The coliseum was filled with the cheers and shouting of thousands of fans. In the late morning light, all of Amity Colosseum seemed to be glowing with a bright energy. Two days before, in the opening ceremony for the Vytal Festival, the massive structure's Dust levitation system was activated, pushing the tournament's locale into the sky just above the Perch of Amity.
It had been only two weeks since the Maelstrom's attack, but the island, its inhabitants, and all of the guests were going on with the festivities as if nothing had happened. It wasn't too difficult to recover from the massive Grimm attack since most of the damages were already repaired thanks to the collective efforts of the Atlesian military, the Academies, volunteer Huntsmen and Huntresses, and local construction crews.
In the middle of the combat arena eight contestants stood, four against four.
"Okay… you can do this, Timbre. Just ignore the thousands of people watching you and chanting your name… Just… ignore…"
"Timbre, are… are you using Siren's Song on yourself?..." Arty asked, an eyebrow raised. Palette, his trusty paintball gun/baseball bat hybrid, was resting up on the black strap of his backpack.
Timbre nodded embarrassedly, "Yeah… it's… been a while since I've been in front of a crowd, you know? But..." wires uncoiled from beneath her flowy red sleeves. She made a quick adjustment to the mint green corset around her middle and flipped her black and red hair out of her eyes, "I think I can handle it. Don't worry about me."
"Hey guys!"
Team ARTS looked to Cayenne Canella, the flaming flamenco dancer of Team SPCE, who was waving enthusiastically with the hammer affixed to the bars on her arm from Team SPCE's side of the central platform. The red flower perched behind her left ear was positively glowing in the center, "Let's have a good fun fight! Okay?!"
"Don't expect us to go easy on y'all now." Saffron taunted. She toyed with the chain whip between her hands so she could accentuate every last one of her assets through the tied off blouse and mini skirt. A pair of filed cow horns stuck out through pale blonde hair and her wide brimmed hat, "We may have helped you kill that slimy sea creature when we all first got here, but that doesn't mean nuthin' in the ring!"
Roland snarled and rubbed at his temples. He straightened his hat to conceal a quick glance over to his teammates. He ironed his white dress shirt, violet vest, and even his khakis to look good for Team ARTS' team fight, but Saffron was making him feel like that was all a waste, "Can… can I please just go against the plan and punch her?"
"Strategy, my dear friend," Arty said mockingly, "We stayed up late just to tailor a plan to deal with Team SPCE once we learned we were fighting them in the first round."
Timbre cocked her head at him, "Yeah, but I like to think that Roland knows more about what they can do than they know what we can do."
"Got that right, T. You and Arty didn't see Saffron and Pepper fight that Kokonatsu guy on the boardwalk." Roland growled as Saffron blew him a kiss.
Sepia grabbed Roland by the vest and dragged herself in front of him, as if blocking the kiss from reaching him. She stood as defiantly as she could within the shining dots of lights coming off of her sequin shirt. Even though the dress underneath came down to her knees, and her dark brown bustle kept her from accentuating as much as Saffron, she refused to be upstaged by that hussey.
Timbre rolled her eyes. Sepia and Saffron's little rivalry hadn't died down a bit since they first met. "Oh this is going to be so much fu-" She jumped as the announcer's booming voice echoed throughout the stadium.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO VYTAAAAAAAAAL!" the voice of Beacon's famous scatterbrained professor echoed across the entire stadium. Carmen Maple stood inside the announcer's booth with a microphone in hand, "WHO'S READY FOR A MATCH FOR THE AGES?! A CLASH OF TITANS! BEACON'S ARTISTS VERSUS HAVEN'S FASHIONISTAS!"
Epazote's shoulders slumped. He looked down at the green sleeves of his baseball tee, then looked back to the forest green hiking backpack he had on, "How do they always forget I'm a dude…?"
"It's not too hard, man" Roland bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing, "Sorry, Epazota."
"SO, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THESE FAAAAANTASTIC COMPETITORS, V?!" Carmen held her microphone out to the side to smile at her co-announcer, "Vivian… that's you… that's your cue…"
The lanky man dressed head to toe flowey linen beside her inadvertently leaned away from her, finding her vast supply of energy somewhat off-putting. Being the headmaster of Shade Academy and close friend to Onyx Alabaster, he was never quite sure how someone like Carmen Maple made it to being a teacher in one of the Huntsmen Academies. At least Orchid, Dorimizu, and Yialli were somewhat serious about their jobs. He pushed his long straight dull brown hair out of his face. "Right…" he took the mic in front of him and leaned towards it, "Sorry about my co-announcer everybody. I believe she's just…" he looked over to see her bouncing in her seat and clapping rapidly, "excited… to see more of her students fight. I know we're all still reeling from that last match, and so are the members of Team GLSS… considering they had to be carted off in stretchers... but it's time to continue! For the second match of today, we have Team ARTS of Vale against Team SPCE of Mistral! Combatants, you know the rules."
Both teams looked around as pairs of white hexagonal panels were projected around the far edge of the field.
Vivian let his voice get lower as he inched towards the microphone for dramatic effect, "Let's see what the roulette has in store for you, boys and girls."
The panels began to flicker with a collection of colored symbols. Each represented a different possible biome-based battlefield.
"No plants… no plants… no plants…" Roland mumbled to himself, knowing full well that Epazote would become a major trump card if he had even a patch of grass to work with.
The first panel of each set stopped, showing a dull brown symbol of a ruined urban area.
Roland patted Arty on the back as he pumped his fist, "Yes! That's perfect!"
The second panels stopped on a green symbol consisting of a few pine trees.
Roland's positivity died immediately. "No! That's not perfect!"
"At least we both have a member with a large strength now. I work best in urban, Epazote can control plants… But whatever," Arty readied Palette as the stadium began to rumble, "Timbre will be able to maneuver great in both sides, so maybe we do have a slight advantage."
Sepia looked down at her guns, Avant and Garde, But only three of us can communicate well… so that's a disadvantage as is… she thought to herself. Letting go of her guns to sign or text wasn't a risk that she could take in a fight like this
"We also have Sepia…" Timbre nudged her partner with her elbow and winked, "She's like the living embodiment of a trump card."
"Got that right…" Roland rested his fingers against the keys of Writer's Block, his arm mounted typewriter, "but I think she'd be better described as a wild card."
Guilty as charged, Sepia grinned at her teammates.
"Wild card in a deck of trump cards, then?" Arty remarked.
