Dragon vs Dragon Rider! Komodo vs Merik! (Beta vs m139)

[Salroka]

The following contest will be a single elimination event. Victory conditions are upon surrender, incapacitation, or character death.

The Combatants

Anna Jacobson, the Komodo
versus
Merik Case, the Dragon Rider

---

---

The Arena
Each combatant will begin on the top floor of a long-abandoned apartment building. They know they were brought there to fight, but were given no knowledge of their opponent. The floors and walls of the building are crumbling in places, and have outright fallen apart in a few spots. Most rooms have at least one piece of damaged and decrepit furniture in them, but there are no utilities such as power or running water. The weather is overcast with a light rain, which will quickly turn into a heavy downpour.

Spoiler: The Crestmont Apartments 

[Salroka]

---

---

Siren Song of the Komodo

---

---

In stark contrast to the crumbling room around it, a cold metal pod sat alone in the corner. A loud metallic clanging sound shattered the otherwise peaceful sound of rainfall as the hydraulic locks opened and snapped against the outside of the pod. Anna, or Komodo as she was known in the G-Block of the Las Vegas Deadman Wonderland facility, kicked open the door and sent it slamming into the wall beside her. Dust erupted into the air as the brick and drywall were pulverized by the force of the impact, and the unmistakable sound of metal crashing against a hard surface reverberated throughout the Crestmont Apartments.

Stepping out into the fresh air for the first time in over four years, Komodo paused to take in the new sights and smells of her temporary freedom. The quiet pitter-patter of the rain on the roof above her, the smell of the dust in the air, the sight of the green grass that was visible outside of the building... it was a lot for the young woman to take in all at once. Her girlish wonder quickly changed to frustration as the anklet on her leg beeped twice. Right... she'd been brought here to fight in a special edition of the Corpse Carnival. Well, that made her next course of action clear: Seek and Destroy.

Komodo figured her opponent would adopt the same course of action, so she looked around for something she could use to cut herself and draw the blood needed to fuel her special abilities. As it were, the pod she had been held in had nice sharps corners on the locking mechanisms. After dragging both of her arms along the metal edge of the lock, Komodo's blood flowed freely out of the wounds and over her pale skin. Seconds after it began pouring out of the self-inflicted wounds, the blood began to spread over her entire body and coat her skin with a thin sheen of protection... but that was not where Komodo earned her name from.

Over her hands formed wickedly serrated claws formed from the same blood that now coated her body. They were truly intimidating by most accounts, and every bit as sharp as they looked. "If you fucknuggets are watching, I'm going to cut off this asshole's arms and then ride their fingers like a-" the sound of more crumbling behind the pod suddenly drew Komodo's attention away from her vulgar declaration. However, it was only another chunk of drywall from where the door had slammed into the wall. "Fuck. Well, better get on with looking for my new toy, then." thought the young woman as she left the room and slashed her claws against the doorway.

She went from room to room for about a minute before deciding to sit down on a half-ruined couch. Her opponent would find her eventually. In the meantime, the pitter-patter of the rain steadily grew in intensity and volume. It seemed like a thunderstorm was on its way. The last time Komodo had witnessed a thunderstorm was the week before she committed those five murders and ended up in prison. "Fuck!" she yelled as she leaned her head back and lamented her imprisonment. Then once more: "Fuck!" ... she'd likely just given her position away and was now frustrated with herself.

With that in her head, Komodo left her little relaxation spot and began running down the main hallway...

[m139]

Merik found himself in a small little room, which, at one point, might have been a closet. How he came to find himself there, he did not know. Nor did he really care to know. All he knew was that he was here, and that, while here, he was to fight.

It was almost instinctual, the feeling- the need to always be cautiously alert. The enemy, whoever he was, would likely be around. And usually, they were those slinking kind, the ones who really could not fight but yet felt a need to try to kill him. This time, however, Merik had a feeling that something would be different about this one. After all, something was already different: he was certain that never in his life had he been in a place like this before.

Cautiously, he began to push on the closet door, and the crack of light, which before had been a simple line, began to grow. And then, he was out in what must ave once been a living room.

The window panes were long gone, and a little bit of the rain was coming in through the fragments of glass that remained. There was a small puddle that had collected on the floor, and a couple of solitary leaves were stuck in it, seperated from their breathern that still floated across the bare floor.

