[center][h3]Pick of the Litter[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Sea of Serendipity
Level 9 Nadia (71/90), Blazermate and Susie’s [@Archmage MC] vs Massachusetts and Ingraham
[b]Word Count:[/b] [/center]

Back on the water, the seafarers’ own fight raged on at an even more frenetic pace. Nadia and Massachusetts tumbled together across the waves, splashing through their crests in sprays of seafoam, for a moment before the shipgirl found her footing. She planted her feet and skidded backward along the water as her rigging corrected her balance, well aware that the cat burglar who'd just given her a black eye was still clinging to her tower. With her teeth bared she took an anchor in one hand and craned her head around to swing, only to take a kick to the jaw as Nadia jumped onto her right-side cannon battery.  "Taste of de-feet!" As the shipgirl reeled Nadia crouched down to follow up with her [url=https://i.imgur.com/sy5dp0T.png]one[/url]-[url=https://i.imgur.com/cYN8ChJ.png]two[/url] punisher. "...And cattail!" Incensed by another tail slap to the head, Massachusetts twisted around fast enough to sweep her attacker's foothold out from under her, allowing her to seize the catgirl's neck. Quick as Ever, Nadia sliced a set of red claw marks across her foe's face, but Massachusetts pushed through to smash Nadia in the gut with her anchor, hitting [url=https://i.imgur.com/uIwBLNR.png]her[/url] up hard enough to leave her wide-eyed, stretched-out, and windless. Wasting no time, the shipgirl reached up, grabbed the feral, and slammed her into the sea with a massive powerbomb. With her opponent stunned by the back flop, Massachusetts trained her cannons as she skated backward, then unleashed a six-barreled blowout into the spot where Nadia fell.

Ingraham raced in as water rained down from the geyser-like eruption. “Everything alright?” she asked, sending her healing drone to her comrade’s side to patch up her wounds. Without giving an answer, Massachusetts scanned the water for any sign of her foe. She half-expected a handful of body parts strewn around the water, but she saw nothing, not even a blood-red chum on the surface to suggest where her opponent went down. Her warrior’s intuition told her that this wasn’t over just yet–but it couldn’t predict what happened next. A bloodied but very much alive Nadia burst from the ocean to her right with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/oYj8hoX.png]pirouette[/url], having propelled herself through the water with her Full Mrowtation like a living torpedo, and launched both arms at Massachusetts again. Now turned to face her foe, the shipgirl blocked with her anchors only for Nadia’s hands to grab hold. “Gotcha!” With a tremendous effort Nadia cracked her stretched-out fibers like whips, sending a wave all the way down the springy line that lifted Massachusetts off the water by her arms and slammed her right back into the sea face-first. “Drink’s on me!” [i]PLOOSH![/i]

The feral then rubber-banded her arms, zipping in close to springboard off her foe’s head as she tried to pick herself back up. With her momentum she thrust her hand into the support drone’s ‘face’, then swung around to land on top of it, crouching. Despite downing Massachusetts for a moment, her mismatched eyes were on Ingraham. “I can tell I’m not gettin’ anywhere long as you’re around!” she told the medic. With a yank she extracted a bundle of vital components from the drone, greasy and sparking, then sprang again off the drone as it fell. “So you’re first in line!”

Ingraham gasped and boosted sideways, firing her mini-turrets. Nadia hurtled through the air as a corkscrew, boosted by blood jets from her thighs and tail, to try and cut her off. Cornered, the medic raised her hull shield just in time to block Nadia’s x-slash, but the feral had momentum on her side. “How’s this for a heel?” she grinned, somersaulting to bring her axe kick down overhead. Ingraham narrowly raised her shield to take the blow, prompting Nadia to realize that she hadn’t thought about anything after that. Seizing her chance, her opponent put all of her strength into a shield bash to throw her off, but as Nadia sailed off the persistent feral just airdashed back in. This time she saw Ingraham’s attempt to defend herself coming, and from her blood conjured a copycat to shoot down, grab hold of the shipgirl’s shield arm, and peel it away like the lid of a can. Ingraham panicked, and in that moment Nadia dove down, her extended arms spinning like drills. “Points for trying!” Her ruthless Feral Edge drove Ingraham into the water, but before Nadia could pierce too deep, an anchor shot hooked around her bicep. 

