Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Peter waited in anticipation for the challenge battle to begin. Besides himself, Kean and both of their primals were all sitting atop a set of bleachers. The practice fields which normally had minimal seating assigned to each of them were a far cry from this space, which gave off the vibes of a theater or stadium.

In a way it felt uncomfortably empty, with all the seats and nobody sitting in them. Peter silently wondered if it would be this empty during his first challenge. For Tamers, challenges were both a good opportunity to gather knowledge and a source of entertainment. Well known Tamers could even gain a following as they rise through the ranks of the Tamer's guild and obtain an audience during the battles. For Peter who had just started ou

On the two sides of the field stood Deric, the challenger in this scenario, and an intimidating looking man named Vargo, the defender in this case. This was the second time Peter had seen him, the first being when Kean had challenged the battle center for his first stamp a few days ago. Vargo had been the defender at that time as well. Peter learned that battle centers normally had a mixture of staff on hand as well as borrowed from local tamers within the region. Vargo was part of the latter group.

The intent of the challenging system after-all was not to have a one-sided slaughter, but instead to ascertain that tamers were growing in strength. And having an experienced tamer with many stamps under their belt defend against a challenger seeking their first one wasn't likely to accomplish that. This is partially due to one of the rules of challenges. “A challenge involves a battle between a challenger and their roster of tamed primals and a defender and their roster of tamed primals. A challenge may not involve participants whose association is considered outside the aforementioned relationships.”

Tamers do not typically try to keep their primals purposely weak. Therefore, as a tamer grows more experienced, so does their roster of primals. Since both sides are forbidden from borrowing primals, an experienced tamer may not have any primals at the level necessary to have a fair match against an inexperienced tamer. Thus, the system of substitutes was born.

Observing the battle next to the field was a gentleman named Fitt, along with a Dryad standing by. Fitt was one of the staff members of Wildburry's Battle Center. With Vargo as the substitute defender, he would be watching their battle from the side. In the end, he would be the final judge of whether Deric would advance after today.

“Are you two ready?” Fitt shouted.

Deric's two primals appeared on each of his sides. To his left was Anda, his Fren, and to his right, was his recently tamed Slime, Berry. “Yes.” He shouted.

Vargo shifted slightly, and three primals appeared nearby him. A Dryad, a Goblin, and an Arachnid, who stood on two legs in her passive form. “Ready!” Vargo shouted. Peter wondered if this time he would see the Arachnid in action, as against Kean, Vargo had opted to use his Dryad and Goblin to force a mirror match.

“Gala, you're up!” Vargo commanded. The arachnid gave a slow nod as her body smoothly transformed, her lower body shifting into her eight-legged combat form as she entered the practice field.

“Mmm,” Deric hummed aloud. “Berry, let's do this.”

“O-kay!” Berry cheerfully shouted as she entered the field.

“Begin!” Fitt shouted.

“Lock her down with Net, then use Skewer!” Vargo commanded. Gala quickly shot out a silken web towards Berry, the silk surrounding her slimy body. Gala then leaped into the air, the tips of her legs sharpened like swords aiming towards Gala.

“Split and Reform out, then use Sticky Bomb!” Gala's body shifted and split apart, the miniature pieces all escaping through the gaps within the net before quickly reforming. She reeled her arm backwards as if about to throw something, then after completing a pitching motion a ball of slime shot out from her hand and hit Gala's flank as she landed where Berry had just been.

The sticky slime slowly coated three of Gala's legs. Although she was still able to move, the slime coated legs visibly struggled against the slime's resistance.

“Grr.” Vargo growled. “Gala use Net and chase her down!” Gala shot out another net, capturing Berry.

“Split and Reform, then use Sticky Bomb again!”

“Use Net once she starts reforming!”

Berry escaped the silk web only to have part of her body caught in it as she began to restructure herself.

“Use Mitosis with the parts that didn't rejoin yet!” The slime which was in the middle of rejoining Berry's 'body' suddenly shuddered, and slithered a short distance away, forming a miniature clone of Berry, leaving the original with its core still within the net.

“Go for the trapped one and use Slice!”