.
"ENOUGH SITTING AROUND! FIGHT!" Carmen screamed into the microphone. She kept her back turned to Shade's headmaster, Vivian Willows, to keep him from snatching the device back, "I WANNA SEE IT ALL! PUT MY COMBAT CLASS TO THE TEST! RIP EACH OTHER A NEW ONE!"
In one fluid motion, the headmaster used one hand to push Carmen away from the mic in order to take it away from her. "Once again, I'm sorry about her, everybody." He covered the mic and turned to her, "Ms. Maple! The biomes are still in the middle of changing! And can you refrain from using phrases like 'rip each other a new one'? This is a family program being broadcast across all of Remnant, for Dust's sake!"
Carmen giggled. "Haha. I forgot that was a saying in Vacuo. It sounds funny." She scoffed, "For Dust's sake." She mocked him, faking a deep voice.
"Please… just act your age." As they turned back to the battlefield, the large ring around the central platform had changed drastically thanks to the marvels of the combined engineering of the four kingdoms. One half was littered with ruined concrete structures resembling a destroyed cityscape. The other half was lush with green foliage and tall pine trees. Vivian removed his hand from the microphone. "The battlefield is ready. Let's start the countdown." He pushed a button on the control console in front of him to activate the countdown.
"You should be a radio host, V. You have the voice and attitude for it."
"Not if I have to work with anybody like you Ms. Maple… I was supposed to be announcing with Onyx and, to be honest, I was quite excited about that, but when I got here… I learned that he had one of his faculty take his place because he thought they'd have more 'energy' and be more 'entertaining' for the audience. Because of that decision, this has been more torture than fun."
Carmen sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, a triumphant smile spread adorning her face. "Your mic's still on, V."
"Oh… oh son of a-" the announcer's intercom buzzed loudly as the microphone was shut off.
.
"Two… one… an', zero…" a smile spread across Saffron's lips as she watched the countdown on the holographic screens finish, "Now, I don't plan on prolongin' this here fight too long, so…" she unfastened the top two buttons of her blouse as she had to pull Agent Kokonatsu under her spell, "Let's be real nice, now… ya hear?"
Clicks and clacks came from Writer's Block as Roland typed out a strip of paper, "Oh, come on. That trick? I already told them to keep their eyes clos-" his nose twitched, though he wasn't the first to sneeze.
After loudly sprayed snot out in front of him. He began to wipe his nose on his sleeve, "Man, Pepper must-" his eyes passed over Saffron for a split second as he recoiled from his sneeze, "Woah…"
Pepper shrunk back away from the others, her hands over the front of her Haven uniform, one clasped firmly on her burnt-orange miniature lance. Her big brown eyes filled with tears, "I-I am so… sorry… I didn't mean to… make you sick…"
"That's one down," Epazote held his spherical weapon, Archimalter, in his hands. He pressed one of the three green buttons centered around each other on a flattened panel along its curved surface. The gears and plates inside began to shift. Bronze clanked in place around his arm to form a small cannon, "Looks like this is a five versus three situation now."
One of Sepia's guns floated up towards Timbre's side. Her finger slammed down on the trigger with the hope of impressing Saffron guiding her hand.
Before Timbre could realize what was going on, a string of bullets were fired into her side. She'd been hit by Avant and Garde's special film ammunition before, but that was usually when she was expecting it. She knew she had four opponents in front of her, but she hadn't even fathomed one being right beside her. Timbre went sliding across the tile of the central stage.
"Wow…" Epazote's eyes went wide, "I… honestly wasn't expecting that, Rol."
"I was…"
"So why didn't you warn me!?" Timbre said as she pushed herself to her feet.
Roland shrugged, "Thought you would've remembered," he ducked down to let a bright yellow paintball fly safely overhead, "Great…" the strip of paper on his arm twisted into a round shield much like the ones that Epazote's weapon was capable of transforming into, "Come on, T!"
Timbre raised her wires in an attempt to block Sepia's barrage of bullets. She watched as Roland darted into the urban area, so she shot one of her wires into one of the ruined concrete buildings behind them. She reeled in and joined Roland as he rounded a corner.
As soon as she turned onto one of the open simulated streets, a hand latched onto her arm and pulled her through a sagging doorway. Roland shut the busted door behind her and put his back to it.
"Okay… hopefully they won't expect us to hide so close to the rim…" he tapped the side of his head, "Six versus two aren't good odds. If we don't get Arty and Sepia back, then we're done."
"So wha-?" Timbre stopped herself, she tried to keep her voice down, but if there was one thing she knew from getting caught chit-chatting in class, it was that her voice carried very well. She decided to switch to her hands. 'So what are you suggesting we do then? It would kind of suck to be taken out in the first round because your ex-girlfriend can brainwash people with her… looks.'
It wasn't the first time that he was glad that he was dating a mute girl, nor would it be the last, 'It's more than that. I'm not affected by it because I just don't find her attractive like I used to…' his hands froze for a moment. Since attractiveness was the key to Attraction… 'You use Siren's Song to convince Arty that Saffron's the most disgusting witch he's ever seen, and I'll… do what I can to snap Sepia out of it.'
'You think my Semblance can beat hers?'
Roland rolled his eyes, 'You clearly can change people's opinions, so yes. You are the only real deciding factor in your Semblance. She needs other people to be a certain way for hers to work. That, and I'm sure that it would really take a burden off of Arty and Curie's budding relationship if he didn't drool whenever he saw another woman. You'd probably be doing them a favor.'
Timbre began to bounce on her heels for a second, 'Speaking of which, did you hear that they had their first kiss on the ferris-wheel?! You know, before the Maelstrom atta-'
Roland smacked her on the back of the head.
'Right… sorry… so… what's the plan to get that plan in motion?'
Saffron's voice rang out from outside, "Heya! Where you two mosey off to now? You two makin' out in the middle of a fight?! That wouldn't be too good for your relationship now wouldit Rowland?"
'Epazote and Cayenne are probably going to stay in the forest area,' Roland had to fight the urge to jump out and follow Carmen's instruction to tear Saffron a new one, 'If we keep our distance from Saffron and Pepper, they can't do too much. We focus on Arty and Sepia. That's about all we've got.'
'Okay then… well, should we just make a run for it and hope we find Arty an-'
"Hey! I found them!" Arty shouted from the blown-out window across the room.
Roland and Timbre found themselves staring down Palette's barrel.