“Huh? …NyaaaAAAAA!” The feral went flying, whipped around by Massachusetts’ superstrength like a giant meteor hammer. Nadia circled around, yowling the whole time, until the battleship slammed her against the water. When pulled from the sea for another slam, a dazed and disoriented Nadia yelled, “Anyone!? Need a hand here!”

Nadia would soon get her help as she could hear a [i]verr[/i]-ing sound as Susie came to intercept Massachusetts with her mech, the robot girl having been fully healed by Blazermate in the meantime. The healer bot then came into view and started to heal Nadia, saying. [color=0072bc]”This is one chaotic battle. I’ve got charge now though.”[/color] Blazermate said as Susie inside her mech clashed with Massachusetts, Susie learning that she had to be a bit more careful with her business suit now. 

Following a tackle from Susie’s business suit, Massachusetts lost control of her anchor, and Nadia slipped free to plunge, flailing, into the ocean. When she bobbed to the surface she found the welcome sight of Blazermate to heal her bruises, broken bones, and other symptoms of intense impact damage. “Thanks a million,” she sighed, relieved that the throbbing was coming to an end. She kept her eyes on the shipgirl, currently outmaneuvering and putting shots into Susie’s mech only to find it surprisingly resilient. Now that she’d been taught to cover her cockpit with the business suit’s arms, the little robot was soaking up the punishment no problem. With such tech totally foreign to Nadia, she couldn’t help but admire the impressive battle machine. “With her around, we got this, no problem,” the feral announced.

Unfortunately for Susie, Ingraham had arrived, too. With her own critical injuries taken care of, she didn’t even need to risk getting close to the fight thanks to her drones, which she could send to undo Masachusetts’ wounds from afar.  “That one’s gonna be a pain in the boat, though. It kinda feels like a me-dic move, but maybe you could take her out? I mean, healers fightin’ one another, that’s only fair, right?” Without waiting for a reply, Nadia dove underwater and took off swimming toward the battle.

[color=0072bc]”Yeah, I might as well… I’ve got full charge so it's going to huuurt. Just don’t die.”[/color] Blazermate said. It sucked there was no spot to put down the engineer and her sentry nearby, so she’d have to go fight this person one on one. At least she had full charge, so some shenanigans could happen. And if she got a zombie medic, that could be neat. 

Blazermate looked around for this ‘ranged healer’ who probably wasn’t much of a fighter, making sure she wasn’t being protected by any of her allies either. In a one on one fight, Blazermate figured she could win vs another support medabot no problem, and with her charge and shield ready, she could do some decent damage as well. 

Going at a high angle, trying to keep the sun behind her to cloak her approach, and was able to safely approach the other team’s medic with the rest of their team being distracted. That was the downside of being a ranged healer, you were out of the perception of your allies and you were only really noticed when it was too late. Coming down on Ingraham with her ubersaw first, followed by a bite from her shield, Blazermate was ready for a one on one fight. Although considering she was going to use her energy shield for massive damage and defense, it might not be a fun fight for the other medic.

“Ah! Get away!” The glasses-wearing shipgirl immediately raised both of her rigging’s shield arms when Blazermate came down on her, stopping her assassination attempt in its tracks. “Leave me alone!” Her mini-turrets started pelting her assailant, and though they did low damage, the Medabot would need to get around her defense to take her out. And to do that, she went with her plan of deploying her projectile shield, both blocking all the gunfire from the shipgirl and causing a piercing, plasma shield appear in front of her which did intense damage to the shipgirl while she was stuck inside it. And Blazermate would make sure to keep her inside it with her greater mobility. Ingraham cried out in pain as she found that her attempts to break free were in vain. She commanded every drone she possessed to begin healing her at once, but it only prolonged her torment, and Blazermate wasn’t about to relent. After a few agonizing moments with no escape, Ingraham gave up, and dismissed her drones in order to hasten her demise. “I’m sorry, everyone.” She unceremoniously fizzled out, her drones flown off to aid Massachusetts as the lone medic’s final act. Blazermate was a bit surprised at just how fast that shield ripped through that medic’s hp. Apparently that was another downside of being ranged, you had not much in the way of defenses as well.

