A spiteful silence fills the air within the graffitied cave as two Corrys had a stare down with each other. One of the Corrys had vibrant cyan hair, a stark change from Corry's normally brown hair. Pool watches from behind the normal looking Corry, tilting her head as she held the small cut on her belly.
"You little... Show your true form already, I know what you look like!" The normal Corry shouts.
The cyan haired Corry chuckles before his whole body begins to morph into something completely different... He gets shorter and his thighs seem to get a little bigger, the hair on his head gets a little bit longer. His sweater and sweatpants change to a deep red business suit, two bumps appearing on his chest area. His shoes change into rge blue crystalline boots, and his face becomes a bit more feminine with more pronounced eyeshes, their eyes becoming a pink color as a metallic mask appears around their mouth... The transformation was now finished. Pool stares in shock at the complete change in appearance that the Grandmaster went through, Corry, however, remains indifferent towards it.
"Heehee... You said you wanted to see my true form, right? Well, here you are, Grandmaster Mara at your service!" The woman says slyly.
"So... She wasn't lying about herself when she was disguised as you, I guess, she truly is a woman..." Pool says softly.
"Aww, what? Surprised that I'm so much prettier than you?" Mara states haughtily.
Pool blushes lightly and lowers her eyebrows in disdain.
"N-No, I'm quite confident in my own looks, thank you very much!" Pool squeals, trying to defend her own image.
Corry takes a step forward, his sword drawn in front of him.
"Enough messing around, we're gonna defeat you so that you can't terrorize people anymore!" Corry excims.
"Oh? How are you gonna do that, Pretty Boy? You gonna give me a mean look?" Mara jokes in a squeaky baby voice.
Corry grits his teeth and makes the first move, lunging at Mara with his bde at the ready. Mara smirks from underneath the mask covering her mouth and holds out her hand, forming it into an intricate steel shield that blocks Corry's strike with a loud cnging sound. Corry gasps, trying to pull his bde away, but the surface of the shield seemed to be pretty sticky.
"I'm a shapeshifter, I can turn my body into practically anything I want!" Mara shouts, her other arm forming into a fist of metal.
With her iron fist, she throws a punch and sends Corry soaring back towards Pool. Pool squeals and tries to catch Corry, but is knocked over by his weight, yelping as he nds on her cut.
"P-Pool, sorry-!" Corry apologizes frantically, quickly getting up off of her.
"I-I'm fine, keep going, I'll try to find some way I can be of assistance...!" Pool says breathlessly.
Corry nods before running back towards Grandmaster Mara. Mara prepares her shield hand yet again, believing Corry to be going for the same kind of attack, but he ends up sliding on the ground past her, preparing a strike to her back... All forms of attack have a counter for the cocky Grandmaster though, rge spikes emerge from her back in retaliation. Corry gulps and falls backwards to try and evade the spikes, barely avoiding damage as a singur spike manages to scratch his cheek just a bit.
"You can't win, I have the perfect counter to anything you do." Mara says, turning and winking at Corry.
"That doesn't matter, I can defeat anyone if I put my mind to it!" Corry decres.
"Oooo, such wishful thinking... I like it. ~" Mara says seductively.
"You stop with that!" Corry shouts, jabbing Mara in the gut with the edge of his hilt.
Mara coughs and flips backwards, skidding back onto her feet.
"Gh.... That's no way to respond to flirting, girls will never like you if you keep that up!" Mara pouts.
"WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO FALL FOR STUFF LIKE THAT!? I'M NOT AS STUPID AS YOU THINK I AM-!!" Corry screeches, completely outraged by this prospect.
"Hmm... Perhaps you'd like things to be a bit... hotter?" Mara says softly.
"Not falling for anything you do, dy..." Corry mumbles.
"Oh, no, that isn't what I meant." Mara says shortly before her whole body bursts into fmes.
"HOLY CRAP-" Corry yelps, backing away.
"F-Fire.... Corry, I have an idea! Just hold her off, I'll be right back!" Pool shouts before turning and running in the opposite direction.
"Pool, wait, where are you going!?" Corry asks frantically.
"Looks like your girlfriend left you all alone with me... Bad choice on her end!" Mara ughs, unching a volley of fireballs towards Corry.
"Eep! Gotta run!" Corry panics, running the opposite direction of where Pool went.
Fireballs fly past Corry as he bolts down the tunnel, dipping, ducking, and dodging around the fming projectiles as he made his way. After barely managing to avoid them, Corry decides it's time to face the attacks head on. He turns and starts swatting the fireballs away with his sword, deftly handling his bde to precisely knock back the projectiles. Eventually, the attacks stop coming. Corry takes a deep breath and stares down the hallway, awaiting at least something at the slightest.
"Come on... I know you're still down there..." Corry says quietly.
After a while... A little kitten comes trotting down the tunnel, looking up at Corry.
