BATTLE SUPREMACY
ORCHID VS CRISPY
PART ONE
Craning her neck Orchid waited for the other goblins and monsters to clear out. Originally she wanted to try and save as many goblins as she could to her side just to have the numbers. But seeing how quickly everything went to hell, such idealism wouldn’t be possible. No doubt if Orchid wins, many of these goblins would either flee or try and challenge her. She’d have to make a spectacle of killing Crispy while not being too wounded herself. If nothing else, this would make sure to cement herself as the new boss.
Once the arena was clear Orchid struck first. Crispy’s fireball was deadly and wide range, and no doubt he wouldn’t be afraid to catch himself in the blast. Orchid would only have one good shot at him and she would lose if she lets him keep a distance from her. So Orchid charged forward, her shield raised to block as much damage as possible. If Crispy aimed right at her Orchid would dodge, but if he aims at her feet Orchid was also ready to aim her shield down and try to absorb as much damage with her shield. As long as she got close, she could finish him.
From behind her shield's rim, Orchid would see Crispy bend his knees as if to brace himself for their collision. Then the flame touched goblin pushed off--to make a light hop backwards as he thrust his torch out. Crispy, being older and more mature than Orchid, had just a few more inches of reach. With his torch in hand, it allowed him to slam the burning head into the center of Orchid's shield and still leave him space to stay away from that sharp club of hers. Orchid dodged to one side, letting the torch roll off her shield, but now Crispy had once again hopped away. The distance between them was reset--and her shield had several glowing embers on it. The thin wicker strips and sticks she made it from had long dried by now, and they might catch fire easily. Crispy continued to circle, his torch extended in front of him and his knife hand making slow figure-eights, keeping the weapon's tip moving unpredictably...
"Younglin' too big for britches!" he cawed at her, as the others looked on.
Orchid reset her position towards Crispy, casting a flew glances down at her shield. It was only singed but she knew that if she kept fighting so roughly with her shield, it would easily be destroyed. She needed to be decisive. So once more Orchid charged at Crispy, but right before she’d run into him or his torch she’d take a step back, so that he would have to reach even further to try and hit her. A feint so she could smash her shield right onto Crispy’s arm to disarm him of his torch. While this might give him a chance to retaliate with a fireball, Orchid intended to remain nimble to do her best and avoid the flames.
Or at least, that was what she had planned. As Orchid prepared to charge again just like she had before, Crispy did something different.
"Already--"
He lunged forward before she had gotten her own dash underway, again thrusting with his torch while she was still shifting her balance. Just as Orchid got her shield up the burning stick collided with it again.
"Seen dat!"
But despite not being quite as tall, Orchid was [Stronger]. She was still able to push forward with her shield, hoping to put enough pressure on the limb to force Crispy to drop it. She heard the beginning of a crackle from the wicker, however, and although she managed to press the torch back against him Crispy didn't seem harmed by its heat. Yet they only stayed in contact for an instant, as Crispy physically felt he would lose the contest of strength and again hopped away. Once again they were circling each other, each looking for openings. Crispy held the torch at roughly eye level out in front of him, glaring at Orchid with narrowed eyes as he waved it back and forth, back and forth...
Orchid didn’t give Crispy a moment to rest. Third time's the charm. She charged forward once more, her shield up as she went low. Either Crispy planned to break her shield or just wanted Orchid to tire herself out. But this time Orchid wasn’t planning on hitting Crispy directly. No, instead she used her sharp club like a shovel and tossed up a large cloud of dirt towards Crispy. It was a thin smoke shield but enough for Orchid’s form to be hidden for a precious few seconds.
The torch followed Orchid's shield, staying at intercepting level even as the female goblin lowered her stance. When she charged in low, however, Crispy didn't thrust this time. As she shoved her weapon into the ground he was already moving at an angle, and though she would no doubt turn to try and scatter the dirt at him he put on a burst of speed and kept the dust from blinding him. Before Orchid could straighten her stance he closed the distance again, torch still held low towards her shield--
Then she felt his knife bite into her shoulder.
