With the first day of the tournament finished patricia had time to go and talk with her friends. Unfortunately little hope had to be left behind this time. Once a tournament started all beasts had to remain with arena representatives for observation. Under no circumstance could last minute swaps or other result skewing actions be allowed.
When Patricia left the tamer waiting area she found her friends waiting for her not far from the exit. Derek was waving at her and beaming.
"We saw all your matches Pat you did great!" He said pulling her into a hug.
Marty shrugged "got to admit you really surprised us. Not only did you show adequate control of your beasts, but even your hairbrained scheme of a stinger varient seems to be suprisingly viable." He smiled "nice work. You're still crazy though."
Patricia smiled widely as Dina spoke her peice. "You've done a good job of predicting the opponents beast and choosing the right strategy to counter them despite your limited tools." She then wiped her sleave across her face smearing the small bit of sauce from some kind of arena food into a much more noticeable streak. Emilia grimaced and handed the other girl a handkerchief. After her second attempt to wipe her face Dina looked at Emilia with an eyebrow raised. Emilia took back the kerchief and folded it so the sauce was contained within.
Patricia stared eagerly at her roommate. Emilia seemed slightly uncomfortable under Patricia's gaze. "From the matches I saw you put my notes to good use, and preformed adequately in other aspects."
Patricia felt a bit let down by the lack luster compliment but chose to focus on something else. "What do you mean by 'the matches you saw'?" She asked narrowing her eyes.
Emilias discomfort grew "well, i mean, I caught the majority. Its just that..."
"Just what Emilia?" Patricia said unbelieving.
"Well some of your matches were inconveniently timed is all." Emilia said not making eye contact.
"Oh for god- she didnt watch all your matches because she was busy drooling over Drake."Marty explained glaring at Emilia. "Anytime your matches overlapped she snuck off and watched his instead. We had to give her a recap for the last four or so matches." He shook his head in disappointment.
Emilias face turned red. "Its not like i care more about him than you pat. There is just more side bets on a match with a tamer from a major guild." She explained hurriedly then added in a mumble "even if it is only a side branch." Then she pulled out a small stack of papers and handed them to Patricia. "Here i made notes on the notable contestants i saw! I thought it might help!"
Patricia eyes and mouth were wide with shock, but then she closed them and shook her head. "Well I guess that's fine. Since the rest of my FRIENDS watched. I guess its fine if my roomate ditches a few." She grumbled paging through the papers. Then she frowned. "Emilia... are these notes on the odds of them winning future matches?"
Emilia grinned sheepishly. "Well sure, but I included observations on their beasts and fighting styles in order to work out those odds. So its basically a guide to help you in future matches"
Patricia didnt know what to say, so she just stared. Marty didn't seem so fuddled however.
"Not cool Emilia."
---
The four of them continued to discuss the matches and other contestants as they walked back to the mess hall and then to the dorms.
In the end there seemed to be only a few boogeymen she needed to avoid if she she was to make it to the end. One was Drake. He was using a mixture of birds and earthen beasts but what was really scary was his strategic mind and excellent control. The next was another person from the Grove Trotters. Her name was Francis and she used predominantly plant toxic attributed beasts. Her strategy included fast, accurate strikes and quick acting poison, which would devastate her small stingers with even a glancing blow.
Finally there was a black horse of sorts. Emilia said this was his first tournament but he had been smashing through his opponents one after another with a single beast. A nimble and strong ape-like beast covered in hair that seemed to be sharp as needles and as impenetrable as armor. It had shown remarkable versatility. countering each of its opponents with seeming ease by targeting weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Worst of all it liked to taunt its opponents after achieving victory turning its back towards them and slapping its bright green butt cheeks. Emilia said the rest of his beasts seemed rather average in species but strong as individuals. The ape however was apparently from a region far to the east, and called-
"A Cocobutt? There is no way that's true your messing with me." Patricia was sitting on her bed facing Emilia who had pulled out a large book to try and identify the beast.
"Im really not." She said with a look of distaste. "Aparently the primary variant have a brown color to their rear and are known to attack by throwing their shi-"
"NOPE, THATS ENOUGH OF THAT!" Patricia insisted. Waving her hands before her as if warding off the information.
"Well anyways" Emilia continued, "it seems this one is a variant of some kind. There doesnt seem to be any information on a green bottomed variant, and it didnt show any attacks featuring its-" Patricia threw a pillow at her. "Well, you know anyways. So it has to be a variant that isnt documented in this book. I wonder where he got it from? A traveling beast caravan maybe. Or maybe his mom is secretly a famous researcher who chose to live amongst the cocobutts until meeting his father who was a dashing beast catcher searching for the elusive Jungle Stalker. So when the Stalker attacked the troop the two of them had to work together to drive off the beast but they failed to stop it before it had killed the mother of a newborn beast. The troop wouldn't accept it because its green bottom and so she chose to raise it and return to society with the man. She got pregnant and the boy and his ape were raised side by side deepening their connection until they became an unstoppable battling team, more equal partners than master and beast." She held the book clutched to her chest and stared at Patricia expectantly.
Patricia blinked a few times and then said "um sure Em, im sure it happened just like that. Anyways, any advice on how to handle them?"
Emilia perced her lips in disapproval but then answered seriously. "I'd pick your least favorite stinger and surrender fast if it can't land a blow on the eyes or nose. I think a single strike might be enough to kill one of your stingers outright."
Patricia swallowed hard her mouth dry.
---
The next morning patricia returned to the arena early to spend time with her stingers. She rubbed under the chin of Little Hope who was ecstatic to see her again.
"Least favorite huh?" She whispered to herself, looking around at her beasts. Then shook her head. "How could I choose one? you're all precious to me." Then she grinned and leaned down toward hope. "I think I might know my favorite though." Hope buzzed back happily.
"Alright if we go up against that bully of an ape, then we dont play to loose." Raising her head high she announced. "We always play to win!"