NOVEL FROG Chapter 36: The Match
Since they began fighting, Shade had kept a close eye on Scott’s movement, taking some time to follow him every time he dodged his attacks, but still always having him in sight, even closing some distance from time to time. After seeing him slow down, Shade laughed to himself and stopped attacking for a second, lowering both weapons to stare at him boldly. Scott used that moment to catch his breath, but as he could tell Shade was cocky and was just trying to instigate a reckless attack from him, he kept his composure and tried to be mindful of each decision he took.
–Aww, don’t tell me you are tired already… Are you gonna give up? You can’t fight without your friends?– Shade asked in a belittling manner, speaking to Scott like a child to stir him up. And while he did receive a death stare from Scott, he was surprised to see him waiting patiently for him to drop his guard. Shade kept his weapons lowered, giving Scott a clear opening to attack, but he didn’t fall for it. He began circling him slowly to force him to move, but as Shade kept following him everywhere he went, Scott eventually had to give in. He was on edge, almost jittery from his uncertainty about attacking, which prompted Shade to keep mocking him, but that’s when he took his chance to make the move.
As Scott saw Shade’s mouth open once again, he immediately dashed to his right, continuing to circle his opponent, although with greater speed. Shade tried to turn to keep him in front at all times, but as he expected him to try to flank him and attack from behind, he didn’t raise his weapons until it was too late. After dashing only once, Scott landed on a higher rock, which he used to boost himself and leap at Shade, almost being able to jump over him. He aimed for his head to get a clean strike, as he hadn’t raised his weapons to defend himself yet. But right as he got close enough to hit him, Scott was rattled to see Shade’s right fist coming directly at his face. He had dropped his weapon, and by blocking Scott’s arms with his left forearm, leaving him barely out of reach of his neck, he shoved him off midair before following it with a jab on the nose.
The strike alone was enough to completely throw Scott off his senses, but if that wasn’t enough, Shade made sure to not let him escape this time as he locked one arm around his torso and shoulder to tackle him to the ground before Scott could even react. He let out a panicked yelp as he felt his body descend rapidly, but he didn’t have enough time to prepare himself for the impact, hitting the floor before he could even open his eyes. Thankfully, the water softened his fall, but the splash from Shade’s slam was so loud that it alerted some of the nearby players.
Zoey and a few other blue players turned around to see Scott lying on the stream with Shade on top of him, pinning him down as he held his wrists. Scott was able to avoid getting crushed by Shade’s body by placing his legs between his stomach and his body, though he was completely vulnerable now that he had lost his sword. With his teammates too busy fending off their much stronger enemies, Scott was left to deal with Shade on his own. But as unlikely as his chances of winning were at the moment, with even the possibility of surviving the game being questioned, Scott showed little to no fear. He was distressed to see his weapon lying just out of reach, but as soon as he was slammed to the ground, he thought of a plan to escape by any means.
With Shade also thinking quickly, he saw that he couldn’t restrain Scott as long as he could still use both arms and legs to hold him off, so after he got a good grip on his mace, he swung immediately at his weapon, giving him a very brief moment for Scott to do anything to defend himself. There was nothing for him to block the attack, and as it was impossible to overpower Shade and push him away just in time, Scott began wiggling around the water to make enough splashes to block his view. Shade still aimed for his head, but with water getting on his face, he looked away for a second, only to then see that Scott had moved his head out of the way right before the mace struck the rocks below him, creating a bigger splash that got water in his eyes.
Shade groaned in frustration while wiping the water off his face with his free hand, and while he was busy, Scott reached for his sword, still resisting with his other extremities, although he almost lost strength from Shade’s hard grip. He finally had his weapon back in his hand, but Shade noticed right away and tried to push it away. He tried his hardest not to let go, now unable to defend himself, even though Shade also wasn’t capable of attacking as he was in an uncomfortable position, having to support himself with his mace to not lose balance. But as neither of them could attack, Shade began pushing his weight down as much as he could to pressure Scott into letting go of his sword, but it only caused him to take a desperate approach.
