Chapter 715

In the end, Kat couldn’t resist offering her ‘solution’ to the problem. She doubted Kevin would accept, but she still wanted to get the words out. This way, if there were issues during the fight, she could suggest it quickly, or just go for it if Kevin looked to be in danger. “I’m certainly capable of it... but I could just carry you around you know. Lock arms or maybe over the shoulder? You don’t weigh much.”

Kevin’s face twisted up, “I’d rather not have my safety so thoroughly tied to you. I might be willing to work with you, and trust that you want to win this round, but I don’t quite trust you THAT much,” stated Kevin with an insincere tone. Kat didn’t doubt this was a reason, perhaps even a large one, but she doubted it was really a dealbreaker.

Then again, Kat also knew she’d been rather blessed in terms of partners so far. Grace had gone with her all the way to the final room the first time around. They had a... not so grand battle over the cup. Kat still smiled when she thought of the strange weapon obsessed elf. *I wish I could have left her a beacon or maybe just some way to contact me. Grace was cool and now that I think about it... it’s kind of a shame I might never see her again. Maybe I’ll ask Thyme to get us back in contact? Surely they would know right?*

Kat also thought about Blue. There wasn’t a moment that she thought Blue would leave her tied up, and Kat hoped Blue didn’t have any doubts about her after she was injured. *I wonder why Kevin is so suspicious. Even if I was that type of person Thyme has been very clear this is all about cooperation, so why would I risk that even if I wanted to be a dick. Does he think I could somehow trick someone as strong as Thyme?*

In the end, Kat new this wasn’t the time to dwell on such thoughts. She also wasn’t going to waste demonic energy speeding up her perception right now when she knew it would be very necessary to keep up with Kevin during the battle. “I’m not going to risk annoying time and throwing of their idea of ‘Jolly Cooperation’ but sure, we can do it your way but I reserve the right to carry you out of the way if needed,”

Kevin’s eyes narrowed, wondering perhaps if his permission was actually required for something like that. He hadn’t had enough dealings with demons to know if Kat was asking permission to be polite, or if she was including this in the plan so that when they both agreed to it Kat would have more freedom included in the deal. Of course for such a small matter with no real binding intent or circles nothing of the sort would happen, but Kevin didn’t know that.

So it took him a bit longer to answer. Kat started to get noticeably annoyed after thirty seconds. They only had five minutes total and most of that had been burnt up already. Her tail was flicking behind her in annoyance, carving gouges into the floor to try and burn off some of her energy and avoid blowing up at Kevin.

.....

She wasn’t overly angry at him, it wasn’t like that... but she felt almost impatient. They had the barest bones of a plan that wasn’t really a plan at all. Just, ‘Targert the bearkin’ and there was Kevin’s stance that she should follow his movements. That was it. Kat was hoping for a talk about how they wanted to try attacking or how often they’d be blocking and dodging. She didn’t want to sign up to be a punching bag, but Kat had wanted to make it clear she could take an attack or two if it was necessary.

Alas, Kevin continued to look unsure at the one minute mark and Kat could tell there time was running out. “Make up your mind please!” hissed Kat in Kevin’s ear, not that she had all that much choice of where to speak to him, as they were tied together at that moment.

Kevin frowned further, not really enjoying the fact Kat was trying to rush him, only solidifying the idea in his mind that he shouldn’t just accept the deal Kat proposed. Alas, after killing another twenty seconds Thyme appeared. “Was that enough time? Everyone got their pre match jitters out? Too bad if you haven’t because just like my name it’s TIME,” before vanishing once again.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Kat was ready to take off as soon as the word ‘time’ was said but as she started to move, Kat found a bit of resistance. Stopping mid stride Kat could see that Kevin had in fact, not moved. In actuality nobody else had either. Kat was a bit annoyed at this, considering she didn’t even have time to make a proper plan with Kevin let alone their entire team. Part of her wanted to ignore Kevin’s reluctance and just pic the idiot up at this point but she held herself in place.

Everyone in the stadium just stared at each other, nobody really wanting to make the second move now that Kat’s initial charge had been stopped. That was, until the platform started to shake, the ground at the edges slowly flaking away. “Oh?” said Thyme’s all around, “Did I not mention the fact the platform shrinks? Well I suppose it isn’t really a rule... if you fall off you fall off. Doesn’t really matter how it happens...”

Kat grit her teeth and glared at Kevin who glared right back. The stalemate was going to continue for some time except Kat noticed a flash in the corner of her vision. Blue had summoned a large two ringed blue sigil, “SORRY KAT” yelled the fae in question as a spear of water headed towards Kat.

It was big, heaving, and moving straight towards her... but what it wasn’t was fast. Kat had plenty of time to move out of the way once she slowed her perception a bit, not all that much, and not even enough to outpace her regeneration. Kat looked back at Kevin who still had a frown on his face but was beginning to move. Kat just wasn’t sure if they were going to get up to speed in time. Deciding she’d rather just not get hit or be in the splash zone, Kat lashed her tail around Kevin’s midsection and let her left hand rest under Kevin’s right arm, pulling him off the ground.

Kevin’s speed no longer a problem Kat was able to move out of the way, heading off to the side... and somewhat forward to avoid the edge. Kat got them just far enough away to avoid the splash zone before letting Kevin back down, “I thought you agreed to follow my lead?” grumbled Kevin,

“In actual fact, you refused to agree to anything, wasting plenty of our planning time. I don’t know what your problem is, but frankly, I don’t care. Now come on, let’s go attack,” retorted Kat.

“We need to go in together, not us, the whole team,” said Kevin in the calmest tone he could managed but it was undermined by the annoyance leaking through. “If we go up ourselves we’ll need to fight off ten of them, and that’s not going to work,”

Kat rolled her eyes and looked at the rest of her group. They were all off to her left as she had been positioned on the edge. Blue and her dwarf had as well. She could see that Gareth and the croc beastman were moving up slowly as well, keeping an eye on everyone else now that Kat had started to move. They were just about to step past where the Ks were.

*Frankly, I wouldn’t be opposed to fighting them all, or at least getting everyone’s attention. I can take the hits, and even if I have to move you out of the way or make sure only I’m hit by them, five people’s worth of attacks isn’t that much for me. There best bet would be trying to throw me out of the ring, but I’m not sure if that’d be any easier really.*

Still, Kat wouldn’t have to worry about it as Green and her human the one with half a stone arch and black hair, were moving forward with Kress, who was partnered up with the other half of the set the one with the right side of the arch and sandy hair. Kat took a brief moment to smile at that, at least Kress

Nixilei and her dwarven companion were staying back. It looked really comical because of the height difference, the mount hat the dwarf was sporting only making it look more amusing. Though at this point, Kat was wondering what her side’s wizards were doing. Blue was the only one to attack so far but Kat knew her side had THREE WIZARDS and Green for ranged attacks but so far, nothing.