Another shot rang out on the coattails of Oren’s announcement, and had the man not had the wherewithal to put the familiar behind cover, Pithy had little doubt the construct would be sporting a large hole in its center. She was almost disappointed that was not the case.

“Butt out, boy! I don’t need you telling me when to start!” 

She found herself echoing the ornery badger’s thoughts. She was tempted to break the toy herself if only to keep the loose-tongued young man from hinting at any more of her capabilities. However, there was no denying they were wasting time.

Pithy glanced to the side without breaking from her cover. She could not see her opponent without peeking around the wall, but she could still see plenty of bat corpses on the ground. Was that one corpse per shot?

[i]Damn close if not,[/i] she concluded, thinking back to when she had seen the furry creature shooting at the fluttering monsters. 

It was possible that whatever wizard had decided to spend so much effort on giving the thing sapience might also have done something to boost its proficiency with the six-shooters. Walking out unprepared would be a good way to have her head split open. Never mind death, she did not think she could live with the shame of being bested by a hat-wearing weasel.

“I’ve got an idea,” the voice of the badger reached around the corner. Was that metallic rasp that reached her ears the sound of the badger loading ammunition into her shooters? Pithy had to force herself not to peek out to see how she could manage the feat with those little paws. “This is supposed to be a tournament, yeah? So why not make it a duel, like those fools in the mainland. They say it’s the [i]ci-vi-lized[/i] way to go about killing.” She spoke as though the word was both unfamiliar and worthy of contempt, but Pithy thought she could detect a hint of wry amusement. “You can even pick the weapon of choice, girl. Gun or Sword? Not a bad deal.”

[i]’Gan’? Is that what they call those shooters in her world?[/i] With an effort of will, a large sheet of ice, large enough to hide behind, materialized before her, hovering a few inches before her free hand. “A duel, you say?” she answered, playing along with the badger.  “And what would you say if I chose the sword?”

“Perfect. Leaves the gun for me.”

Pithy tried to focus her hearing. Two crystalline spheres roughly the size of her head now hovered over the tip of her rapier. [i]Has she moved from her perch? I don’t think she has yet.[/i] Pithy hummed loudly as if weighing the clearly ludicrous idea in her mind, taking the chance to steady herself. Finally, after a moment—

“Deal.”

The crystalline spheres shot out to the open as though she had lobbed them. The rapport of six-shooters instantly rang out cleanly shattering the crystals into multiple shards of ice. Pithy’s rapier slashed down, and as though hearing an unvoiced command, the sharp ice was suddenly redirected in the direction of the hatted badger.

There was a surprised exclamation and the sound of something falling. “Those ain’t swords, bitch!” And Pithy turned the corner, bringing the large sheet of ice before her like portable cover.

Trickshot Jo’ had fallen from the top of the carriage and was standing on the dashboard behind a sheet of glass with multiple shards of ice embedded in it. She aimed her six-shooters at Pithy and fired twice. One destroyed the glass cover. The other one crashed into Pithy’s barrier .

A lance of ice materialized besides Pithy and shot forward like a missile, aimed straight at the small creature, who fell backwards into the vehicle proper. The icicle struck a red barrel loaded at the back of the carriage, which rapidly began leaking its contents.

Pithy continued to move forwards and to the left, conjuring a set of transparent blades behind her. If she could only get a good view of the small creature, she would be able to settle things quickly.

As she moved, there was a sound like loud purring, and the metallic carriage seemed to tremble. Pithy paused in her approach, only to be suddenly blinded when the two crystals at the front of the vehicle lit up. The purring turned into a roar, and Pithy instinctively threw herself to the side. She heard more than saw the vehicle crash into a pillar behind her, making the spotlights fixed atop it shake and wink in and out.

It was in this confusion that she caught sight of the small, dark-furred creature running towards the street’s corner. 

Pithy pointed her rapier to one of the ice blades, which had fallen to the ground when she had jumped out of the vehicle’s way, and it shot out towards the badger. 

The creature seemed to have an impeccable sense of danger, for even as Pithy had begun pointing her magical focus at her weapon, the badger was turning towards her, bringing the six-shooters to bear. The first shot crashed against the crystal projectile, throwing it off-course.

Pithy brought her barrier up with her free-hand, expecting another bullet to be shot at her, but instead, Trickshot Jo aimed past her. 

The second shot found the barrels loaded at the back of the jeep. A sound like thunder echoed throughout the Justice Hub.

Far as the carriage was behind her, the heat wave from the resulting fireball threw Pithy to her knees. She had enough of her wits about her that she could still hold her barrier in front of her, but could do little beyond looking on, wide-eyed, as the badger rounded the corner shouting something she could barely hear through her ringing ears. 

Just then, the light that had been illuminating the streets went out, and the pillar holding it fell against one of the nearby buildings. Pithy spared the flaming, wrecked vehicle that had replaced the spotlight as a source of illumination an appraising look before standing. She did so less steadily than she would have liked, but she was not injured as far as she could tell. 

Pithy scowled as the realization came to her that the encounter had not been entirely improvised. Alien as they both were to this realm, her enemy had just enough knowledge of the machines of this place over Pithy to take advantage of them. 

She grunted and began to run, the rising adrenaline making short-work of her disorientation. Rather than chasing after her enemy directly and risking being shot as she turned the corner, she ducked into one of the alleys between facilities. As absurd as that thing’s aim had been, it was still a honey badger. Pithy had no doubt that she could head it off if she made haste, particularly if it insisted on that ridiculous two-legged gait.