“Berry, use Self Destruct to defend yourself!” The dummy clone began to run towards Gala with its arms outsretched.

“Gala, Slice the clone instead!”

Gala's front legs stretched towards the clone and made a horizontal cut. With the thinner and smaller body, it was able to cut through the torso almost completely. But the clone still leaped forward, latching onto Gala's front and exploded.

“Aaah!” She screamed as an explosion of slime coated the front of her body, the sound of skin sizzling off her body.

“Damn! Gala, use Molt!”

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“Berry, Split then Assimilate and Reform!”

Gala's body shuddered as though she were about to explode. At the same time, Berry slowly escaped the net and her now blobby body crept towards the exploded bits of the clone, drawing them in towards her. A cracking sound could be heard as Gala's legs and form appeared to begin to splinter, and soon her outermost layer exploded. Small bits of her exoskeleton and flesh flew across the field, her body now clear of both slime and injuries. Gala reformed just in time for the fight to begin once again.

“Gala, Skewer!” Gala leaped through the air towards Berry.

“Berry, dodge as best as you can and use Sticky Bomb on her head!”

As Gala landed, her sharp legs pierced through Berry's body. Though thanks to some maneuvering on her part, Berry managed to take mostly shallow hits.

With Gala right on top of her, Berry easily launched a Sticky Bomb towards Gala, hitting her face. The sticky slime covered her mouth, nostrils, and some of her eyes. Her hands instinctively reached for the slime, only to find themselves struggling to break free from the sticky substance. She desperately began to try to remove the slime as she started to suffocate.

“Again Berry, Sticky Bomb!” Berry launched another ball of slime towards Gala, further cementing the slime on her face and hands.

“Hang in there Gala! Skewer!” With what little information her remaining eyes could provide, Gala poised to Skewer Berry once more.

“Split!” Deric shouted. At the last moment, Berry's core and part of her slime split off a short distance away, the leftover body impaled by Gala.

“Again, Skewer!”

“Again, Split!”

Gala appearing almost drunk skittering towards Berry as she split once more, her leftover body instantly splattered across the field.

“Just focus on getting away from her, Berry!”

“Finish her! Skewer!” Gala was now stumbling as she tried to pursue Berry, who was inching away slowly due to having little slime left in her body. Gala could not even muster the energy to move all her legs, her staggered steps signaling she might not even make it to Berry. “You can do it Gala! Skewer!”

Deric nervously watched as Gala slowly closed in, praying that she would finally collapse. A strike with Berry's core this exposed could potentially be fatal. A few feet away, Gala mustered all the energy she could to raise her two front legs and poised to strike.

It felt like time had slowed down for both Deric and Vargo. One of Gala's raised legs tapped out, and only one remained. Vargo could see her struggling to keep it up. It seemed any moment longer would be dangerous.

Deric watched as the remaining leg raised above Berry's body. With how little slime she had left to her form, her core was completely vulnerable. A swift enough strike could even be fatal.

“Berry surrenders!”

“Gala surrenders!”

The two tamers shouted at the same time. Gala collapsed in a heap nearby Berry, and the Dryad helping oversee the challenge ran onto the field immediately, going straight for Gala. “Dispel!” She shouted. The slime coating Gala's face suddenly grew soft and began to slide off her face, Gala immediately beginning to gasp for air.

“Berry and Gala have both been eliminated!” Fitt shouted.

The Dryad quickly took turns healing both of the primals. Once they were no longer in critical condition, she began to move them off of the field. Deric and Vargo's primals both assisted with moving them. Once they were off to the side, the Dryad continued to heal both. Vargo seemed to be mulling something over, before he finally touched his own Dryad's shoulder and said “Jule, help heal Gala.” The Dryad nodded and began to heal her fellow primal, the overseeing Dryad now able to focus on Berry.

“Thank you, Gala. You did well sticking it out that long.” Vargo said, rubbing Gala's shoulder. She showed a faint smile.

“You did great Berry, thanks for your hard work.” Deric said.

Berry, now more looking like a puddle, shifted her slime around to flash a wide smile while manifesting a thumb to give a thumbs up.

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