[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/VopBxRg.png[/img] [h1]VS[/h1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/kn8CWxk.png[/img][/center] [hr] Arriving at their assigned arena, Olivia, placed Xolys on the floor, retrieved her neon blue controller from her backpack and moved a short distance away. With a push of the controller’s prominent “START” button, a vortex of cracking blue energy swirled around Xolys, the small robot swiftly transforming into a towering technomantic terror. [color=DodgerBlue][u]“Shift to combat mode complete,”[/u][/color] Xolys noted. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“All right!”[/color] Olivia acknowledged with an excited grin. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Now let’s see who we’re gonna be going up against!”[/color] They wouldn’t have to wait long. Soon enough, a tall, fiery-haired woman with a cowboy hat and wielding a pair of heavy machine guns appeared on the far side of the arena. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Gosh! I really like your sci-fi cowgirl aesthetic!”[/color] Olivia called. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Are you a fan of Roach Rider Rachel?!”[/color] she inquired. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“That was one of my favorite shows growing up!”[/color] the bluenette added. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“I just loved how cute all her giant, genetically modified insects were! Oh! And she also had some really cool guns, just like you do!”[/color] [color=DodgerBlue][u]“Indeed, those are some very impressive armaments, Miss Cindy,”[/u][/color] Xolys agreed. [color=DodgerBlue][u]“Your strength must be quite prodigious in order to wield them both single-handed.”[/u][/color] Cindy wasn’t even so much as reacting… just smoking a cigar. By the time Olivia was done speaking the cigar was at its end and she dropped it to the ground and stepped on it. “I’m going to be honest with you kid,” Cindy started, “You’re in the [i]wrong[/i] tournament.” She pulled out her guns as she said, “Someone is offering big bucks for that power stone. So you know how this is gonna go.” [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Yeah,”[/color] Olivia agreed with a grin, her gleaming blue eyes taking on an even greater intensity, even as Xolys’s myriad trans-phasic energy scythes glowed with building power. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“We do!”[/color] Holodisplays flashing to life above her controller, Olivia’s fingers hovered over the array of buttons as she waited for the match to... [h1]“BEGIN!”[/h1] Cindy immediately barraged Olivia with a hailfire of bullets - but they didn’t seem to be right. They didn’t seem to be bullets and more of mini balls of ki. From his position in front of Olivia, it wasn’t hard for Xolys to intercept the ki bullets with his massive body, the multiple impacts sending showers of sparks flying off the eldritch machine’s technomantic armor. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Hey! You’re supposed to be fighting [i]Xolys[/i], not [i]me![/i]”[/color] Olivia called out, even as she instructed her monstrous partner to lash out at Cindy with one of his technomantic tendrils via a series of quick button taps. Cindy was obviously a ranged combatant, so if Xolys could reel the machine gunner in close, then she would hopefully be vulnerable to his impressive array of melee weapons. “You’re on the battlefield…” Cindy said as she pulled out a grenade that was painted with the stars n stripes. “… That means you’re a combatant!” She threw the grenade and it exploded with a massive burst of red, white and blue. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“B-But…! Uh… T-That’s not…!”[/color] Olivia stammered, even as Cindy deftly dodged Xolys’s technomantic tentacle in a superhuman burst of agility, and chucked a grenade at her eldritch adversary. However, the weapon’s multicolored flashes and smoke seemed less intended to inflict harm, but rather disorient and conceal, in preparation for the fiery-haired cowgirl’s next attack. In an attempt to counteract this, Olivia instructed Xolys to begin rapidly spinning his myriad tendrils around himself, the resulting whirlwind hopefully dispersing the patriotic-themed smoke, and perhaps even catching Cindy herself, if she had gotten too close. By the time the smoke had dissipated, Cindy had appeared on the other side of the room with a bazooka on her shoulder. She pulled the trigger and launched a rocket (Painted like - you guessed it) at Xolys. Not wasting a moment, Xolys charged up his head-mounted Unreality Beam, the technomantic terror’s massive eye glowing brighter and brighter, until a swirling cylinder of warped, kaleidoscopic energy shot forth mere seconds before Cindy’s missile made impact. With luck, the powerful beam would not only destroy the projectile, but also be swift enough to strike the fast moving cowgirl who launched it. The laser exploded the missile and caught Cindy off guard, launching her backwards with a roll. She grit her teeth as she slammed her fist on the ground. “You got tricks, eh…?” She muttered as