In an almost absentminded manner, Merik began to draw some more of the water in through the window, as he concentrated instead on not making the floorboards creek and interpreting the pictures still on the wall.

Most of the frames had no glass, and whatever pictures they contained were either ripped, or damaged beyond recognition. But there was one picture still left. There were two children, smiling in the foreground. Behind them within the tree line, and probably not even supposed to be in the picture, was a woman, running. If Merik had any guess, he would say that her expression was terrified, based on the way she appeared to be fleeing. From what, though-

Well, that was a question he would have to speculate on some other time. For at that exact moment, he heard a loud yell.

"Fuck!" a woman's voice cried. and then, "Fuck!" again.

This was followed by a series of footfalls, which came up to the closed door of the apartment room he was in and then passed it. He counted to three as he approached the doorway and quietly opened it, drawing an arrow as he did so. The water cloud remained just within the doorway of the room.

And there, out in the hall, was the woman, still running away from him, covered in blood. He aimed the arrow at her, but did not fire immediately. Instead, he called out.

"Hey!" he shouted, "You need help? Or are you the one here to fight me?"

[Salroka]

---

---

The Game Begins

---

---

Only a few seconds after she'd began running, Komodo was confronted by the person she assumed to be her opponent. Turning around to face the source of the voice which asked if she needed help, Komodo glared in a manner that could only be describes as disdainful. Not a minute into the fight and someone was already threatening to shoot her in the back? Typical man. All talk, but nothing but cowardice when push came to shove. But then the man did something silly... he ASKED if she was his opponent. That gave the murderess all the opening she needed.

Her eyes opened wider and her angry expression quickly shifted to one of false fear. "It's coming!" cried Komodo as she pointed one of her blood claws in the direction she had come from. If it worked, the distraction would only buy her a second or two... but men were always looking for some way to watch out for or protect a pretty girl, even if they only did so subconsciously. Whether or not the man turned to look at the imaginary monster, Komodo would abandon all defensive actions and charge him a second after making the declaration. If she didn't catch him off-guard with the distraction, perhaps the sheer tenacity and ferocity of her charge would give the man pause and grant her a brief advantage over him.

If it were up to her, Komodo would be all too happy to simply squat in this abandoned building and keep to herself. She was a danger to others and she knew it. Was it her choice that the people who ran the Vegas DMWL facility chose to send her there to murder someone new simply to entertain a bunch of sick-minded rich people? No. But if she didn't do it, then the anklet she wore would slowly poison her to death over the course of the next three days. And so, she would do what she could to make the spectacle as bloody and brutal as possible. First on the list? Ram the claws of her left hand into the guts of this unfortunate man. A punctured spleen and liver would not mean IMMEDIATE death, and would give those sick assholes the bloody show they so desperately sought.

"Just run away, you idiot..." thought Komodo as she closed in. "Get the fuck out of here and away from me. They can't punish you for running." These would be the last vaguely-compassionate thoughts she had for the man, as a wicked smile quickly crept onto her face. Nearly within range, Komodo spread apart the clawed fingers of her left hand in order to shred as much of her opponent's tissues as possible when she tore into his body. Gone was the California Girl who just wanted to go home. She was now fully consumed by her Komodo persona, and would not rest until she had eviscerated her opponent and made some vulgar gesture with a part of his body to shock and impress the folks she was beholden to.

These apartments, once home to many families... a place of happy memories and good times... would soon have its walls and corridors on the receiving end of the gory results of violent conflict. Blood would soon spatter the walls and floors. Cuts and tears would score the various rooms the fighters inevitably found themselves in. Just another nail in the coffin for this condemned structure. Never again would the building play host to the love and joy of those who once called it home... it was now nothing more than a battleground for murderers and mercenaries.

All the while, rain poured down harder and harder. The sound of thunder tore through the afternoon silence and shook the walls of the long-derelict Crestmont Apartments. To the casual observer, it might have seemed like nature itself was weeping for the unfortunate fate of the building... and perhaps they were correct. However, nothing could stop the conflict unfolding inside. By the end of the day, one of the two combatants would lay defeated. Would it be through surrender? Incapacitation? ... or death? Only time would tell.

[m139]

The woman turned to face him, her face definitely showing anger. But then, it switched instantly. "It's coming!" she shouted.

