LaRon had been working at the arenas for under a year. Because of this he had seniority over only 4 other employees. This didn't bother LaRon much since he figured he had to start somewhere. But today, he was more disappointed than usual. When the chance to choose which challenger he would shadow during the tournament had finally come, he had been shocked to see one of his options was associated with a guild. He had quickly chosen them without looking into it any further. He soon learned why the contestant had yet to be picked.
LaRon had of course recognized the guild to be a popular breeders guild. What he hadn't realized was that the challenger was not a professional hired to represent a breeder, but the breeder themselves. This came as a shock to him, but wasn't half as shocking as what he learned next. The breeder had entered the competition with only six undersized stingers. When he first saw thier numbers he thought there was an error. stingers were usually on the larger size of basic flying insects, however these stingers were the smallest he had ever heard of.
When he learned the stingers were intact a personal project of the young breeder he came to the only sensible conclusion. This breeder had been light on funds and was forced to purchase the runts of multiple nests. After that, she must have done her best to breed them in order to aquire more viable fighters. but without the funds to properly feed them and already starting with such weak specimen, she had been unable to progress and had instead produced weaker stingers with each generation. When she saw this she decided to challenge a beginners tournament in hopes of grabbing some lucky wins and making of with some prize money to start a new project.
It seemed lucky wins weren't going to be in the cards for her though. He first opponent was a sod monster. Its earthen attribute made it resistant to any weak poison the stingers might have maintained through the generations. And its high defenses would prevent the small stingers from achieving any serious wounds. Even strong stingers were known to struggle with sod monsters.
When she put forward her three stingers he wasn't surprised to see the largest of her runts was included. When their fighters were declared however he was shocked to see she had chosen the second largest of the three. Her opponent had chosen the sod crawler as expected. LaRon tried to wrap his head around what she was planing. But he didn't have long to wonder. As the fighters were lowered into the pit and released from their cages.
The referee immediately began the count down. "THREE. TWO. ONE. BEGIN!"
tox shot forward with shocking speed. It wasn't just fast for a runt, it was faster than any stinger the observers had ever seen. Its quick advance caught the sod crawler off guard, and by the time it moved its tendrils to lash out at its buzzing opponent, the stinger had delivered a sting to the side of the clump of dirt.
LaRon let out a sigh. He thought he had been to quick to judge his contestant, but even with her stingers amazing speed and agility they were still completely out matched by the sod crawler.
Patricia didn't share LaRon's dismay. She smiled from ear to ear as she ordered Tox to pull back in preparation for their next strike. The sod crawler continued to lash its tendrils around the other tamer believed that it was only due to surprise that the stinger had managed to land its attack. With the sod crawler attacking the area around it, if the stinger tried to come in again it would be smashed. Without agility pure speed will do little to help against a barrage of attacks.
It seemed that Patricia was thinking the same, as Tox committed to a series of feints, swooping in only to pull back at the last moment. LaRon lips tightened. if this continued without Tox making another attack, they would be forced to forfeit as they were the faster opponent. The rules on this matter were clear. If neither party could land an attack for 5 minutes the faster opponent forfeited. If the lighter opponent could land attacks but couldn't damage a more defensive opponent but the defensive opponent could not attack, the defensive opponent would forfeit after five minutes. Only one attack was not enough to meet the criteria for the defensive forfeit.
But LaRon wasn't correct, Tox hadn't been avoiding attacking because he couldn't, but because he was biding his time. It wasn't long before it happened, the tendril below the point of Tox's first attack slowed. Not missing this Patricia ordered Tox forward. Weaving its way through the slowed lashing tendrils, Tox showed it was no slacker in agility. It quickly closed in and delivered an additional two stikes, one to the base of the tendril itself. Tox dodged away once again. The change was immediate. The once dexterous tendril slowed and began to spasm oddly.
LaRon and Patricia's opponent were shocked. A traditional stingers venom only caused a burning sensation and swelling. This was usually problematic for their opponents but not debilitating. The venom of these stingers caused no swelling but seemed to be attacking the nerves of the tendril itself. Worse yet was that the toxin delivered so close to the base of the tendril was sure to quickly travel into the clump of dirt and attack the brain of the sod crawler. Realizing this, the sod crawlers tamer was faced with a dire decision. With three attacks having been landed and the slowing of one tendril, the stinger would have no problem landing further strikes. This would mean the defensive forfeit would be in the next 4 minutes. The stinger was small however and one hit would be enough to secure victory, but how long would that take. If it took more than a few minutes the sod monster was likely suffer permanent damage. On top of all that any future strikes would reduce the time before this damage would be irreversible.
The tamer looked frustrated but soon declared his surrender. LaRons opposite rushed to call for medical personnel proficient with anti venom. LaRon got ready to force the stinger back into its cage, stingers were notoriously aggressive and hard to calm after a battle. To his surprise however the stinger calmly flew itself back into its cage and alowed itself to be locked within. When lifted out of the pit, Patricia picked up the cage and scratched the stinger behind the antenna then she quickly retrieved a live cricket from her pocket and presented it to the Impatient stinger. Happily munching on the cricket, the stinger was loaded back onto the cart and LaRon escorted Patricia back to her room.
Before locking her in, this time he stopped long enough to ask a question.
"What did you do to make those stingers so special?"
Patricia smiled and leaned in to whisper in a conspiratorial fashion. "Ill tell you after I win."
***