Announcement
New Volume 4 Chapter(s) Weekly. Volumes 1-3 now complete!
Laquet vs. Ancett
“Our first Fiend is another from the Central Peace. But unlike the last whose involvement was mostly technical, this one is a soldier straight from their ranks. He used to be a dutiful sheriff, but wound up serving the CP after the incident that made him a Fiend. The Gravity Gunner, Laquet!”
“The second fighter isn’t officially involved with any group, rather she’s a Fiend freelancer, available for purchase by the highest bidder. What she lacks in scruples, she makes up for in spectacle. As a performer myself, it’s sad to see someone with so much talent abandon the arts. The Standoffish Skater, Ancett!”
Both competitors made their way to the arena without saying a word. And when they got there, neither made eye contact with Rallie or looked around at the audience. They just stared at each other with cold, lifeless eyes. “Well I doubt we’ll get any rousing taunts from these grumps, so let’s get on with it. No obstacles… F- Wait.”
“Before we begin, I feel that some clarifications must be announced. Given the nature of Ancett’s Curse, the primary barrier around the arena will not be activated. She’s allowed to leave the bounds of the stage as long as she doesn’t leave the coliseum itself, and her feet can’t touch the ground of the outer ring.”
“Because of this, all staff on standby will be required to wait in the staging areas, and we’ve had to remove the camera operators as well, so there will be less angles on this fight. Additionally, there will be no commentary. The first reason is that it would be hard to hear anyways, and we won’t be using sound dampeners, because that would ruin some of the fun for our audience.”
“And the second reason was that our commenter was supposed to be Phon since she fought Ancett during The Bastion Genocide. However, she pulled out of her commitment at the last second. Saying, and I quote, ‘There’s nothing worth saying about her.’ Now then, with all that out of the way, fight!”
Ancett made the first move, skating in a spiral until she was roughly a story in the air. But she didn’t do anything else, and resumed standing and staring at Laquet.
“Ancett Bexto,” Laquet recited her name as he had countless criminals when first meeting them in an interrogation room. “I read your dossier after the Bastion incident. Your tactics are fairly predictable. You wait and observe, rarely attacking first unless you’re confident. Rather, you dodge all attacks and pick your moment. I bet you have a decent understanding of my power and that you feel pretty safe up there. And I’d agree with you. With that being the case, I hope you don’t mind if I test some things.”
Laquet aimed his gun and fired, though he hadn’t been targeting Ancett, and shot a blank round anyways. She didn’t even flinch at the gunfire, and barely reacted when a gravity well formed near her in the air. However, she was forced to slightly adjust as the well grew in power, leaning forward a bit to keep her balance, but she didn’t budge.
“I see, that confirms my first suspicion,” Laquet dissipated the gravity well. “When you’re using your power, I can’t make you shift an inch, or at least your feet. So let’s try something else. I’ll warn you now, if you don’t move, you’ll regret it.”
The second shot was much closer, and Ancett darted away as warned. When the gravity well activated, the woman was dragged back towards it for just a split second before stopping dead, the rest of her body still pulled a bit like the first time. “And that confirms my second suspicion.”
“When you’re still, it’s like your feet are planted, and no matter what I do, I can’t move them. But when you’re in motion, my Curse can affect you. So here’s the rub. You can’t stay still, or I’ll use my power to eliminate you. You’ll have to keep moving to dodge my shots, but that’s also when you’re the most vulnerable. All the meanwhile, you’ll have to get close enough to me to attack, since you have a short range and no other weapons with you.”
Laquet reloaded the two shots that he’d already fired from his revolver and snapped the cylinder shut. He then pointed the barrel back at his foe who once more stood staunchly still. “Well then, let’s get to it.” The Gunner fired a shot straight at The Skater this time, but she deftly dodged as expected, and managed to get far enough away before the gravity well could build up enough strength.
And thus the arena turned into an intense shooting gallery. Laquet held his stance while firing endlessly at Ancett, but the skater managed to effortlessly dodge each gravity well, whether they were just behind or if the man tried to lead the shot. That went on for a few minutes and the pair got no closer to a resolution.
But when Laquet went to reload after a few sets, Ancett made her move. She slashed down at him with an arching axe kick, attempting to slice his entire frontside. But Laquet managed to get the gun working again in time and fired a shot just off to his side. The man went flying to the ground, just narrowly dodging the attack. And since his assaulter was so close, she was nearly dragged into the well with him.
After that, Ancett decided to keep distance for a while longer and bide her time. And to her confusion, no new gravity wells sprouted to try and suck her in. Laquet just fired at her, the same blanks that he’d always been firing. She skated around, still attempting to dodge the nothingness, but it really felt like everyone’s time was being wasted. So she stopped and stood still again, staring down at him with disappointment.
“I have a secret I’d like to share, if that’s alright with you,” the sheriff called up in response to her protest. The woman gave a slight nod, not that he actually needed her approval. “For my Curse, I only ever grow one gravity well at a time. But that’s only because one alone is rather draining, not because I can’t do more. Also, it’s not really known, but the shots I take are more for show and to help me focus. That said, I wonder if you were paying attention to where I shot them.”
Six gravity wells suddenly spawned all around Ancett, four to her sides, and two above and below. None of them were particularly close to her, but they were all also equally far apart. “Thanks for playing along and acting predictably. You went right where I needed you. Now then…”
After reloading his gun one more time, Laquet pointed it square at Ancett. She tried to escape, to skate away, but she couldn’t. The moment she attempted to move, she was pulled right back, not even able to scoot an inch. No matter what direction she tried to flee, gravity wasn’t on her side.
The sheriff fired his gun, and the bullet hit the woman directly in the chest. It wasn’t the usual blank, but a paralyzing round. She slumped over, falling to the invisible floor where her Curse caught her before her body ragdolled back to the center of the gravitational pulls. But then the six wells all suddenly stopped at once when a new one sprouted, right at Ancett’s torso.
She crumpled. Every part of her body tucked into one another, sucked together like she was being vacuumed and stuffed into the bag. Once the woman’s body was nearly a perfect sphere, Laquet released his Curse. The sphere plummeted back to the arena where it flopped and then rolled a bit.
Before declaring him the victor, the medical team hopped on stage to confirm that the woman was still alive. Which she was, just in extreme, contorted discomfort. “Laquet wins!”
~Unfulfilled Wish~
Ancett: (Sold to the highest bidder) To acquire all land and trade rights for Cotagerie.
