Tru Grit’s Fight Pits: First Tourney (Pt. 6): A Floral Finisher

--- Maya Williams ---

(What do you guys remember about her fight?) She asked her other selves, ignoring the announcer as she tried to recall what she’d seen when trying to scout everyone’s fights on the screen a few rounds back.

(She’s a plant user, likely using the one in her hand as a weapon of some kind.) Her inner reason told her.

(That’s the obvious stuff! She makes it grow to be a giant lashing limb.) Her inner madness tacked on.

(Obvious perhaps, but invaluable. As is noting the fact that she’s got a satchel wrapped around her. Given her floral nature it wouldn’t be surprising if she uses her plants to make arcane concoctions similar to our Chems.) Her inner logic continued.

(And there’s no telling what ‘magic’ drugs can do to someone.)

(Get them high?)

(Not the time.) She frowned, her eyes narrowing as she noticed that despite the announcer telling them to start her opponent was just watching her.

(She could be a defensive fighter. A surprise burst from her plant.) Her inner reason figured.

(Maybe…) She thought, before deciding to give her opponent something to defend against by setting off a Heat-Burst() in front of the other girl.

Unlike her previous opponents that had been caught off guard by her previous Bursts() her current one merely hopped a few steps back to avoid the worst of the heat. Seemingly uncaring about what heat did reach her.

“Fireproof jacket!” The other girl explained with an amused grin as she reached behind her with her free hand.

(Okay, so smart enough to make herself heat resistant.) Maya guessed, before wondering. (I wonder how heat resistant?)

With a bit of careful movement on both her headset and her COMP, she set off a couple more Heat Bursts() around her opponent. Making sure that each one was placed in such a way that they couldn’t be avoided, even if it did burn through more of her power than she liked.

Unfortunately, this didn’t amount to much as the older teen threw something in front of her, turning the burst of fire into a veritable flashbang that Maya had to look away from.

When she turned back she found her foe standing there seemingly none the worse for wear. (Damn it. What’d she do to null the flames?)

Deciding that she couldn’t afford to waste anymore power on a strategy that clearly wasn’t going to work, she realized, (I’m going to have to get closer.)

The fact that her opponent had made no move to do so themselves, made her paranoid about why that was probably a risky move. Something she told herself she could avoid if she (Just focus on moving and not getting hit. If I get close enough I can hopefully zap her and stun her long enough to hit her with my hammer.)

With half a plan in mind she rushed forward, keeping her eyes on her opponent and waiting for the moment that the other girl-(Now!)

Ducked to the side, having to drop into a slide on one of her knees to avoid a sudden rush of foliage at her face. A rush of foliage that quickly began to loop around in an attempt to crash into her.

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An attempt that she just barely avoided by diving underneath the part of the plant that had already rushed her, causing it to wall off its own path as she hit the ground.

Quickly raising her Hand Cannon she fired off a concussive blast at her opponent, hoping that it would be enough to force them to drop the ever growing plant.

Something the other girl avoided by spinning in place and causing Maya’s attack to hit the plant instead. A plant that was quickly rushing at her as the spin rippled down its form as if the tree sized flora was made of rubber.

Not sure what else she could do, she quickly fired both of her Hand Cannons at the coming wave of foliage causing a laser blast of light, and a concussive blast of sound to smash into it. Bits of plant matter splashed and scratched at her as the combination severed the moving tree trunk, sending half of it flying past her even as the other half retracted back to the potted plant that had apparently been shattered on the ground where it was beginning to take root.

A whistle drew her attention to her opponent standing a bit away from the broken plant. “Not bad. Takes a decent amount to break one of these things even with magic.”

“Yeah… Well my tech is just that good.” She huffed, as she got back to her feet, her eyes darting between her opponent and the broken tree. (I… don’t trust this. If the plant is her main weapon, why separate from it?)

The other girl gave her a considering look. “So that’s not magic you’re using?”

She couldn’t help but grit her teeth at that (blasphemous) idea. “No, it’s not.”

“Interesting…” Her opponent mumbled.

Seeing her opponent at least half distracted, Maya raised her Hand Cannon and fired a beam of light at the other girl.

Who apparently wasn’t as distracted as Maya thought with the way she ducked out of the beam's path before throwing something at the M.A.D..

Reflexively she raised her arms to block whatever had been thrown at her only to feel nothing hit.

“What?” She blinked before narrowing her eyes at her opponent watching her smugly.

“Made you flinch.” The other girl taunted.

With a growl she stomped forward, grabbing her Heavy Weight with one hand even as she reached out with the other fully intent on (tasing this bitch) with her ring.

The swipe with her hand missed, the other girl easily stepping out of the way just as she did the follow up swing from Maya’s Heavy Weight. A swing that was just the start of a reckless onslaught of swings with the hammer-like weapon, each of which was just as easily sidestepped as the rest. None of which was helped by how quickly her arms were growing tired from her little rampage.

A rampage she gave up on, deciding (fuck it) and dropped her Heavy Weight before raising Hand Cannons, ready to just unload everything she had on the other girl.

Only as she tried to aim, her arms continued to grow heavier even without her literal Heavy Weight in hand. Something that caused her to notice the faint gripping sensation around the edges of her armor, and in turn the bits of green that were latched onto the outer bits of her armor. “The fuck?”

Looking closer, she found all of the green bits had connected to each other via a system of vines that she hadn’t been able to notice with how much she’d been swinging her arms about. Especially not with the way they were actively avoiding clinging to the parts of her outfit she could actually feel through.

“Ah, finally noticed my stranglethorns?” Her opponent grinned as she walked over and used Maya’s locked arm as a rest. “Nasty little things. Grab onto their prey and strangle them to death before using the body as fertilizer for its seedlings. I’ll tell you breeding a strain small enough to be this subtle but still strong enough to restrain has been a bitch and a half.”

Maya glared at the other girl as she struggled against the plant holding her in place, even feeling it give a bit before the vines actually began to wrap more thoroughly around her. Enough so that she could feel them starting to painfully cut into her wherever they wrapped around her hoodie instead of her armor.

“This can last as long as you like.” The other girl told her, so unconcerned that she pulled a -is that a cigar?- out and started fiddling with it as the vines around Maya grew even tighter, slowly creeping around her throat.

With grit teeth and spiteful streak, she considered setting off a Heat Burst() right here, too close for her opponent to actually dodge. The fact that it would hurt her as well, (might be worth it just to wipe off that smug face…)

Eventually though she forced herself to remember that, (Even if I lose this fight I’m not out of the tournament. It’s not worth wearing myself down even more…)

“Fine…” She spat, smart enough to know when to call it. “You win…”