LaRon had spent the evening after the first day of the tournament bragging to his friends at the arena. Despite having one of the last picks of contestants his competitor was not only still in the competition but was still competing in the winners bracket. Many of the more senior arena personel were jealous having already lost their own competitors. Officially there wasnt supposed to be any advantage to choosing to be the representative for a successful tamer or an unsuccessful one. In practice however, being paired with a winner was full of benefits. Coworkers would buy drinks and meals for winners, they could pick their next tamer earlier in the drafting process, easier work assignments for between tournaments, and more.
Dispite the tournament only being half way through the bracket, LaRon was already enjoying some of these benefits and he was hopeful that the good times would continue. Thats why, when he went to escort the young breeder to her room he found it difficult to maintain a professional demeanor. He kept opening his mouth to offer words of encouragement or advice. But each time his sense of duty won out and he closed it again without saying anything. Until he was leaving the room to let her wait for her first match.
"I wish you and your stingers luck in the coming matches. Though im unsure you need it." Then he closed the door not seeing the startled look on her face.
A passing coworker grinned at him.
"Wishing the contestants luck? How informal of you." LaRon scratched the back of his head. " though I guess that means you haven't checked the updated bracket for today."
LaRon's heart sank. "Why did something important change?" He asked.
"Nothing major." His coworker said casually. "Its just the higher ups decided they should arrange for the strongest contestants to meet in the semifinals and finals. That means your golden goose there is due for some trouble."
"Who, is it then?" LaRon asked dejectedly.
"If she makes it through the next two bouts her third will be against a Grove Trotter, and not one with a joke team this time. She's going to have to get past Francis."
LaRon grimaced. "Thats, not a good match up is it?"
His coworker patted his shoulder in commiseration. "No, no it is not. Take it from me, you'll be lucky if she goes into the looser bracket with all six of her beasts still kicking." She started walking away before turning back "oh and dont even think of warning her, you know the rules."
---
Patricia was feeling good. The second day of the tournament was harder than the first but she had managed to pull off a win in both of her matches so far. Crabs had taken another strike that had further damaged his carapace so he was effectively out of the line-up. But even then, she was looking forward to the rest of the day. If her luck held for a few more matches she would be close to making it into the finals without ever dipping into the loser bracket.
She wouldn't delude herself though. Even if her luck held sooner or latter she would go up against a real power house. And when that happened, her inexperience and lack of beast diversity would really start to show. She pet Little Hope and steeled her nerves.
When the knock came at her door she was ready to face whatever the arena threw at her. That was until she got to the pit.
There were alot of spectators in the stands and she began to worry. When she saw her opponent was wearing a Grove Trotter jacket, she began to sweat. And finally when she looked at the opponents beasts and saw six diffrent Plant beasts covered in thorns and vines, her mouth went dry.
It was Francis. The tall woman seemed to be a few years older than patricia, and moved to meet her opponent with a confident stride. Patricia met her half way around the pit and extended her hand. Francis took the hand and gave it one solid shake before letting go. She looked interested in Patricia.
"You've made it pretty far for someone working only with six undersized beasts.you clearly have more going for you than appears on the surface. I am looking forward to our match." She said simply.
"I've heard your pretty skilled too." Patricia said trying to project the same confidence. "I have been looking forward to facing you." Patricia felt like she was dying but she kept a calm and confident expression, at least until Francis had her back to Patricia. Then her face collapsed into a worried frown. She was not looking forward to this at all.
Patricia knew if she was going to defeat francis, the next several choices she made would be crutial. The three stingers she chose would be her only options and she needed to make sure she had an answer for which ever beast francis chose. Buzz might have enough strength to tear off vines from a distance, but it wasnt likely. Blister's accuracy was unlikely to count for much considering plants general lack of weak points like eyes. Crabs was too injured to be fielded without putting him at an unacceptable amount of risk. That only left Tox, Flicker, and Little Hope.
Because they were plants the easy answer would be to rely on Tox's venom. However, francis' beasts were all hybrids with toxic attributes. She was part of a guild so her beasts were bound to be of a higher quality than others she had seen so far. So betting on venom wasn't necessarily the best idea. Flicker may be able to get in close and avoid being struck, but without a strong enough venom her offensive options were even worse off than Tox. Little hopes absolute trust could be a great advantage and her agility and small size made her a good choice. She suffered from the same problem as Flicker only more so since she was even weaker physically.
In the end she had to make a hard choice. But first she would get to see what three beasts her opponent would be picking from. Once she announced her three possible choices and Francis did the same she took time to carefully examine the beasts.
On seemed to be a similar to the vine thorner she had faced earlier. It looked like a bundle of vines that writhed and dragged itself around its cage. She knew from experience that they were capable of launching thier thorns forward at great speed. Her best chance would be to use Hope or Flicker in that case.
The second was a stout bush like beast with small white berries and stump-like legs. This beast had appeared in Emilia's notes. It was called a Berry Bomber. Its berries weren't actually bombs. Instead, they popped on impact delivering a splash of liquid. She wasnt sure what type of effect the white berries would have since the normal variant would usually have purple berries that left a sticky substance that covered eyes and gummed up other sensory organs. Flicker seemed like the obvious choice for this beast as well, though hope would probably cope well against the barrage of berries as well.
Finally the last beast was of a type patricia was entirely unfamiliar with. It looked like a large sack with a leaf covering the top like it was a poorly made pot. The closest thijg she had seen to it were the pouches that had been on the hybrid dandy she had fought in her third match. Patricia was unsure what the beast was capable of since Emilia's notes didnt include much of the specifics for the beasts Francis hadn't used the previous day. Apparently Drakes matches had overlapped with hers when Emilia wasn't watching patricia. She had instead asked around for information on the beasts she had used and extrapolated what her beasts were and how they differed from the basic variants. Patricia's best guess was that this beast shared some kind of goo attack, like the dandy. In which case, flicker would once again be the best option...
She picked her token and handed it to her representative.