she had to worry about keeping her distance or she'd risk getting crushed or worse. Any attempt at stopping her opponent with bullets was met with resistance the likes of which she had never seen.

The two shots from the muskets in each of her hands landed, sinking into the backs of her opponent's upper arms, though she continued to advance. She was baring down on the Magical Girl with her hammer, two bullet wounds leaving little crimson waterfalls flowing down her sides. She didn't know why, but she felt like she could avoid the next attack if she ducked... but that made no sense. The hammer would come down vertically, and if she ducked--

There wasn't a moment more to think. Mami pushed to her right and held her breath, hoping she had made the right decision.

In that moment, she knew she hadn't. She saw her opponent smirk, and she didn't even have to turn around to see why. When she did, she saw exactly what she expected - the hammer had turned and swung around, aiming for a hit square into her back. She didn't have time to duck, to move, to even react in any way before the hammer made a sickening crunch sound against her spine. Pain filled her body and she couldn't even muster the strength to scream as she fell to the ground hard.

Against her burning cheek she felt cold metal. She felt fortunate, at least, that she had landed on her side, as landing on her back would have hurt much worse. She felt a long, somewhat thick horizontal line of pain flare up across her back, which she deduced meant she had been hit by the grip of the hammer and not the head.

"So Magical Girls can bleed," mused her opponent. "Never would've thought you'd let that shit fly."

Mami tried to reach for her back, hoping she could check with her hand whether or not she was bleeding. When she tried to move her arm, she instead felt a shout escape her lips. Her back felt a little wet, which she took as a sign she really was bleeding, and for a moment she felt like she couldn't keep going on.

Then she felt her Soul Gem glow. Not just as it always did - it was brighter this time, and it even felt warm. She bit her lip and pushed herself up off the ground, summoning a musket for each hand in the process. Being on her feet again hurt, but giving up would hurt more. Just letting defeat come would hurt so much more.

She aimed the barrels at her opponent, taking a few steps back in the process. Mami's eyes narrowed and she began to circle her opponent, keeping an eye on her target and another wandering, searching for someplace to escape to. "Not done in quite yet? Got another fuckin' transformation to show me?"

"No. But I'm going to keep fighting until the bitter end... even if it might not be worth it, even if it might be easier to just die here. I'll keep going," she raised her voice to a shout, "Because I've fought so much worse than you!"

What a bluff that was, she thought as she summoned five muskets at both sides, making a one-man firing squad for her opponent. In the mess of muzzle flashes, the glow of Mami's Soul Gem returned to normal.

[spoiler]Using Tier 1 Powered-Up Form: Believing in Justice for this post only (If possible).[/spoiler]
ok/10
i hope

[Bandit With No Name]

Half a dozen bullets punched through the bandit, an eruption of gore splattering out behind her. The others had either missed or been mercifully deflected, but more than enough had found their mark. Her hammer slid from her fingers and struck the grated metal with a clang. Blood dripped from her fingertips, pattering into the pools that had already begun to form around her feet.

“You take this shit so seriously,” the woman croaked, pushing a hand into her perforated torso, “All you people think this crap is so important.” She took a step forward, a slosh of blood falling. “We’re primes,” she said and wheezed as she inhaled. “We’re immortal. We can do anything.” The teenager stared on, her focus undaunted by the wretched vision before her. “We live, we die, we fight… none of that shit matters.”

She rolled her neck back, allowing the crowd to see the abhorrent crater where her ear had once been. The skull-faced bandit spit out a stream of blood, her red-coated teeth showing behind her lips. “So maybe relax a little.”

Both of her hands jerked out and snatched the still-hot barrels of the muskets hovering on either side of the witch hunter that summoned them. The girl reeled back, feeling the air whoosh past her nose as she avoided being pummeled with the wooden stocks. Pirouetting smoothly, Mami planted yet another musket against the bandit’s forehead. It fired a split second after the woman managed to slap it away with the muskets she carried, shattering all three.

Desperate to create a buffer, Mami sprung upward, gracefully flipping overhead and landing directly atop the springboard. The strained coils croaked as they collapsed and twanged when the released, sending the agile gymnast to the space where the nameless antagonist had begun the match. When she landed, a further vanguard of anarchic firearms slew forth and burped out a blanket of sulfur and smoke.