Susie meanwhile, being in a fight nearby Blazermate, was keeping Massachusetts busy with her business suit. While her opponent possessed some serious firepower, she was having some difficulty dealing enough damage to Susie’s business suit thanks to its raw tankiness. And since Susie knew now to protect her cockpit, she had to use the other methods of attack with her mech, including missiles and the drill on the bottom which really hurt when it hit. Massachusetts’ speed and maneuverability, paired with her mini-turrets for AA purposes, meant that Susie’s efforts at return fire came to naught. “Pretty tough, aren’t you?” the battleship remarked. “You won’t cry if I hit you, will you?”

As she swam closer Nadia sneaked a peek above the surface, trying to find an in. Her first idea had been to climb on top of the business suit and get Susie to throw her, but that looked less feasible by the second. It would only reveal her, make her a target, and make sure Massachusetts knew to stay away. Just how would she get her paws on this elusive, hard-hitting enemy..?

Nadia swam closer, homing in on her target despite the shipgirl’s erratic movement. It took a few moments, but she managed to put herself right in Massachusett’s path, and as her enemy skated overhead Nadia reached up to seize one of her anchors. Massachusetts sped by without noticing until the chain unwound to its full length and began to pull the feral behind her, first on her rear and then on her feet as she found her balance, her tail used as a support. The battleship looked over her shoulder to find Nadia water skiing, a huge grin on her face, and Nadia waved cheekily back at her. Leaving Susie behind, Massachusetts zig-zagged and turned to shake her opponent off, but Nadia would not be dislodged; her grip, core strength, and balance were too great. Her cannons thundered , but at these speeds her shots went wide. Her eyebrow twitched. “You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that. But that’s enough..” Massachusetts span around, slowed to a stop, and took hold of her chain for a powerful yank.

“Whoa!” Nadia found herself pulled off her feet by the battleship’s superstrength yet again. As she sailed toward her opponent, Massachusetts picked up speed and leaped to meet her in the air, the other anchor held above her head. Cat and boat came together in a flash, with the latter bringing her bludgeon down in a bone-crushing diagonal chop. Fueled by adrenaline, Nadia separated at the bicep and thigh, and the anchor passed through. She breezed past Massachusetts without making contact, but she left something behind. “Gotcha!” Twisting around, she belted out a wad of muscle from both sides, and once they made contact the fibers bound together to reconnect Nadia’s shoulder -as well as her momentum- to the arm with claws fastened around the shipgirl’s throat. “Sorry, lady,” the feral winced, steeling herself. “Maybe necks time!”

The fibers went taut, and the forces at play did their jobs. Both combatants hit the water at the same time, but while Nadia dove beneath, Massachusetts belly-flopped. It was a moment before the cat burglar rose to the surface, but when she dared to look over her blood nearly froze. She watched her opponent stagger to her feet on the water, soaked through, then turn to look Nadia’s way. [i]How is she alive after that!?[/i] her mind screamed. [i]Can this woman not die?[/i] After a moment though she got her answer. Ingraham’s drones revealed themselves by surrounding Massachusetts, having healed her back from the brink of death. Something primal burned in the woman’ eyes, an anger fueled by both pain and horror, and Nadia’s ears instinctively flattened as she gulped. 

Thanks to Nadia able to pin down the evasive Massachusetts, Susie was able to gain some ground. Blazermate meanwhile, having finished her fight with the medic, also came to assist the cat girl with her fight. She had no shield, but her medigun glowed with a full uber charge ready to help. When she came to a stop however, Massachusetts abruptly lambasted her with a six-shot salvo her cannon batteries. The significance of the drones’ arrival had not been lost on her.