He had drawn her focus to the torch, and when she lowered herself she had sacrificed the amount of coverage her shield gave her. While the flaming brand stood out in her eyes the knife had come overhand from a blind angle, above the rim of the shield to find her upper arm.
The wound wasn't deep--Crispy didn't seem to want to have an extended tangle up-close, and his knife wasn't long enough. But it hurt and it bled, and now he was sneering at her.
"Crispy gots blood first, youngling!" he cackled, shifting lightly on the balls of his feet as he backed up.
“You talk too much!”It hurt. It hurt so much. But not as bad as getting hit by a truck. And frankly, this stabbing pain was familiar, just like the first time she fought a goblin. She got stabbed right into the shoulder. It hurt so much, but it was a hurt that Orchid was now used to.
With both of Crispy’s arms occupied, one covering her shield and another stabbing her shoulder, this was Orchid’s moment to strike. She raised her club up to her shoulder height ready to smash into Crispy’s head. But what she did first was turn her head towards the knife in her shoulder. Through gritted teeth she shouted out
“SMASH!”Orchids attack was two fold; her strike, instead of going high, was aimed low to strike Crispy’s forward leg. She swung her arm down onto his leg the same way she chop through meat, using a flicking motion so that all the force was concentrated on the tip, and the momentum and weight of her weapon behind it. But that was merely an off hand attack, as her primary one which she channeled her smash was meant to go into Orchid’s bite as she chomped onto Crispy’s wrist, aiming to break the fragile bones keeping his hand attached to his arm.
Crispy was already in the process of withdrawing his knife and backing up, but was still caught off guard by Orchid's more ferocious assault after she'd been so careful thus far. Her teeth snapped shut--quite hard, enough that she gave herself an uncomfortable jolt--on empty air as Crispy jerked his knife hand away. Her swinging club, on the other hand, met his torch in a half-readied block. Crispy didn't have a solid enough stance yet and hadn't been expecting to defend himself, and as a result the blow was a heavy one that knocked a chunk out of the torch's wooden shaft. The ashes and sparks that it carried with it drifted dangerously on the breeze from the attack--if it got into Orchid's eyes she might be as blind as she had tried to get Crispy a moment ago. The burned goblin escaped her attack with a shaky hand, but no wound, and once again had returned to his favored distance.
This time, however, he didn't let Orchid re-initiate. Instead he circled towards her shield arm, away from the club, and swung with his torch directly at the Wicker Shield. It was a swift fronthand-backhand motion, and as the flames passed through the air they surged brighter...
A miss. Crispy was a wriggly foe. But then again if she could get a solid blow onto him it would be over in an instance. He moved quickly to get behind her; was he trying to flank her and stab her in the back? Or strike her over the head? Either way Orchid needed to act quickly. Stronger made her physically more powerful but there was more to strength than just how much she could carry or how hard she could push something. If she was stronger than she braced her legs into the ground and jumped back; right into Crispy. She was easily able to shift her shield behind her to cushion the impact as the torch would strike the outer rim of the shield; the flames she could feel as embers flicked onto her body, but it was a relatively minor pain. Crispy’s advantage over Orchid is his speed, but speed won’t mean much when you’re flat on your back.
As the torch struck Orchid's shield once again, this time she heard the wicker crack and felt heat on her arm. But her backwards lunge put her strength and weight against Crispy's, and she knocked him backwards powerfully. True, if he were flat on his back she could easily seize the advantage.
But Goblins were brutal creatures. How many times now had she seen Rattleskull or Crispy, either one, kick or slap or otherwise buffet another greenskin? How many times had they literally knocked on sprawling or caused them to fall? Being a goblin meant clawing your way up from the bottom, and that meant a lot of abuse from those higher on the chain. As Orchid turned to try and pursue the falling Crispy, the tattooed goblin was already rolling on the ground. At the moment he had seen he would lose this direct struggle once more, Crispy had jumped back. Orchid's slam had thus thrown him farther. As a goblin who had been around for much longer, he knew how to, quite literally, roll with the punches. With all the grace of a drunken, half-trained gymnast the Goblin had rolled, and thus he not only came up on his feet as Orchid was preparing to follow up, he was further away from her.