she reached behind her. “…Well so do I!” She threw a bundle of three grenades that created actual explosions. Seeing the incoming attack, Xolys began to spin up his techno-tendrils in an attempt to knock the grenades away, but their detonations still sent him reeling backwards and damaged the tips of several of the tentacular appendages. An instant later, he sent one of the undamaged tendrils shooting out in an effort to ensnare the feisty cowgirl once more and drag her into range of his glowing trans-phasic energy-scythes. “Uh-oh!” Cindy shouted as she grabbed her guns. “I see where this is going.” She unleashed a barrage of bullets at Xolys. The hail of fire battered Xolys’s armor, leaving a few deep gashes here and there, but his techno tendril was still able to wrap tightly around Cindy and zap her with a powerful electric shock, before rapidly reeling her towards his towering technomantic form. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Gotcha!”[/color] Olivia declared with a fierce grin. “… Is what I should be sayin!” Cindy shouted through the pain as she chucked a grenade at Olivia. Giving voice to a startled gasp, Olivia barely had time to reposition one of Xolys’s bulky, scythe-tipped appendages to block the incoming bomb, before it detonated with a loud boom and a bright flash. When her vision cleared, Olivia saw that the badly damaged blocking arm was now hanging limply, its once vibrantly glowing trans-phasic energy scythe having become a dull gray. Even so, Cindy was still ensnared, and had now come within range of Xolys’s other appendages. Not wasting a moment, Olivia’s fingers rapidly jabbed an intricate series of buttons in a blur of motion. This had the effect of sending her eldritch partner’s remaining trans-phasic energy scythes darting out to repeatedly jab their opponent with a series of powerful blows. Although the attacks were blunted due to the rules of the tournament, they were still more than sufficient to batter a Nomad senseless. While they were beating Cindy, she reached down and pulled out two grenades that exploded in her face. Injuring her but should give her space. The force of the twin detonations sent Cindy hurtling backwards and severely damaged several of Xolys’s appendages. However, the crimson-haired cowgirl was still being tightly held by a techno-tendril, and Xolys’s cyclopean, neon blue eye was beginning to glow ever-brighter… An instant later, a churning beam of unreality lanced out to slam into Cindy with staggering power. Cindy quickly rolled to the side to dodge the beam and quickly pulled out her machine guns and cut loose on the tendril that had her bound. Such concentrated firepower was enough to sever the tendril, the part wrapped around the futuristic cowgirl disintegrating in a shimmer of blue particles. Yet, even before those particles had fully faded, three more tendrils shot out in quick succession to hold her in place, while Xolys’s eye began to glow again, clearly powering up for another blast… When Cindy pulled out her bazooka and shot a rocket right for the damned thing. Even as the techno-tendrils coiled around her, Cindy’s rocket shot across the arena, before being annihilated mid-flight by the eldritch energies of Xolys’s unreality beam. A moment later, each of the three tendrils holding the cowgirl in place sent a torrent of electricity shooting into her, which forced her to convulse…  … Before letting one final attack towards Olivia - just chucking a grenade in her direction. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Oh crap!”[/color] Her eyes going wide, the bespectacled bluenette’s fingers flew across her control pad in a blur of motion. Even as a techno tendril whipped out to knock her out of the grenade’s path, Xolys fired another unreality beam at the convulsing machine gunner. [color=DodgerBlue][u]“Are you all right, Olivia?!”[/u][/color] Xolys asked, his voice filled with concern. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Y-Yeah, I’m okay,”[/color] Olivia replied shakily as she tried to catch her breath after having the wind knocked out of her. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“T-Thanks, Xolys.”[/color] Cindy was soon knocked out. [h1]”AAAAAAND THE AMERICAN DREAMER IS OUT! THIS MATCH GOES TO OLIVIA AND XOLYS!”[/h1] [color=DeepSkyBlue]“All right! We did it!”[/color] Olivia cheered with an elated giggle, punching a fist in the air as her vibrant blue eyes seemed to sparkle with tiny starbursts. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Great job, Xolys!”[/color] [color=DodgerBlue][u]“My thanks,”[/u][/color] the technomantic terror replied with a bow. [color=DodgerBlue][u]“Although, as always, I could not have done it without your exemplary guidance, Olivia,”[/u][/color] he added, causing a blush to color the bluenette’s cheeks. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“O-oh, uh, well, you’re always welcome, Xolys…”[/color] Olivia stammered with a dopey smile, before giving her massive partner a big hug. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Okay!”[/color] she declared after a moment. [color=DeepSkyBlue]“Let’s get ready for the next match!”[/color]