“Wait, so John is going to try to take all of them down?” I asked Niki, as we sat beside the large field that was supposed to be for sports. But was currently being used as a fighting ring for everyone except me, Cat, and Niki.
“No, they are going to try to take John down.” I was still trying to get used to sharing memories and thoughts. I got the physical augmentation down, I made a small carving of a dog slowly form in my hand. But the memories felt strange, like a hallucination or something. I tried to get over the intrusiveness of it all, I mean they went through my memories and everyone was pretty comfortable talking about anything and everything around me.
Even Malina who was still changing and expanding her little garden that spanned across her whole body. She had vines with flowers instead of hair, although she started growing wood along her arms and torso, while the dress was made from long branches that extended down her waist growing leaves along the length.
“You think John will be able to take them all down?”
“I hope that they will not embarrass themselves trying to take him down.”
“Wow. So why aren’t you two down there?”
“John would not be willing to use his full strength against me and the baby so I decided to sit this one out.”
“I am not really a fighter.” Cat mentioned from her seat strangely far from Niki, I mean I knew what went down between them but still.
“Would you be willing to join the fight, as you said your physical augmentations are up to par.”
“I don’t know if I am as connected to the rest, I would probably just get in the way.”
I mean I know that John was a big guy, but the thought of trying to take on six people all at once was a little daunting and Niki was confident he was going to wipe the floor with them. Looking out over the little field I saw everyone gathered up in their strange and different forms.
Nate was decked out in his usual scales, the large black and gold sword held tightly in his hands. Scarlette stood next to him, she had taken on more of an armored look, large shells of bone covering most of her essentials and a single massive shield. She took on the look of a turtle compared to Nate the dinosaur.
Malina and Chas had found their niche with plants, Malina the dryad she was turning into, while Chas was more focused on the dangerous and unique aspects. He had several poisonous thorns on his body, giant venus fly traps on his shoulders, and several marks on his arm where he could shoot Rosary peas. One of the most deadly poisons in the world if the seed is broken, needing only 3 micrograms to kill a fully grown adult. Chas used fakes, simple red exploding berries for safety sake.
While Liz and Rein mimicked Nate and Scarlette’s opposing but complimentary styles. Rein had extended his limbs to create a creepy slender man like creature, even having several long limbed tentacles coming out of his back. While Liz took the alternate route, shortening her limbs to make her smaller and thinner. She had strange looking double jointed legs that allowed her to move rapidly with precision in any direction.
They all faced John who looked like a simple man, albeit over six feet tall and muscles that could rip a car in half. He held onto his signature ax, although the blade was dulled to limit any severe injuries and give John another handicap. They all looked at each other in a tense moment of silence, before they exploded into action.
The vanguard moved forward, Malina, Scarlette and Nate pushed John together attempting to get into range before he could take out a member. Unfortunately John was like a bolt of lightning, immediately heading off the most unpredictable of the group, Chas. Tossing a small blunted dagger into his forehead before he could even move to a more favorable position. He was deemed ‘dead’ and out of the little battle, he was upset at being the first one out but seemed proud that his idea was deemed dangerous enough to warrant the effort.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
While the vanguard kept John distracted from getting any more easy ‘kills’ the Rein and Liz to a more favorable position. Rein headed for John’s back seeking to exploit the obvious weakness with his extended reach while Liz took his left side. They both dashed forward in unison as the others attacked, trying to strike for every side at once.
However, unlike them John had experience dealing with deadly situations. So he took the least lethal attacks with a stoic expression and chose his next target. Or I guess targets, as the vanguard was relatively straightforward in their method of attack, John decided to take out the two loose ends. He grabbed a few tendrils from Rein’s back as they thrashed his right side, before yanking Liz’s legs right out of the air and tying her in a loose knot and then throwing her into Rein like a bowling ball.
Leaving them to get untangled, John turned his attention back on the vanguard. He had taken a couple of decent hits from them, but the cuts were superficial and the mild poisons and thorns from Malina were easily counteracted. So deciding to end it quick enough to take out Liz and Rein before they were back in the fight, he took out his ax and aimed for Malina. A swift attack to her neck would have ended her, but working in tandem Scarlette pushed her aside and took the hit on her large shield. A massive crack formed along the edge of the turtle shell defense.