With all of his limbs occupied, Scott’s only way to fight back was to hit Shade in the lower part of the stomach with his knee. But as the hit only got a grunt out of him, Scott kept hitting him over and over. Shade didn’t seem to be bothered, taking each hit with a wicked grin, almost finding pleasure in it until Scott found the perfect spot to strike. With a knee to his crotch, Shade immediately shrieked in pain, trying to stand up to distance himself from Scott and protect his private parts, allowing Scott to squeeze out of his helpless position. But before he could fully stand up to get in a proper defensive position, Shade used his mace to sweep Scott off his feet. He didn’t get to hit him with the head of the mace, only using the stick to make him fall before dropping his body on him once again.
To not get crushed again, Scott quickly rolled to his left, and while the water hampered his movement, he was still able to get out of the way before Shade hit the water. Getting on his knees hastily to raise his sword, Scott took his shot at Shade without a doubt before he could stand up. He swung his sword ferociously, aiming at his legs since he had a lesser chance to block it, but it was only met with Shade’s sword, which he had picked up as soon as he dropped down on Scott. They both struggled to disarm each other, but as Shade had the advantage in strength, he was able to toss Scott’s sword with a swift motion of his arm. Scott lost his balance for a second, but now having no weapon again, he quickly got up to begin avoiding all the attacks Shade threw in his way as soon as he stood up as well.
Scott’s only defense was now his legs; he could only rely on their speed to move out of the way of Shade’s savage attacks fast enough. He almost looked like he was dancing as he tried to dodge all the strikes. Shade saw that he was still quite agile with his upper body, but as his legs were giving in, he aimed at them to bring Scott down again. Eventually, all the quick movements led him to stumble on a small rock and fall back into the water. He broke his fall with his arms, but he didn’t catch a break as Shade continued attacking with both weapons, swinging his sword at him while he was still falling.
Scott was able to unconsciously dodge the attack as he didn’t have control of his body mid-fall, but his run soon ran out when Shade followed up his attack immediately. This time, he either had to take the hit and end the fight or block his sword however he could. But as he was still down on the water, with his hands too far away to block Shade’s sword in time, Scott desperately used his legs to throw kicks at him in hopes of fending him off for long enough to get a chance to get up. One of his kicks did send Shade’s sword flying away, which actually caught both by surprise. But as Scott took a brief moment to sigh in relief, Shade took the opportunity to attack again, though he now had to get much closer to be able to hit him with his mace.
Seeing Shade approaching and leaning down to be able to strike him with his only remaining weapon, Scott tried to get up, but as he extended his legs to get his footing, Shade jumped on top of him once again, trying to crush him under his entire body. Scott reacted just in time to push his legs out and place them against Shade’s abdomen to keep him away, holding his entire weight with his knees, which appeared to hurt, though it was effective at creating distance between them. Shade was in such a frenzy that he didn’t even try to push his legs away; he just continued pushing his weight down on Scott’s legs while mindlessly swinging his mace until he got close enough to hit Scott in his now-frightened face.
Scott was taken aback by Shade’s brutish approach, but since it was actually working, he had to think fast of a way to get him off him. He was now more helpless than ever, and with his knees shaking and bending from supporting his enemy’s full body weight, Scott began to give in to the pain. As a last-ditch effort to save himself from a seemingly inevitable loss, he began screaming desperately for help. Some teammates instantly turned to watch him being overpowered by Shade, but either they were eliminated, they were still fighting, or they simply couldn’t hear him.
With no one nearby to help him, Scott just kept pleading for a rescue while the audience watched eagerly. They were particularly entertained by the idea of Scott being left behind by his team with literally no one capable of interfering, which apparently Shade found amusing as well from the way he began laughing. But as he had grown tired of Scott’s attempts to save himself, as soon as he got within reach of his face, he prepared to strike him with his mace, taking his time to enjoy the moment as he knew that no one was around to interfere. However, his satisfaction blinded him to the fact that only one player just so happened to be heading back to the battle.
Turtle and the others that had respawned returned straight to the main battle after being taken out, ignoring Shade and Scott as they were clearly too focused on each other, though also because their duel looked too brutal for any of them to step in. But as that was when Scott seemed to have a fair chance to fight, now that he was crying for help, the situation had changed drastically. Most of the blue players had stopped respawning; they had to spend their last lives fighting in the middle of the stream, so no one could return to Scott to help him. All of them except Turtle, who was respawning for the last time when he saw Scott about to be mauled by Shade.
