Colosseum - Quarterfinal - Adam Gaite vs Courier Six

[Storyteller]

Adam stood and scowled at what awaited him for this round.

Someone has too much time on their hands. Had they really built all this in the short rest period between rounds?

With a shrug, Adam turned and glanced at the Kingdom flag mounted behind a cache of weapons. It was gear just like the first round... a bunch of swords, shields, and crossbow-type weapons. Glancing across the arena, he saw that his opponent this time around looked like just a man.

But they're never just a man...

On the other side of the arena, Courier Six glimpse at the weapons they had provided him and started to piece together a plan of action as the gong sounded to commence the fight.

Judges - Sinbad and Proto Man

Courier Six posts first and may do so at anytime after 1 PM CST.

Description of fight area and other information can be found here - <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://omniverse-rpg.com/viewtopic.php?p=50443#p50443">viewtopic.php?p=50443#p50443</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

[Morene Fellon]

Six couldn't help but feel a bit jarred by how many times this damned arena had changed since she got here. She also couldn't help but feel a bit weirded out by how far she's already gotten in this little tournament, despite her confidence in battle. The Courier felt exhausted for some reason, even though all of her breaths were smooth as ever, and even with her little cyborg tricks, her wounds have cleared up extremely fast by her standards.

Blinking, Six looked off towards this Adam individual, getting a good, hard look at him as she began circling the arena, noticing he hadn't taken a single weapon provided to him. This man had a very strange complexion, almost as if he was a cold, walking corpse. Of course, this wouldn't be awkward in the slightest for the Courier, had Adam not given off this aura that, to put it simply, Six felt off to be around.

Whatever her opponent was thinking, the Courier knew it must not have been anything decent, seeing how he looked almost timid. She could see it in his eyes, he looked like he had just killed a man. Perhaps he did, and that's what he's so shaken up for. Yes, the Courier thought, a sick smile working onto her face as she knew that's exactly what must have happened, the poor soul. Adam couldn't see into her own eyes, but her straight posture as she slowly walked towards him gave it away that she was quite proud in herself.

"Shit," Adam thought, watching this towering woman inch closer and closer to him. All that went through his head was a bunch of mumbling curses as the thought of Tartaros' dead body began to form back in his head, making him sick to his stomach.

By god, did this woman make him uncomfortable, too. Might not have been as bulky as the Space Marine he fought beforehand was, but she might as well have been just as tall. Adam's mind raced as he backpedaled towards the array of weapons strewn out for him. He almost tripped looking at the Courier only about ten meters away from him now, spinning the cylinder on her revolver with a quick flick of her hand. He couldn't hear much, but Adam swore he could hear a very low chuckle coming from her direction.

"Mother of christ, why am I the only one who's not used to this shit, sick fucks..." Adam mumbled a few words out loud to himself, barely knowing if he was actually saying anything or not. Not like he cared though, since he knew whomever was in charge of this fight probably put the Courier on the opposite end of the almost endless amounts of weaponry for a good reason.

Six knew she'd let Adam take whatever tool he needed. Maybe he wouldn't take any, and he really was more clever than he looked. It took a few matches, but the Courier finally felt as if she was above somebody again. It's been no more than a day or two since the wastelander was striding around the barely habitable Mojave desert as queen of Vegas, but it felt a tad refreshing, if not relieving to look down on somebody again, as sadistic as it might have sounded.

Adam's heavy breathing began to slow down a bit as he noticed the Courier stopping in her place. His gut told her she was about to shoot at him, and he knew more than anyone that he'd had enough goddamn bullets coming his way already, but...

He held those short breaths as he observed Six holster her Lucky revolver, spinning it a few times on her finger beforehand just to show off.

"What...? The hell--"

Adam began, stopping as he watched the Courier shift her weight, placing her hands on her helmet and mask. The sound of steam punctured through the metallic structure of the ominous recon helmet, before it loosened up just enough for the Courier's head to slide right off of it. He could barely see her face, but Adam knew this wasn't something Six did often. He couldn't tell whether or not to feel proud of himself or downright disgusted, for whatever reason.

At this point, Adam saw Six raise her arms in a wicked embrace of battle, before her lowly toned voice boomed, "Clear your mind, Gaite."

The wastelander paused, right before continuing with two final words as she brandished her single blade.

"Fight me."

[spoiler]

750 words exactly, if I can trust WordCounter.net, anyways! Sorry for the wait, since I just figured out I actually had the privilege to post only yesterday, but...
Adam, give me all you got!