Merik pivoted on one foot, turning his body and weapon towards whatever might be behind him. But there was nothing but a dark empty hallway, broken here and there by rectangles of light coming in from either open doors or empty doorframes. And, from the direction he had just faced, there were fast falling footsteps coming towards him.

Merik sighed. This was definitely not the first time he fell for that trick. And it probably would not be the last. Still, at least she had had the courtesy to answer his question. Even if she had done it in a roundabout way.

Without turning around towards her, he sidestepped back into the still open apartment door he had just exited, and turned around, seeing the woman in the exact space he had been in just a moment earlier. Quickly, he slammed the door shut, and used the water he had gathered behind the door, a full three cubic feet of it, to form a makeshift doorjam. Part of the water lined up against the bottom of the frame. The other part, about two thirds of it, lined up about halfway up the door, making it a bit harder for brute force to punch through in that area.

There, that should work... for a little.

Indeed, this might have been an excellent plan, perhaps, if the door was a lot newer, or perhaps if it was not one of those cheaply flimsy doors composed of two sheets of metal with a bunch of styrofoam balls in between, or if she had been a normal human. Still, as he positioned himself a bit to the left of the door, and took out his sword, he hoped to have some advantage, but whether it would allow him an attack, or simply the opportunity to move into the hallway, he did not know.

All he knew was that those claws- he had seen those claws when she had turned the first time- were not normal. And he also knew that they would likely be quite painful when met. And although he had fought barehanded before, he had never fought claws without his dragon. Although he could hold his own decently sword to sword, or even barehanded against a pitchfork, it would be a little bit harder to get at someone who was trying to get into even closer range than a sword. And for some reason, he knew his dragon, Lapis would not be able to help him at all. He would have to fight the clawed woman.

All the same, he did feel a little bad about this particular plan of action. He had seen the woman's whole figure. She carried no weapons at all. And yet, here she was, trying to fight him, for what reason, he knew not. Yet, she was definitely his opponent: charging anyone is as good a way as any to signify your intent. Especially if you do it after a cheap trick.

Internally, he sighed and grimaced. People who liked trick seldom ever settle for surrender. If he could just smack her unconscious as she passed through the door, that would be preferable. But as to what he would be able to do, well, first she would have to get through the door.

And though the door gave Merik an advantage, as she could not see his position, it also gave the woman the same advantage, as he could not see her. All he could do was wait- and listen.

[Salroka]

---

---

Tears of a Girl, Fury of a Dragon

---

---

The guy was quick... Komodo would have to give him that much. As she charged and attempted to rend the stranger asunder, he had slipped back into the room from which he came. As a result of her all-out rush, Komodo was unable to halt her momentum in time to follow her foe through the door before it was shut in her face. Giving it a hefty kick, Komodo found it was held shut somehow. The metal gave way a bit and bent under the force of her attack, but did not fly off its hinges as intended. How the hell? This place was falling apart... why was this door so sturdy? It made no sense.

Still, Komodo was as crafty as she was violent. The metal had given way slightly when she kicked it, so the door wasn't particularly durable. More likely, it was stuck somehow. She could get through that, no problem. Clasping her arms together so her wrists touched, Komodo curled her fingers outward as if the were grasping a softball-sized object in both hands. Blood oozed over her skin as she drew it away from her thin protective coating, moving to her clawed hands and enlarging the already dangerous weapons that she was so well known for. "Let's see how this fucker likes my Dragon's Breath." thought Komodo as her claws lengthened.

Dragon's Breath was certainly a powerful technique. It had won Komodo a few Corpse Carnival events in the past. However, it had also lost her one. Why? Well, the technique required a lot of blood. Rather than draw more from her veins and lose a fight due to anemia, she drew it from the thin sheen of hardened blood that covered and protected her body from harm. This left her no more durable than a normal person... but the drawback was outweighed by the power of the attack. She could also return the blood back to the defensive coating after she finished the technique, but that took a couple of seconds that an opponent could use against her.

Risky, but she HAD to take risks. In the Deadman Wonderland Facility where she normally resided, if you didn't win in the Corpse Carnival... you'd die. Well, maybe not die; but the Penalty Game was not something that anyone liked. Spin the wheel, yell stop to halt it, and remove the body part it landed on. Komodo had bought her way out of her penalty game through her winnings and... favors... for one of the Undertakers who were employed to keep inmates in check. It was not something she was proud of. In fact, the indignities the Undertaker inflicted upon her were just part of why Komodo was such a rage-fueled ball of hatred when she was in a fight.