Seeing as there was no one around to help, Turtle reluctantly approached them to help, first yelling at Shade to distract him, but it was to no avail. Shade was too eager to beat Scott, so as he solely focused on him, he didn’t pay attention to any of his surroundings, even ignoring the audience, which was right next to them. Since nothing was working to get his attention, Turtle chose to push Shade in an attempt to get him off Scott, as he didn’t have a weapon to hit him with; both of their swords had been carried away by the current. But as much as he tried, he didn’t have enough strength to move him an inch, and apparently, the brute didn’t even feel it in his bloodthirsty moment.
But after persisting and continuing to yell at him right in the ear, Shade couldn’t ignore him anymore and finally shifted his attention away from Scott, only to smack Turtle’s head with his mace casually, throwing a gentle and effortless swing, which actually seemed to be enough to knock Turtle out instantly. Shade was perplexed to see Turtle go down with one tap, but after seeing his unconscious body lying on the stream, he cracked up alongside some soldiers in the audience. In his amused moment, Scott took advantage of the fact that his mace was no longer aiming at him, and by bending his knees to force Shade’s body to drop on top of his, he threw him off for a second. Shade barely reacted before Scott grabbed his with both hands to pull him even closer, and using all of his remaining strength, he bashed his head against his as hard as he could.
Their skulls rocked together, causing a loud knock that stunned both them and the audience. But as Shade lost grip of his mace, Scott tried to endure the pain and reach for his weapon, extending his arm as far as possible as Shade tried to pull his weapon away from him. As he was right on top of him, Scott only had to pull his arm to reach for the mace and steal it, but once he actually managed to swing it at his head, Shade reacted instantly and blocked his attack with his forearm, pushing against the mace’s handle to prevent another attack. But as he focused on taking his mace back, Shade stood on his own and began pulling the weapon away from Scott, who got the chance to stand up with a swift jump.
While Scott seemed to barely feel his legs anymore, he was back on his feet, just like Shade, except they were now competing to get the weapon, which would probably determine the outcome of their drawn-out duel. Seeing how badly Shade wanted his mace back, Scott simply let go, catching Shade off guard while also giving him the satisfaction of having his weapon back. But before he could do anything with it, Scott took advantage of his opponent’s confidence to land a filthy right jab on his cheek, rocking his head and almost knocking out a tooth, though it did seem to crack Scott’s knuckles. Shade wasn’t stunned by the hit, but as he didn’t expect such a powerful blow from Scott, he hesitated to attack for a moment.
Scott took some time to recover too, as the punch appeared to hurt him more than his enemy. But now that he had given Shade a taste of his power, he tried intimidating him with a resolute stare, which was met with both anger and confusion. But before any of them could say or do anything, Shade was irritated by Scott’s fortitude and decided to end the match once and for all. In a fit of fury, he swung his mace at Scott, who seemed to have been waiting for that exact attack, but instead of dodging it, he jumped as high as he could to grab his hand. Shade tried pushing him away with his other hand, but while he got a grip on his shirt, he didn’t get a grasp of Scott’s idea when he felt his mace being pulled down. Scott used both of his hands to push down all of his weight, causing Shade’s hand to give in. But since he refused to let go of his weapon, Scott ended up using it to slam it down on the top of his head.
Falling unconscious like Turtle, though even harder as his weight created a large splash that even reached the audience, Shade had lost his very first life. But as he appeared to have been defeated for good, his fall and elimination were felt even more when the audience gasped in awe after witnessing Scott’s astonishing accomplishment. The loud reaction caused all the players to turn around and see the cause of the commotion, and once the red players saw their leader down on the water, with Scott standing victoriously next to him, they didn’t know what to do except retreat. The remaining members of the blue teams got to regroup and grab some of the dropped weapons from the stream. But before they could take advantage of the shock and advance, the last hunter entered the battle and began spraying everything in front of him, shooting anyone in sight, even some soldiers in the audience.
–Zoey! NOW!!– Ace shouted as he watched the hunter shoot everyone he saw, taking out both Grant and Cory, as well as a few other red players, though he also took out Jumbo in the process, taking his last life. As soon as Zoey heard the signal, she started running away, leaving the stream through the right flank to follow the path to the red base. Scott also stuck to the right side of the stream, almost following her, but he stayed with Ace and his teammates as they were still being attacked. He approached the front to distract the hunter and draw in the red players to sneak from behind, doing everything to prevent them from turning back and noticing Zoey.
