Tarragon

Chapter Nine: The Acrimony of a Titan

-Mantis

-March 6th, 2024

"Alright, second game of the tournament! We've got a model of the arena as usual, so that's what we'll be doing first. We're going against the Eelspawn- Three water, two plant mages, a lightning mage, and a fire mage. A very unbalanced team which relies on brute strength. Usually it's Aliya's job to counter water mages, but that's Mantis's job now, for obvious reasons. Also, we'll be playing defense again. If you're sick of it, don't worry, the next three games we play offense." Adrian told us. We walked into the arena, and looked through it.

"The first half is water based, giving the Eelspawn an edge, but the last two checkpoints are in our favor. Hermes is going to be the backbone of the team for that half, because of how fast he can move. Mantis, you're going to be fighting right alongside him, because your teleporting lets you move around as fast as Hermes." Adrian explained, "Also, Mantis, you can use the water to electrocute any Eelspawn dumb enough to try to hide there."

We walked over to the first checkpoint. It was a flag on a gigantic lily pad, in a field of other lily pads. A few were slightly submerged, while most were resting on top of the water.

"Hester, and Mantis, here's something to do: Hester flips the lily pad, sending the Eelspawn into the water, and Mantis electrocutes it, taking out whoever's in the water. Hermes, you can draw their fire, and distract them, while someone else sneaks up, and takes them out."

We continued onto the next checkpoint. It was a marsh filled with mud and weeds, "Me, Felix, Monica, and Hester take priority here. This is quite possibly the perfect terrain for us. Weeds which can be used to strike the attackers, mud, which is just water and dirt, can be manipulated by three of us, and there's enough water that we can take advantage of it. However, Mantis can't use his lightning trick here, that's one major stipulation. That is, unless he's the only one left alive." Adrian explained, "But if you do, make sure you're out of the water."

We continued along, through each checkpoint. It was a place with floating rocks, and waterfalls coming down and around. There were a few trees, and a bunch of different platforms around. Next, was the fourth checkpoint; it was like the previous, with no walls between it, but without any water. Floating rocks, spread apart, dotted the arena. The flag was in the center of this area.

Finally, was the fifth checkpoint. It was like the fourth, in that it was a bunch of dry, floating rocks, but these were different. They were tiny. You could fit a full team on one, sure, but you didn't have room to dodge on them. These would motivate fast, floaty combat. Grappling, teleporting, and whatnot would be the best here.

We ran through the regular training cycles. Specifically, fast-paced, precise movement. The course I had run a week ago, before the game against the Hellbent Coral was now the most active place in the gym.

After I had run out of energy, I switched to regularly working out, and once I had hit the point of failure, I checked out of the gym.

My dad picked me up, and we drove home.

"You want to visit your mom?" he asked me. It hadn't even occurred to me. She was in the county jail for child abuse right now.

"Sure," I shrugged, "Might as well go now."

I switched into much more casual clothes, and my dad drove me to the jail. I hopped out of the car, and we walked through the front door.

My dad went through all the steps to get to talk to my mom. We waited in a room separated by a number of glass screens, until she walked through the door. She did not look good. Her hair was a mess, and she had clearly had her arm amputated.