Blazermate had been expecting some kind of return fire, and while she had used her projectile shield, she still had something else. When the shots were about to connect, Blazermate hit her ubercharge, and while Massachusetts saw her shots land and hit the medabot dead on, from the smoke emerged said medabot, unharmed and glowing metallic blue. She then put her medigun on Nadia, which gave her the same effect. [color=0072bc]”I’ll get the drones, you get the shipgirl. ”[/color] Blazermate said. And with Blazermate focusing on the shipgirl herself, all her weak points were highlighted for everyone to target. Susie meanwhile was closing in, and would give Nadia a good spot to anchor herself, as the feral had been having issues fighting on the water without a firm spot to land.

For a moment it looked like the arrival of the Seeker’s resident support hero would end in disaster, but Blazermate’s uber saved the day. “Ya had me goin’ for a second there,'' Nadia admitted as her ally flew in to link up. Massachusetts elected to hold fire once she saw the futility of even direct impacts with her foes shielded like this, watching grimly as the seconds ticked down. Neither could get close enough to get any more use out of the ubercharge in the time they had left. As Susie floated in over the water her gaze shifted to take stock of the new threat. That clumsy metal hulk couldn’t hit her, and Susie seemed to know it, flying over to offer Nadia a hand instead. Still, three against one, with no sign of Rip Tide nearby.

“It’ll take a few more of you to make this a fair fight,” she taunted, her voice a little more gravelly than before.

Nadia jumped up from the water and landed on the back of the business suit, holding on in a position where she’d be shielded from shots in the front. She felt conflicted. The pragmatic part of her urged her to use everything to her advantage. This was a life-or-death fight, after all; what mattered was to win. But she admired this woman, both her strength and her sheer tenacity. While she hid it with jokes, she felt bad enough about her intent to claim her opponent’s life and spirit already. If Massachusetts met a cheap end, it would leave a bad taste in her mouth, the feral just knew it. “Go for the drones then,” Nadia said to Blazermate. “And Susie, get me close, if ya don’t mind. But after that, ya both gotta buzz off.” She lowered her eyebrows, eyes on the prize. “She’s mine.”

[color=0072bc]”Uh sure. Just don’t die.”[/color] Blazermate said, a bit concerned with how serious Nadia was getting fighting this shipgirl. Susie shrugged, not really caring either way. With Blazermate being the fastest of the group, she had to hold back a bit with the other two for a little bit to give them both overheals before flying around, punching the drones with her ubersaw and trying to avoid the shots from the shipgirl. Susie meanwhile did what she was suggested to do, and brought Nadia to the shipgirl. Susie would prefer to shove a drill into this evasive shipgirl if she could, but… well she was just too fast and Susie would have to go find someone who was less dodgy to pulverize. 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Nadia assured her friend under her breath as the trio began to move. To think, yesterday the two of them had been scheming about how to win Ace over, and now they worked together to orchestrate a stranger’s demise. How far they’d come. She took a deep breath. “I can’t.”

They approached Massachusetts together, just far enough apart to split their foe’s attention. The shipgirl divided her gunfire between Susie and Blazermate, allotting each one rigging arm apiece in the hopes of bringing them down. Nadia braced herself, but her ride was tough, and soldiered on through the bombardment with its armored arms raised. When she got close enough, Massachusetts began to use her anchors as well, whipping them around on their chains with crushing force. Her punishment left dents and tears in the armor of both Susie’s business suit and Blazermate’s chassis, but the Seekers made it. An assortment of missiles from Susie helped Blazermate take on the somewhat sluggish medical drones, picking them off one at a time, and when Susie got close enough she grabbed hold of Nadia to hurl her like a baseball.

Massachusetts sidestepped the living projectile, swinging her anchor as she did. This time Nadia clashed with her, in a bone-jarring impact, her own hardened fishtail wielded like a battleax. When the shipgirl’s strength won out she flung Nadia away, but before she could sail into the drink the cat burglar expelled a surge of blood from her tail, boosting her back toward Massachusetts as her foe tried to shatter her like a shot put. As she flew in Nadia hurled her tail down, saw it sent flying by an anchor whack, and extended her foot for another painful kick to the jaw. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the opening she thought it was. Massachusetts launched her anchor and caught Nadia out of the air, swinging her around in a circle overhead before she brought the chain down into the ocean. Hitting water at that speed compared to hitting concrete, but when the feline shape crashed down, the battleship couldn’t help but notice the wrong coloration of the blur at the end of her slam.