The grievously wounded warrior gawked at the girl as the volley landed in a scatter all around her. Spent, they fell. Another summoned legion of muskets and some fancy choreography. More bullets. More magic. Rinse. Repeat.

“Fuck. This.”

The woman glanced up, and then back down to the very same device that Mami had just used. She wondered briefly whether or not she could actually survive being violently tossed through the air, but that concern seemed secondary to her desire to put an end to the ceaseless deluge of tiny goddamn chunks of lead.

Her insides threatening to become outsides as she soared through the air. The object grew larger and larger as she ascended to greater heights, the wind whipping through her hair. Her hands stretched out through the flocks of musket-balls that fluttered about her.

The front-facing panel of the TIE Fighter shattered as the bandit smashed through it, her already broken body crumpling into the vehicle’s cockpit in a heap. “Gahuuhhn,” the woman slurred, trying to make a witty comment.

Shards of glass tinkled and clinked as she shifted and pushed herself into the seat, groggily taking hold of the controls. She slapped around on the buttons until the craft’s mechanisms whirred, the lights of the console casting a red glare on her mangled face. Giving the complex controls a once over, she ascertained that she didn’t give a shit and slammed her foot into the pedal that she assumed meant, “Go.” She was half right.

The starfighter jerked into a sudden barrel roll to the right, spiraling out of control until it bounced off of the Colosseum barrier. Shaking her head, she resisted the urge to puke in yet another match.

“Ok,” she said and slowly inhaled, looking back over her options. “Pedals make me do little rolls. Got it. Handle thing makes me…” she swooped the two-handed grip side to side, and the craft responded in kind. “… turn. Sweet.”

She furrowed her eyebrows as the familiar sound of Mami’s muskets pelted the exterior of her vehicle. “GIVE ME A MINUTE!” she shouted, mostly to herself. “Ok, but seriously, go forward.”

The woman leaned into the wheel tentatively, and much to her joy the fighter lurched forward, a shrill scream echoing from the engine. Swooping her hands and carefully fluttering the pedals, she managed to align the craft with the majokko, who, for once, stopped firing.

“See you at the fountain, kid!” the bandit cackled, and thrust the controls forward. The TIE fighter screeched and jetted forward with horrible speed, a collision imminent.

[Mami Tomoe]

There wasn't any way to deal with this other than to try holding it back, and that didn't seem like it would end well. Regardless, it was worth a shot.

Mami's eyes caught a pair of platforms just close enough that she could wrap ribbons around them. If they held in place like she hoped, she could hold her opponent's newly-gained spaceship in place long enough for her to get out of harm's way. Without a moment to waste, Mami extended her arms outwards, and from both sleeves came a ribbon. The ribbons flew through the air, looped around their respective platforms and back around to the ship's wings, which they wrapped around, sending the ship to a grinding halt.

It hurt to hold the ship in place. Not only was it heavy, but it was trying to propel itself forward to speeds Mami couldn't even dream of moving at. The immense speed drop was evidenced by her opponent's face having whacked against the glass dome that acted as the ship's front window. It looked painful to the point that Mami actually sympathized with her, even knowing if their roles were reversed, her challenger wouldn't have batted an eye.

"You're wrong," Mami spat out as a response. Admittedly it was a late response, but it was worth saying. "Just because we're immortal doesn't mean that fighting has no purpose, and it means even less that dying has no purpose."

Even though she didn't have to directly hold onto the ribbons, she could feel the weight behind them. This was heavier than anything she could even imagine, and it amazed her that she had held it back for this long, and even more that she hadn't just stepped aside and let the ship hurtle off the edge of the platform. "It's because we're immortal that dying means so much more. We die, and we die, and we die again. If you think that doesn't change a person, I can think of no other word for you than ignorant!"

Now the woman behind the ship was angry. "Would you cut the holier-than-thou shit already?" her opponent said at last. "Seriously. Magical Girls," she repeated one last time before the force behind the gift-wrapped spaceship redoubled its escape efforts.

