Gizzy wasted no time rushing him, jumping and swinging a wild overhanded slap and that balled into a fist just before impact, sending Hyde’d head on a good 90-degree rotation. He swung the claymore-like sword blindly just to gain some room to function. Just as his eyes cleared, and his senses returned, she was moving right under his sword swing, using her shorter height as advantage and going for the ribs. 3 lightning fast jabs to the chest, and she turned, back, kicking him off his feet into the dirt.
“I can’t fight like this!” he roared, tossing the sword and shield to either side and going in bare handed, almost BEAR handed as he decided on claws or knuckles. Gizzy faked a step, and he corrected for it, giving her a hefty right-handed power punch.
His steel plated knuckles clanked loudly as if hitting metal on metal, and feeling like it too. Her head barely turned on impact, giving no delay between her counter punch.
They struck fist to fist, and His arm buckled, nearly breaking his wrist.
“WHAT ARE YOU MADE OF!?” he barked.
“Nightmares and metal.” She chuckled, with a villainous low pitch, almost as Zeus-like as his own voice. He bull rushed in, tackling her and veering for the wall. Weight was his only advantage when combined with horns and momentum. He put everything he had into his antler and drove her into the stone wall. She returned with an elbow to the head, flattening him like the armor meant nothing. She walked away, circling and sadistically hitting her own head to rile up the crowd as Hyde got back to his feet.
Evil Nicole turned to Jack.
“The drugs are gonna kick in soon, right?” she asked.
“Absolutely, any second now.” He bluffed. Dee tapped him and leaned over discreetly.
“They’re already kicked in, aren’t they?”
“Hundred percent, otherwise that would have knocked him out cold. He’s completely fucked.” Jack said, looking annoyed. Gizzy sprinted at him, ready to take him down just as he got up, not realizing he grabbed his shield on the way up and used it like a weapon. The heavy 5-foot wide steel disc connected thin-side first into Gizzy’s nose, scooping her feet from the ground and sending her neck first down like a very badly landed half backflip. The crowd pounded the seats and cheered as she got back up.
“You sneaky little shit?” she smirked.
“Little?” he asked in a baffled manner. She rushed him again, and he ran away to the wall, running up it and pushing off to return to her with 9a thousand pounds of meat, armor and fur at a downward angle. He just knew he was about to compress her like an empty beer can until the impact felt far more solid, barely moving a few inches before springing up and launching him airborne. He landed hard, stumbling into the impact and circling back as he approached. He tucked the shield into his left side, rotating for a hooved kick and just as Gizzy stepped aside to dodge, it, he extended his left arm and frisbee’d the shield into her with a takeout throw.
“You fight nasty.” She said, adjusting her jaw and picking up the shield, tossing it back playfully just to return it.
“And you’re like fighting an iron statue that moves like flesh.” He said, grabbing his sword. “But like you said…” he added, rotating the pummel as the blade sparked and glowed a dull red at the tip, the high pitch ring of electricity filling the air. “I fight nasty.” He grinned.
“Now, who gave you that little toy. Hardly Delmarian standard alloy.”
I’m not fighting a standard Delmarian.” He replied, as the blade arced and popped with about 30,000 volts, the blade now glowing cherry red almost to the hilt except the shiny black central fuller separating the 2 electrified halves.
Gizzy shifted tactics, changing her mind about wanting to get hit by that thing.
He stepped forward, thrusting the sword and missing her several times as she matched his speed. She couldn’t get a clear opening with that razor sharp cattle prod pointed at her.
“Little less aggressive when the weaponry is more than you anticipated?” he jabbed. Her look went from playful to annoyed. She reached out and grabbed the blade, locking it in place as her arm surged and shook, just long enough to send her other hand center mass into his chest, knocking him back as they both paused to recover. He felt like she nearly stopped his heart even though the thick padding and half inch steel chest plate that now had a slight back bend to it. His armor was getting tight where she was forging it inward on him. He noticed her left hand still curled up. She took some damage and wasn’t showing it, no blood, as expected. He grabbed the shield, switching hands and going southpaw to screw with her, knowing she has an injured left palm. She shifted her feet anyway, rearing it back like nothing was wrong. Exactly what he wanted. He cautiously stomped in closer, ducking her swing so it glanced off the shield, and let him past so he could take a massive strike with the claymore to her right forearm. He half expected it to sever it completely.