The next second a high-speed forearm drilled into her back, fired from overhead, and Massachusetts turned with a pained grimace to see her enemy dropping toward her. Nadia had parted herself to escape the hook and put a copycat on the line instead. Before her opponent could counterattack, the feral spiked her own head to hit Massachusetts’, then descended with a [url=https://i.imgur.com/QcBthjv.png]somersault slash[/url]-[url=https://i.imgur.com/psA0VTs.png]talon scratch[/url]-[url=https://i.imgur.com/wFDneAH.png]knee shot[/url] combo into an axe kick. She hit the water, but when an enraged Massachusetts moved to capitalize, Nadia’s head fell upon her. “Omnomnomnomnom!” It chewed relentlessly, all over the shipgirl’s body until Massachusetts grabbed it by the ears and kneed her in the nose, breaking it. As she raised it to hurl it away, Nadia’s body burst up from below with an uppercut to the chin, flipping over her to seize both head and missing arm before landing on Massachusetts’ back, seated on her tower connector. In an instant she had her opponent in a headlock, but the battleship wasn’t about to let her foe slice her throat again. After a moment of straining against her attacker she pivoted her cannons inward. Nadia realized what was happening and tried to jump away, but got caught in the blast as Massachusetts blasted herself point-blank and flew into the air, burnt and torn.

Still, Nadia was nothing if not tenacious. She recovered midair and, using her blood jets to slow her fall, went for her new technique. “MRAAAAAAAAAOW!” the feral yowled as she let loose her blood rush, firing both arms down at her dazed adversary and snapping them back in rapid succession. Her furious flurry of long-range punches hammered Massachusetts over and over, but against all odds the battleship got her beatdown under control, crossed her arms before her head, and pushed straight into the barrage. Nadia’s eyes widened as the shipgirl got closer and closer, until with a final burst of speed Massachusetts burst forward with a revolving anchor slam straight to Nadia’s side, just below her ribcage. It cut straight to the spine, paralyzing the feral with pain.

Massachusetts exhaled slowly, her breathing heavy. Though bruised, bloody, and carved like a Thanksgiving Turkey, she held Nadia’s weight aloft on her anchor. The catgirl had to give her enemy some credit: she was tough as nails. “Look at you, making me get serious like this,” Massachusetts told her. “But this is it.”

She drove in her other anchor from the opposite side, kicked Nadia to send her flying, and at the end of her chains wrenched the heavy axeblades loose. Nadia screamed as the brutal technique split her horizontally in half across the belly button, then clenched her jaw as she tried to push through. Even with her numbness, this hurt a lot. More than anything in recent memory, except maybe that shark giant from Carcass Isle. She scarcely even felt her halves hit the water.

But…compared to then? When that bitch Black Dahlia carved her into pieces, fresh from the horror of watching her family butchered before her eyes? This was nothing.

Massachusetts skated in to make sure that she finished her foe off. She found Nadia’s upper half floating on the surface. “You’re still alive,” she remarked, taken aback. “Whatever it is keeping you alive, I’m sure it’ll do wonders for me. To the winners go the spoils, after all.” The battleship lifted a limp Nadia up by one arm, her anchor back in the other. “You did well, but it’s time to sleep.”

“Heh…” the feral laughed suddenly, her voice small. “It’s been a while…since I got a new scar, huh?”

Her opponent furrowed her brow. “What?”


Blue blood surged from the fresh wound, forming into a doppelganger of Nadia’s lower half. With a grin she lifted her legs and rotated her lower half like helicopter rotors, cutting into Massachusetts’ own midsection. “Agh!” she gasped, tossing Nadia away as she swung her anchor. The copied lower half turned into a blast of blood that propelled Nadia out of the way. As she flew Nadia revved up her right arm, turning its forearm into a corkscrew drill of blood and bone. “One final…” she grimaced, taking aim with her left hand clamped around her right bicep. “Shot!”

