Goldenboy

The Illiterate Twin and Hollow Whisper were sealed in with Queen Bee and Helios a moment later.

There was no backing out now. Not that Queen Bee wanted to.

'I wonder if the poppies affect him if he doesn't touch them?'

Bee glanced at the red flowers. If the octopus could stray out of bounds without being eliminated, that would be an extra challenge for her golden-haired companion.

'Don't let him lure you to the edge. This is the Dreamscape, and I don't think you will be immune to those poppies if you touch them, no matter how strong you are.'

Helios grunted and lowered himself into a crouching position. 

No cephalopod was going to get the best of him today, flying or not.

By now, Bee had realized that her instinctual nudges were more than enough to guide the Symncus, but she felt better speaking to him mentally. The golden creature was willful and had too much of a personality in her mind for her to simply treat him like a tool.

So she advised him more than she dictated his actions. It just felt right. And if the last ten battles were any indication: it was a winning formula.

'Eleven has a nice ring to it. Let's go for the sweep.'

Helios pushed his body to the ground and made himself small. He pressed his paws over his eyes, retracting his claws to avoid scratching his precious nose. The Symncus whimpered.

To the outside, he seems scared of the storm cloud of motion overhead. Illiterate Twin tilted his head to one side. Had the Echo finally given up his reign of terror?

The only person who wasn't fooled by the act was Queen Bee. She was connected to him, after all, and she could feel the confidence that the creature possessed.

The inky cloud around the octopus dissipated as the octopus froze in place. He seemed confused by the other Echo's behavior. He drew near, trying to discern what exactly was happening.

The space between the two creatures lessened until Hollow Whisper took one fleshy tentacle from its swirling mass of limbs and reached toward the golden ball of fur. For a moment, it looked like the flying sea creature would do to Helios what the Symncus had done to all of those prior.

The tentacle wrapped around Helios's middle and prepared to toss him into the poppies. But before he could complete the action, the mighty demon sprung to life.

The golden fiend's long teeth ripped into the tentacle, severing it from the rest of its body.

'One arm down. Countless to go.' Queen Bee kept the thought to herself.

With the element of surprise gone, Helios did not need any of her less-than-positive thoughts to affect him. 

Things were heating up. 

Enraged by the loss of his limb, Hollow Whisper shot six more arms at his opponent, ready to grab all four legs and Helio's head and tail and pull them apart in six different directions.

The Symcus welcomed the assault. He pushed off the first arm and caught the second one with his prehensile tail. The next two limbs served as stepping stones, while the final limbs scrambled to keep up with their slippery foe.

Helios looked more like a snake than a mammal as he clawed his way into the air. Gashes appeared in the flying monster's skin as Helios found his way toward the gelatinous head.

Arms coiled around the Symncus trying to slow the creature's upward climb. One tentacle twisted around Helios's front paw, but he bent down and bit through the limb before it could take hold.

A furious battle of wills ensued, with neither creature willing to give a centimeter of ground without making the other pay the price.

As more and more limbs unwrapped from the cephalopod, Helios's progress slowed. He could only push back against so many ropelike arms. Finally, his movement toward the head ceased altogether.

But Helios was not discouraged. It only made him more determined.

As soon as the golden demon was fully bound, Hollow Whisper began to bring the beautiful beast towards his mouth. The arms uncoiled completely to reveal a gaping maw at the base of the inky head.

'Watch out. Don't let him eat you!'

While perhaps being eaten in his final match after eating someone in his first battle had some poetic symmetry, Helios had no intention of being sentimental.

So he did the only thing that he could. The Symncus changed tactics.

As Helios drew close to the bulbous head of the octopus, he drew in a deep breath. For a moment, Bee thought he might try to suck Hollow Whisper into his mouth instead, but the creature was far too large for that feat to ever be feasible.

The inky cloud of a creature resisted the pull easily, tightening his grip as his victory drew near. His beakish mouth opened and closed rhythmically, ready to chomp on the creature who had unceremoniously removed so many of his limbs.

But the next time the octopus opened his beak, Helios was ready.

The Symncus let loose an unearthly howl. It was full of power like it had some tangible force inside of the air breathed out. The air soared into the octopus's beak, causing its two beady eyes to open wide. The gelatinous head inflated under the pressure, looking ready to burst. 

Shuddering, Hollow Whispered snapped his beak shut and started flying upwards. He was done playing games. 

'No!'

Queen Bee had a good idea of what was going to happen next. Like Hollow Whisper, she could fly, and the easiest thing to do to an opponent who could not fly was to drop them from a significant height. 

Let gravity do the work and conserve energy. 

As expected, Hollow Whisper rose over the battlefield and when it began to truly resemble a black cloud in the sky, the octopus started to release its prey. 

But Helios was not ready to leave. 

The Symncus dug his claws deep into the soft flesh of the tentacled beast. When Hollow Whisper flailed to dislodge his target, huge gashes were the disastrous result. 

Helios looked like a jungle cat leaping from branch to branch through a rainforest of arms. His speed, agility, and claws were causing the cephalopod no end of misery. 

Hollow Whisper had a tactical advantage, especially with so many arms, but his inability to counter the jungle cat's tenacity and cunning kept the impressive octopus from achieving a swift victory. 

With the battle of wills now in the air, the match was Hollow Whisper's to lose. 

Yet the clash of the powerful echoes raged on for several minutes in a stalemate. 

Every time the monster opened his beak, Helios tried to push more powerful air into the creature's head. The deformation of Hollow Whisper's head became more pronounced, causing the flying echo to drift. 

Then, without warning, both echoes started to sink toward the ground. The Queen realized why. 

'Helios! He has taken you out of bounds! You cannot touch the ground!' 

Queen Bee looked at the poppies. Their petals fluttered in an unseen wind, ready to accept the offering from above. 

Helios heeded her words, fighting even harder against the might of his captor. One of the tentacles tried to wrap around the Symncus's neck to strangle him, but he opened his mouth and dug his fangs deep into the undulating arm. 

The teeth hit a nerve and Hollow Whisper convulsed. The spasm brought Helios close enough to finally dig his claws into the head of the octopus. A tear sliced across the creature's skin, inky blood dripping down like acidic rain. 

The controlled descent suddenly turned into an uncontrolled fall. Like a hot air balloon, the octopus's head began to deflate with the release of pressure. 

In a moment, both echoes would be sleeping in the poppies without hope for revival. Would that be counted as a draw? 

Queen Bee considered using her Ability to fly Helios from harm, but that would be cheating. She could augment her Echo, but not directly interfere. Those were the rules. 

Before she could call out a command to try and help. Both creatures hit the field of poppies and were engulfed in the mist of pollen. 

'That's it then,' Queen Bee waited for the dust to clear. 

But then her eyes opened wide. She had to float out of the way quickly as a large golden creature took an abnormally long jump back into the ring. 

Helios stood tall, scratches covering his body like badges of honor. 

'What? How?' Bee looked back at Hollow Whisper. There were two large indents in his deflating skull. Somehow Helios had managed to climb on top of the octopus at the last moment and use his head to springboard to safety. 

He had pulled victory from the tentacles of defeat. 

As the octopus slowly dissolved into sparks, Illiterate Twin hummed softly. "It seems we have some real competition for once. Impressive." 

Then, he, too began to disappear. 

"Illiterate Twin and Hollow Whisper have been eliminated. Queen Bee and Helios have won!" 

Before the announcement was even complete, the Queen and her goldenboy blipped out of existence. 

A new reign was born.