No. She would not suffer those indignities again. She would win this fight. She'd tear this stranger a new asshole and paint the inside of her transport pod with his blood. Komodo's memories of her own sufferring flooded through her mind and caused her eyes to well up momentarily. She was just a scared girl at heart, trying to survive in the cruel world she had landed after committing a triple-double homicide. Sure, she was a criminal... but not even criminals deserved to be in the Vegas Deadman Wonderland Facility. A single tear ran down each cheek as Komodo's attack fired off.

Suddenly, the door and door frame would be punctured in approximately four dozen spots, as the claw tips and serrations were flooded with blood and expanded out from Komodo's hands. Just as quickly as the crimson spikes punctured through, they receeded and began to return blood to Komodo's defenses. But in the seconds before she was back to her usual defensive power, the cocky woman used her claws to tear a hand-sized hole from one of the higher puncture points. Time to taunt her foe, of course. "I'm going to slice your head off and use your spine as a sex toy!!" she said as she leaned in close to the larger hole in the door.

Hopefully her cocky action wouldn't bite her in the ass, but it was too late to change things now.

[m139]

Merik waited, listening, still in the same spot to the left of the door. At first there was nothing. And then...

There was a kick to the door, which, as Merik expected, did not do much but put a dent in the door. He smiled. His plan was working. Surely, now the girl would kick again, this time with extra force, and Merik would drop the water barricade, sending her flying into the room. It was a brilliant plan. And it would make the rest of this fight so much easier- knock her out, and then leave. Somewhere. And hopefully, there-

Wait. Why hadn't she kicked again yet?

Suddenly, some forty or so red tips punctured through the wall, significantly denting the door, and sending what had been there just a moment before- small shreds of metal and bits of half-decomposed styrofoam- across the room. From his position to the left of the door, Merik watched as some of those bits even flew out the broken window. What- no, how. How in the world was his opponent doing that?

Quickly, he turned his attention back to the door. The once mostly straight structure now looked as if it were covered with many anthills, complete with little holes where the red things had come through at the top. At this point, it was clear to Merik that his original plan would not work. In fact, stuck in this small room, with an opponent doing who knows what outside, he was at an apparent disadvantage.

But there was still one thing he might do, one thing he could do that might turn the tables- or, in this case, open a door- in his favor. A quick glance at this heavily damaged door showed clearly that the outer part of this door could bend. Perhaps, with a wider surface area instead of such a minute point...

The water next to the door began to pull back, and then began to rush forward, approaching a speed of a high powered water hose, gathering itself so that it formed nine blunt points, each of them with a two and a half square inch block at the end. These came at the door, three about head height, another three about chest height, and the last three, about where the knee would be. Each of these were on one of three vertical axis, the middle one being in the center and the left and right one being about four inches away in either direction.

These blocks of water hit the door just as the girl began to tear a hole in the bowing door. If all went well, the force of the water, plus the unexpected added force of the girl ripping towards her, would cause the heavily damaged door to bend outwards, or even better, fly off its hinges and into the girl, who was screaming at this moment.

What was that she was screaming right now? Oh...

He had not recognized it at first- it definitely was not the usual cry of his opponents. Still, poking whatever twenty some pronged object through the door was not a usual still his opponents had. But an opponent- an opponent angry at him simply for existing, was not something he was unused to.

Inwardly, Merik sighed. Just another insult. One to add to the many he had heard before, and, if he lived, would hear afterwards.

[Salroka]

---

---

Burn It Down, Beautiful Psycho

---

---

Just as Komodo finished screaming her less than tasteful insult/intimidation attempt, the door she had damaged practically exploded off of its hinges and slammed full force into her. A normal person would have been knocked unconscious or have a few broken bones... and Komodo was barely more durable than an average person with her armor not fully formed. She was sent careening across the hallway and through the drywall of the apartment behind her, sending dust and tiny bits of debris everywhere. Painful, to say the least. What's worse, was that the double-impact had dislocated her left shoulder. The stranger had done it now... he'd injured the strongest fighter in the Vegas Deadman Wonderland facility.

