Intense Struggle! (Round 7 - The Database)

Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.

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Larus was beaten, bloody and bruised. His formerly totally grey body now sported all kinds of interestingly coloured splotches and bruises, as well as lots of bright red dripping blood. His hands, red and raw still scrabbled painfully through the sand as he desperately crawled towards the one thing that meant anything to him any more; the sweet smelling nectar of the succulent. Though every movement was a blistering agony that shot through his entire body he knew that it would all be worth it, if he could just keep going a little bit longer. All this pain and the ordeals he had been through in the course of this battle would evaporate away in a matter of moments. If anything they would make his eternal happiness that much more sweeter by comparison. Until his legs suddenly buckled lifelessly underneath him, refusing to respond any longer no matter how much he willed them to do so. Larus didn't give up, he couldn't; the succulent's poison would not let him abandon his efforts to reach the nectar, not when it was so tantalisingly close. So using all of his available strength he tried to haul himself towards the flower, it was an exercise in excruciating futility. Despite his efforts he could not drag himself along the desert sands by sheer force of willpower alone.

The succulent felt the vibrations of Larus' feeble attempts to reach it. Whether it was because of the size of its prey, or the length of time since it had had such a meal, the succulent was getting uncharacteristically impatient. Stretching limbs that had lain dormant for years it pushed itself out of the sands. The succulent, what had been an apparently harmless, insignificant speck of green and red amongst the rolling plains of the desert, maneouvred on limbs of twisted vine until it loomed threateningly over Larus' near lifeless form. Hungrily it slathered thick droplets of nectar and prepared to eat.

As those droplets of nectar dripped down onto Larus' vulnerable body he found himself with just enough time to re-evaluate how delicious and desirable the nectar had been in the first place. His body still ached, and the happiness that would sweep over him and last forever was mystifyingly absent. As the hungry succulent began to feed upon him his last thoughts were that of regret. In his world he had had a rule: only ever fight 'normals'. Though one might have considered this rule to be somewhat unfair, considering his ability, it had always worked for him, only failing when he had been forced into this contest he had been forced to fight enemies who were about as far from 'normals' as you could get. And consequently here he was; a victim of circumstance, and of The Monitor's cruel game; a long awaited meal for a very hungry plant.