Scott joined Ace in his rush to the hunter, but they took cover when they saw Baby grabbing a gun of his own and shooting violently, hitting his own teammates without even taking out the hunter. He realized he had run out of ammo, prompting the hunter to get a quick shot on his shoulder, and since he was the only one left of the red team after taking out his own teammates, it was up to Scott and Ace to take down the hunter. While his teammates respawned, Scott and Ace tried to leap at the soldier from behind to tackle him, but as he turned around right before they could grab him, he managed to shoot a couple of bullets. Scott ended up being shot in the chest, but at least he gave Ace the opportunity to disarm the hunter and strike his head with his sword.
Scott and Ace shared a high five to celebrate, as they were the only ones in the stream. They got some praise from the audience, but after seeing the red players rush back to their base and seeing that Shade was still out cold, they decided to keep pushing before they all respawned. However, Scott first had to respawn, so he ran back to the base as soon as possible. But as he tried to return, the hunter Ace had taken out got back up and opened fire again. He hadn’t been knocked out, so he was still in the game, forcing both Scott and Ace to hide behind some trees on the right flank.
–GO! Help Zoey take the flag, she is probably trapped there!– Scott shouted at Ace as they both stayed covered, waiting until the hunter shifted their attention away from them. Ace hesitated to move, but as Scott was already out, he got out of cover, prompting the hunter to shoot at him, unaware that he already got him, letting Ace escape swiftly as he headed towards the red base.
Scott laughed in relief and slowed his pace as he returned to his base to respawn. He got to catch his breath after his intense battle with Shade, but as he could still hear the hunter shooting, he looked back to see if Ace had made it safely to the other base. Instead, he saw Zoey and Ace already running back to their base with the second flag in their possession. They appeared to be escaping from the red players, though they were nowhere to be seen yet. And to not slow them down, Scott just nodded at them with a smile as they passed by him, cheering their way to the base before scoring another point.
Scott tried to run with them, but from his exhaustion, he only jogged through the empty dirt path with a calm smile. He was still excited to win the game, and while it looked like they had the advantage, he remained cautious as he kept looking around to ensure he wasn’t following. He checked back once again, only to find himself completely alone. The players that had respawned were already clashing nearby, but before he could run to rejoin the battle, Scott’s attention was caught by some rumbling leaves not too far away. He kept looking behind, trying to find someone sneaking up on him, but after noticing that the noises came from his right, he realized someone was roaming around the shrubs, though it seemed like they were leaving the playing field.
He hesitated for a second to investigate, but after getting closer to the source of the noises, he found one of the guns hidden in a bush. It was the one that Zoey had forgotten to take with her, but as the owner was nowhere to be seen, Scott’s curiosity got the best of him. He could still hear the red players running through the stream and heading back to the blue base, but he grabbed the gun and continued to look around the area, going past the trees on the dirt path, trying to search for the missing hunter as he followed more noises through the forest.
Scott kept going deeper into the woods, which only became darker and harder to traverse. But as he was almost reaching the end of the forest, where fewer trees surrounded him and the sun lit up the area more, Scott began to regret his instinct. It didn’t feel like this section of the forest was part of the game, but as he kept walking, Scott managed to get a glimpse of the person sneaking through some large shrubs. He remained low to not be seen, but it looked like the person was more focused on something else, like he was hunting someone. That’s when Scott pulled out the gun and tried aiming it at the figure, but a moment later, he got close enough to see that it wasn’t just one person, but in fact, two.
The two figures turned around briefly, forcing Scott to hide behind a tree. He peeked his head out to watch the two apparent intruders hiding as well, staying behind a bush while they whispered to each other. Although there wasn’t enough light to make out who they were, Scott became nervous as he noticed one of them was a big, dark-skinned man, while the other one looked too familiar for him not to recognize. He still had to squint hard to get a better view, but soon enough, the figures became clear as they got closer to the light outside the forest. Scott followed them cautiously until he saw their backs in broad daylight, gasping in confusion as he had definitely seen the two; they were the ones who recently disappeared from the audience at the game without explanation.