The distance had increased.
"FIREBALL!" Crispy's torch almost seemed to shoot the spell from its tip like a wand. It shot towards Orchid's torso at an angle--she might be able to defend with her shield, but it was already blackened around its center and starting to unravel--!
Orchid dropped. It was just the most immediate reaction for her, more so than freezing up or trying to defend with her shield. She wasn’t sure why but maybe it had to do with her death; she could have easily avoided it if she had simply got low to the ground and avoided that bus. And this time Orchid hit the ground before that fireball could hit her square in the chest. It helped that after her push, she was slightly off balanced; falling was just a matter of not catching herself.
Just as quick as she fell Orchid was back onto her feet. She could feel her shield breaking and knew it was no longer useful. She ran towards Crispy to close the distance, her club poised to strike and this time ready for another attack.
The fireball arced over Orchid's head, landing somewhere in the already burned and upturned earth behind her. Luckily that kept it from spreading into the forest, but that would probably be the least of her concerns at the moment. Crispy had been on his feet when he launched that spell and was already breaking into a run as Orchid dropped to the ground. She immediately pushed back up onto her feet, but not fast enough to avoid an attempt by Crispy to keep her down. The torch struck her head with a solid thump, the impact throwing her to one side even as she felt her hair singe and the heat threatened to sear her face. But with her club at the ready she charged right back, only for Crispy to leap aside from her strike. The club almost caught him, cutting a section of leaves from his woven vine belt, but he aimed for the moment when she had to pull the weapon back to either block or try another swing. In that lull Crispy lunged forward, thrusting his knife several times in quick succession at Orchid's upper torso.
Crispy wasn't turning out to be nearly the fool she had thought him up until now--everything he had done so far showed what it took to survive in this world and rule an unruly bunch of goblins. He had adapted quickly to repeated attacks, had baited her into focusing on one weapon while he attacked with the other, had been hit enough times over the years to know how to take them and get back up, hadn't hesitated at all to use his spell the moment it was advantageous, and he reacted to every opening she gave him. There was no way Crispy was a trained fighter, or that any of his skills gave him some kind of foresight--it was one thing, and one thing only. Experience. Experience living as a goblin, living in a world that seemed to be nothing but violence and struggle every single day.
Heart racing, blood pumping, body bleeding. Orchid was never a fighter in her past life, and being one in this new life was much harder than it seemed. All the more reason it was such a surprise that everyone was so quick to start killing each other. Just what sort of people did she end up with that they could easily take a life at a drop of a hat? Just what had she done in her past life that she deserved to be thrown into this one? Questions she’ll have to find answer to if she survives today. The pain in her head from the torch, the wounds on her chest from the knife, it all screamed to Orchid to tell her to stop, to just give up to stop the pain. It made Orchid wondered how many of these goblins went through the same thing.
The easy thing to do was just shut up and do what you’re told. That’s what she’s always done. The one moment she stepped out of line and she died for it. Would it happen again? More questions, more missing answers. There were more important things to do right now. As Crispy retracted his blade Orchid went to swing at his face with a quick swipe of her club. Another feint; while it could certainly hit his face Orchid wanted him to try to focus on it as she used some quick footwork to stomp him in the shin, specifically on the wound she had caused him earlier before. She would use her shield to cover her movements, almost as if she had intended to merely smash her shield into his body, but instead was meant to hide her short, low blow to his ankles. Crispy wasn’t the only one who knew to fight dirty; he might be more experienced but that doesn’t mean he was guaranteed to win.