" found us first," Roland pulled his shield up in front of him and Timbre. Flames exploded against paper and ink. Of course Arty still had enough sense to use Fire Dust against him, "Do it!"
Timbre drew wires as a precaution. They had up to five other opponents coming. "Arty! Please! Listen to me!"
Arty fumbled for a second, obviously confused as to what he was doing. "I'm sorry T… but it's what Saffron wants." He fired more Fire Dust paintballs at Timbre, who tried her best to block them with her wires.
Flames blasted past her as the plastic orbs burst against the wires. True to their technique for their Modernism team attack, her wires became coated with bright red paint.
"Arty, I don't want to do this, but you're not leaving me much of a choice." She rushed him, swinging her wires at him. In preparation for the onslaught, he shifted his paintball gun into its baseball bat form in order to block her attacks, but each time he batted away one flaming wire, the other would bash him in the side.
High above, the screens showing their aura via a video game lifebar-like system showed Arty's aura slowly draining.
"Would you look at that folks?!" Vivian yelled excitedly into his mic, now turned on after dealing with his small incident previously. "It appears Ms. Saffron Sassafras is using her Semblance to turn one half of Team ARTS against the other!"
Chipper as ever, Carmen came over the speakers, "And Timbre Forté has no choice but to beat her own team leader! If she doesn't break the spell soon, then Team ARTS may be down one of their members!"
"Arty!" Timbre shouted as she pushed against Palette, "Will. You. Just. Snap out of it!?" She drove a fist into his face, making him stumble backwards. She ran at him, ready to knock some more sense into him.
Arty blinked a few times. "T-Timbre?" The next thing he knew, the grey sole of her boot was driven into his face. The force of the kick sent him to the ground.
"Oh my god! Arty!" she ran to his side, "Don't beat me up. Don't beat me up. Don't beat me up."
"Oh god..." Arty groaned while holding his nose, "Owww… What happened?..." his eyes widened, "Oh god… did I just… in front of Curie?!"
Timbre winced, "Yeah… you kinda did… but… just to be safe. Ignore Saffron and don't fall for that stupid crap again." she smacked him on the head as Roland had done to her earlier, "Got it?"
"Ow… yeah. At least I didn't take one of you guys out…" Arty pushed himself up, "So where's Roland?"
"He's right…" she turned to find the Otter Faunus gone. Even more ominous was the fact that she couldn't see any member of Team SPCE, "Oh… he was just…"
.
No weapon. No time to type one out. Even if he did have enough time, Sepia's bullet hail would just fill the paper up with holes before he could mold it into anything useful. All he could do was run and hope that he could turn the tables on her somehow.
Sepia ran across the ledges of ruined buildings with her guns aimed down at her favorite Faunus. Her eyes burned bright gold, and her orbs lined the streets and alleys that Roland ran along. She knew that he wouldn't dare break one of them and cause her that pain.
"Come on… think…" Roland's eyes locked onto a dented trash can at the end of the crumbling alley that he ran across, "That'll do…" he grabbed a plastic ball of ink off his belt and lobbed it at the lid of the can to coat it in a thick layer of tarry ink.
He latched onto the lid's handle and held it back behind him. He ground his boots into the concrete and steeled himself against the bullets that bounced off the reinforced metal in his hands. With his aura covering the ink, he couldn't keep his makeshift shield up for too long.
Roland's aura monitor began to drain to the point it was lower than Arty's following his scuffle with Timbre. The bar was slowly creeping upon the three quarters mark.
A bullet grazed his nose as he turned out of the alley to the cracked street that made up the edge of the urban battlefield. It didn't come from Sepia.
"Hey! Sugah-pie! My dahlin'!" Saffron spun her chain whip around loosely in her fist on her stroll towards her target, "Havin' girl troubles?" she cracked her chain whip again, sending out another shot that barely missed Roland's ankle.
Okay… this might work… he stepped back to keep out of Sepia's line of fire while she ran down the alley after him. There wasn't a whole lot of time, but he could manage.
"I guess you could say that," Roland kept his hand over another grenade on his belt, "Where's Pepper?"
"Oh, ya know. 'Round here somewhere," Saffron cracked her whip again, only to have the shot clang off of Writer's Block, "C'mon… ya cornered."
Shoes clacked closer down the alley off to his right.
"You wouldn't ruin a couple's moment, would you?" Roland yanked the pin out and tossed the grenade towards the sidewalk. Black inky mist exploded out from the orb, then condensed, "Gotcha."
Pepper tried to pull her legs free from the inky slime holding her against a nearby wall. "No…! I'm sorry, Saf…!" she reached for her weapon, but it had been caught in the mist too, "Oh no…!"
Of course Sepia knew what he would do before he did. She was the one that he sparred with. She knew his fighting patterns like the back of her hand.
Lead slammed into the small of Roland's back, sending him crumpling to the ground. He flipped onto his back just in time to see Sepia flying through the air. She tackled him and raised a gun over his heart. Her eyes had returned to their normal shade of tan.
"H-Hey, babe!" Roland raised his hands and grabbed the straps of Sepia's sequin shirt, "Listen, I really just have to say how beautiful you look when you've got your guns aimed at me. You're really something else!"
Sepia stayed still. Her finger hesitated on the trigger, but never once left it.
"Shoot 'im, dahlin'. I'll make sure ya have a wonda'ful time later if ya do!" Saffron called out while tugging on Pepper to get her out of her inky binds.
"Okay, this isn't working fast enough…" Roland pulled Sepia down and leaned up. Their lips met and stayed locked for a few moments. He hated the idea of thousands of people watching him kissing his girlfriend, but it was certainly better than losing in the first round of the tournament.
Sepia's finger fell away from the trigger when she leaned into the kiss, which gave Roland just enough leeway to bring a knee up and shove her off of him. She hit the sidewalk beside him and looked up with rage-filled eyes.
Please work… he jumped up. Hopefully a kiss and a kick would be enough to snap her out of Saffron's spell, but he didn't have time to wait around to find out. He had to run.
"Okay, see you girls later!" he darted down the alley that he came down to group back up with Timbre. He could only hope she had managed to break Saffron's hold on Arty.
.
Arty ran as Timbre swung through the trees. After losing Roland, they thought the next best step would be to find the other members of Team SPCE and attempt to distract them. If they could take them out, however, then that'd be even better. The less people Roland had to deal with, the greater their chances of winning the fight. They considered staying in the urban biome to try to group back up, but in the game of numbers they would've lost three to five. Upon entering the other end of the battlefield, it wasn't long until Roland's hypothesis about Cayenne and Epazote's location turned out to be true.
