trans_9 | Choose your destiny! Flawless victory! [Inevitable Tournament Arc]

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.)

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That gave Ruffnut encouragement, and a burst of energy to try clawing her way back up his back to try blowing his head off again.

"What's the matter big guy? Am I too much work too?" She mocked as her body surged with lightning filling the air with the scent of burning flesh and the scent of ozone.

No sooner did Ruffnut step closer to him than Sloth charged.

At a speed faster than the naked eye could track.

Funny thing is, Sloth is the fastest homunculus.

So fast, in fact, that there was no technique or even attack behind the charge than Sloth simply hurling its raw weight at the Viking girl and trusting mass times velocity to do all the damage it needed to.

Ruffnut didn't even see the force that slammed into her. It felt like an entire house had just punched her in the gut and sent her skipping butt first across the muck of the swamp. The wind was crushed out of her lungs, her eyes watering and even some blood leaking from her nose. All falling away from her as she shot away from the force of impact and vanished with a terrific splash into a deeper part of the swamp.

She thrashed herself to the air once more bobbing in a sinkhole that was at least as tall as she was and choking on putrid water.

wait...water?

The thought bounced over her stunned brain uselessly and she back paddled to a more shallow area where she could stand and catch her breath. "Why...in Odin's name...didn't you do that before?!" She wheezed sounding frustrated.

The homunculus's momentum had carried it forward in an alarmingly long line, as demarcated by a churned up trench cutting through the swamp, torn-up trees, and shredded undergrowth. A few hundred feet away, Sloth laboriously pushed himself free of the tree he'd finally gotten stuck in.

"Too...

much...

work..." he muttered as he turned to face the girl again.

"Yeah yeah work work work. I shoulda guessed that..."

And then the thought came bouncing back, water! She was surrounded by gross, scummy, plant filled water!

"Maybe I'm the one who's been working too hard..." She muttered and began edging her way back towards the deeper part of the swamp. "Well come on then. I'll move nice and slow so you don't have to rush again." She called feeling foolish. A Vikings first instinct was to rush into battle.

But an Overlord was all about tactics.

"Trusting you...

too...

much...

work..."

That was all the warning she had before it burst into that awesome speed again, smashing a massive furrow through the swamp again as it raced towards her.

Ruffnut tried to spring out of the way but once again was too slow. Her leg got caught by the bull rush and she was sent spinning through the air to belly flop into the mire again.

But this time she grinned and cut loose with her powers once again. The water carrying the charge to Sloth and any other creature foolish enough to be in the area's waters. Arcs of light danced along the surface and singed the moss and plant life casting threatening shadows all around.

Ruffnut could feel her strength already waning, she'd wasted alot of electricity on this fight and if it didn't end soon she'd be down to her punching and whatever she can scoop out of the swamp.

The electricity locked up Sloth's legs as he charged, sending the giant crashing facefirst into the ground. Which was even WORSE for him, as it allowed electricity to course through him in a constant torrent of energy that forced his regeneration to work double time to keep up.

Still... as the bolts faded at last, the homunculus held still for a moment, before lifting his massive arms to plant them on the ground. He was moving slowly, now, grumbling.

"Getting up...

is...

too...

much...

work..."

"THEN STOP GETTING UP!"

Ruffnut came roaring through the waters fighting the muck to get closer faster. She didn't carry any sharp weapons with her usually having been trained as a grapple fighter, but she had one standby. She yanked the horned helmet off her head (Amazed that it had stuck in place all this time, she would really have to thank Hiccup for his skilled armor upkeep) and brought the horned pointed tips hard into Sloth's skull.

Not convinced this would end him she ripped the helmet out hoping to strike again before he could heal the hole.

The helmet cracked into Sloth's head, making his entire body go stiff as iron.

"Winning is...

too...

much...

work..."

Sloth collapsed.

Her eyes boggled, her fist drawn back. She had been planning on plunging it directly into the hole she had made and trying to rip out his brainmeats...but if he was already down...

For a minute Ruffnut looked confused at what to do with her fist. She lowered it and brought the helmet back to it's place on her head, blood dripping down her face as a crooked grin formed.

"Then stay down this time." She muttered darkly, a much more subdued celebration then the first time she had thought she'd won.

The arena compensated for her lack of energy by launching a fusillade of fireworks into the sky to celebrate her victory! A moment later, the pair of them vanished, to reappear in the hospital beds.

A small, burned man leaned on a staff, observing her impassively. "Choose your spoils of victory," he said brusquely.

It took Ruffnut a minute to compensate for the sudden change in scenery.

"Oh right like, his powers?" She asked a little shell shocked by the whole thing. "Well...super speed seemed pretty cool. Let's go with that!" The smile was more playful now. The game was over for now and she had won!

"Very well," the man said impassively, then stepped over to the homunculus. With one hand still firmly on the staff, he reached into the giant's body with his other, hand parting and sliding into flesh as if it were bedsheets.

A moment passed before he withdrew a small, brown-red globule. Pacing over to Ruffnut, he lifted that hand, then without warning thrust it into her flesh in turn.

No pain. Just the incredibly alarming feeling of a hand searching through her internal organs, seeking out something -- it wasn't clear what. Then the hand opened inside her, releasing whatever nodule it had held, and withdrew.

Ruffnut shuddered and pulled a face. "Grooooooss." she laughed despite herself and smiled. "So how's it work? Do I just...do it?"

"The power will integrate into your system over an hour or so. You will understand then," he said dismissively, turning away.

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

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