The feel of metal on metal rattled his grip again, as the electricity made her recoil. But this time it was softer, like it bit into meat before solid steel. He turned back and put his hoof to the shield, throwing his weight into it and kicking it into her. As she stumbled from the force, he made another wide swing and connecting with her right arm as she blocked her face. She hunkered and bared her teeth, standing up proudly and putting her arms out, both to taunt him and to hide the marks on the back of her forearm. Part of him wondered if a hit to the joint would take the arm off, but he was barely able to hit her at all, let alone narrow his crosshairs.
Leena munched some popcorn as one of the council members gave her a strange look.
“You seem very calm about your wife’s injuries.” He said boldly.
“Oh, she’s just having fun, she’s not even warmed up yet.” She shrugged. “What? We’ve left worse marks than that during foreplay.” She chuckled. “Just watch the fight.”
The lights dimmed and Gizzy’s eyes flickered yellow briefly, followed by a ping of feedback to the speaker system. The Gizzy-hacked speakers now connected wirelessly.
“Surely this Delmarian has had enough.” She announced in a cocky voice that echoed through the PA system, the TV screens now displaying a view from her own eyes and perspective. His armor highlighted, showing the cracks and dents like a heads up display, going transparent as the screens showed a broken rib and a kidney-like organ flashing in red as if internally bleeding.
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“NO!” the crowd cheered in unison.”
“You heard the people.” He boasted, swinging the claymore around and sparking into the air. The screens switched to a sponsored energy drink logo as she returned to the fight.
“You’re leaking.” She muttered, jerking backwards to avoid the sword swipe.
“And you’re stalling to heal that ARM!” he said taking a huge leap and changing his swing to connect to the back of her knee instead, dropping her to a kneel, as he went for the neck and hit something way before he expected neck bones. He gave the blade all his strength to push through, but it wasn’t budging as he noticed her wounded hand wrapping around the blade slowly, claws extending and crumpling the metal until with a loud pop, the electricity stopped.
“You’re not the only one accustomed to a little electricity, big boy.” She said, with teeth clenched. She twisted, trying to yank the sword from his grip and dragging him around. He knew if he let go, it would end up right in his throat or heart. He slid his feet apart for leverage, bending the sword slowly as a kneeling Gizzy resisted with one injured hand, half fused to the blade, some of it cut into her, some of her claws cut into it.
He let out a primal yell, turning directions and bending it the other way, hoof-stomping it in half and then just throwing himself into Gizzy with the broken stub pointed at her. The two titans flattened and rolled, Gizzy’s kick, flipping him end over and as she struggled to get up. The two of them both sluggishly returned to their feet, Hyde weaponless and readying a shield, Gizzy standing there calmly with a piece of metal going from collar bone through her back.
“That looks bad.” He said with exaggerated concern.
“Honey, you haven’t met bad yet.” She smiled, reaching back and pulling it on through, now glowing white-hot. She tossed it aside, something dripped from her wounded back, glowing white and sizzling as it hit the dirt.
“I thought you people don’t bleed?”
“You really need to update your list of fluids.” She sighed. As another sword stuck in the ground near him, similar to the other one, but in one piece. The Horn sounded
"if I live long enough." he muttered.
“Uh-Oh.” Gizzy grinned. “That’s stage 2, bladed weapons.” She finished, cracking her knuckles and letting her claws fully extend like a set of ten double-edged daggers, slightly down curved and glowing red-hot.
“Jack, do we have grenades?” he yelled.
“You got another sword.”
“Fuck. Lotta good that did this far.” He said, looking worried. Gizzy’s eyes went white, and she let out a rather disconcerting banshee scream, extending her toe-claws for traction, and sprinting faster than he knew she could. He held the shield up frantically as it took several heavy swipes, globs of molten metal peeling off with every hit, like clipping it with a cutting torch. Streaks of orange and yellow sprayed like fireworks as he readied and powered up his claymore. He noticed the faint smell of burning hair and the subtle glow of dull red lined appearing on the inside of the shield. She was peeling her way through it. He backed out of defense and went for the blade side, one-handing the sword as it clanked and parried as if hitting another sword, but it was just her claws backhanding. He was sure some of them hit fingers, but she didn’t seem to notice, or didn’t want to show that she felt it.
He leaned in to the recoil and shoved the point of the guard directly into her eye, and sent her staggering back with missing swipes. He wasted no time while she was stunned and slid past her, standing back up and taking a downward chop, trying to split her neck like firewood and to his surprise, he connected. He couldn’t pull the blade out. Gizzy reached back and placed her claws on the sword, pulling down slowly as they melted their way through, and he pulled back half a sword. She dislodged the blade from her neck meat and turned to stare him down, one eye still glowing blue and the other one more of a dull red.
