The nine players all made their way to an old warehouse. It was in the same group of abandoned ones that Latrell, Tedros, Blair, and Gabriela all fought at a few days ago. but this time, both teams were instructed ahead of time to stand at opposite ends of the warehouse. Both doors were completely destroyed, both now a crushed piece of metal casually discarded at both ends. Latrell's mind was quickly going through every possibility for what powers the gods even have to be able to do that. One having the power to control metal was a possibility, but the crushed metal looked just a little too clean to do that. If she had the power to control metal, she'd probably just discard the metal by crunching it into a ball. But the metal looked like it was folded downwards before being moved. So metal was a possibility, but maybe the remaining god had the power to simply crush anything they wanted to.
But suddenly, the barrier formed around the warehouse. The outside world looked blurry, and the voice began to ring through them.
"Good day, everybody!" Xaawo yelled out, as shrill as ever. "Get your butts into the warehouse and we'll get this thing rolling, sound good?"
The nine did as she asked. The trio of Tedros, Mateo, and Ines stood before their six opponents, with Ines standing behind the other two. On Ulysses side, he stood at the front in an attempt to look more leader-like, with Gabriela and Latrell standing by his side. Blair, Elijah, and Valerie stood at the back. Not out of cowardice, but because this wasn't really their fight. Elijah had his goals, but as long as he and Valerie walked out alive, he didn't really give a shit.
Xaawo appeared in the middle of the two, all smiles, clapping her hands in celebration of those brave enough to attend.
"Woo, was worried we wouldn't have many people here." She said, rapidly moving her head around the place to observe each players reaction. "But anyway, let's start explaining this bad boy, shall we? Your goal is pretty simple, both teams fight, and it ends when someone dies. Everyone is free to do whatever they want to the other team, although I should say that attacking your own teammates will result in a penalty, so wimping out and killing your friend to secure your own survival won't work out in the long run. But before we start this round, I have but one final announcement!"
She jumped back towards Ines team, pointing at Ulysses.
"Little lopsided, isn't it?" She asked with narrowed eyes and a fake expression of disappointment. "So to balance things out, I've decided that miss Ines needs another member. Balance things out somewhat."
Ines and Mateo both looked at her in anticipation. Is Ramon getting thrown into the game?
But then Xaawo turned around, waving her jazz hands excitedly.
"Me!"
Her expression got a little less happy when Ines and Mateo's expressions flatlined.
"What, expecting something else? Anyway, let me explain my role. Now, I'm only allowed to hurt you guys or leave you open to attacks, It's not my job to actually kill you. And if I do kill someone directly, then I'll…tear one of my eyes out and get Kwaku to stab a kidney out of me. But! Team Ulysses is free to kill me, and should that happen, everyone here moves on!"
She examined Ulysses reaction to the news. Ulysses trio looked at each other, while Elijah and Valerie briefly glanced at each other, and Xaawo, and back to Mateo. Blair still looked one mild scare away from dying of a heart attack.
"Okay, let's just move on." Xaawo announced with a hand clap.
"Ines Destrade!"
"Mateo Gaspar!"
"Tedros Mekonnen!"
"Ulysses Morris!"
"Latrell Freedman!"
"Gabriela Pereira!"
"Blair Vollom!"
"Elijah Davis!"
"Valerie Wyatt!"
"And me, Xaawo!"
"Let the games begin!"
After Xaawo's enthusiastic announcement, her shrill voices damage to everyone's ears was the only damage being dealt. It was a few seconds of a standoff and awkward shuffling around before the first attempt at a hit was landed. Xaawo sighed and held up her left index finger, letting it fall off. Once it hit the ground, it instantly split into three cockroaches. And a wave of her hand made them move directly to Blair. Once she felt them crawling up her leg, she screamed out and tried shaking them off. Elijah held her shoulder to give her some kind of tether to reality, but the cockroaches stuck to her no matter what she did, even the others attempting to pick them off. Mateo decided to take charge, with Xaawo excitedly running after him. Mateo went straight for the distracted Blair with gauntlets summoned, trying to land one decisive punch. It sucked that it had to be her, but ending this quickly was simply the best option. One straight punch to the end. It'll probably be bloody, but it'll hopefully be painless. Latrell dived to save her before the impact could be felt, and Ulysses team scampered around. Gabriela immediately summoned a double and commanded it to aim for the back of Mateo's leg, which it did. It landed the kick, causing Mateo to trip for a second and attempt to stay upright. Gabriela didn't move to him, hoping he'd attack the double. But Elijah dove in for an attack without a second to hesitate. He felt the energy move from his body to his hand, and he grabbed the bottom of Mateo's shirt and let it out. The shirt quickly caught fire, and Xaawo turned her hand into that of a gorillas to stamp out the fire. It did stamp it out, but had the side effect of flinging Mateo into a warehouses wall.
Tedros watched the carnage go down from the other side of the warehouse in front of Ines. He tried figuring out how exactly to join the battle.
"So, buddy." Glyle asked from Ines front pocket after a brief attempt at a cough. "You playin the protector or somethin? Why you staying back here?"
"Ines, I'm going to need to stay with me here. We can't kill Xaawo ourselves, or else the remaining three will mess us up. But I don't remember a rule against…getting Xaawo into a bad situation."
"So what, you wanna trap her and get someone on the other team to kill her?" Glyle asked. His demeanour changed, and what was probably the closest thing to a smile the gloomy puppet could muster came onto his face.
"Tedros my boy, that's pretty damn genius, I gotta say."
"Ines, stick by the walls." Tedros commanded calmly. "Should you get injured, we'll be able to get the next stage going, and then we'll win."