Talk:The Ultimate Standoff/@comment-5824375-20150317224014

On a serious note, here's what would've happened:

Oona won, but not without losing her eye to Miriam's wrath. They had a long battle, with both sides struggling to gain an advantage. Miriam took a false step, however, and Oona struck her with the butt of her spear. This threw Miriam off balance, enabling Oona to impale her. But before Miriam faded away into oblivion, she slashed at Oona's face with her nails, imparing part of her visions and leaving lengthy wounds.

Xerxes won his watch effortlessly. The eccentric behavior of Sera eventually led to her demise. He manipulated her to put her axe down, before striking her in the chest with a thrown harpoon. Sera's foolishness aided in her opponent's victory.

Maya won, but only because Mason begged her to kill him. As he was blind, abused, and ready to die, Maya took upon his request to move on the next stage.

Rudolph won by tackling Vision to the ground. Due to her small stature and build, there was no way for her to escape Rudolph's choke hold. He strangled and beat her until her heart beat no more. Content, he threw her body from the Colosseum.

Pierce had intense difficulty dispatching Patriot. He attacked from a distance, and absolutely denied Pierce of gaining ground. He was fast too, but Pierce was stronger than she appeared. Though her entire body was cut from his projectiles, she finished him in a similar fashion as Xerxes by hurling a harpoon towards him. She survived, but nearly collapsed afterwards.

Rufus won in a fashion akin to Rudolph's behavior. In a frantic display of human ferocity, he knocked out Sierra with a single fist but continued to pummel her. He held the mangled Sierra by the throat before finally impaling her with a spear.

Phenix won effortlessly. Before Cynthia even charged, she left an opening that her opponent took advantage of. He quickly rammed his spear through her heart before leaving the stage.

Mako begrudgingly won his match. He thought Fleece was beautiful, but nevertheless took his victory with stride. Before dispatching her with a flick of his wrist, he gave her a slight peck on the lips moments before her vision faded.

Other victors of the first match comprised of Sean, Soul, Shylock, Bella, Ice, Shield, Lorcan, and Horizon. This was mainly due to their opponents, though Soul won because Ransom refused to harm a female and took his own life.

The second arena was a winter fortress that had a increasingly dwindling temperature. Tributes would either have to kill each other quickly or die from frostbite.

Oona fell during her second match. Her impaired vision was partly responsible, but her body was used to more tropical heat than the cold. As such, she was even further handicapped, which allowed Xerxes to easily decapitate her.

Rudolph's match was a joke. He was faced with another young girl who was even smaller than the girl. Before she could run away, he lifted her body and threw her down the fortress into a frozen moat. The impact and shattered ice killed her instantly.

Rufus had more fun during this match. His opponent was as skilled as he was. She was stronger than she liked and the battle comprised of a combination of sword-fighting and wrestling. But all Rufus needed was a single punch to throw her off balance, allowing him to stab her through the heart.

Phenix was not in his element during this match. The bitter cold left him uneasy and unguarded, and although he could handle being slugged by a couple of hits, the decisive hurl of Mako's trident was another matter. He died chocking on his blood while his body was nailed to the wall thanks to the trident.

Sean was fortunate to receive a weak opponent. Soul couldn't get a single move in as each strike she attempted with her dagger was deflected and blocked until her weapon was thrown from her clutches. As she attempted to run, Sean left a nasty laceration on her back with his scythe, before walking off to let her die from a combination of blood loss and hypothermia.

Bella bested Shylock due to her superior agility. Shylock's sluggish motions enabled his opponent to evade and parry all of his attacks, leaving him bewildered before he finally charged at Bella at full speed. She quickly side-stepped and sent an arrow flying towards him, hitting him in straight in the neck. He cried out, but eventually passed from asphyxiation.

Shield's defense couldn't even comprehend the elaborate offense of Ice. His frontal attacks left Shield tired and exhausted against this prodigy of 13. A bolt from Ice's crossbow was the final decider of this one-sided match.

