Tru Grit’s Fight Pit: First Tourney (Pt. 2)- A Fiery First Fight

--- Maya Williams ---

“Alright, it’s game time.” She told herself as she stood in front of the doors leading to her ring as she tried to hype herself up for the coming fight. “I’ve got this. If I can take Decker on in a fight then I can handle whatever amateur hour I’m up against here.”

(Yeah, just ignore the fact that you’re here because it’s amateur hour.) Her inner passion agreed.

(Or the fact that Decker was toying with us rather than going all out.) Her inner logic (unhelpfully) added.

(Nah. We’d have won even if he’d gone all out.) Her inner Madness argued.

She clapped her face, intent on ignoring the two naysayers.

A faint buzzing drew her attention to the sign above her as it switched from red to green, and a speaker turned on as a faintly familiar voice said. “In this corner we have a masked M.A.D. newcomer, ready to put her steel to the test!”

(Guess that’s my cue.) She realized before pushing open her doors and walking down a small path leading to the ring, idly taking note of the relatively small crowd around it. (Huh, was expecting there to be more people…)

(It’s probably because this is the first fight between newcomers. The actual crowd is probably around the ones who’ve been here before.) Her inner reason figured.

(Meaning we’ve just got to show them why they need to be watching us instead!)

Once she stepped into the ring -while blatantly ignoring the eyes on her- the announcer spoke up once more from the nearby speakers, as a light flashed on next to another set of doors. “And against our masked newcomer we have another fiery first-time fighter!”

From behind the opposing doors a teenager in a hoodie stepped out while wearing a domino mask, before igniting a pair of small flames in her hands in an attempt to work the crowd. Something that earned her opponent a faint applause bigger than her own had been. (Which… stings a bit…)

(Yeah! Why the fuck are these pendejos cheering for a filthy magic user?! They should be cheering for us!) Her inner Madness yelled inside of her head as she glared at her opponent.

(Well, Arcane are considered the most popular Deviancy on average.) Her inner logic explained, (before being promptly ignored for being factually wrong.)

(I’ll just have to show these guys why science’s flame is better than their magic.) She decided, already pulling up her Heat Burst() on her headset and priming it to fire.

(Yes! Fight fire with fire! Science gives us a type advantage!)

(I don’t think that’s how that works…)

“Both fighters ready?” The announcer asked, waiting just a moment for either of them to say something before yelling. “Then fight!”

All around the edge of their ring a light flashed, briefly revealing a wall of light boxing them in and shielding the crowd should any of their attacks go wide.

The moment she was given the all clear she set her Heat Burst() off on the magic user’s position, causing a small explosion to go off at and knock them off their feet.

Or that’s what would’ve happened if Maya’s opponent hadn’t leapt back at the first flicker of a foreign flame before shoving their hands forward and converting her Heat Burst() into a fireball and launching it her way.

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Rather than trying to dodge herself she fired off a burst of sound at the fireball, causing it to erupt into an explosion larger than her own attack would’ve been before quickly firing off a shot of electricity.

Her opponent dropped to the ground, causing her shot to go wide, as a feminine voice cried, “I thought you were supposed to be an M.A.D.?!”

“I am.” She assured her opponent as she raised her Hand Cannon and fired another bolt of lightning.

The magic user’s eyes visibly went wide before they dropped their hands to the ground and then raised them up as they created a wall of fire to intercept her electricity.

(Wait, how did that work?) She frowned as she began to slowly inch around the wall. (A wall of fire shouldn’t be able to disrupt a bolt of lightning.)

(Lightning and fire are two different forms of plasma, so they do have some influence over each other such as the pyrocumulonimbus effect through rapid heat release into the atmosphere.) Her inner mad scientist suggested.

(Alternatively, it’s possible that magical fire has a sort of metaphysical mass that disrupts the standard energy pathways to maintain its form.) Her inner reason offered as a counter hypothesis. (This would explain how so many Arcane can create elemental constructs that should collapse under normal circumstances.)

She was so caught up in this little mental debate that she didn’t notice her opponent getting up on the opposite side of the fire wall before converting it into a wave of flame that she could do little to dodge. (Ah, shit!)

While the fire wasn’t quite as dangerous as a normal flame, it was enough that she could still feel its heat biting through the thinner spots in her armor and clothing.

(Eh, walk it off. We’ve taken worse explosions from our own tech!)

She shook her head clear, and glared at her opponent as she patted out the worst of the cinders on the clothes she wore with her armor. (Need to take her down…)

Her magic wielding opponent created another pair of fireballs in hand before throwing them her way, and forcing her to begin running to keep from getting hit.

(Okay, she… she seems to be sticking to a range so…) She stomped her foot and shifted the angle of her sprint from simply dodging her opponent to actually rushing them.

The magic user stumbled back a step but launched two more fireballs at her. The first one she was able to duck around but the second struck her shoulder in something a little harder than a glancing blow, causing her to break her sprint to keep her balance.

Not that that did much to keep her from letting loose a wild swing with her Heavy Weight, one that while unleashed more or less blind was still enough to catch her opponent in the chest and launch them back.

She slowly stalked forward in case her opponent tried something else, and in their defense they did try unleashing a small flash of flame at her, but it was also notably weaker than their previous few attacks.

“Fuck!” The magic user cursed as her spell fizzled out and she collapsed onto her back. “Think, think you cracked a rib…”

She couldn’t help but grimace at that before looking around. “Are, are you going to be okay?”

“Y-yeah, just… Why… Why haven’t they called this yet?” Her opponent frowned.

“Just a reminder to all of our freshie fighters, the rings have spells measuring how much damage each of you can and have taken.” The announcer answered. “If the fight is still going then it believes you can keep fighting. If you disagree you can forfeit by tapping the ground three times.”

Not needing further prompting her opponent tapped the ground, and the barrier around the ring flashed twice before shattering.

“And the first fight goes to our masked M.A.D.!” The announcer declared, earning her a light applause from the people that had watched her fight.

(Well… this feels anti-climactic…) She had to admit, the victory feeling nowhere near as big as it had against Decker, the Bloodhounds, or even the Gamer Guild’s dungeon monsters.

(This is just the first fight, the easiest one. I’m sure each round will feel like a bigger win as the challenge increases.) Her inner logic assured her.

(Yeah, a win in bronze elo ain’t nothing compared to a platinum win.) Her inner passion reminded her.

While she processed this she idly noted a man wearing a doctor’s coat enter the arena and start examining her opponent, before raising a light filled hand to her opponent’s chest.

A light that had her wondering (Do you think using my healing herbs would be against the rules?)

(I’d consider it a gray area within the rules. Especially if they offer a free heal to someone when they lose a fight.) Her inner reason guessed. (Either way though, I wouldn’t use it in front of our opponents in case someone wants to argue it.)

(Or, alternatively, we could go spy on our enemies and plot their demise.) Her inner Madness suggested.

(We’ve a bit of time to figure something out, just so long as we’re back by our next fight.)