[/spoiler]

[Roger Smith]

He was really a lot more shaken up than he would ever admit to being. It wasn't the first time he had killed someone -- far, far from it, actually. But it was the first time it hadn't been deliberate. He'd just been trying to sort of...make sure they giant tin can stayed put, stayed down and out of the fight for good. Then that fucking TIE fighter had up and exploded. It probably shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did. It really shouldn't.

But for some reason, he didn't feel very much like listening to his common sense at the moment.

And yet even after that, here you are, Adam. In another fight to the finish, whatever that finish ends up being.

Adam just stared blankly at the Courier as she approached. The usual anger and tightly-wound up posture he'd been carrying in the tournament so far had deserted him. Now he just looked green around the proverbial gills.

"Clear your mind, Gaite."

Adam visibly flinched back half a pace, hands flying up in front of his face. Don't fucking tell me that... My mind is about as clear as mud.

"Fight me."

The ruby-clad youth lowered his arms from his face, staring at the Courier dully. His eyes were hidden behind a glare of reflected light on his glasses, but his gaze slowly turned down toward the ground. "...this...this is not going to end well..." he mumbled.

Slowly his hands curled into fists. His teeth bared in something approximating a snarl. And in his mind he was shrieking one thing at himself over and over.

DON'T FUCKING GIVE UP, YOU LITTLE SHIT.

He wanted to. He really, really wanted to. He didn't want to carry through with this anymore. The fighting thing. He didn't even come here of his own volition, really. He turned his head up to stare angrily in the general direction of where he'd last sat in the stands, where he'd had his run-in with Karkat and Jade. He was assuming that Gamzee would have joined them by now. In which case his angry stare was perfectly justified.

If not, though, he probably just looked like a jackass.

He turned back to Six and stared her down. His eyes flicked to her blade, and he frowned intently. His hands twitched, wanting to go for his lightsaber, or bring his trusty main weapon to bear. But he didn't do either of those things. "Yeah, alrighty, lady. Let's fight." He took one step forward, crouched down low and exploded into motion. In the blink of an eye he was gone and had covered the intervening distance, ten meters just like that. Six's eyes went wide, looking down at the displaced time god, now suddenly uncomfortably close.

There was no warning of what he was up to, only the sudden thud of his clenched fist hitting Six's armor, landing a punch with all the momentum of his rapid charge behind it, sending the Courier staggering back several paces in surprise, and -- he hoped, anyway -- pain. His hand stung, and he shook it out, gritting his teeth at the discomfort. "Jeeze, that armor is more solid than it looks... Gonna have to be more careful."

"Not bad, Gaite." Six spoke up again, drawing Adam out of his lapse in attention. "I'll give you one thing, I actually felt that."

"Yeah, I know. It's pretty much the exact opposite of bad." He shook out the ache in his hand, flexing his fingers. "But I guess I'm gonna have to hit a lot harder than that if I really wanna do much." His voice dropped lower as he hopped several feet back. "That armor is gonna be a pain in the ass....I might have to grab a weapon or something..." He gulped nervously, letting out a shaky breath, his eyes closing tightly.

No. No weapons. He wasn't going to fuck up again and accidentally kill someone. That was damn hard to do when you were fighting barehanded. Unless you were a certain deranged cherub, anyway. And Adam was mot definitely not that. Not by a long shot.

"Free advice: don't close your eyes in the middle of a fight." Six's voice spoke up from literally right next to him.

He felt it coming, in his head. He ducked, falling flat on the ground, feeling the swing of a knife swish right over his face. "Duly noted, lady." And then one foot came up, right at Six's chin.

750 words on the dot, according to wordcounter.net!

[Morene Fellon]

The Courier couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt for swinging a knife at this kid who barely looked to be an early adult, refusing to take a single weapon as he proceeded to drive the fight away from the armory given to him at the beginning of the match. Of course, she couldn't feel too much sympathy with the kid's foot coming towards her face at speeds that just might break the sound barrier, but needless to say, it still felt wrong for the short moment it lasted.

Grabbing at Adam's heel with her free hand, Six smirked slightly, before that small smile immediately faded as his other foot came colliding with her chin.

Maybe taking the helmet off was a bad idea after all.

Stumbling back, Adam fell on his shoulder, promptly letting out a short grunt. Immediately crawling away and stepping up to get his footing, Adam couldn't help but feel like he got himself out of another immediate death situation, even though he was trying his hardest not to be convinced that was the case.

