Grover vs Mercury

I didn't bother watching the next fight, Winter vs Astra. I had too much to think about. But when I remembered that Grover was fighting next, I made my way over to the desert arena, where I met Ella, Jamie, and Austin in the crowd. Mikey is nowhere to be seen, and Nick isn't here either.

"This will be an easy victory for Grover!" Ella smirks.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that!" Jamie replies. "Mercury is fearsome!"

"Hmm…?" Austin asks as he raises an eyebrow at Jamie.

"Jeez, I'm kidding!" Jamie replies. "I'm rooting for Grover."

 "Just making sure," Austin smirks.

"What, so all of a sudden you care about Grover winning?" Jamie asks.

"Well if it can't be me, then Grover is the one that I want to win the most," Austin blushes.

"What about me?" I ask as I take a seat next to Ella.

"Who cares if you win," Austin shrugs. "Grover is the one who wants to become Chairman."

"True," I reply as I slink back in my seat, and the announcer declares the match has started.

***

"So you're a member of the same squad as Jamie Ebba, Slayer Gorira, hmm?" Mercury asks.

"Yup!" Grover answers as he opens up a wormhole in front of him, which he hops inside. A second wormhole then opens behind Mercury, and Grover leaps out of it, aiming a Cursed Power reinforced kick to Mercury's head. Mercury counters by clenching her hands together, and dozens of her magnetic shrapnels all fly towards one another and combine, forming a shield of iron to protect Mercury from Grover's kick.

"I lived my entire life under my sister's shadow, terrified that she'll turn me to stone, just as she did our parents," Mercury begins to say. "But then, Jamie came along, and she was the first person ever to be able to defeat my sister! After My sister was arrested, I thought that I wanted to end my career as a Pro Slayer, but then, I discovered a reason for me to keep fighting-so that one day, maybe I can save someone, just like how Jamie saved me. And although I feel terrible having to fight the friend of my benefactor, I can't afford to lose here."

"Well that's fine by me!" Grover replies. "The future Chairman of the Pro Slayer Organization doesn't need anyone to throw a match for him!"

Grover then opens up another wormhole and leaps into it. A second wormhole opens up in the air dozens of feet above Mercury's head, and Grover falls out of it. "Wormhole: Greene Ax-Kick!" Grover shouts as he reinforces his leg with Cursed Power, his heel slamming down towards Mercury.

"Magnetic-" Mercury begins to say as she closes her palms together and thrusts them upwards. "-Lion Lance!" The metal shrapnels making up Mercury's shield begin to break apart, before flying into the air above Mercury and connecting once more, taking the form of a giant lance. Mercury's lance flies up towards Grover as his heel slams down towards Mercury, and the two attacks collide. Grover grits his teeth as he attempts to break apart Mercury's lance, but soon, Mercury's lance overpowers Grover, knocking away his leg then slamming into Grover's chest, knocking the wind out of Grover and sending him flying backwards. Grover lands on the ground on his back, frantically gasping for air.

"Damn," Grover grunts as he pushes himself back up to his feet. "This won't be as easy as I thought."

"Before, I only used my Cursed Ability to defend, but now I've awakened a new offensive form of my powers!" Mercury shouts as she thrusts her hands towards Grover. "Magnetic: Lion Lance!"

Mercury constructs another lance out of her metal shrapnels, and sends it flying towards Grover, who stares the attack down.

"I can't use my Portal-Man mode for this fight," Grover says to himself. "It hurt too much to use last time, and this is only the first match of the tournament. If I run out of steam now, then I'll have no hope in facing Luis or Winter."

"Wormhole-" Grover begins to say as he opens dozens of wormholes around Mercury. "-Knife Storm!"

Grover begins to fling knife after knife into his wormholes, and soon, mercury finds herself surrounded by dozens of knives which are swiftly flying in and out of Grover's wormholes that are constantly closing and opening a new.

"Magnetic: Iron Shield!" Mercury shouts as she clutches her hands together and interlocks her fingers, and her magnetic shrapnels fly up and around Mercury, creating an iron shell around to top half of her body to defend against Grover's knives, which useless clang off of Mercury's iron.

"Crap, I don't have enough shrapnels yet for a full defense," Mercury says to herself as her lower half is slashed up by Grover's knives. "I've sent too many into the sand…"

As for Mercury's iron lance, it continues flying towards Grover, who opens up a wormhole directly in front of him in order to counter. But instead of hopping into his wormhole to dodge, Grover instead remains still as Mercury's lance flies into it. Then, Mercury's lance reappears out of a different wormhole. Mercury's lance flies into her iron shell, shattering it to bits and slamming into Mercury, sending the girl flying backwards and spitting out a glob of blood.