Mami's eyes widened. The ribbons tore loose and her body flared up in pain, but she managed to duck under the ship with enough of a near-miss to only lose her hat. The H-shaped vehicle landed roughly on a platform lower than herself, where the sound it made when colliding suggested the landing had been more than just rough for its occupant. Suddenly she felt like she was going to be sick. She leaped down to the platform, which almost managed to be too far to reach with one jump, but the height difference between where she had started and where she had landed was great enough that she managed well enough.

The ends of the wings were flaming and the cockpit of the ship was beyond repair, from the looks of things. Mami slapped a hand over her mouth and her eyes widened, but she didn't give herself more than a moment of lost composure. She started tearing away at the mass of metal with her ribbons, hoping to find something, anything, but her search came up fruitless.

Then she heard a whisper over her shoulder. "I wouldn't go down that easily."

On instinct Mami ducked. She felt a rush of air blow across the top of her head. She reeled around and stumbled backwards, keeping her opponent on her left and the crashed ship on her right. "What? Scared of killing me? Awww, you were trying to find me in there and everything," she went on mockingly, making the Magical Girl feel almost angry for being fooled. She reassured herself that having checked and being made a fool of would be better than being cautious of a trap and having somebody die, but it felt scarcely like a comfort while being mocked like this.

Even though they were both putting on strong faces, both she and her nameless adversary looked battered. At last the Magical Girl thought to ask, as she hadn't for the whole battle, one question she really shouldn't have forgotten. "I can't believe I forgot to ask, but what's your name?"

The woman scoffed. "I have too many holes in me to repeat myself."

[Bandit With No Name]

The bandit could barely be considered human at this point, most of her body covered in horrific burns. The TIE fighter smoked behind her, the flames casting her into insidious show and flickering red light. Limping forward, she looked the girl up and down. “I must not have been trying hard enough if you still look that good.”

The cruel bandit took a step forward but immediately fell to a single knee. Taking a deep breath, she turned her gaze on the young woman that stood above her. “What? Don’t got the stomach for the work?” She tried to laugh, but it just came out as pained gasps. “Like I said, it really doesn’t matter. You can blow my brain all over the ground and I’ll just wake up in three days, right as rain.”

Mami scowled, a faint glow brushing her cheeks as a long rifle was summoned into her hand. “You shouldn’t take death so lightly. It’s still important.”

“Shut the fuck up and shoot me,” the bandit whined, her flesh still crackling and smoking, “It feels like Diablo’s turning me over the spit over here.”

A trace of tears grew in the corners of Mami’s golden eyes, only there a moment before she blinked them away. Taking a step forward, the cold steel of the magical gun pressed into the woman’s head. “I’m not going to kill you,” she said softly, almost defiantly. “Just give up.”

“Fine, fine…” the nameless woman gasped and then coughed weakly. “Just one piece of advice, huh?”

Mami lifted an eyebrow, “What?”

Her fire-deformed lip moved into something close to a smile. “Don’t ever get in arm’s reach with your gun.”

The majokka began to dart back, but her half-broiled opponent swatted the barrel away from her face and took hold of it. Mami held tight as the bandit tugged the musket backwards, pulling her into close enough range that the bandit’s metal fist could reach.

A grid of magical hairlines opened up over Mami’s chin, creeping up over her lips and cheeks as the uppercut rocked her head back violently. Pushing up from her crouched position, the wastelander’s entire bodyweight was thrust up with the strength of her legs and core, lifting the young woman cleanly off of her feet.

“Cause then that happens,” she grunted, shaking the blurs out of her eyes.

Mami hit the metal floor heavily, arms too limp to prevent the impact. Huffing, the bandit limped over to her downed opponent, took a knee, and threw her entire weight down into the barely-conscious girl’s jaw once again. This time it definitely broke. With a heavy sigh, she grabbed the girl by her pretty bow and lifted her up with one hand.

Stagger-steppign herself a few more feet forward, the bandit dangled her over the edge, the caustic miasma fuming under her well-made boots. “Nice fight, Magical Girl.”

A sudden jerk ripped the bow from her shirt, and the unconscious woman fell into the yawning gulf below.