"Damnit, god-fuckin'-damnit, would this girl get the goddamn sand out of her v--" Adam mumbled, before feeling the all strangely familiar feeling of having steel pressed against his skin, but the real kicker for this situation was that he could feel it at his throat, which distracted him long enough for Six to pull up and put Adam into an armlock.

Well, shit, Adam thought, this was going really well for him so far, truly. Looking down at the knife suddenly being pointed at his throat, Adam couldn't help but notice the blunt end of the knife pushing against his skin instead of the edge. That's when two things hit him, in a metaphorical and physical sense; for one, the Courier wasn't trying to kill him immediately, for whatever reason, and in a more literal sense, Adam suddenly felt something pound at the back of his skull, sending him crashing onto the dirty floor.

The Courier twirled her knife in her hands, sighing as she checked for blood on the butt of her blade's handle, seeing none. Strangely enough for Six, she felt relieved to know she wasn't taking the life out of this kid, as horribly underwhelmed as she felt at the moment. Six stopped herself for a moment to think about this, because in all of her honesty, it really did feel awful to pull a weapon on somebody so shaken up.

The wastelander has seen many, many faces in the time she's been alive, but at no point did she ever kill somebody with such a look of absolute worry on their faces, and as much as Adam tried to hide it, there was no way Six could deny the look in his eyes showing absolutely nothing but exhaustion. Adam stumbled to his feet, groaning as he felt the back of his head, not at all pleased with the headache he just got from that hit.

"Goddamnit, that wasn't cool at-fucking-all--"

"I know," The Courier interrupted, before putting her knife out of sight, continuing to speak without any weapons in her hand, "that's why I'm going to fight you the way you fight me."

"What? Are you fucking kidding, you hit me with a knife and put it to my throat, and NOW you want to put up your fists?" Adam yelled back, quite annoyed with the Courier's antics right about now.

Six chuckled, "Apologies, then. But let's do this the way it's meant to be done, yes?"

The Courier finished, walking towards Adam as he got his footing once more. Six put up something of a boxing stance as she stopped in her place, smiling her usual sick smile as Adam went wide-eyed at the sight. He had hoped this meant she was purposefully crippling herself for the sake of being fair, but that's the point in which he realized she knew what she was doing.

Gulping, Adam wished he could wipe the sweat coming from his brow, if his opponent hadn't already saw how bad his blood was pumping through his body. He desperately wanted to give up, and the Courier wanted to keep going. All of it made him sick, but he had to finish this. Even then, Adam couldn't help but think;

Why the hell did I ever agree to this?

Adam really didn't know what he expected at this point, but alas, he also put up his fighting stance, shakily as ever.

[spoiler]

Woop, 750 words exactly once again!

[/spoiler]

[Roger Smith]

I believe this is the point in time where I have finally, fully reached the status of Officially Fucked. I was pretty screwed before. But now it's official.

Any hope that he had harbored about managing to rely purely on his God (Tier) given strength and speed, just overpowering and outmaneuvering his opponent in concert with his nifty re-awakening powers over time had all but deserted him. He was going to have to resort to that most abhorred of activities in the middle of beating someone senseless with your bare hands. The thing that Rhys had advised Adam to never rely on if he could help it, because it "just really isn't your strong suit, Adam".

Strategy.

Adam was better at following a plan of action than coming up with one. He was always the one to simply agree with the way his friends had laid things out. Even during the climax of their session, planning for the inevitable duel against the Black King, Adam had contributed nothing except for a suggestion to "keep an eye out for meteors".

His hands trembled, fingers clenching tightly enough that it was a wonder there wasn't blood dripping from his fists. He couldn't put his finger on just why he was so freaked out, but oh goodness WAS he, he was freaked right the FUCK out. But he could stew over all of that later. When he wasn't in the middle of a god damn death match.

He took one halting step to his left, sliding his posture into a lower stance, ready to spring into an offense. Okay, think. You don't like to fight up close and personal, and you've never really had much practice with it. You're fighting some crazy bitch who looks like she actually knows her way around exactly what you avoid as fervently as physically possible. Said crazy bitch is also wearing armor. And it really hurts to punch it. You are clearly at a disadvantage here. What do you do.

There was the faintest twitch of a smirk at the corner of Adam's mouth. And then he was off and running. One quick step forward, then he bounded to his right, one arm cocking back for another apparent strike straight to Six's midsection. The Courier rolled with the incoming blow, her left arm coming down to intercept it.