Nate took advantage of the fighting to attempt a deep piercing thrust into John’s side. John used his old fight with Matthew’s gang as a reference and moved to allow the sword to stab deep into a less vital spot. Then with a grip made of flesh and altered bones he took the blade from Nate’s hand forcing him off balance. Swinging his dull ax in the scales on his side, even with a dull blade it still bit into his arm sending him flying off and off the field.
Nate was ‘dead’ but Liz and Rein had the chance to reorient themselves, so now it was back to four on one. Scarlette sacrificed some flesh to fix the bone shield, so she and Malina took up positions as Vanguards again. However, this time Rein and Liz decided that distance only lessened their ability to work as a group. So now it was a close four on one, they waited in a tense few seconds of silence, seeing who would move first.
Then with a burst of speed Liz attempted to sideline John, she met nothing but air. As John used the opportunity to force Rein to make a move. He burst in close range, diminishing the effectiveness of his long reach. Forcing him into a close melee for a brief second, this made Liz have to turn on a dime to reach John. But again John wasn’t where he was supposed to be and she smashed face first into Rein. Again effectively taking them out of the match.
John focused back on the two rapidly approaching melee fighters, they fortunately learned that increased numbers only worked if you truly worked together. So Scarlette took the front while Malina stood behind her stretching her plant limbs around her to attack John. And for a brief moment it seemed to work, John was put on the defensive while unable to get a good attack on Malina without Scarlette ready and able to take a hit.
But with success in their technique came the cocky attitude, they decided to end the fight before their attack was countered. So Malina used Chas’ idea of shooting a small berry that was meant to be a Rosary pea at John. Aiming for a small section between Scarlette’s shield and her vines, it shot through the gap but instead of splattering on his side he caught it with a modified gap in his stomach. Taking the small pea and hiding it inside his body, before rapidly shooting it out at Liz and Rein. Coating both of their approaching forms in the red juice and declaring them both ‘dead’.
Now that it was only a two on one, the vanguard went back to what worked. Using the dual defense and attack method to try to work another way in with the red berries. Unfortunately they didn’t understand that the only reason John wasn’t destroying Scarlette’s defense was because he was being cautious with Rein and Liz still in the game. So with this battle no longer one of attrition, John took a massive swing back and slammed his dull ax into the turtle shell shield. Cracking the entire tower shield in half and sending both Malina and Scarlette flying ass over end. With a single leap forward, John was on top of them with an ax to their necks and effectively ‘killing’ them.
“Wow, that was seriously impressive.” I was a little stunned at the whole thing, the fight lasted for a few minutes and already everyone was battered, bruised, and ‘dead’. John stood with his ax twirling in his fingers, before locking it onto his belt and reaching down to help Scarlette and Malina up.
“Yes, they all did far better than I thought. Next time they will have learned from their mistakes and hopefully find a counter for them.” She sat with a small smile on her face, rubbing her stomach. She was apparently very proud of her baby daddy and the child they would eventually have. Then the sexual thoughts started coming along so I decided to tune them out and chat with the group about how the fight went.
“I don’t even know what to tell you, I was in the fight for five seconds.” Chas joked as they discussed pointers for the next time they had a match.
“Tell me about it, every time I went in he tossed me aside and took me and Rein out of the fight.” Liz talked as she shook her legs, they slowly returned to their more normal shape and size.
“Well at least you didn’t get crushed by his ax.” Nate rolled his now healed arm, and Scarlette shook her shaking and sore hands.
“The problem was the lack of cooperation, you all tried to pair with each other. While that is a good start it was lacking with all six of you. You got in each other's way and were not able to fully utilize your abilities. You were all unable to properly utilize teamwork, although Scarlette and Malina’s efforts at the end were commendable. The other main problem is that you all held back, unwilling to make a possibly lethal swing was Nate’s undoing. The rest of you held your punches or tried to use the same simple tactics more than once. After the surprise was gone it was simple to think of and enact a counter.”
They all sat there listening to his criticism, trying to understand how to do better next time. After John finished ideas were already being thrown around about how to better utilize their greater numbers to better effect. There was even talk about combining bodies to make better use of their limited mass.