Chiyoko vs Slugger (Tournament of Strength)

The crowd appears noticeably bored. Unlike during the other round 1 matches, there are numerous empty seats. The few attendees appear to be supporters of Chiyoko, hopeful that a mutant rather than a monstrosity will become the new leader of the Pit. These optimistic souls appear filled with energy and cheer on Chiyoko with all the enthusiasm one can muster during these times. The rest of the crowd is incredibly pessimistic. Many expect to be disappointed by the events of the match and most feel that all of this ceremony is a waste of time for what amounts to a sickly old hag and a little girl having a cat fight on stage. Nevertheless, they try to enjoy their time with snacks and small bets to add some excitement to this otherwise bland match. The Magister appears absent on this day and this causes a slight stir among the audience. In spite of this the Samurai proceeds as usual. "Today we have quite the exhibition. I have been informed that a true bushido has entered this tournament and as such, I am quite excited to see the skills of this swordsman!" he exclaims. 

Chiyoko and Slugger are lead through the dark depths of the underground and lead into the rusty old cages. The walls appear crusted with sea salt and the air is damp. Given the high humidity, it is no wonder the cages are so rusted. After a few cranks of some hidden mechanism, the cages are foisted into the dry hot arena. The Obsidian Samurai lifts a large stick and beats it against an ornate brass gong. As the match begins Chiyoko's followers give her one last cheer while the rest of the crowd finishes off making their bets.

Slugger slowly walks out of her cage, coughing as she does. She eyes her opponent, giving a crooked-toothed smile. "Little missy, do you have any pets? Because I do, and they all want to meet you." Wasting no time, she reels back, her throat expanding to twice its original size, before she wretches forward and heaves a large mass of black slugs onto the ground. Wiping her mouth, she points forward and says, "Attack!" The slugs begin to crawl towards Chiyoko with unusual speed.

Chiyoko takes a few cautionary steps outside of the old cage, and draws her katana, watching her foe carefully. As the slugs are retched, she jumps back, closer to her cage. She turns to the rusted cage, and with two clean strokes, her sharpened katana slashes the bars, creating a makeshift weapon out of them. She takes the bar, and hops deftly around the slugs, on barefeet, and she attempts to impale them with it as she does.

Many slugs are impaled upon her makeshift lance, but the swift slugs take advantage of the impacts. As a few slugs are deftly shanked, other slugs crawl onto the bar and begin to travel up the bar. Once about half way up, with many slugs piled on one another, they begin secreting a sticky mucus that quickly hardens into a cement-like substance, attempting to immobilize Chiyoko's new weapon. "Not so fast, missy," Slugger states, waggling her finger, as she releases another wave of slugs from her gullet.

Chiyoko grits her teeth, and quickly abandons the makeshift weapon, attempting to sprint around the collection of slugs towards Slugger. As she reaches the edge of the pit, she leaps towards the wall of the makeshift stadium with a sudden burst of speed, and runs along the side of the wall, readying her katana as she draws closer to Slugger.

Slugger, definitely not as quick on her feet as her opponent, has difficulty keeping track of her as she runs along the wall. She heaves up even more slugs, spewing out the words, "Defend me!" The slugs begin to crawl onto Slugger's body, many layers thick, and secrete more of their mucus, quickly turning Slugger into a statue of living slugs. More and more slugs slip through small gaps in the cocoon, building up her defenses as she waits for her opponent's attack.

Chiyoko's bends her knee's, and in a single swift motion, she springs off the wall, and lands deftly next to Slugger. She looks Slugger's defense up and down, then attempts to snatch one of the slugs that have yet to harden, and covering up any hole left near her face, in an attempt to suffocate her within her own defensive wall.

As Chiyoko grabs a slug, it squirms in her hand and leaks more mucus, but it doesn't harden. Undetectable to the human nose, the slug has released a chemical signal telling the others its predicament. The slugs covering Slugger that have yet to solidify begin to go into a frenzy. They all begin to leap towards Chiyoko, trying to latch onto her body. More slugs begin to crawl along the floor, spreading out in all directions.

Chiyoko gasps as the slugs begin to leap at her. She jumps back quickly, but not fast enough, as a number of the slugs are now latched onto the front of her, with one stuck on her right eyelid, forcing the eye closed. She assesses the area around Slugger, and then leaps toward her, making sure not to step on a slug. She attempts to impale slugger in an area the slugs abandoned in their assault.

The slugs that have attached themselves onto Chiyoko begin excreting copious amounts of mucus, which quickly hardens. Chiyoko will find that the amounts of mucus that is beginning to cover her adds a decent amount of weight. As she stabs into the mass of slugs, the blade collides with their hardened shell and veers, but manages to pierce into the shell. A muffled gasp can be heard within, as the sounds of someone holding back painful outbursts. Suddenly, the slugs shift, and all of them burst outwards, using the slugs on the ground as catapults, launching themselves far and wide to cover anything or one around them.

Chiyoko backflips backwards, and then turns and runs, attempting to put distance between herself and Slugger, pulling off as many slugs as she can manage as she does. Despite this, much of her body is covered by them before she's able to put that distance between herself and Slugger. She inhales deeply, and grasps one of the slugs that have completely stuck to her, and with a gasp of pain, pulls it, and some of her own skin off. She repeats this around her legs, even using her katana to slash pieces of her skin off.

Slugger stands around a few of her slugs, bleeding from a graze on her side. She points her finger at Chiyoko and commands, "Bury her!" All of the surrounding slugs begin to form together, as she spews out more to add to the mass. In a few moments, a large wave of slugs begin to bulldoze towards her, attempting to cover her in a mass of slugs and immobilize her.

Having slashed a sufficient number of slugs off her legs, Chiyoko takes a deep breath, waiting for the wave of slugs to draw in closer and closer, all the while, she lowers her body, like a great cat preparing to pounce. She bites her lips, and takes a few deep breaths, bearing through the pain of her oozing wounds, she leaps high into the air, nearly 20 feet, over the wave of slugs. Assuming she's cleared the slugs, she dives forward, katana raised, and aims for Sluggers large neck.

Slugger's eyes widen in surprise as she sees the blade nearing her neck. Unable to avoid or defend, the blade pierces Sluggers distended neck. The blade tears easily through her flesh, and the gash stretches open as a swarm of slugs leaks out of her deflated neck.She attempts to use her hands to staunch the flow, but the slugs are abandoning ship. "No! My pets, come back! NO!" She stumbles and falls onto her back. Her breathing is shallow and weak as now blood begins to leak from her wound. She lays motionless for a moment, before she begins to convulse in pain. Her neck skin crawls from beneath, and a large, three-foot long black slug with silver trim pulls itself out. It looks around with its stalk eyes, before crawling off in a random direction with its brood in tow. Slugger pants on the ground, bleeding softly onto the ground.

Chiyoko sheathes her blade, and glances around the stadium with a concerned glance, and then approaches Slugger, attempting to staunch her wound with her own tattered clothes. She glances around, and calls out for a doctor to help.

Slugger gasps as her wounds are healed, and she pushes herself into a sitting position. "My... pets..." is all she mutters. She stands and gives Chiyoko a stare containing unadulterated hatred and vile, then shuffles towards the exit.

A lamprey-headed hunchback is hoisted up from below the stadium via one of the cages. Dressed in burlap rags he shambles forth and begins to lick and lap at Slugger's wounds. As his saliva touches the exposed flesh the muscle begins to knit back together very slowly until finally there is only a pale scar where the wound once was.