And Adam's smirk widened.

He flickered and moved unnaturally fast, skidding to his left, there one moment and gone the next, several feet in the completely opposite direction, and his fist, cocked and ready, shot forward. Caught off guard but already wising up to Adam's tricks, Six mitigated the blow as best she could. Adam's fist smashed into the armor of her shoulder, rather than her face, sending a jolt of pain coursing through his arm, and reminding him all too solidly why he didn't care much for physical confrontations.

Both of them staggered away from the collision, Adam cursing under his breath in pain, but the Courier was the first one to recover from the brief clash, and surged forward. Distracted by the lack of feeling anything in his arm except pain, Adam was completely blindsided by the Courier's fist as it came up, catching him in the chin -- just like he'd been trying to do himself, he dimly realized -- and knocking him for a real loop.

"BLEGCH!" He went staggering backward from the blow, eyes wide open from the surprise of it, and didn't have much time to ponder over his predicament before he felt another strike hit him, feeling a blow hammer into his chest, relieving him of the better part of his precious air. "Bwuff..." He doubled over, dropping to one knee as he gasped to try and catch his breath.

The feeling of a closed fist slamming into the back of his head interrupted that effort, driving Adam's face into a full-on collision with the ground, and sent stars dancing across Adam's vision. Stars and dust.

He just kind of layed there for a long while, hands splayed flat against the ground. Ugh...gotta think of something...something to turn this around... Maybe I can...

A faint red glow surrounded Adam's hands. God I hope so.

"Going to lay there all day?" the Courier quipped, trying to rouse the youth from his seeming stupor.

Adam's only response was a groan, and he smacked both hands against the ground. The ground rumbled, and literally fell away under the Courier's feet. "Shut up...got a headache."

750 words on the nose again, according to wordcounter.net!

Also, Adam used Crumble.

[Morene Fellon]

Six smirked at the comment, despite the floor she was standing on barely keeping a hold of itself. Surely, he must have found this at least somewhat amusing. Or he was that much of a little shit, either way. Something about Adam had the Courier feeling bad they met by fighting and no other means, because in all honesty, if you removed all the trembling, he really was entertaining.

This little trick he had up his sleeve just proved it.

The Courier watched Adam raise his arms into the air, with an utmost look of focus on his face. Six almost mistook the shaking beneath her as another dumb arena gimmick, but alas, it didn't take her long to realize it was all Adam's doing. Doing the opposite of what her instincts told her to do, she slowly walked forward, watching this display of magic before her. Six knew she was in for a treat, whether it was good, or bad.

Well, most likely bad, she soon concluded, as the Courier heard the faint but low sounds of the pendulum of a clock swaying back and forth, ever so slowly. Yet, for as slow as she heard the sounds, the walls rose quickly around her, of all different types, interestingly enough. Everything seemed to be a blur now, and Six was so mesmerized, she couldn't help but just... watch. She didn't feel like she was in any danger, though the more intelligent side of her brain told her otherwise. Yet, she only kept walking forward.

For that exact reason, Adam couldn't help but groan in slight pain as the infuriatingly painful headache couldn't allow him to close in on Six. He knew one thing however, and that was he probably, just maybe wasn't going to beat this woman with all the space he was giving her beforehand.

"Come on, come on..." Adam closed his eyes, his arms beginning to shake as the reaction of the ability he was showing off became more violent. Rocks became crashing down, forming small trenches, and almost enough cover to supply both Primes with a maze created by nature herself to walk through. The earth kept shaping and shaping in any way a person could imagine, turning the once flattened arena into a pit of rocks and ditches.

Then, it all stopped. Adam opened his eyes, noticing the mess he made, but as hard as he tried, he couldn't see the Courier. He turned to his right. Nobody there. His left, still nobody. For once, this crazy girl wasn't in his immediate line of sight, trying to close in on him and turn his skull into mush, yet Adam still felt scared. She just... disappeared. No way in hell--

Adam jumped back as the cracking sound of a muffled gunshot burst in the air, causing the soil beneath his feet to burst into the air. "FUCK, WHAT--" He tried to cry out, but then almost as soon as he tried to trace back the bullet, another gunshot popped into the air, this time coming from his flank. It still didn't hit him, giving him enough time to see where this asshole shooting at him was--

Nothing. Still, Adam could see nothing but the unnatural rock formations he caused. That's when the thought dawned on him, as another bullet came flying only a meter away from his feet, he gave her cover.

