Mini-Grand 5106 [SUDDEN DEATH]

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Though not that long ago Mindy had been keen to join Team Ataya, the last couple of minutes had been pretty hectic. First Ataya had been pretty quick to drown-convert Sara; Mindy wasn’t sure what precisely to describe it as because she was having a hard time keeping a handle on precisely what was going on. Sara was dead, or had been dead, and now was Ataya’s willing slave…? Could she even be described as the same person any more, her personality so thoroughly overwritten by the bitch queen of the river? But that was a semi-philosophical argument for another time. After that Naiima and Matty had shown up and, even though she did not like the spider, Mindy’s heart had all but leapt. The mere possibility that one of these two might be able to stop Ataya… to punish her for what she had done…

Of course everything had gotten a bit hectic and the upshot of it all was that Matty was dead. He had died a noble death, refusing to kowtow to Ataya, sacrificing himself in order to prevent that from happening. Now knelt in the mud, her hands still bound behind her back Mindy wept for the fallen soldier, and everyone that had been slain in this awful battle.

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Zafira hadn’t been much help in the battle. Mainly because she was still shackled to this oafish detective who had done nothing throughout the entire round other than stare longingly at Ataya’s sopping wet body. As it was she couldn’t give two shits about Matty or Naiima, her attention was focused solely on her love, her darling Sara. It made her blood boil to see her doting upon that river-whore. The only thing that prevented her from being completely overwhelmed with despair was the desperate notion that perhaps if she somehow managed to kill Ataya Sara would snap out of it. Not that she had any idea how to kill Ataya, she’d taken a spear to the head and it had barely even annoyed her.

Standing there, caked in mud, handcuffed to a mindless buffoon, Zafira fumed. Unable to do any real damage to the one person she wanted to deal damage to she contented herself by taking a swing at Pascal; it was a good blow and she was pretty sure it’d complete his set of black eyes.

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It was all Debbie could do not to scream. Not out of any horror or grief at Mattilus’ death, but just a general plaintive moan, a cry of frustration in a world that was patently not fair. They were singers! How were they ever supposed to compete in a battle to the death against an android, a musician and a giant spider? The fact that they were here at all was preposterous. Just when it had seemed that they might have a way to come out of this alive after all, it turned out to be nothing more than another threat. Ataya was not the key to winning the battle, she was another overpowered adversary. As far as she was concerned it was just her and Zaffy and Mindy now. Sara and Ataya might as well have been dead; it would at this point have been preferable.

After Mattilus’ death she knew she didn’t have long before they’d be sent somewhere new once again. She was grabbed by one of the naked tribesmen as Ataya reinitiated her conversion of the Chix. Debbie had one opportunity to do this. She spun around, twisting in the tribesman’s grip and of course blushing as she did so, kicked him in his exposed groin. She didn’t hang around to find out but she was pretty sure that within seconds he was collapsed upon the muddy floor. She darted over to where it had fallen and snatched up Mattilus’ book; her last hope at surviving this competition.