Horizon was used to the cold, but so was Lorcan. Horizon was graceful with her slick trident, but Lorcan's might was too much for her to discern. He flung three knives at her, one missing, one grazing her right cheek, and the final getting her right in the thigh. Her guard lowered as she screamed, allowing Lorcan to make the decisive blow against her: a stab wound right in the center of her body.

The third arena was a simple field. However, a force field enclosed the space so it limited motion and prevented escape. If you hit the force field, you would surely die.

Rudolph was a malicious brute, but Xerxes had experience with opponents like him. Rudolph came in for a frontal attack with his bronze knuckles, but like Shylock, he forced all his weight which left little room for speed. He moseyed around him like a cat and a dog, enraging Rudolph. He charged straight at Xerxes, and ran right into the force field. His final words, "You son of a bitch, I'll skin you alive!"

Rufus and Mako's match was a pure slug fest. Rufus was a natural boxer, and was able to leave several heavy fists on Mako's body. However, Mako had even greater staying power. Though lacking the impacting effect of Rufus, several blows was all Mako needed to leave Rufus in the daze. Rufus attempted to counter, but was thrown by Mako's final blow, allowing him to die instantly from the force field.

Bella and Sean had a stare down. Looking at each other, they waited for either party to make the first move. When Sean decided to take the first charge, Bella smirked before side-stepping like before. However, Sean had seen the Bella's match with Shylock, and quickly dodged. He said, "You're going to need more than a couple of tricks to beat me." before the arrow ricocheted from the force field and hit Sean around in his lower spine.

Ice and Lorcan's match was no competition. If Lorcan was older, then perhaps the odds would've been different, and Ice would've been on the ground. However, this was not the case. Lorcan knew this, but he charged anyway, leaving Ice a small cut on his cheek before he was finally taken out by Ice's sickle. Lorcan's head rolled to the earth as Ice apologized for killing a child.

The fourth match was on a tall mountain. This time, motion was encouraged and there were no apparent boundaries. However, mutts existed throughout the entire range.

Xerxes was a victim of these mutts. Noticing the frantic distress calls, Mako decided to use to his advantage as he ran from Xerxes. Xerxes lacked the aim to properly throw a knife, but viewing Mako as a brute who lacked the capacity to formulate strategies, he pursued him. This proved fatal to him, however. A colony of ferocious eagles existed on the helm of the mountain, and they had just witnessed Xerxes kicking away a couple of egg shells. Though they had fallen when he arrived, they soared towards him as he tried to run away. Their speed, however, allowed them to easily gain on him before terrorizing Xerxes with a series of pecks and sharpened talons. Mako watched in safety in a giant hollow parallel to the eagle's domain.

Bella attempted her best to snipe Ice, but he had no difficulty attacking from a distance. Using a completely unorthodox technique, he hurled his sickles towards her, forcing her to flee and find cover. This gave Ice enough time to scale towards her. He sliced Bella's bow in half before leaving her to the mercy of the same eagles who hounded Xerxes.

The final arena was at the Cornucopia of traditional Hunger Games. Like a bloodbath, Mako and Ice were expected to gain their weapons from the Cornucopia and fight to the death. A countdown would also be present.

10

9

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5

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3

2

1

GONG

Ice ran. He couldn't waste a single second. If he were to best Mako in a fight, he would prefer to do so under unequal terms. Conduct is meaningless in a battle to the death. However, he discerned Mako acknowledged this fact as well. He was amazingly fast, almost as fast as he was in the water. He must be disappointed, knowing there was no water involved in the entirety of this ultimate standoff. Still, he was a worthy opponent in and out of water.

Ice managed to arrive before Mako, but only seconds did he appear. Ice sighed, but gripped the silver sickles in his hands as if his life depended on it. He hurled one toward Mako's direction, but he evaded it effortlessly. His reflexes were commendable, but Ice had his own techniques as well.