As Orchid lashed out with her sharp club Crispy was surprised by the speed of the weapon; Orchid's Crafting skill earlier had told her that this weapon was faster than the normal clubs, and Crispy had never seen such a weapon before much less fought one. Though he jerked his head back, one of the sharpened stone shards drew a painful red line across his cheek. As he screeched he swung frantically with his torch, slamming Orchid's club away from him but failing to disarm her.
Just like the female planned his focus was diverted, and she quickly kicked him hard in the shin. Crispy lost his balance, and went down to one knee with gritted teeth. He looked up at Orchid now, looming over him--for the first time she could see a flash of panic in his eyes. But with a snarl he swung upwards with his knife, aiming a powerful slash at her closest thigh.
Crispy’s knife would find no mark as the stone blade was caught between the weaves and fibers of her shield; even as it was mostly damaged from the constant torch beat downs, it was still whole enough to tangle a blade firmly within its folds. And with the blade stuck in her shield Orchid stabbed the pointy end of her shield into Crispy’s wounded leg once more, with enough force for her shield to get lodged there. With his knife caught and his leg continuously damaged Orchid let go of her shield to grip her Sharp Club with both hands, ready to deal the final blow.
She struck with no mercy nor hesitation. While she may have had a million of thoughts flash in her mind she only had one thing she needed to do at this very moment. Holding her weapon with both hands she cleaved her blade down onto Crispy’s shoulder, to cleave and crush through his clavicle and somewhere into his lungs. It was a well-practiced swing; the execution blow of many of boars, chickens, and cows back home. Had she an axe and her normal body, she could have cleaved Crispy from shoulder to hip.
As Crispy's knife slashed into the burned and weakened Wicker Shield, Orchid heard and felt its weave being cracked apart. The circular shield soon split into pieces, crumbling inward, but there was still enough of it left--and her splintery spokes running through it--to slam down hard on Crispy's foot. The flaming goblin howled as the spike pierced him. He couldn't put weight on the injured foot to stand up from his kneeling position. He watched with panicked eyes as she raised her club, raising an outstretched hand--
"FIRE--"
She swung down just as the flames burst from Crispy's palm. The spell didn't have time to complete, but the jet of flame would still throw off Orchid's balance and aim. Crispy's reaching arm was in the way of her strike. The blades of her club sank into the meat of his forearm and kept going thanks to her strength--she heard bone snap and crack. The weapon kept going, though much of its force was reduced, and sliced open Crispy's chest diagonally across the sternum. The wound wasn't deep, but the multiple, jagged stone blades created a messy lattice of lacerations instead of one clean wound.
The heat of the flames seared across Orchid's ribs and up across one shoulder. She had already taken a stab wound to that same shoulder and felt the blood boiling. She had been struck over the head by Crispy's torch, leaving burning embers in her hair. She had been stabbed, though lightly, several times around her torso, leaving a half dozen rivulets of blood running down her chest and waist.
WARNING! YOUR HP IS LOW!
Crispy collapsed to the ground, holding his broken arm--it had been cut down to the bone, but not all the way through, yet the weighty club held so much impact it had snapped one of the two smaller bones in the forearm, the ulna specifically. Blood poured from it, and from the wound on his chest where ragged little bits of flesh made it look like someone had been peeling him apart layer by layer. He screamed and writhed in agony, which only made the pain worse.
"CRISPY GIVE! CRISPY GIVES! YOU BOSS NOW, YOU BOSS!" he pleaded, kicking away her Wicker Shield--now broken beyond repair--and thus opening up a new wound on his foot.
Burns. Blood. Pain. It was agonizing. She thought she knew pain but this was on a whole other level. She wanted to cry, to curl up somewhere cold and dark and just hope for a quick death. But as per usual, her work is never done. She stood up, still lightly on fire but she patted the flames down as she walked towards Crispy. He had surrendered and now she was the boss. He was at her mercy.
”Get out of here. I don’t care where you go. But if I see you again you’ll die. That’s the only kindness you’ll get from me.” She stood over him, knowing that he was far too wounded to get moving far or any time soon, but her grip on her club was still strong enough to finish the job. If he had any intentions of betraying her mercy, he’d find a sharp club towards his neck before he could even scream fire.