Outside, the rain hammered the damaged room of the Crestmont Apartments. The noise inside the building was incredible. Between the rain, the thunder, and the combat; it was like a wicked symphony that encouraged the two warriors to inflict as much bodily harm as possible. One might question just how it could get more intense. Almost as if on cue, A huge crash of lightning tore into the building itself. Years of decay and neglect rendered the lightning rod too damaged to be effective, and the bolt gutted a room below the rod's mounting point. The thunder from such a nearby crack of lightning was nearly deafening, and accompanied by the telltale scent of wood and cloth burning. This fight just became far more deadly.

While unaware of the fire, Komodo was keenly aware that lightning had struck very close to her position. Mainly due to one of her eardrums bursting from the incredible noise created by the thunderclap. That was now two things working against her. Well, that is until she slammed her left side against the floor on which she lay. A sickening pop, and her shoulder was back in the socket. She was not immune to pain, however... and cried out sharply as the bone slid back into place. Throughout it all, she could not shake the intense ringing sound in her left ear. It wasn't the one with the damaged eardrum, but the noise was still loud enough to be compared to a flashbang grenade. It seemed as though fate wanted to deal her a tough hand today.

"Ok, dude. That was good. I'll give you that one. I guess I deserved that." grumbled Komodo as she lifted herself off of the dirty floor. The familiar warmth of blood all over her body gave Komodo all the information she needed: her armor was back at full strength. However, then a tiny pain on top of her head. Scratching her scalp and looking up, she noticed what had happened. Oh shit! The ceiling above her began to give way as a result of the wall she'd torn through being unable to fully support it. Drywall, stone, bits of piping and wiring... all of it fell to the floor a split second after Komodo dove to the side. For an instant, she thought to curse the dilapidated building. But then she silently walked under the gaping hole in the roof. Rain poured down on her skin for the first time in years.

Overcome with emotion, Komodo reached toward the sky and raised herself up on the tips of her toes. Unable to reach the broken ceiling above her, she then fell to her knees and let out a cry of pure anguish that would tug at the heart of even the coldest man alive. Nearly five years without natural light, without the cool kiss of summer rain, without air that wasn't recirculated and stank slightly of blood and death, and without seeing anything but the inside of the Deadman Wonderland facility... and after this was over she'd just go back to it all. the thought of going back after being outside was nearly too much to bear. Maybe if... if she killed this guy and got the investors on her side... maybe the Warden would let her go outside sometimes. Yes, that could work. Then he gets to keep his pet Komodo, and Komodo gets to go outside! That was all it took to steel her resolve and bring her back to her feet. She'd kill this stranger and earn the Warden's favor, or die trying.

Sniffling loudly, Komodo turned back toward the room that now had no door. "Time for round two, asshole. You won't keep me... from going outside any longer!" Komodo clashed her claws together and charged once more, launching herself from the hole in the wall and back toward her opponent. Some might say she was being too reckless, but at this point she'd convinced herself that she had literally nothing to lose. After all, her life belonged to the Warden now. She was his property and he was the one who lost if she died. And really, would it be so bad to die outside under a heavy rain when you hadn't even SEEN rain in so long? Komodo didn't think so.

[m139]

As hoped for, the door had burst off its hinges, carried forward by the water for the full ten feet before splashing to the floor below. At this point, Merik began to draw a new pool of water from the puddle by the window, having it creep across the floor towards him as he collected it. Externally, he was listening- that was- he was listening until the lightning struck.

His ears were ringing. Both of them. And the smell of the air was highly metallic. For an instant, Merik's thoughts went back to a memory from his childhood: one where similar stimulai had played on his senses, although the situation was much different then...

His thoughts drifted back. It was on a hillside behind the school- he and another student, one of air, were playing together, and somehow, accidentally, they had managed to have lightning strike almost before then. They had been scared then, and even more scared when one of the teacher's had told them they needed to talk, but, after time had passed, and the inital punishment had been dealt and served, it had become a source of pride. A "look what we can do" kind of thing, complete with the "aren't we amazing." sort of feel. He remembered telling all his other friends about the tale. Even some of the older students were impressed, especially when he and the girl were allowed to present it- with teacher supervision this time, of course.

For a second, it looked almost as if a smile was forming on Merik's face. His mind had taken him back to those childhood days of simplicity. Those days- before the beautiful world became as cruel as it was now, before childish jokes became practically criminal- Ah, for those days he longed, if only it was possible to go back to those days-

And, just then, from outside of the high pitched ringing, buried under this storm of these current times, Merik heard a voice crying out, with the agony of one who longs deeply for something lost completely to them. And when he heard it, Merik's own heart cried out in pain as well. He had not an open wound on his body, and yet, deep inside, there were bleeding wounds that could never heal.