Green balls of energy and huge plumes of flames licked their heels as they ran.
"Do they have to be so overkill?!" Arty shouted as he shot bright yellow paintballs back at the pair as they charged through the forest after them.
"You're one to talk, Dust Devil!" Timbre taunted as she felt the white-hot flames from Cayenne's flamethrower scorch against her back, "Ow. Ow. Ow! Can you guys cool it!?"
"You've gotta keep on your toes, Tim!" Cayenne slid around a tree with her hammer drawn to the side. Her boots dug into the damp soil beneath her feet, and the fire burning across her hammer singed the grass behind her. She began to turn for a spin, her hammer pulled close to her chest and ready to slam into the side of Timbre's head.
For a moment, there was bronze and bright red. The next, blinding white.
Timbre flew through the forest, slamming through trees after being hammer-smacked in the face. A shower of splinters followed her in her wake. The extra propulsion from the lit fuel made it impossible for her to stop.
"Timbre!" Arty shouted, but he knew he had to keep running.
"Cai, go after her! I got Art!" Epazote flicked his wrist out towards Arty and grinned as his weapon shifted into a large polearm at the press of another green button.
Arty felt himself fumble, the toes of his boots catching on something every now and then. Taking a quick moment to look down, he found small vines lashing out at him, acting as small sentient tripwires thanks to Epazote's Semblance.
"I know you're worried about Tim, but I think you have problems of your own!" With Arty sufficiently slowed down, Epazote leapt into the air, ready to bring the blade of his polearm down on him.
.
Flames exploded across Cayenne's dress with every burning step through the forest. Fire curled off of the end of her hammer. Ash marked the path that she made to get back to Timbre, "No hard feelings after this, right? I've been seriously jamming out to your music lately, and I'd hate to think about how much you hated me from the beatdown I'm about to give you every time I decided to put you on!"
Timbre pushed herself away from the tree that acted as her brakes. A large impact crater was blasted into the trunk about halfway up the large pine. Looking back down towards Cayenne, she could see a trail of fallen trees coming from the way she had been launched. After all the damage caused by that single attack, she could tell her aura was getting frighteningly close to the regulation level for being taken out of the tournament. 15%... 15%... Timbre thought to herself as she looked to the screen with the faces of Teams ARTS and SPCE. Of all the meters, hers was the lowest, nearing 30%. I just need to stay above that...
Cayenne looked off in the same direction as Timbre, "Oohh… down to 34%! That must've really hurt, huh?!" she smiled wider as her gaze wandered to the other side of the board, "And would you look at that?! All of Team SPCE is still in perfect shape!" she dug her heels into the ground once more in preparation for another spin, "I'm sorry that I'm not sorry about how bad this is gonna hurt."
Timbre reeled out a length of wire and let them attach to the branch she was standing on, "No need to apologize." she jumped, letting gravity carry her in a wide arc around Cayenne. With another wire, she changed direction in order to head right for the Pyrodancer of Haven. Her leg was outstretched, and ready to deliver a kick.
The warmth of Cayenne's hammer filled her core as she drew it close for a spin. Embers whipped through the air on the hammer's way to give Timbre another lesson about taking on Team SPCE's pyromaniac. Flat steel only trimmed the sole of Timbre's boot to her surprise, and her eyes reflected cinders as they widened in realization of what had just happened.
Right as Cayenne's hammer would have hit her, Timbre reeled in her supporting wire just enough to pull herself out of the weapon's trajectory. Her foot flew over the scorched bronze on its way into Cayenne's cheekbone.
Cayenne hit the ground with her hammer held out in front of her. It still burned bright with fresh gas-fueled flames. As Timbre came down for another kick, she swung upwards at her and let a fan of fire spew out of the nozzle of her weapon.
Timbre knew that her aura was low, but she was already through her trajectory. The spewing flame blasted her legs like a primed oven. Even that couldn't stop her descent, though.
Metal clanged against Timbre's boot as it struck Cayenne's hammer. Cayenne slammed the weapon forward to send Timbre tumbling back.
Cayenne glanced up at the aura meter to check her own aura as she got back up, "I've still got most of my aura left. That's a shame for yo-"
Paper rods appeared in the nozzle of Cayenne's flamethrower moments before the entire system backfired into the gas canister on her back. A coin sized hole popped out of the back of the canister and released a jet of flames that sent her slamming into a tree before fizzling out.
"Hey, Cai," a paper blade cut through the trunk of the tree and slashed Cayenne's side.
"Should have guessed that Saffron and Pepper wouldn't get you…" she groaned, "You don't think you'll show a little…"
"Mercy? Nah," Roland pulled the blade out from the tree, "See, I've got an agenda for winning this thing. Gotta make Mom proud, you know?" he stepped around the tree and threw his blade towards her.
Cayenne caught the blade with her extinguished hammer, but didn't see Timbre coming up from behind.
Timbre drove a series of punches into Cayenne's back before grabbing her by the hem of her skirt and throwing her towards one of the fallen pines.
Bark and wood cracked as Cayenne slammed face-first against the fallen tree. Falling to her butt, back against the log, she gave Roland and Timbre a dazed grin. Her weapon was down. Her aura was low. She was outnumbered.
The hammer detached from the rods on her right forearm, falling uselessly to the dirt, "We're still cool, right?" she held out her arms, accepting her defeat.
"Duh," Roland and Timbre said in unison as they raised their boots.
.
Epazote rushed around Arty, hearing the light splats of paint balls smashing against the bronze shield in his left hand. After a failed bout with his polearm, he needed a new plan of attack, and he needed it quickly, "Sure hope the girls aren't having as much trouble as me right now…"
"AND ROLAND AND TIMBRE HAVE TAKEN MS. CAYENNE CANELLA OUT OF THE MATCH!" Carmen's voice boomed throughout the stadium.
"What?!" Epazote looked up to the monitors. Sure enough, a large red 'X' over Cayenne's portrait. Her aura meter was just below the 15% threshold. "Cai!"
Arty took a break from his assault on Epazote to pump his fist, "Way to go guys!"
