Choose your destiny! Flawless victory! [Inevitable Tournament Arc]

[meat_mooks]

No sooner did the Obs Deck descend to Arena Planet LXIII, and the crew allowed to disembark, than they were met by a veritable cloud swarm of cameras. Sleek, elegant things that might have been living, might have been machines, maybe were even magical... but were definitely nuisances as the swooped around to capture video of the crew at all conceivable angles, close up and far away. Their every move from this point on would be on camera.

In front of a small crowd of retainers stood what appeared to be a great circular orb whose only distinguishing features were a nose, and what appeared to be the most overblown mustache ever, which actually appeared to be supporting that two-foot-diameter orb at shoulder height to a tall man. Then the orb took a couple of steps forward,revealing that no, those were actually just really, really hairy legs. A seam cracked open on the creature, and in a voice loud enough to echo across the broad open plains without any need for amplification, it bellowed, "AND NOW! STRAIGHT FROM THE TRANSMIGRATION NINE VESSEL! OUR NEWEST COMPETITORS! FRESH TO THE STAGE OF BATTLE, BUT NO STRANGERS TO WAR--"

It went on like this for some time.

Under cover of this introduction, a small man that to all appearances seemed to be the love child of Richard Nixon and a particularly aggressive Furby stepped forward, and in a bored businesslike tone recited, "Welcome to the tournament. There will be one battle per day. The arena in which you battle will be determined by random draw. Our medical crew will perform all healing necessary and ensure no deaths so feel free to not hold back. Please refrain from accepting any bribes or favors from on-planet spectators--"

"--ARE YOU READY?!" the orb bellowed even louder than before, completely swamping the smaller man's recitation. "THEN STEP THIS WAY!"

And so saying, the orb and its procession began a clearly well-choreographed procession towards a large, medieval-looking fortress that hung dramatically just on the edge of clear vision. (Conveniently, this procession passed several large advertisements.)

Comments

[meat_mooks]

"I'm sorry, but please..." she said, looking at him over the clenched fists she held to her face. When seized, the hair simply elongated and stretched, the effect clearly supernatural in nature. Several strands of it lifted from the main mass, their needle-sharp ends jabbing for Ian's wrist.

[splendid_roman]

"You're sorry?" He was the one trying to avoid being stabbed. He held on grimly, ignoring the pain and using the length of her hair to tie it to a railing.

[meat_mooks]

"I don't... really like fighting," she said, forcing her fists back down to her sides. "But I have to give it my all!"

Though tying the hair down pinned the end, the middle could, and did, swell outwards, expanding into another one of those absurdly sharp edges. It lacked the swift cutting force that it had when freed, but really she was just trying to force him away so her hair could unknot itself.

[splendid_roman]

"You're certainly doing that." With her hair not too close to doing any fatal damage he ignored it and ran at her, using his momentum and weight to bring her down.

[meat_mooks]

She shrieked and went down beneath him, but hair never stopped its attack even as she pinned him. As one massive strand, the shining mass arched up above the pair of them, then plunged down for Ian's back.

[splendid_roman]

He looked over his shoulder in time to see the hair coming. Did it never stop? He moved off her before it could do him too much damage, although kept a hand on her in case she decided to get up. "I'll stop if you will."

[meat_mooks]

"I can't stop," she murmured, though the hair simply twisted in midair, not striking again. "This is what -- this is what I have to do."

[splendid_roman]

He kept an eye on her hair, but as long as it wasn't attacking him, he stayed where he was. "You don't," he said. "You can surrender."

[meat_mooks]

"I can't!" The hair balled itself up into a bludgeon, hurling itself at Ian. "If I do -- I can't!"

[splendid_roman]

In which case he couldn't either. "Fine." He rolled sideways out of the hair's path and accidentally on purpose, pushed Sakura away and off the side of the catwalk.

[meat_mooks]

The girl shrieked as she slid off, her body tumbling helplessly towards one of those noxious chemical vats. An instant before she hit, she vanished as quickly as they had both appeared into the arena.

It seemed the no-deaths rule was enforced quite firmly, even by accident.