Going into her third match Patricia's confidence was flying high. Having defeated her first two opponents with relative ease, she was more sure than ever that she would succeed in her mission.
When she reached the pit she noticed that the boy standing across from her was wearing the jacket of a Grove Trotter. When they met along the edge he smiled
"You're a breeder right? My little sister said that a breeder was entering this tournament as her own tamer, and had a whole team of stingers from her independent study." Patricia nodded in reply unsure how to react to someone hearing about her. "My sister is actually the one who bred all my beasts for this tournament. They are the result of her independent study as well, and all of the same species too!"
Patricia took this opertunity to examine his beasts. As he had said they were all of the same species, though each was slightly different. They were dandies, and initially patricia felt relieved, then she noticed what made them different. Each dandy showed a unique combination of traits. Some had thorns, some had sacks of some kind around their necks, others had a strange look to the fluff on their heads, and one even had what looked like chitin like bark of some sort on its stem. Patricia blinked in confusion.
"Why do they look so... odd?" She asked.
"OH my sister is apparently trying to create a large number of variants of dandys as a proof of concept for a larger scale project where she will cross breed more rare and complex plant beasts with her "attributed dandies" to pass on affinities with greater ease then breeding the attributes in the traditional way. Or something like that, im not super clear on the details, to be honest."
Patricia thought about the implications of this research. Dandies were fast to breed, cheap to feed, and easy to raise. If they really could be cross bred to give diffrent affinities to more difficult plants without the hassle of working in a more complex lineages, the availability of hybrid plants would be much higher, and controlling the outflow of these dandies would create a very lucrative buisness model. But only if the dandys didnt pass along too many undesirable traits in the interbreeding.
"That sounds like a very interesting idea, but why did you enter a tournament with them?" She asked curious.
"Ah, well, that. I lost a bet and now im stuck with them." He answered sheepishly. "But, they do have their advantages. I've managed to win both my previous matches." Then the sheepishness vanished and he grinned. "Before you look down on me and my plants why dont you see how tough they are for yourself."
-----
When the tokens were revealed the competitors were Crabs and a dandy with sacks and spikes named Sploosh. Based on the name and look patricia assumed it to be a water hybrid, possibly with some toxic aspects. She thought Crabs should be able to deal with the strange dandy but was weary of any surprises it might have in store.
With Crabs and Sploosh lowered into the pit, the attendants began their count down. With the signal Crabs burst from its cage and began to circle towards the dandy, moving in sudden jolts and stop in case of any ranged attacks. For now it seemed to be unnecessary. The dandy waddled forward its head swaying side to side. Once the two came close though the dandy did what dandies do, it shook its head and spread a cloud of thick fuzz in every direction obscuring it from view. Crabs hovered just outside the cloud moving side to side seemingly trying to spot some hidden detail that would clue it into the location of its opponent. Crabs finally made a sudden lunge forward only to swerve hard to barely evade a glob of viscus liquid that shot from the cloud.
The opponent frowned and muttered "damn. Almost had it too." He shook his head ruefully. "I guess three in a row was asking for a bit much from the little fellow." Then he closed his mouth as his eyes shown with Ki.
A second then a third glob flew from the cloud. Neither was as close as the first shot, and Crabs didnt need to work as hard to avoid them now that he knew they were coming. A few faints later he dove in. a final glob flew out of the cloud, coming out from the same place Crabs had gone in. Patricia held her breath concentrating on Crabs sensations. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain from her stinger. She gasped. But when Crabs flew out of the cloud there was a small crack in his carapace, but nothing more serious. Her opponent on the other hand raised a hand and signaled surrender.
"You got a pretty good sting in, Sploosh is basically out of goo, and Im pretty sure I sense a strong toxin. I'm not coming back from this." He shrugged. "I only got this far because of sneak attacks and lucky guesses on matchups." He smilled then "your stingers are full of surprises themselves though, so no luck this time." He moved around to shake Patricia's hand while his dandy was treated for the venom. "Good match."
---
The bubble frog opened its mouth and a storm of foamy bubbles burst forth. As they got close to the stinger, they popped releasing bursts of wind that could have disturbed its flight. But, flicker was too fast. weaving through the bubbles with ease always one step ahead of thier bursting she closed on the cowering amphibian that seemed to have no answer for the approaching beast.
----
The rockadillo once again curled into a ball as it charged. Its rocky plates covering its whole body as it rolled and bounced through the pit. Its armor seemed impenetrable, but Emilia's notes had exposed several key pressure points that, if struck in succession, would cause the armor to crack. Blister waited for the ball to slow dodging its bouncing lunges. The window of opportunity was small, when it had slown enough to strike accurately, but not so slow that it unfurled and was able to swipe with its claws. When the opertunity came blister didnt hesitate swooping in and striking precisely at the final point. With a deafening crunch the rocky plates split open revealing the vulnerable flesh below. Even then, the cracks were small and hard to attack directly, not that it mattered to Blister.
---
Buzz once again found herself perched upon the back of a large insect. This time it was a massive earwig with two tails. Buzz had managed to land in a tiny spot at the base of both tails that Patricia had identified as a blind spot. Now the twinwig was writhing and searching franticly for its opponent its tamer trying desperately to send an impression of the stingers location. Meanwhile buzz struck repeatedly at the same spot between the tails where the chitin was thinnest.
---
Little hope flew rapidly forward. Closing her wings and dropping nearly to the ground before opening them again, narowly avoiding another burst of thorns from the vine thorner. Her trust in her masters was absolute and she executed each command with absolute precision. Flying in low and fast she closed in on the beast managing to land a glancing blow on it before pulling up and away allowing her poison to do its work.
---
Tox sat smuggly on the back of an incapacitated pile of sludge that hid the creature within it. The tamer of the toxic beast was arguing loudly with the arena personel about the impossibility of a stingers poison taking out his prized sludge rabbit.
---
Crabs flew high above the lashing tongue of a mud fish. He had already landed a few blows but it seemed the earthen water beast had a strong resistance to the stingers venom. It would have to switch to a diffrent tactic if it wanted to overcome this challenge. Luckily, versatility was Crabs speciality.
---
With a mixture of luck, strategy, and fast thinking, Patricia and her stingers found themselves leaving her first day of competition without suffering a single loss. She couldn't wait to see her friends faces.
"Hehehehhehe"