"Now that was a giant knife!" Grover laughs.

"You take pride in that victory?" Mercury winces as she pushes herself back up to her feet. "You weren't able to break through my armor. You had to use my own attack to do so."

"I know, very un-Chairman -like," Grover replies as he teleports in front of Mercury in the blink of an eye, causing her eyes to widen. "Which is why I'll use my own power for this! Wormhole: Green Roundhouse!"

Grover reinforces his leg with Cursed Power and slams it into Mercury with all of his might, sending her flying backwards.

"Wormhole: 8-Bit Zoom Punch!" Grover shouts as he opens up two more wormholes in front of him, one before each arm. Grover then punches his hands into the wormholes, which emerge from two more wormholes that Grover spawned before Mercury, socking her in the face and knocking her to the ground.

"How's that for using my own power?" Grover smirks.

"Magnetic: Iron Lance!" Mercury shouts as she closes her palms together and thrusts them upwards. Mercury's metal shrapnels begin to fly into the air and connect, taking the form of a giant lance which Mercury sends flying towards Grover.

"She's right," Grover frowns as he stares down Mercury's attack. "If I want to become Chairman…then I have to rely on my own power, not others'."

Grover brings his knee up, reinforcing his entire right leg with his bright green Cursed Power.

"Do you seriously think that you can break through my lance?" Mercury asks. "You just failed moments ago."

"We'll see about that!" Grover laughs, and once Mercury's lance is a mere moment away from pounding into him, Grover launches his leg forwards, and…

Doesn't shatter the lance.

Grover's eyes widen as Mercury's lance slams into him, sending Grover flying away and slamming into the sand below.

"Just as I thought," Mercury begins to say as she swipes both hands upwards. "Now…to finish this! Magnetic: Iron Maiden!"

Following the movement of Mercury's hands, dozens of magnetic shrapnels begin to fly out o the sand around Grover, surrounding him, before interlocking together and taking the form of a pair of giant metal jaws on either side of Grover, each armed with dozens of razor-sharp teeth.

"For someone who wants to become Chairman, you sure do have a terrible eye," Mercury spits as she brings her hands apart again, causing her iron jaws to open up wide. "You didn't notice that throughout this entire fight I was feeding my metal shrapnel into the sand?" Mercury then slams her hands together, causing her iron jaws to slowly begin closing. Grover howls in pain as he's crushed under the force. "Now…get consumed!"

Grover looks from one iron jaw to the other, then back to Mercury. "Of course I noticed!" Grover smirks, causing Mercury's eyes to widen. Grover opens his mouth up to reply, but before he can do so, Mercury's jaws close for good, causing blood to spurt from Grover's body which begins seeping through the spaces in between the fangs.

"N-no way…" Mercury stammers. "Did he…get eaten by my jaws on purpose? No…he couldn't be, that would be crazy."

"Purposely getting trapped by my attack so he can break free?!"

But sure enough, Mercury's eyes widen as a banging noise begins to echo throughout her iron jaws. "Is he…trying to kick free…?" Mercury asks herself. The banging noise continues, then begins to pick up the pace. And soon, cracks begin to form in Mercury's iron jaws. "He is?!" Mercury cries. And then with one final bang followed by a roar, Mercury's iron jaws shatter into pieces, and there Grover stands, soaked in blood, panting heavily, but still standing with a cocky smile.

"You didn't let me finish!" Grover exclaims. "Of course I noticed you feeding those metal sharpens into the sand! I just didn't worry about it 'cause I was sure that I could break through any attack you throw my way! I will admit, though, that it was harder than I thought…"

"N-no way!" Mercury cries. "I can't let you beat me, not after realizing my true goal!"

Mercury then clasps her hands together as her meta shrapnels slowly begin hovering off of the ground. But before they can take shape, a glob of blood spurts from Mercury's nose as she falls to the ground on one knee, her metal shrapnels falling with her.

"Dammit…" Mercury pants. "I was so sure that I could defeat him with my Iron Maiden that I wasted too much Cursed Power on the preparations for the attack…I didn't plan for an outcome where he could break free…!"

"Now…" Grover begins to say as he charges Mercury, not having enough strength left to teleport. "Let's see you break out of this!" With a roar, Grover slams his Cursed Power reinforced leg into Mercury, sending her flying backwards then tumbling to the ground. And this time… Mercury doesn't get up.

"How's that for using my own power?" Grover shouts as he throws a fist into the air.