“The eye?” she asked as if genuinely pissed off.
“Actually, I was hoping to get both.” He admitted.
“Do you realize how bad that hurts to get stabbed in the…” she paused.
“Yea, I do. Antler, right before I died last time I was in this pit. Sucks, don’t it?”
“Oh you… dick.” She said, rising to her feet.
Leena cringed and stopped eating popcorn.
“Oh no…she hates that. Now she’s gonna be really mad.” She sighed. “You better watch the pit, the fight is about to end pretty quickly.”
Gizzy squatted down to all fours, the bones in her shoulders shifting further back, raising the spines of her vertebrae a good 2 inches up. Her skin took on a strange shift from pale pink to a glowing blue, the mechanical bones and muscle underneath now visible through it. She clenched her teeth, extending jaws, her tusks and canines a full inch out as smoke rolled from her nostrils. Suddenly the crowd was more interested. The retractable bones in her legs and arms extended, increasing her overall length, and her toe claws sunk deeply into the packed dirt. She snarled with a mighty inhale, swelling her chest like a biomechanical dragon, and glowing brighter with the high pitch electric hum of her secondary reactor igniting. She lifted her head, letting out a roar so low in pitch you could count the pulses through the arena floor, a jet of blue flame rolling out in the process.
“You’re right Jack… I’m thankful for the armor now.” Hyde muttered to himself.
She balled up her fists and gave 2 rapid slams to her chest, then pounding the ground beside her like an animal, every opening in her face now smoldering blue like an arc welder. Her every breath, a deep audible rumble fanning the flames like a blacksmith bellows on steroids.
The horn sounded and her toe-claws slashed ruts in the dirt, as she sprinted on all fours at an alarming rate.
“SHIIIIIT.” Hyde muttered, bracing with the shield and folding under the hit. He bounced off the wall 8 feet behind him and caught himself mid-stumble, almost dropping the dented shield. Gizzy let out a very tyranosauric roar, shaking the ground. “I’m gonna die for the second time in this same stupid fucking arena!” He complained. Suddenly his heart rate soared. The drugs were hitting a second stage. He wondered if they were doing so a bit too late in the plan. Either way, the crowd was now officially impressed.
Hyde readied his half sword and Gizzy circled him, more like the dragonic creatures of fable than a biped. She sprinted to her feet and ducked the sword swing, punching him square in the chest and sending him up and into the wall. As he fell, he shifted all half ton of his weight into his sword and connected with Gizzy’s head, bouncing off like he was fighting with cardboard. He stood weaponless and with a very dented shield about as battered as he was and ready to break.
Gizzy’s voice surged up, masculine and exactly what you would think a pissed off, nuclear rage dragon would sound like, loud enough that the speaker system wasn’t even needed. The nosebleed sections could hear her clearly, and feel the rails vibrate.
“BEG!” she blurted out, molten liquid flying out like saliva.
“Just kill me standing.” He said, readying his shield.
“KNEEL AND LIVE, COWARD!” she spat violently.
“I’ll die on my hooves, thanks for the offer, eat shit.” He replied, she sprinted and he rushed right at her.
“Aaaaand he’s dead.” Jack sighed. “Here we go.”
He connected and was immediately flung like a rag doll 20 feet into the wall, very rapidly followed by Gizzy, sliding on all fours like a dog on tile but carving gashes in the ground the whole way she corrected her arc, He braced for death as she reached him, feeling the impact knock the air from his lungs.
“Oh, this is the gross part.” Leena said, diverting her eyes.
Gizzy swung a series of hellish glowing slashes, first breaking the shield, then snagging it and yanking it from his limp broken hand, She backhanded him, slamming his head off the wall and knocking him unconscious. She then proceeded to alternate between body punches and pausing to bite and claw pieces of armor clean off until he was held up right by nothing more than her attacks, pieces of antler, flying off into the crowd.
She stomped away from the wall, dragging his lifeless body by the head and flinging it. Casually so. She stood silently, venting fire with every breath as he laid in the dirt, motionless and not breathing. Nicole sobbed into Vinn as he comforted her. Evil Nicole rattled the rails, spitting snot and profanity at Gizzy as Jack held her by the wrists to keep her from entering the pit…again. It almost seemed like he predicted that.
Gizzy lifted her head, breathing a wall of vertical fire with another dinosaur-like roar that pulsed in and out of audible frequency. The fight was over.