Pickle Pie

DROP ONE Patty got hit, and her body paralysed completely. She hated getting hit, and that stupid longsword offered no protection at all. She preferred sword-and-shield, having something to block with, something to cover her body. But the stupid coach forced her to use this useless weapon. “One Pinup Girl is down, and it seems like more are about to go the same way,” the commentator said. The opponent who got her with her own longsword, Echidna was her name, went on to tear through one more teammate, then her Qwik. Oh, she blocked alright, both arms together covering her body, but the force of the blow made her stumble backwards and it opened her up for another player, Hydra. Hydra was a Chain and could reach far so all she needed was an opening. She went for it, her cyberarm a bunch of snakes writhing on her side, extending like a whip, jaws snapping. Qwik went down too, bleeding. She knelt in an expanding pool of pink blood, her calf bitten off, paralysed. Patty’s head was at an awkward angle and all she could do was turn her eyes towards the action. The Beasties went through the rest of her team, the drum beating, slow, so slow. The Beastie Qwik, a nimble, tiny woman called Gorgon, had the skull and was going for it, running to score. “And the Beastie Qwik goes for the final skull. There she runs, more of a saunter, since the match is pretty much finished. Finished, like Anglet Finishing for wood, the best varnish money can buy.” Drum beat, the final one. Patty felt sensation in her entire body again, her fingers and toes tingling, but there was no time to recover. She lurched towards the qwik, dodged an incoming snake, slid the last few metres by kneeling on the ground and hit Gorgon on the leg. She knelt and dropped the skull, kicking it away by accident. Echidna got to her, her longsword a flurry of blows. Patty barely managed to parry and heard the drum beat again. Gorgon was about to recover. Patty made a feint, that if successful, would give her a window of opportunity. Echidna fell for it. She stepped back to avoid. Patty swung her longsword and instead of attacking, she hit the enemy Qwik again, this time on the neck. Her motion was so fast that struck with quite a force. Something snapped. “Oh, what a blow from Patty Roo! Was she going for it? ‘Cause if she was, it was na-sty.” Gorgon got paralysed again. Patty’s own Qwik recovered, and went for the skull, limping. A trail of pink behind her. “And we’ve got Pinup Girls’ Qwik still going at it, she just doesn’t give up, does she?” “Well, it is after all the deciding match for the preliminary round of the tournament. The girls are giving it their all,” the second commentator replied. Patty placed her body in her opponent’s path. “No shield, dammit,” she hissed. She did her best to cover her Qwik. Echidna stepped forward, her motion an impossibly fast jab, her longsword right into the Qwik’s ribs. She buckled and knelt, this time from the pain as well as the paralysis. It was over. Patty glanced behind at her teammate. She wasn’t getting back up, no matter how many stims or reserves of blood she might be pumped with. Distracted, Echidna struck her on the torso. Crack. Another blow to the arm. “A foul! The ref is going nuts over this, but Echidna doesn’t seem to care.” Another to the face. Patty spat pink blood, her lips barely able to move under the paralysis. “What a finish from Echidna! Finalising the match for the Beasties, but at a severe price indeed. The medics are rushing in right now, and it doesn’t look good for the Beastie’s Qwik. The drumming is over and Gorgon is still not moving, people. We might just have a casualty this soon in the tournament.” Patty watched the medics like a dream, petrified. They strapped Gorgon’s neck down, lifted her on a gurney, carried her away. A streak of pink blood dripping from the side of her mouth. A Beastie, sure. The enemy, sure. But she never meant to harm anyone. “And we got preliminary scans, she’s gonna make it, people! Just a spinal injury. Gorgon is off the game, possibly forever. One of the fastest Qwiks ever seen on Cyberpink, with a lifetime score of 452 skulls in the mount. Will the Beasties recover from this serious blow this early in the tournament?” A moaning came from the seats around the stadium. Booing for Patty Roo. Lots and lots of booing. Patty’s knees gave way, adrenaline left her system, stims ran their course and made a brand of very expensive piss. They had lost. She saw the medics over her head and then it all went dark.