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The fight honestly hurts more emotionally than it does physically. And thats saying something considering its against Dolph.
Shes always been good, and with the speed glitch Leo wont even entertain the idea of winning this, because quite frankly hes just not skilled enough.
Thats why hes so confused when she starts fumbling the fight.
At first it just looks kind of pathetic, she missed a crit, another, then she stumbled and nearly tripped over her own feet.
It lets him get in hits that he really shouldnt have.
It gets to the point where they both have to re pot and- Is Dolphin dizzy? She looks dizzy.
Is she seriously taking this fight while sick?
Honestly it doesnt improve Leos chances of winning as much as hed like, not that hed actually go through with killing her if shes actually sick because unlike Dolph, hes not fond of breaking rules.
Usually she wouldnt be dumb enough to hide being sick just to take a fight, but she also hasnt looked this excited for combat in…
Leo doesnt even remember the last time he saw her grin like that. If he ever has.
And then he gets another hit on her and she falls over-
Which, thats not normal.
Before he can say anything though shes up again only to wobble and nearly fall over agin, if it werent for Tai unvanishing and catching her.
"What the hell- I thought youd atleast let us finish." Her voice comes out quieter than normal, and now that hes actually listening its raspier than it should be too.
Sore throat too? Or maybe thats just because of the voice changer she was using earlier.
"I was going to, but that was before i noticed that youre very obviously sick-"
"Im not sick though fuck off..!" Which would come off as more convincing if, when she pushed away Tai, she didnt emedietly fall over again and curse under her breath.
"Mhm, sure. Dolph im not gonna fight you if youre this sick ill be honest."
She glares up at him but she honestly looks more like a sad puppy than the normal intimidating Dolphin.
The effect is only amplified by the vague hint of tears in her eyes as she clutches her side. Right, hed gotten some pretty good hits in on her.
That very quickly reminds him of his own injuries, which he honestly has a pathetic amount of based on how out of it Dolph seems to be.
"Its not like i havent broken enough rules to justify breaking one against me."
He looks at her unimpressed, does she really wanna take this fight that bad? "You know thats not why."
She scoffs, which apparently sets off some kind of coughing fit. Neither Tai nor Leo comment.
'Im not sick' yeah sure…
Theres an akward silence for a moment before Tai breaks it.
"So what exactly should we do about this? Im not gonna ban her and send her off server alone while shes like this."
Which is honestly a good question.
"You could let me finish the fight and th-"
"Dolph. You cant stand." Amd she has the gall to look offended at this statement, as if it isnt just objective fact.
Leo is pretty sure she mumbles something but he doesnt bother trying to make out what it was.
She seems even more offended when Tai puts his hand in her face to check if she has a fever. "What are you even sick with? You dont have a fever atleast."
She opens her mouth, only to then close it again, leaving another long silence as the 2 others wait for her to tell them whats up. That is, however a futile hope it seems, because her mouth remains firmly shut.
Does she not know what shes sick with? Or does she just not want to tell them. He hopes its not an attempt at "proving" shes not sick because theyve kind of established at this point that they wont take that level of bullshitting.
"If you dont tell us im checking your code." Wow, ok, Leo didnt expect Tai to be quite that nosy but he supposes that theyre probably not gonna get the info out of her any other way.
She looks like shes about to protest before just huffing in defeat "Sure, do whatever."
While Tai combs though it with his comunicator Leo decides to sit down on the fluffy purple mycelium ground by Dolph to treat his own wounds. She gives him a look tm but since, in Leos books atleast, this fight is entirely over, its not against the rules to treat himself.
Hed sustained some pretty bad gashes all over, and hes pretty sure one of the hits would have dislocated his left shoulder near the end of the fight if it werent physically impossible with the server settings.
Eventually he looks towards Tai whos also sat down at this point, hes never been fast at going though peoples code but…
Why is he making that face? That makes Leo slightly worried. Tais face is scrunched up in what might be called genuine concern.
"Tai? Whats up?"
"Its… Dolph i know youve been invis a lot lately but, how often exactly have you been repotting?"
"… Like, the normal amount, just when its about to run out or when im already visible."
She hesitated though, either shes lying or not telling them something, and knowing her it could be either.
"So tell me why your code looks like that of someone who uses potions more than they should."
What.
Leo knows some of the reprecussions of overusing potions, not personally but hes read about it, and its not pretty. But the symptoms Dolphin is displaying, almost as if she were seriously ill, to get that bad you been to be seriously abusing potions for like, a good while.
Leo states as much but Dolphinh isnt that dumb, and other than the invis when would she even have…
"Or you can just have really shitty biology."
Oh.
"Yeah, that would do it. So its like, what, an allergy? But for potions." Dolph nods in response to Tais inquiry.
But that means Dolph knew this, she knows she cant overuse potions and- "And you still decided to go invis for prolonged periods of time?"
Atleast she has the sense to look a little ashamed as Leo points this out.
"In my defense im pretty used to the mild dizzy spells i get from your average pvp potion use, i didnt really realise invis would be this much worse untill i was already too commited to my plan."
"You still shouldve stopped! Are you stupid? You couldve gotten seriously hurt, you couldve done permanent damage to your body!" Dolph flinches when he yells, he hadnt really meant to, but can you blame him?
Yeah he felt betrayed when he found out it was her, that had been the invisible killer, but he still cares about her as a friend, evil mass murderer or not.
"Wait before you start arguing, hows your vision? Invis can affect your vision pretty bad i think."
To that Dolph holds out her hand infront of her face. Its not a great sign when she starts squinting at it, but luckily she comes with a response.
"I mean, its been fine, just harder to focus them, but that didnt really start untill today."
"Good! Because the impact invis overuse has on your eyesight can very easily get to the point where its permanent once you get to that point, it at the very least usually takes pretty long for it to wear off once you stop using the pots." Leo fills them in with his own knowledge.
"But it hasnt, so its fine." She says, entirely missing the point.
"But it very easily couldve not been fine."
The least she could do, considering her betrayal and general cheating, is stop worrying him so much, but alas.
"Youre probably gonna have to stop using potions entirely for a while, even your normal strength and stuff."
That seems to pull Dolph out of her moody teenager mode to look, of all things, angry with him. "So what? Im just supposed to loose if i get in any fights? How is that fai-"
Tai cuts her off with a set of hands on her shoulders and a smile. "Well, luckily for you, even if it werent for the fact that you wont be getting into any fights for a while, on account of you being 'banned', youd totally deserve it after the amount youve cheated recently!"
Leo doesnt usually revel in his friends discomfort, but the look of realisation and mild shame that appears on Dolphs face is something he can say will be a fond memory, despite the rest of this situation.
"God damn it-"