Oh, for times past away, never to return!


Then, that moment, too, past. A second scream, this one filled with base words, followed. And it came, and with it the ringing of his ears, and the present environment, once again imposed themselves upon Merik.

Even with the constant cacophony in his ears, Merik was able to make out her main point. Was she blaming him for keeping her inside? He sighed. Why did they all think the weather was his fault? Granted, he had made a storm before- but this one was not of his doing.

He could not see her from his position, still to the left of the empty doorframe, and he definitely could not hear her with that ringing noise, as she began her journey to the room. But when she came in through the doorway, passing him as she rushed into the room, well, he saw her then. Quickly, he dropped control of the water he had been collecting, making the centerish area of that room, which she was running into, a giant, slippery, puddle. From behind, he shouted, hoping to be heard over both the ringing that was doubtless in her own ears and the whether outside out, "Is that all you want? A nice day? That can be arranged without death!"

And before she could respond, or try rushing at him again, he slipped through the empty door frame and into the hallway.

At random, he chose to go left. There was no time to test the smell of the air to see if he was fast walking (there was too much water here from the door explosion to run) towards the blazing room or away from it. But within a few more breaths and paces, he would know.

[Salroka]

---

---

Relentless Assault

---

---

Tearing through the open doorway like a woman possessed, Komodo caught a glance of her opponent just to the left of the metal frame as she sped past. Swiping wildly with her vicious claws, she wasn't sure if she inflicted damage or not. What she did know was that she was now skidding across the floor and her opponent was running away. What a fucking coward this guy was! If he was in her situation, that guy would have died years ago. Only the strong could survive being poisoned daily and forced to fight to secure antidotes. Only the strong could endure the torment of watching everyone die around them week after week. Only the strong could endure the Deadman Wonderland.

Still, her strength of will and her sheer ferocity did nothing to stop her from slipping on the floor and careening across the room into a kitchen counter as her foe exited the room. She'd seen which way he went, though... and she'd be hot on his heels as soon as she climbed to her feet. A splinter of wood about four inches long jutted from her back, just above her right kidney. Apparently crashing into such a disheveled structure was not the best thing that could have happened. Still, it was shallow enough to not be life-threatening. In fact, Komodo chose to leave it in as a sort of intimidation. A way to say how tough she was without speaking a single word. That said, her head was throbbing and now she had another new wound to contend with.

Her masters back at the Vegas facility would be pleased, though. Everyone loved seeing her get beat up on. She'd only ever lost the one fight, so the chance of her losing again drove the betters wild.All the better, really. If the warden was happy, he would favor Komodo and let her go outside, right? Not likely, honestly... but currently that was the farthest thought from Komodo's mind. She had lost it and was dead-set on making sure the warden was happy with her. "Please come back! I'm not done eviscerating you!" yelled the angry young woman as she rushed out of the room and down the hallway after her quarry. Her voice seemed almost sad and desperate... almost like she was genuinely pleading for her enemy to let her disembowel him.

Meanwhile, the fire was quickly spreading through the building. All the old and dry wood inside the walls was feeding the flames at an astounding rate. Where one room had been damaged seconds ago, now three rooms were playing host to the deadly blaze. Worse yet, the two combatants were headed right for it. Lightning cracked nearby once more, shattering a tree in the field outside and causing another boom of thunder. Nowhere near as severe as the prior thunderclap, but still quite intense. Similarly, the rain continued to pour down heavily. It was as if the storm was building to a crescendo along with the fight inside the Crestmont Apartments.

Komodo was the one who seemed to be taking the most damage so far. Burst eardrum, dislocated (and relocated) shoulder, and now a puncture wound to the back side of her ribcage. She was feeling the pressure, but refused to submit. After all, she had nothing to lose even if her opponent tore her apart. If she was the victor, she would live to fight again. If not, she might end up dead anyway. With that in mind, there was no reason for her to pull her punches or play it safe. This fight was for all the marbles, so to speak... and Komodo was not about to cash out so easily. And so she continued to chase her foe, keeping her eyes sharp for any more dirty or cowardly tricks.