Things were finally starting to look up for Team ARTS. They started off on a rocky and… brainwashy start, but the tides seemed to be turning. Even with the small victory, Arty had to remember that they were still at the disadvantage. Cayenne may have been taken out, but Team SPCE was still presumably fighting with a full group of four if they still had Sepia under Saffron's Attraction.
"I'm not going to lie. I was kind of counting on her to take Timbre out…" Epazote adjusted his glasses. The small fires that Cayenne started were starting to burn across the trees. He held up his shield and shut his eyes to focus on the burning branches just overhead.
Arty thought that he had the fight in the bag, until the air was knocked out of his lungs. He stumbled forwards with Palette raised. The tree branches around him moved up and down as if taunting him. Several were on fire, but that was far more than he saw Cayenne light up. Then he remembered the Fire Dust loaded into his weapon. "Dammit… not again…"
"Thanks for the upgrade." Epazote threw his arm towards Arty, "Too bad they're…" he whimpered, "not in good shape…" it always hurt him to see plants get damaged, but with a Semblance like his being used in a combat setting, it was inevitable.
Arty ducked and rolled in an attempt to dodge the burning branches extending from the blazing pines around him. He didn't exactly want to be skewered on live television.
"Okay… chill out. Chill out… Chill out!" He grabbed a vial from his belt, the one containing, arguably, the most stable Dust fusion he and Roland had concocted together. He raised the vial above his head, the swirling white and blue paintballs glistening with an icy haze as his aura activated them. As a few of the branches closed in on him, he said a small prayer to himself before throwing the vial.
"Oh please don't let this kill me!"
He could barely hear the noise of glass shattering as a branch gave him a hard smack across the face.
.
The entire stadium gasped as the forested half of the battlefield became littered with snow.
"Well would you look at that!" Vivian called out as he observed the sudden change in the arena, "It appears Arty Umber has used a high concentration of his specialized Dust paint to bury him and his opponent in an artificial avalanche!"
"Bet you don't see that everyday back home in Vacuo, eh Vivian?" Carmen laughed.
Vivian replied with a less-than-enthusiastic tone, "It's not everyday you come across someone who has the capability to change their battlefield like this, much less someone that's actually willing to do so."
"I was talking about the snow."
He sighed, "I'm just going to try to ignore you from now on."
.
The small part of the forest where Arty and Epazote were previously fighting was completely void of movement. Flakes of ice swirled around in the remaining gusts of wind from the Rime Dust vial exploding open.
An ashen-skinned hand broke the pristine surface of the snow. Following shortly after were tufts of black hair and one particular spike of forest green. Epazote gasped as he was finally able to get ice-free air into his lungs. "Are… are you crazy?!"
"Probably." Arty's voice should have been muffled by the snow, but it rang out clear as day.
Epazote looked up and found Arty standing on one of the lower tree branches, no longer on fire thanks to the cool blast of ice and air.
"But that isn't even the start of it, buddy." Arty grabbed another vial from his belt, these a bright orange. Instead of throwing this one on the ground, he poured the contents into the hopper of his paintball gun.
"Wha-... what are you doing?!" Epazote struggled, but he couldn't break the lower half of his body free. He looked for Archimalter, but unfortunately, his weapon was hidden somewhere in the drift.
"Evening the odds." A loud crunch rang out as the top of the hopper was twisted, releasing the Magma Dust paint. Arty gave a quick swipe, speckling the snow with orange blotches. It quickly began to melt.
Epazote stood dumbfounded and soaked as the snow vanished. He looked up to Arty, "Why did you trap me in snow just to melt it and free me?" He eyed the branch, carefully moving his hands in preparation to make it snap upwards against Arty's legs. If he could just knock the painter off balance, then maybe he could get a point for Team SPCE and make up for Cayenne's loss to Timbre.
"Again. Evening the odds."
Arty and Epazote both made their moves at the same time. Arty threw a third vial. Electrified yellow paintballs flew through the air towards the soaked earth. Epazote flicked his wrist, causing the branch under Arty's boots to quiver violently and send him tumbling off of his perch.
Both their eyes widened as they realized how much trouble they were both in.
Arty hit the ground just as the vial shattered. He barely had time to register the powerful jolt of electricity passing through him.
.
"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, V?! TEAM ARTS IS MAKING A COMEBACK BY TAKING OUT CAYENNE AND EPAZOTE ONE AFTER ANOTHER!" Carmen screamed into the mic. Bunches of curls were frazzled across her head from her excited hair pulling, "THIS MATCH IS JUST FULL OF SURPRISES! THOSE ARE MY KIDS, V! LOOK AT 'EM G-"
Even though the crowd couldn't see it, the way Vivian Willows spoke made it obvious his face was in his palm, "Couldn't you at least try to act unbiased during your commentary?"
"TEAM SPCE HAS ALSO BEEN INCREDIBLE WITH THEIR USE OF THEIR SEMBLANCES! SAFFRON'S SEDUCTION GAVE THEM AN AMAZING LEAD, AND CAYENNE'S RAW POWER IS UNMATCHED!" Carmen's screaming took on a slightly more sarcastic ring, "THEY PROBABLY HAVE A LOT OF MOTIVATION FROM THEIR HEADMASTER, WHO HAS A HECK OF A LOT MORE PEP THAN ANOTHER CERTAIN HEADMASTER FROM ANOTHER CERTAIN KINGDOM!" she leaned over with her hand over the microphone, "Better?"
"Now you're just being loud and antagonizing."
"Then put Orchid up here if you think I'm so obnoxious," Carmen turned her nose up at him.
"Can we save this argument for some other time? It appears your student isn't exactly in the best shape."
"Oh no. Which one?"
.
Upon reaching the scene, Roland and Timbre saw a sopping wet and unconscious Epazote and one smoking and sparking Arty. Burnt branches still steamed. What was once lush grass had been turned into brittle black wires. A few flowers that were caught in the crossfire had been reduced to damp ash.
"So Epa's out, and you're down to 22%," Roland grabbed Arty by the shoulder and hoisted him up, "T's at 29%, I'm still sitting pretty at 74%, and Sepia's got 94%... but she might still be brainwashed… by the way…"
"I figured she was…" Arty licked his fingers and put out a small flame in his hair. "So… we're not looking too good in other words."
"Yeah… and I embarrassed myself by making out with Sepia in front of millions…" he pulled the brim of his hat down over his eyes.
"Hey." Timbre pat him on the back, "At least you two are actually dating. Imagine if you had to, like, kiss me instead for whatever reason," she began to jog off into the trees, "Now that would be embarrassing!"