The drill rocketed downward. Massachusetts swerved to the side just in time, her cannons trained on Nadia once more. “As if. Now…!” So focused was she that she didn’t notice Nadia’s lower half burst from the water behind her with a copied upper half and kick the drill upward until it was too late. The copycat airdashed up to grab the arm, then plunged it into her foe’s back and out through the abdomen. Massachusetts seized up, let out a small, choked grunt, and died.

Her ashes diffused into the water between Nadia’s halves as the badly-wounded feral paddled them together. Gingerly she reattached them whilst floating on her back, wincing at the enormous fresh scar. “Ow, ow, owww. My poor…organs.” 

[color=0072bc]”Jeez… I leave for like 15 seconds and your already in this poor of a shape. Your like a berserker medabot.”[/color] Blazermate said, appearing after the fight seemed over, giving Nadia some healing beam magic. [color=0072bc]”I healed up Susie and she's off helping the others, I’ll be joining them soon but yeah, gotta get you back up to working order. At least this’ll give me another zappy shield of DEATH.”[/color] Blazermate said, a bit too eager to get her energy shield and use it to zap one of their enemies to dust like the medical shipgirl she had done earlier. She had gotten a taste of that shield’s power and she wanted to abuse it now. 

Nadia sighed in relief as the healing washed over her, closing her eyes for a moment. Even when restored to one hundred percent, she figured that massive new scar would remain as a new separation point. Useful? For sure. Pleasant? No way. Aesthetic…? Very doubtful. But at least the feral had something to help with that. Once her condition improved, she grabbed Massachusett’s spirit. “You were one tough beach,” she punned. “From now on, you’re gonna help meowt.” She placed the spirit in her heart, and transformed.

[center][hider=For Nadia] Notable Spirit Consumed:
[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/hTvuk1U.png]Massachusetts[/url][/b]
The host has gotten a little taller, and her lithe, wiry physique has gained a notably fuller figure.  Her scars are now a bright silver-white, with lines branching off a short ways in either direction like tron lines. Her outfit's changed to a black-and-blue two-piece swimsuit beneath a baggy-sleeved zip-up hoodie jacket and spats shorts, both colored with their inner two fourths black and their outer two-fourths sky blue. Her left eye's schlera is white again with a blue iris, while her right is now red, both of which have a downward gradient to her original aquamarine. Her hair is much longer but still flowing, reaching her lower back, and the inside is black. There is a small red mark on her forehead that resembles downward-facing fishbones. Her personality has become a more strong-willed, competitive, and tenacious. This spirit confers the Power [b]Ship-shape Type L[/b], creating a puck-shaped rigging harness that attaches at the back of her waist. It has no armor, guns, or stabilizers, but inside the drum is chain for the two grappling hook-sized anchors that hang down from the sides, and its light weight offers good speed across water. This spirit also confers the Weakness [b]2,700 Pounds of Justice[/b], increasing her effective weight by 2.7 times via density. This lowers her air mobility, makes her easier to combo, and makes her harder to be carried, lifted, or thrown [/hider][/center]

As the lightshow died down, Nadia rose, only too happy to feel the strange but liberating sensation of repelling the ocean’s surface beneath her once more. She took a deep breath as she got to her feet, a little shaky for a moment, then flipped her new long hair with both hands to get the water off. “Well, I’ll have to do somethin’ about all this,” she muttered, excising a small bit of muscle fiber to tie her hair up into a big, voluminous high ponytail. She then unzipped her new hoodie, noting the change in her outfit as she felt the sea breeze on her skin. She felt tougher, bigger, and stronger–in a word, powerful. And, well, pretty hot, which the selfish Nadia was not-so-secretly happy about. “Well, it had to happen schooner or later,” she assured herself, rotating her shoulders as she cracked her neck. “Whoever’s up next is in for a hull of a time!”

[center][hider=Results][b]Party:[/b] Blazermate, Ms Fortune, Susie
[b]Encounter Reward:[/b] +10 EXP
[b]Additional Reward:[/b] Ingraham spirit, Massachusetts spirit[/hider][/center]