He replaced his former sickle with a crossbow. He locked the bolts in and looked at where Mako was. He wasn't there anymore. Ice cursed, but quickly took a step back to avoid the uppercut of his sword as it sliced the crossbow in half. In his opponent's hands, he had gained a shimmering blue trident and a Stygian blade. The metal flickered in the sunlight, glinting at the audience as they watched in awe as these two prodigies engaged themselves in combat once more.

Ice had switched his impaired crossbow for another sickle and quickly closed in. Mako smirked, expecting him to go in for a full frontal attack. He put a guard up, prepared for an attack to counter, but things did not fall under Mako's agenda. It was a ploy. Ice moved in the side just in time to leave a cut through Mako's garment. Blood seeped out the wound as Mako grunted. The battle would be harder than he expected.

Mako roared in humiliation. He would not accept this insult idly. Sword in hand, he sent a wave of swings at Ice. He attempted his best to parry most of them, but swords were superior than sickles. The pure power of Mako sent Ice rolling on the ground, his arms experiencing several long cuts. He ignored the pain and shook himself up.

Mako didn't wait. He charged again, laughing the entire time. Ice side-stepped, and left a medium-sized cut on Mako's opposing side. But he expected this. Before Ice could even react, Mako struck him with the butt of his trident. The metal made contact, and Ice hollered in pain. His vision was dazed now and every motion made was taxing. Nevertheless, he couldn't afford to lose now. He had come so close.

Ice rolled away before Mako could make another move. The prongs of his trident met the taste of fertile dirt than the metallic, bittersweet tang of plasma.

"Are you afraid now," said Mako. "Do you understand what you're up against, outlier? Hope they have two body bags for you because I'm about to chop you in half!"

The taunts stung in Ice's mind. As of how things are right now, he can't win. Not against someone as well-armed as Mako. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. A smile crept up on Ice's lips as he stood up once more, his determination fortified.

"There you are," said Mako. "Now, come!"

"You'll wish you never spouted those words!"

Ice circled around Mako. Mako swung wildly at Ice, but he already knew where to aim. As Mako made another frantic effort to behead him, Ice took a step forward and slashed at Mako's right arm. The laceration wasn't large enough to warrant the limb being removed, but the damage was grave enough that the arm was essentially useless.

Mako yelped. He dropped his sword, his arm limp at his side. He glared at Ice. The pain was enough for Mako to nearly shriek madly, but his character would be tarnished by an action as childish as that. He chose to disregard it instead, yet the agony was unbearable. He had several minutes before he would faint of blood loss.

"How does that feel, losing your dominant hand like that?" Said Ice. "I doubt you can even throw with that other arm of yours."

Mako's eyes lifted. Ice didn't realize what he had done. He had taken the wrong arm. Mako chuckled, before lifting up his trident. Ice was tense, fearful in a sense. He couldn't stop the decisive blow from occurring, there was no time or strength left in Ice's arms after deflecting the rest of Mako's blows.

"Too bad, you could've won. Next time, do your research and realize I've been left-handed since the day I was born."

And with a single motion, the trident was hurled at Ice. The prongs impaled through his torso. Ice coughed, his eyes dilating as he said, "Looks like I was the fool this time around." He fell on his knees and slumped up.

Boom

Ice had fallen.

"Congratulations to the victor: Mako Reef-Barrier of District 4!"

Mako took one last gander at Ice's corpse. He bent down, and closed his adversary's eyes. A trail of blood leaked from his body. He was mangled and cut, yet he had nearly killed Mako. For that, he had his respect.

Hovercrafts arrived shortly after to pick the victor and the body up. As examinees arrived to take the cadaver away, Mako was taken to several doctors for his wounds to be addressed.

Though not one of the wildly known victors, Mako Reef-Barrier was known throughout the district for being one of the greatest seafarers who ever lived. He settled with a wife named Delphine during his 20s and had three children: Fleece, Rufus, and Ice. All victims he had killed and respect. Except for Phenix, of course, because he was a total douche.