"Hey! Timbre!" Arty ran after her.
"We need to stick together!" Roland added as he joined.
"Hey. It's fine now. We're actually evenly matched!" Timbre laughed as they entered the central platform where they started the match.
"Um. Aren't you forgetting about our aura levels?" Arty reloaded his gun, readying himself for an ambush, "Saffron and Pepper haven't even gotten hit yet."
"That just shows how cocky they are," Roland growled, "and they're willing to pin the whole match on them-" he held his blade out in front of Timbre's face. A bullet made an inch deep crater in the paper construct right where Timbre's nose would have been, "selves… Saffron forgot that my hearing is better than hers. It's a predator versus prey thing…"
Arty cocked his head to the side, "Otters are predators?"
"I think we have bigger issues at the moment Arty." Timbre drew wires as Saffron and Pepper appeared between the rubble of one of the decrepit buildings. "Try not to fall for her again, Arty. I don't want any nose blood on my clothes."
"I think I'm done falling for her today…" Arty grumbled, "Thanks for the push earlier, T…"
"No problem, Painter-Boy."
"The key is to look at the really gross mole that she has right on the side of her neck. She tries to hide it with her collar," Roland lowered his blade. His eyes locked onto Saffron as she strolled out from the crumbling ruins of the building and onto the central platform. "You have no idea how many of the exchange students I've had to tell that to…"
"I can't ba-leave you three managed ta take out Cay-anne and Epa," Saffron flung her whip around herself constantly as she spoke. Pepper and Sepia followed along behind her. While Pepper had a bit of pep in her step, Sepia's movements seemed almost sluggish.
"Great…" Roland suppressed a smile, "so I guess we're just gonna go for a three versus three brawl… or…?"
Pepper shakily held up her lance, "P-Please just forfeit… I am okay with hurting Grimm… but people actually… hurt…"
"Then… maybe you shouldn't have been part of a tournament where the sole objective is to beat the ever living crud out of other people?" Arty pondered for a moment, "Just saying."
"But… but I… my team…" tears welled up in Pepper's eyes, "I didn't… I didn't want to let them down…"
"Way to go, man. You made her cry," Roland pinched the bridge of his nose, "She's like the one person that we might feel a little guilt over beating to a pulp, and you made her cry. Way to go…"
"I… I didn't mean to!" Arty winced, "Hey… Pepper? I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to-"
"I'M SOOOORRYYYYYY!" Pepper wailed as tears poured from her eyes. Her Semblance kicked into overdrive, causing all of Team ARTS and even Saffron's eyes to water, "I-I-I-I-I-" she sniffled for air, "I just wanted to b-b-b-b-be a g-g-g-g-good teammaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate! I wanted my p-p-p-parents to be proud of me! I'm so SOOOORRYYYYYYYYY!" she sobbed harder.
"This just got…" Timbre held her finger to her nose, feeling a sneeze coming, "r-r-really… awk-wa-wa- ACHOO! Awkward…"
"Peppa… hun… it's alright…" Saffron fought off a sneeze. She pulled Pepper into a hug and pat her head comfortingly, "Ya jus' sit back and shoot 'em, 'kay? Ya don't have ta hit nobody. Just make it sting. Them non-lethal peppa spray pellets were made jus' for that purpose, huh?"
"A-A-Alr-r-r-right…" Pepper pushed away and ran to the edge of the central platform. Once she was in position, she raised her minature lance. She kept her puffy red eyes locked down the weapon's shaft as the lance's blade opened slightly, revealing a tiny gun barrel in the end.
"'Kay then…" Saffron cocked her head back towards Arty, Roland, and Timbre, "Y'all good?"
"I'm just worried Arty's going to throw that kind of verbal abuse on me someday..." Roland pressed a little bead of ink into the dent in his blade from Saffron's bullet. It filled up the divot and smoothed the blade back out.
Timbre reared her fists and wires back, taking a fighting stance. She hadn't fought Saffron head-to-head before, but she'd seen that chain whip in action, "Bring it on."
Arty aimed his paintball gun towards Saffron and Pepper. Even though Sepia was fighting for the opposing side, he didn't want to fry her with his Dust paint. "I made a girl cry…" he muttered under his breath.
"Aight…" Saffron snapped her fingers, "Get 'em, gal."
Sepia shot forward with her guns raised. Golden orbs burst to life around the central platform. Her eyes burned with the same golden light. Her bullets peppered the tiles leading up to Timbre.
Roland jumped to take the hit. His aura was the only one that could handle a barrage from her at this point, "I've got her. You guys focus on the other two," he slashed at Sepia, but she ducked under the blade and threw the butt of her gun up into his gut.
"Got it! T, let's take Saffron first!" Arty commanded as he and Timbre ran for Saffron. Silver wires and burning paintballs fired past her.
Arty knew he had to keep his distance due to his aura being so low. He had to come up with an idea.
Timbre swung a wire down at Saffron's head, but it seemed like each time she went for a blow, Saffron deflected it with her chain whip.
"Sorry doll! But a little bit o' twine ain't gonna do nuthin' against my Daisy Chain!" Saffron ducked low, swiping the opposite end of her weapon along the ground towards Timbre.
Timbre felt a few of the links clasp shut around her ankle. The next thing she knew, she was on her back and on the ground.
"Looks like Team SPCE is gonna be takin' the lead back now, huh?" She raised the other end of the chain whip and aimed it at Timbre's face. The dark barrel of a gun was plainly visible at the tip.
"Not really!" Timbre swung her arms down. A wire wrapped over each of Saffron's shoulders and clasped against the tiles of the central platform. With the wires anchored in place, Timbre began reeling them in. She flew up off of the ground towards Saffron. With her being so close, there was enough slack on the weapon wrapped around Timbre's ankle to let her get close to Saffron before she could be whipped away. The momentum carried the singer right where she needed to go, and she drove a knee right to Saffron's face. With the attack finished and her ankle free, she landed on her feet and clipped the wires before drawing new ones.
The Faunus girl stumbled back as her hat fell to the ground. She lowered her head, hand rubbing her chin, "So ya wanna play dirty…?" she lunged forward. The blunt end of her horn grazed the side of Timbre's corset, but caught enough to pull her along with Saffron. She dug her heels into the tiles and threw her head upwards.
Timbre's feet came off the ground before slamming back down. She stumbled to retain her balance. Metal slammed against her thigh, then again against her ankle.