"Holy fuck, Adam," he belittled himself, "I cannot fucking believe you did this."

A low chuckle filled his ears as he frantically looked around, making him stop for a short moment to listen. It was Six, and Adam could hear her clearly, but he couldn't see her, that sadistic cunt.

"I knew you had something to show for," the Courier's voice shook Adam's ears, and as hard as he to focused on where it was coming from, he could barely get any bearings after coming up with an attack like that.

Adam turned his head more frantically than ever, putting a hand to his sweat-drenched head. The thoughts forming in his mind raced on how he could possibly turn this around.

"Son of a bitch-- no Adam, this is your time, you're not gonna let some psycho with a few guns win at your own game..."

Then, a blissful thought met Adam's conscious;

If Six was using all of his own cover, why couldn't he?

"Genius," Adam smirked, "absolutely genius."

[spoiler]

>tfw you start removing words because you went over the limit but you end up with 736 words anyways
uhh, 736 words for this post!

[/spoiler]

[Roger Smith]

His plan had backfired on him entirely. He had hoped to knock Six off her feet, erode away a nice hole in the ground for her to fall into, give him some time to get away, catch his breath, and get a better plan of attack going. It didn't quite work out that way. And now he was getting shot at from the cover he had so generously provided his opponent.

Somewhere, he was sure, a movie-addicted asshole was laughing at him.

But this could work out in his favor. There was cover now, yeah. It was currently serving to make things difficult for him. But two could play at this game. All he needed was a second to slip away, and turn this cat and mouse shit into....fuck, who even cares what it would turn into. It wouldn't be this bullshit.

His fingers twitched, and he tugged his lightsaber from his belt. He had no intention of using it against Six, but it would come in handy for something else along the way. Now would be a really good time for that trick I pulled outta nowhere against rusty... The red blade of the laser sword sprang to life, singing its existence for anyone with an ear to hear.

"Nice try, but I'm wise to what you're up to!" he shouted in the general direction of the most recent gunshot he had caught wind of. He sure sounded a lot more confident than he actually felt about this wild scheme he had cooked up. All he could really do was go through with it as best he could, and get this shit over and done with as quick as he could, one way or another.

Another gunshot sounded, and Adam was already on the move. Two steps down and the bullet sent a spray of loose earth into the air, right where Adam had just been standing. "I told you; I'm wise to what you're up to!" His entire body flashed with red, practically glowing. He spun into a blurred roll as he bolted across the ground, his saber whirling into a vibrant arc and cutting into the ground and earth around and under him.

The strikes were shallow and only served to kick up thick clouds of dust and dirt into the air, in short order hiding Adam from view. But it did exactly what Adam needed the entire display to do. "Can't hit what you can't see, you crazy bitch."

And then Adam hit the dirt in a roll, curling into an awkward somersault to land on his feet in a crouch, springing up into the air and taking flight. Back the way he had come, low to the ground, and out of the dust cloud.

"It's an interesting trick, alright," came the infuriatingly calm voice of the Courier.

Adam's teeth ground against themselves. God damn I hate people who act like they've seen it all. Just shy of knocking his head against the unseen ceiling of the arena, Adam hovered in place, looking down intently for any sign of his opponent, and hoping earnestly -- perhaps against hope, all things considered -- that he might get by without being seen first.

Show your face, dammit...this fucking weird Time bullshit isn't easy to keep going.

A trace of movement below caught his attention. The Courier, creeping forward from one cover to the next, firearm held up and at the ready, slowly trailing back and forth across the dust cloud. "But do you plan to play in the dirt all day?"

Cocking back his arm, Adam hurled his lightsaber ground-ward. It spun in a blur of crimson, arcing down to the earth. Adam grinned, watching the blade swoop over the Courier's head, carving out a gash in the earth and kicking up another swathe of dust, and drawing Six's attention, her rifle sweeping about to train itself on the newly-presented cloud of dust.

Adam was right behind her by that point, dropping out of the sky at full steam ahead. "Free advice!" he shouted, deliberately and obviously mocking the words she'd spoken to him just a short time ago. "Don't fall for obvious distractions!"

Six spun around just in time to see Adam streaking down in a blur of vermillion, and then his fist lashed out. She made every effort to avoid the oncoming blow, but Adam's hammer-blow struck true enough, catching her in the side of the face.

And then they both went down into the dust.

750 words on the nose, again. :psy:

Adam used Tier 1 Power Up: Hero Mode for this final post. -1 SP, 2 SP remaining.