"....A kitten?" Corry asks himself, one of his eyebrows raising in confusion.
The kitten then jumps up and quickly becomes a jaguar, roaring as it bared its cws and teeth.
"NOT A KITTEN-!!!" Corry screams, ducking under the jaguar before jumping back up to headbutt her belly.
The jaguar groans as it nds on the ground before turning back into Mara.
"Well, looks like you are pretty tough, I was wrong to underestimate you!" Mara says jokingly, standing back up.
"Underestimating me at all was your first mistake... I'm not your average opponent!" Corry states loudly, a smirk forming on his face.
"Ehehe... I love your confidence...~" Mara says slowly, walking towards Corry.
"Hey, wait, back up! You come any closer and I'll slice you!" Corry warns, readying his sword.
"Oh, I don't think so." Mara states smugly, her body beginning to glow.
Mara suddenly bolts out at invisible speeds, almost like a bolt of lightning, and knocks Corry's sword out of his hands before he even has time to react. The weapon soars through the air before cttering far from its wielder.
"H-Huh!? Hey, wait!" Corry calls out, surprised.
Mara was now standing right in front of Corry, her arms behind her back. Corry backs away before balling up his fists.
(Shoot... I'm not as proficient in brawling than I am in swordpy... But I can't give up...!) Corry thinks to himself before trying to throw a punch.
His fist makes contact, causing Mara to stumble backwards a bit, but is mostly unphased by the futile attack. Corry on the other hand was holding his hand, that punch hurt his knuckles a lot more than he thought it would.
"That was your punch? Cute. Let me show you how to really throw a punch." Mara sighs, her arm turning into heavy metal.
She decks Corry in the face, causing him to spiral down the hallway before nding on his back.
"O-Ouch... I need... My sword..!" Corry groans.
Mara walks back up to him and pins him to a wall, her eyebrows lowering.
"Awww, are you hurting? Here... Let me give you a little kiss.~" Mara says seductively, pulling down her mask as she slowly begins to lean in.
Mara's body lights on fire again as she leans towards Corry's face. Corry begins to sweat from the heat as she gets closer.
"Nononono, not like this-! I don't wanna get my face melted off, I'd rather kiss someone I actually like!!" Corry yelps.
All of a sudden, a rumbling can be heard throughout the tunnels...
"Huh? An earthquake?" Mara wonders, her fme still burning.
All of a sudden, a wave of water comes rushing down the hallway, dousing both Corry and Mara, ultimately putting out Mara's fmes with a sizzle.
"UGGHH, WHAT!?" Mara shouts, almost sounding disgusted.
(P-Pool... Wait, the force of this wave... Yes!)" Corry thinks to himself, smiling.
The wave caused his sword to come rushing toward him. While Mara was distracted, Corry took his opportunity. He grabs his sword, Mara turns around and has no time to react, her eyes widening in terror. Corry runs the bde through Mara's chest, causing her to shriek in pain as she lets go of Corry, dropping him and herself down. The water begins to die down, eventually getting back to ground level. Corry shakes his head and pulls his sword out of Mara, who was now breathing heavily on the floor. Pool runs down the hallway and smiles as she sees Corry standing over the defeated Mara.
"Corry, you did it!" Pool shouts excitedly.
"Not just me... How did you get that much water, what were you doing??" Corry inquires.
"Well... I remembered what you said, snow is made of water, and I was able to move it before, so I went and grabbed a lot of snow from outside and sent it rushing your way." Pool expins, rubbing the back of her head with a light smile.
"Ohhh... Well, you kind of saved me there, so thanks!" Corry excims.
"Guhh... Wow... Pretty smart of you... I was so stupid to let my guard down..." Mara wheezes.
Corry and Pool look down on Mara as she bleeds on the floor. Her mask was still down, so it could be seen that she was... Smiling?
"Why are you smiling? You were defeated, and our friends have probably defeated that other Grandmaster in Nebraska." Corry says shortly.
"Oh... Alx... Poor guy... Hehe... Thing is, he doesn't have a trick like this up his sleeve..." Mara chuckles airily.
Mara's body begins to glow, growing brighter and brighter. Corry and Pool stare in confusion before Corry realizes what was about to happen, he grabs Pool and dashes off down the tunnel.
"Corry!?" Pool squeaks.
"This whole mountain is about to come down on us!!" Corry yells.
Mara ughs in the spot she was ying at, her veins pulsing around her body.
"Long live Techway... Avenge us, Keller...!!!!!" Mara screams before her body seemingly detonates into a bright fsh.
The dder to the surface can be seen by Corry and Pool as they run, hopping onto it to try and quickly climb their way up...
"C-Corry, it's too te...!!" Pool cries out.
"N-NO, HOLD ON JUST ONE SECOOOOONNNNNDDDDDD!!!" Corry screams, the bst catching up to Pool and him, engulfing them...
To be continued.