"There ya go! Dance for me!" Saffron shouted as she threw her chain whip around herself once more, "Dance like ya did on stage!" She laughed as she watched Timbre bounce about to dodge the bullets, "Ya ain't got nuthin' on Cai!"
Timbre shot a wire towards Saffron.
In mid-crack, Saffron's arm stopped and was yanked out of its trajectory.
Timbre yanked on her wire, drawing Saffron closer to her. As her target drew closer, she spun her body to gain momentum and then delivered a kick to Saffron's face. "Sorry, I don't dance anymore. I'm retired. Besides, singing was more my thing. I just did what the choreographer told me to do."
Saffron stumbled back. She wiped her lip with her forearm, "Well…" she smiled, "Don't matter much whatcha do if it's a three versus two…"
"Wait, what-" Timbre's eyes widened at the screen overhead.
.
"OH MY GODS, VIVIAN! SEPIA HUGHES JUST TOOK ROLAND WELLS OUT! WHAT A BETRAYAL! AFTER THAT LOVING EMBRACE, SHE STABBED HIM IN THE BACK! OH! MY! GODS!" Carmen shrieked over her microphone.
Vivian groaned, "Onyx Alabaster, I know you're watching and listening to this. Please do something before I throw myself off of this coliseum."
A red laser blade appeared in front of Vivian's face, "Quit complaining and announce… If I can't break from the norm to express my feelings, then neither can you..."
There was a pause before Vivian spoke again. "As it appears, Sepia Hughes is still under the effects of Saffron Sassafras's Semblance. In a scuffle with Roland Wells, she made it seem as if she was back to her normal self before finishing off his aura with a quick barrage of attacks. Arty and Timbre are the only ones left fighting for Team ARTS, and both seem to be in pretty bad shape!"
.
Sepia turned to face Arty and Timbre with the same psychotic grin that she gave all of her targets. Being on the receiving end was significantly more terrifying than merely observing Sepia try and psyche out her opponents. Unfortunately, they knew that they couldn't call a bluff that wasn't there. Seeing Roland crumpled on the edge of the center platform was enough to tell them that she meant business.
Arty felt frozen. They were going to lose this fight because they couldn't get on the same side… that and he didn't want to shoot the girl he made cry earlier. Okay, so then do something that'll take them both out without actually… shooting Pepper. A lightbulb went off, but as Sepia dashed to join Saffron in the fight against Timbre, he knew he had to act fast.
Timbre swung frantically as she tried to deflect attacks from Saffron, Pepper, and Sepia. "Arty! A little help would be greatly appreciated!"
Tube-full after tube-full of paintballs went into Palette's hopper. The only way they could stay in the tournament at this point was to go all out. The entirety of his remaining arsenal was loaded except for two white paintballs. He twisted the cap. Through the viewing port, a swirl of colors glowed with pent-up energy. "Timbre! Keep them moving!"
"What?! What are you doing?!" She was skeptical, but she followed her leader's order and began to run in a circle around the central ring.
"Just trust me! I have an idea!"
"Oh, that sounds as fun as a box a' Rapier Wasps!" Saffron taunted, "Hey, Sepia. Why don't you go take care of your artsy-fartsy little leader, huh sugah?"
"Oh dammit." Arty threw the paintballs on the ground and jumped on them as he saw Sepia divert from chasing Timbre to come after him. He went shooting into the air.
Sepia raised her guns. Her fingers held down the triggers of her pistols. She kept the barrels of her guns trained on her leader without so much as a hint of remorse on her face.
As Arty flew upwards, he could feel bullets shoot past him, a couple bouncing off his aura. If he was going to set up for a possible winning strategy, he had to do it before his aura hit the 15% threshold. As he shot even higher, higher than the tallest pines left standing in the forest biome, he looked to the aura monitors. His was down to 17% and Timbre wasn't too far behind. Gotta move fast. Please let this work. Using the propulsion from the Air Dust on his boots, he began to spin, whipping himself around rapidly while holding the trigger down on Palette. A myriad of colors sprayed from where he was levitating in a sickening blur of movement.
Timbre and her opponents actually stopped for a moment to watch as the multi-colored paint rained down from the sky, coating the center battlefield. What the heck are you doing, Umber?!
The paintball gun clicked as its contents ran dry. Steadying himself from his dizzying spin, he let his vision correct itself. The world felt like it was spinning as a wave of nausea hit him. Don't puke. Not yet. At least try to finish this. He turned, letting the air from his shoes shoot off away from the ground so they no longer kept him aloft. As he fell through the air he shifted his gun into its bat form. With all of Remnant watching, he thought that he must be proving himself to be a full-on lunatic for trying something so crazy. Just gotta land one solid hit in the middle...
Twin pepper spray pellets spun through the air. One slammed into each of Arty's eyes to send pain searing through his face. From the edge of the central platform, Pepper looked up from her lance, "I'M SO SOOOORRYYYY AAAAARTYYYYYYY!" she sobbed.
Arty let Palette slip from his hand as he wiped at his eyes frantically. His legs shot out to his side, rocketing him towards the forest area. A loud buzzer went off as one of the trees shook violently.
"HOLY CRAP DID YOU SEE THAT?! ARTY TRIED TO SACRIFICE HIMSELF IN ORDER TO LAND A FINAL BLOW AGAINST TEAM SPCE, BUT TWO WELL-PLACED PEPPER SPRAY PELLETS FROM PEPPER PAPRIKA HAVE OFFICIALLY TAKEN TEAM ARTS'S LEADER OUT OF THE MATCH!"
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO! I'M SORRY!" Pepper wailed in response to the announcement.
"Oh, hun," Saffron shook her head. She kept Timbre at bay with her chain whip. A cocky smile twisted onto her lips, "Sepia, please!"
Bullets slammed into the small of Timbre's back without hesitation.
Timbre fell forward onto her hands and knees as another buzzer sounded. Out of all four members of Team ARTS, the only one left in the game was the one under the spell of the opposition. She felt the color rush from her face as she realized that they had lost.
"Looks like you gotta leave the ring, hun." Saffron smirked.
Timbre shakily pushed herself to her feet, drawing in her wires as she did so. Reluctantly, she retreated to the edge of the arena to join Roland and Arty. Roland stood stone-faced as he watched the paint-coated battlefield. Arty slumped over on a bench, pine needles and branches sticking out all over his body. He looked a little too tired and battered to really pay attention.