"W-wait! W-wait, Boss!" Crispy used his one good elbow to back himself up along the ground, away from Orchid and her club. "Ah, me, me used to dis! Rattleskull, me n' him scrap too! But you, you different!" Still bleeding everywhere, still clearly in agony as he cradled his arm, he managed to stand up somewhat in a hunched bow. "You sm-smarter den Rattleskull! B-but, Crispy da oldest Gob left in da tribe! Can tells ya all da stuff da Old Gobs told me!" He gestured towards the others. Bigs, Wej, Clod, and one of Crispy's minions were older than Orchid, but the others were much closer to her age and aside from Crispy, it was very likely none of them even knew who these Old Gobs before Rattleskull had been. "Da farm! And da Ventures, an' udda Humans! Uh, uh, even da Orcs! Ya dun know nuthin' bout 'em, but Crispy does! Can be yore, yore uh, advertiser!"
"Crispy makes fire, Boss." spoke up the female member of Crispy's minion duo. "Can't cook food wit no fire. And is strong weapon."
"Ain't but, uh..." Bigs counted the goblins on his fingers, then held out his hands. He was still off by two. "Dis many of us left, Boss. We needs more Gobs, don't we?"
Orchid sighed.
”Well, suppose now is a good time as any to enact some new policies.” Orchid remained stoic and uncharged as she was poised to smackdown Crispy, but she did raise a hand up to get everyone to quiet down.
“We’re going to do things differently from now on. We Goblins gotta stick together after all… But the only way we can do that is if we want to work together.” She have everyone a quick glance as if she suspected then if deceit and treachery. Which she honestly did.
“We gunna do something called voting.” Orchid went to pick up her shield and tossed it off a bit away, where it broke some more into a tough line. She pointed towards the shield with her sharp club.
“If you want Crispy to stay, stand on that side.” Orchid pointed towards the left side of the shield. Then she pointed towards the right side.
“If you want him to leave, stand on that side. We gunna do big decisions like this from now on so we know where we all stand. Or at least, whenever someone’s got ideas that sound better than mines and wants to fight about it without dying like today.” And just so no one gets the wrong impression that Orchid is doing this to be nice, she gave them a vicious snarl.
“We only gunna do this for as long as I think it’ll work. If I don’t like it I’m going to stop it.”The Goblins seemed confused by Orchid's words and actions, as always, but after seeing her handle Crispy the way she had they certainly weren't going to say anything against her. Crispy quickly hobbled over to the left side of the shield. Both of his former minions followed him. Bigs and Wej looked at each other, then turned away from the group and began to whisper back and forth with various gestures. Clod stopped to observe them for a moment, then turned to look at Orchid. He looked over at Crispy. Then he looked back over his shoulder towards the rock blades he'd been working on. Then down at the Wicker Shield Orchid had made for him. Finally, he walked over to the left side.
Jezee creeped up behind Orchid on the right side slowly. Sqwal stood on the middle for a moment, scowling at both sides...then stepped over to the right. Bigs and Wej finished their discussion, played a quick game of what looked like rock-paper-scissors, then split. Bigs stood on Crispy's side, Wej stood on Orchid's.
Counting Orchid and Crispy themselves, it was 5 to 4 in favor of letting the flame-touched Goblin stay. That injured arm of his was beginning to look like a swollen, bruised monstrosity and he seemed to be silently crying, though he stood behind one of his minions so the others wouldn't see the tears.
”Five-to-four huh. Joining my side will obviously make it five-to-five, and yet another deadlock. Greeeeeaaaat.”Orchid bemoaned in her head. Democracy was never easy. But then again, being a leader isn’t easy. If everyone just did what they were told without any choice for their own, a lot more people would be successful. But a lot more people would also likely end up dead, so as always there were two-sides to every coin. No matter, evidently it was down to Orchid once more. She walked over and picked up what remained of her ruined shield; no chance to repair it now. But she could at least break it down into some usable parts or, failing that, tinder. Now it was time to establish some ground rules and her verdict.
