Tournament Battle: Enter Gornfliti!
After sign-ups, it wasn't long before "Gornfliti, the Minish Manhunter" was called to one of the arenas for a preliminary bout. The name was likely to cause confusion in some of the spectators, but it ultimately wasn't of any real consequence. Gorn stepped into the ring with a pleasant smile plastered upon his face. Confliti rode along his shoulder as usual, his smile less pleasant and more excited. This was the first time that he'd actually get to participate in a real sanctioned fighting tournament! He'd been looking forward to the prospect for nearly two thousand years, and now here he was! The little minish trembled with anticipation, while Gorn remained solid and steady, ever Confliti's rock.
"Remember what we agreed, buddy. You only defend. I'm taking our opponents down!""Hahaha, of course my friend! It was my idea, after all!" The two settled on one end of the arena while their opponent stepped in on the other side. A well built hylian man, definitely a trained soldier, would be their opponent in the preliminaries. He wore a mix of chain and plate armor, and carried with him a glaive. So he was a melee fighter that kept a distance, just like Gorn. This was going to be interesting!
"Are the fighers ready?" asked the announcer. "Bring him on!" answered the armored hylian.
"Just a moment!" Gorn called back. The others gave pause as he shifted some weight, allowing his heavy pack to slide off from his back. The goron then set it near the edge of the ring, and out of the way. Now all he carried was his shield, chain ball, and of course, his best friend.
"Ok, we're ready now.""Then begin!" Apparently the announcer didn't catch the odd word choice Gorn used, but it no longer mattered. The fight had begun! The hylian was the first to react, opening with a leaping thrust of his glaive straight down at the goron. Gorn reacted instinctively by curling up into a ball and rolling straight ahead. The hylian struck only ground, while Gorn ended up on the opposite end of the ring, having proverbially traveled right between his opponent's legs.
"WoOoOoaaah hey, I aM dizzZZzzy!" Confliti managed to wheeze out, stumbling around a bit on Gorn's shoulder. He recovered quickly, shaking it off.
"Come on Gorn! You know I hate when you do that!""Sorry," Gorn responded jovially. He wasn't able to say much else, as the hylian spun back around and swiped at him with his glaive. The polearm found itself bouncing off of a stone shield.
"What are you apologizing for?" the soldier asked, thrusting again only for his weapon to be deflected once more.
"Just talking to my friend, don't worry about it." Conflitti narrowed his eyes, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. The soldier shrugged, and thrust again, this time for Gorn's head. There was his opportunity! As the weapon came moving in, Confliti mustered all his strength to a mighty leap! Yes! He was going to land on that spear now, then he could get in close and really put the hurt on that guy! Excitement turned to disappointment in slow motion. Before the spear made it close enough, before Confliti could properly land on it, Gorn lifted his shield up to deflect the blow with enough force to knock the hylian off balance. The minish ended up colliding with the backside of the shield and falling comically back on Gorn's arm.
"Ouch! Ah come on I almost... You know what? Fastball Special!" Confliti didn't wait for an apology from Gorn, and neither did he receive one. The minish warrior scurried over to Gorn's chain ball, then grabbed hold of a small hook that had been welded to the giant orb. Gorn smiled, then swung the weapon at their opponent with a mighty fist! The hylian caught his balance just in time to jump back, but noticed something off. He didn't even need to dodge, that attack was going to miss him by a few feet.
"You missed me by a mile!" he called back, striking the tip of his glaive down into the chain, nailing Gorn's weapon to the ground.
Gorn gave the man a playful grin.
"I wasn't trying to!"The hylian's face contorted, first in confusion, then in raw pain. White-blue volts of electricity visibly surged through his metal armor for several seconds, forcing him to release his weapon. Once the surge ceased, he stood a few feet back from his starting position, breathing heavily but not out yet.
"He's got some fortitude!" Confliti exclamed, hanging into the man's breast plate. Not many people wearing a full suit of metal armor could take an electric shock like that and stay standing. Still, he couldn't be that far off from defeat. The minish allowed himself to slide down the polished metal until he reached the man's ankle, where the armor had to be thin to allow movement. Without hesitation he stabbed his greatsword into the man's ankle, between the plates, causing a most agreeable action. The soldier howled in pain, kicked his injured foot forward violently, and fell flat on his back, tumbling out of the arena boundaries.
"Ring out! The winner is Gornfliti, the Minish Manhunter!"
Confliti flew back in the air, thanks to the man's pained kick, but caught his fall with his leaf paraglider. He landed near Gorn, who squat down long enough for Confliti to hop on his hand and get back into position on his friend's shoulder.
"Yes! I won! Take that giant! I am a mighty warrior!" Gorn only laughed in response.
The goron merchant recovered his travel pack, then wandered over to the spot where their opponent was now getting up. The hylian's armor was blackened by the surge of electricity, and he now walked with a limp. More than his body though, his pride was injured. "What, are you here to gloat?"
"Nope." The goron produced a glass bottle from his pack, filled about half way with a white liquid.
"Would you like some nutritious milk?""Oh. Yeah, that sounds really nice. Thank you." The soldier took the bottle, popped open the top, and drank heartily.
"That'll be fifty rupees."