Pepper ran up to Saffron and wrapped her arms around her. She sobbed and sobbed, but still smiled from their victory, "W-W-W-We d-d-d-d-did i-i-i-it…!"
"Almost," Saffron pointed to the rest of Team ARTS, "So, Sepia, why dont'cha take a hike? Join the rest of yer team ova in the loser's circle."
Sepia's eyes returned to their bright tan as her orbs faded. She zombie-walked past Saffron and Pepper towards her team. Her eyes seemed to glaze over from Saffron's spell. Her cheeks were red from the desire that she felt. Her heart beat steadily. Her palms didn't sweat. Her eyes brightened again as her guns shifted.
"Whelp, that's a victory for- WHAT?!" Saffron looked down at the layers of film and bullets binding her and Pepper together. She looked back up at Sepia, who was holding both Avant and Garde in their whip forms. Their reels stopped spinning and the binds went taught.
Being an actress sure does come in handy, Sepia grinned wide. She yanked Saffron and Pepper down right onto a giant splotch of bright orange paint.
The ensuing explosion sent them rocketing up, and Sepia threw her whips down to send them into a splotch of bright blue Force Dust paint. Once again, Saffron and Pepper were sent screaming up into the air and slamming back down into a splotch of paint. Fire Dust exploded around them. Another slam, and Gravity Dust sent them up. Another slam, and electricity burst across the battlefield with enough kinetic force to send the girls upwards again. The final slam sent them into a splotch of Air Dust. At the apex of their flight, Sepia cut the binds and switched her whips back into their gun forms.
Bullets slammed into Saffron and Pepper as they flew across the battlefield. Two buzzers went off right before the film-bound girls slammed into the force field separating the viewers from the contestants.
Left alone on the battlefield, Sepia bowed to a silent crowd. Well, silent aside from Carmen's incessant screeching over her microphone.
Arty and Timbre sat dumbfounded.
"What… what in the world just happened?!" Timbre shouted.
"Sepia happened…" Roland grinned, "She's the wild card in a pack of trump cards, after all."
The three of them ran back into the field to congratulate her, all giving her hugs before Roland picked her up and swung her around.
"I can't believe this folks, but… after what seemed like certain defeat, Team ARTS's Sepia Hughes turned the whole thing around in a surprising show of skill and misdirection! The winner of our second fight of the day is-"
"TEAM AAAAAARTS!" Carmen screamed, finishing Vivian's statement.
The whole stadium erupted into cheers.
"Holy crap…" Arty looked around as he waved sheepishly to the crowd, "That… they're all cheering… for us… That's a first…" He looked over to Timbre, who was flashing her famous smile and waving enthusiastically, "Well… for me that is."
"Shut up. This still makes me very uncomfortable." She said through her teeth, not breaking her expression.
"When did you break out of her spell?! Was it the kiss?!" Roland shouted as he spun Sepia around and around. He set her back down on her feet and held her at arm's length with tears brimming over his eyelids.
Sepia's grin widened as happy tears trailed down his cheeks, 'When Saffron sneezed. Her face looks gross when it puffs up.'
"W… what…?"
'Kidding!' she slapped him on the arm, 'Of course it was when you kissed me! It was like when you're bored at a restaurant and your scroll is dead so you start reading the menu, but then your food comes out and reminds you of what's really important in life!'
Roland just pulled her in for another hug, "Gods, you're just…" he hugged her tighter, "I love you, you know tha…" he froze and let go, his face blazing red.
'I love you too…?' Sepia's heart picked back up unlike what it did with Saffron. Her cheeks turned the same shade of bright red as Roland's.
"Okay, lovebirds." The speakers boomed, "Get your team and head out of the arena so we can prepare for the next fight." Vivian chuckled. They couldn't exactly tell if it was from finding Team ARTS funny, or if he was just happy to have a break from Carmen for a little bit.
Arty laughed and pat Roland on the back, taking the lead to get them out of the ring. They stopped in their tracks when they heard what sounded like multiple people crying.
"WE WERE SO CLOSE, PEP! SO CLOOOOOOOOOOOSE" Saffron wailed from the dugout around the arena. She cried harder than even Pepper had, and did so with a face that totally negated any effect that her Semblance might have had, "NOOOOOOO! NO THIS AIN'T RIGHT! WHHHHHY?! WHY DIDN'T THAT LITTLE B LISTEN?! WHY PEPPA?!"
"Well… I…" Pepper was cut off as Cayenne stepped between them.
"Hey, we fought hard," Cayenne pulled Saffron up by the arm, "Let's go grab some lunch and calm down. Epa seriously needs it after he got zapped!"
"I… I… I guess…" Saffron trudged towards the exit, "I… I did good… right, gals… and Epa…?"
"Yes… Saffron. You did." Epazote twitched a little, as if still getting over the shock from Arty's Lightning Dust. He walked over and held his hand out, "Good g-g-game guys!"
"No kidding! Glad we got to duke it out," Roland reached for Epazote's hand, recoiled after a static shock, and then firmly grasped it for a handshake, "You guys rocked out there!"
Pepper sheepishly stepped up to Arty and held out her hand, "S-S-Sorry… I… shot you in the eyes…"
Arty shrugged as he shook her hand, "Hey. All's fair in the tournament, right? Gotta say, that stuff's pretty good for disorienting an opponent. So anyway… got any tips for… making the burn stop sooner?" He squinted, feeling the stinging intensify again.
"Lemon juice… can neutralize it, but… yeah… that… isn't great for your eyes..." Pepper looked down with tears welling back up in her eyes, "Milk… maybe…?"
While Arty looked for some kind of solution to his eye problem, Cayenne punched Timbre in the shoulder, "You're so fun to fight! We should seriously spar more! You were amazing out there!"
Timbre rubbed her shoulder. Cayenne may have been lanky, but she had a surprising amount of strength. "You too! That hammer of yours really packs a punch! Sorry for the… boot to the head earlier…"
"Sorry for the hammer to the head!" Cayenne laughed.
Timbre laughed back, "Fair enough!"
"So…" Saffron looked down at Sepia. She reluctantly held out her hand, "Um… good game… partner…"
Sepia bit her lip to keep a fit of silent laugher off. Here Saffron was, beaten and burned, and Sepia barely had a scratch on her. She gave Saffron's hand a hearty shake and then gave her a thumbs up. It was a battle well fought and a game well played.
It felt good to be the wild card.
