46) Mountain man

I wandered out of the clinic area without anyone offering to heal me. Either they missed seeing me get a black spike stabbed all the way through me, or they just didn't care if I wasn't complaining.

Whichever it was, it was convenient. The last thing I wanted was a healer getting their hands on me.

I have a therapist if I need someone to tell me I’m dead inside.

Waiting in the hallway, I had a good view of the aisle leading to the ring, and I could see people making bets, getting fresh drinks, and generally getting ready to see two people beat the snot out of each other for their entertainment.

Who the hell are these people anyways? They look like they have plenty of money, is this the best way they can figure out how to spend a Friday night?

Go see a show, or play a board game or something. Hell, even go to a club and listen to deafening music while paying out the nose for overpriced watered down drinks.

At least I’m getting a cut of what the organizers of this are gouging the rich twits for. Probably a very small cut, but they have a lot of overhead. A ship, a healer, all the staff.

Finally, I get the call. Me versus Foraker.

Should I drop out? This guy could literally tear me apart, which could blow my cover. And surely I've proven myself by now to Falco.

But…

Blue Sky wasn’t the only one Foraker had brutalized.

This guy had gone above and beyond just beating his opponents to get the win to outright torturing them.

I wanted to take him down, and I think I could do it.

Moments later, I started rethinking that as his first hit shattered my nose and sent me flying across the cage.

He's fast. Not Superpowered fast, not fast for a big guy, just plain fast. And he had a lot of reach. It balanced out his lack of formal training, but the guy had actual fighting experience which made up for it.

I wonder if I can have a dead whale give the ship a bump, was there anything handy down on the bottom of the sea…

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Snapping my head up I looked at my opponent who was taking a slow turn in the middle of the ring with his arms raised to the cheering crowd, stopping only to look down at me with a cruel smile where I was half collapsed on the ground.

Hitting him with my powers, I could tell that the guy had hit the buffet, and he didn’t chew the recommended number of times. Not even close.

There had to be at least five pounds of fish and beef in his guts. Cooked, but unprocessed dead meat.

I let Samantha's head drop as I splint my focus. At least it was easier with my target just ten feet away from me.

Foraker had begun walking across the ring to grab a hold of me when he suddenly stopped with a confused look on his face as the meat in his stomach began to… twitch.

And try to work their way out to the other pieces of chewed up meat that each chunk had been cut away from, my powers trying to bind them back together into a larger, solid mass.

And not very well. Between the meat from the fish and the cow, along with Samantha, I was splinting my attention between three corpses. So I had very little control over any of them, but I didn't need much control, just some movement.

This wasn't something that could really disable someone, but it was something that didn't feel right. The big man laid his hand on his stomach in concern.

Returning my focus to Samantha, I came off the floor and upper cut him with all my strength, lifting the guy two feet off the ground by his chin before he dropped back down to his feet.

Then I followed it up with a punch to the guts.

A shot to his groin might have been more effective. But even in Samantha's body, there are some things you just don't do to the other guys.

I managed to get to the side before everything in his already upset stomach came flying out. Gross, it’s all stuck together in a gooey mess.

Luckily I don't have anything inside me to bring up. "Should I hold your hair for you?"

Half hunched over he turned his head to give me a disgusted look, which vanished under the right cross that sent him down to one knee.

I managed to get two more punches into the back of his head before he lurched back up to his feet and threw out his arms, sending me flying into the ropes.

He gave me a grin through his gore covered lips. “Now we fight!”

Holy crap, his pupils are so wide they're nearly black, and he's literally foaming at the mouth.

I ducked his punch and put my foot into the side of his knee, it bends the wrong way, then snaped back into place. Great, he’s got regeneration too.

His elbow knocks out some of my teeth before I get my balance back. I’m going to need to remember to pick those up.

I poked him in the eyes with two fingers that had sharp claws on the tips. The tip go into one eyeball, at least a little, and he throws his head back with a roar before swinging an arm out an in wide arc.

Fortunately, I’m already behind him as he yells. “Stop fighting like a weak woman!”

Well… if he’s going to be sexist. I bring my foot up between his legs from behind. “No.”

Stumbling forward, he leans against the corner post of the ring while I pile a few punches into his lower back, working his kidneys.

He rips the post out and catches me with it as he spins around. By the time I recover, he has his hands around my throat. Pulling me in close and lifting my feet off the ground, he glares into my eyes as he squeezes my neck tight. “Weak.”

I grin and mouth the word “Thanks.” since he has been kind enough to pull me in so close enough to reach his head without taking a hit. Then I slap both of my hands onto his ears as hard as I can.

It loosens his grip, and as I slip free I grab a hold of one of his arms with both hands as I turn and flip him over my shoulder.

As he hits the ground, I get my arms around his neck in a chokehold.

He breaks one of my arms beating at it before he struggles to his feet, then some snaps a few ribs as he throws himself down with me underneath him.

It might as well be a pillow fight for all I feel it, even the bones snapping is just an inconvenience until I can get them fixed.

Unlike me, he needs to breathe. It still seems to take forever, but eventually, he passes out.

I have to yell at the referee to call it before I let go of Foraker's neck, but before I do, I whisper in his ear.

"When you die big fella. I am so calling dibs on your corpse.”

If nothing else, guys... most guys, won't be hitting on him while I’m riding his corpse.