”Crispy stays. For now. Just know this… You lost.” Orchid looked at Crispy directly in his eyes so he knows that Orchid knows he’s crying. Even though she hurt, she didn't shed a single tear. She hadn’t even yelled too loudly when she got hurt.
”You do what I say and you live. You start trying to boss me or the others around when I don’t tell you to, you’ll die. Don’t care how many of the others want you around; defying me means death. As for the rest of you,” Orchid turned to look to the others. While she wants to make sure they’re more cooperative by giving them some semblance of freedom and equality, she doesn’t want them to think they could just go and challenge her for leadership whenever they feel like being pissy.
”You got a problem with something I do, you tell me. We work it out. Only reason I could challenge Crispy to be the boss is because before, none ya were brave enough to wanna fight or speak up. Make no mistake, you piss me off and I’ll hurt you. But if you got a problem and you do want some help, even if that problem is me, than I won’t get angry. We can work together. But if you don’t talk to me and just start doing stuff yourself, that’ll piss me off. Now onto some other stuff.” Orchid put her ruined shield away onto a small loop on her backpack, wiping the blood off her body as best as she could. It mostly ended up just staining her and making the little green goblin look red.
”We’re still going to go after that farm, but only after we get more weapons and armor. If there’s adventurers there, sticks and stones won’t beat em. So we’re going to need all the help we can get! So we’re going to go look for those other monsters that left the cave. They helped me survive and they’re smart enough to know that if they want to survive, they’ll want to work with us. That means no attacking them if they don’t attack you first. You ain’t their boss, so if you try to start ordering them around I won’t save you if you get eaten by them. Let me do the talking, work together, and you’ll be better for it. If they’re bossing you around or trying to hurt you, you tell me and I’ll deal with em.”Though while Orchid wanted to start working as soon as possible, she was dead tired. That fight nearly killed her, and chances are Crispy won’t survive either with his injury. As much as she hated to be idle, she needed to rest. She felt like she spoke enough so she pointed back towards their camp.
”Alright, that’s enough talking. I’m tired. Going to deal with these wounds, maybe take a little nap. Get your things, make stuff, eat, whatever. We leave when I’m ready to go.”As Orchid turned to head back towards the camp, there was the sound of hushed whispering behind her. She had probably guessed by this point that, until she knew Crispy wouldn't try anything, she would have to be on her guard against treachery--but by the time she turned back, Crispy was still cradling his arm and trying to make wiping his face look casual. Instead, the female member of the minion duo approached Orchid. She looked to be in the same age range as Bigs and Clod, so she was slightly taller than Orchid and more filled out in a "mature" way.
"Boss, me and Yoona gonna go back in da cave to get Healy Herbs." she pointed at the male. "We be back as soon as we can."
Provided there were no problems with that, the two set off--leaving Crispy to skulk about, alone and unnoticed by the other goblins, even the ones who had voted to let him stay. He sat on a rock away from the fire, turned his back to everyone else, and every so often merely sniveled or whined as he held his arm.
"Oi, Boss! Is Crispy Mid-Boss again?" called Wej as he approached Orchid, wiping his nose with a snort. "Cause if'n he ain't, I wanna be Mid-Boss!"
"You ain't big enough to be Mid-Boss!" Bigs challenged, running up and shoving Wej out of the way. "Boss, pick me, pick me!"
Clod looked over at them and started to open his mouth like he wanted to join the squabble too...then he went back to stripping bark off a tree branch he found. Soon he was trying to wind it to make fiber chord.
"B-Boss, I been tryin' to make rope like youse showed us..." Jezee tried to approach from behind, but seemed intimidated by the row from the others. She bashfully held out a thin length of fiber chord that was frayed and loose at several points along its weave. "Is dis right?"
Being a Boss, especially one that encouraged her subjects to approach her, seemed like it was going to be a big responsibility...
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