Match 20583 Hollow vs. X-23

[JohnnyChany]

THE XAVIER INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT PART 9

TEAMS AND SET-UP

 

 

In a spirited skirmish on the astral plane between Rachel Summers and Emma Frost, Rachel proved true to her word that she had learned much since her previous clash with the former White Queen. Both women conjured weapons on the astral plane and attempted to bind the other. Eventually, Rachel overpowered Emma with her impressive power and struck her down with a fiery sword. Emma let out a groan of pain and then fell to her knees. Rachel opened her eyes and gasped.

RACHEL SUMMERS: I did it. I won.

EMMA FROST: Damn it all!

An astral projection of Charles Xavier appeared above the high powered telepaths.

XAVIER: The winner is Rachel Summers. That is one point for the Excalibur team.

Meggan flew over to Rachel and embraced her from behind.

MEGGAN: Congratulations! You are amazing.

RACHEL SUMMERS: Thanks.

KYLUN: Our heavy hitter came through for us, it is now our responsibility to not let her valiant efforts go in vain.

CERISE: Agreed.

Rachel rejoined her teammates and they left the courtyard together. Emma Frost stood up and dusted herself off. She looked back and forth a few times and a small smirk appeared on her face. She carried herself with her familiar swagger as she waltzed over to her former students.

MONET: Are you okay?

EMMA FROST: A minor hiccup, but we move forward, and ultimately to victory.

Monet, Chamber, Hollow, and Husk followed Emma as they also left the courtyard.

Chamber and Emma began a telepathic conversation.

CHAMBER: Where are we going?

EMMA FROST: To have a peak at Xavier’s database.

CHAMBER: What for?

EMMA FROST: I know who will be the next one of us to fight. It will be Hollow, I also know who she is fighting. I picked it up by reading a person’s mind.

CHAMBER: Isn’t that cheating?

EMMA FROST: It’s strategizing, we are all playing to win, aren’t we? Xavier’s database has all sorts of information on his X-Men, strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, it is a useful tool for the ones I am less familiar with.

CHAMBER: Who is going to be Hollow’s opponent?

Elsewhere, Forge’s Team was approached by Sage in the medic bay as Shaman was tending to Forge’s injuries suffered from his battle against Cable.

FORGE: Hey, coming to see if I am ok, Sage?  Not to worry, Nathan packs quite the punch but Shaman is working his magic and I’ll be fine.

SAGE: I actually came to talk to Longshot.

LONGSHOT: What’s going on.

SAGE: May I speak with you in private.

LONGSHOT: Of course.

Longshot walked away with Sage leaving Forge and Shaman alone with Kitty Pryde, Dazzler, and Bishop.

DAZZLER: I wonder what that’s about.

KITTY PRYDE: Very curious.

Bishop checked through his equipment.

BISHOP: Whatever it is, we can’t let it distract us. We need to put a win up on the board whoever is up next.

KITTY PRYDE: It’s funny, I spent so much time wondering about our grouping together that I haven’t even started to think about who I might be paired up against.

DAZZLER: Is there anyone you would prefer?

KITTY PRYDE: I don’t know, maybe Logan, or Kurt, or Ororo. They may have put me against Piotr, but now that option is gone. How about you?

DAZZLER: A fight with Jubilee would be fun. Tabitha would have been a blast too, but I didn’t see her in any of the teams.

BISHOP: Doesn’t matter to me.

KITTY PRYDE: Truly? There isn’t anyone you are hoping for?

BISHOP: Nope. The most obvious options to me would have been Cable, Forge, or Gambit. None of those can happen now so I’m not too fussed about it.

Back with Generation-X, Emma Frost spent the entirety of the time between her team’s matches talking to Hollow about her upcoming match against Longshot and how to counter his ability to affect probability. Her teaching session was interrupted by the arrival of Synch.

EMMA FROST: Here to root for your former classmates.

SYNCH: I’m always going to support Gen-X, but that’s not why I’m here. The time is now, I’m here to escort you and the team to your next match.

EMMA FROST: Lead the way.

Synch and the Generation X team walked to the Danger Room. A knowing smile appeared on Emma’s face as she gazed upon the team across from them. Longshot was there, along with Kitty Pryde, Bishop, Dazzler, Forge, and Sage.

SAGE: Welcome to round two. In this round, representing Generation-X, will be Hollow.

Monet and Husk cheered on Hollow.

SAGE: And facing her will….. Not be Longshot.

EMMA FROST: What?

SAGE: Come now Emma, with all of the telepaths here did you really think your snooping would go unnoticed.

EMMA FROST: I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. I don’t recall Xavier or Magneto specifying that it would be against the rules.

SAGE: It is admittedly more of a spirit of the competition versus written rule sort of thing. And in the spirit, it was decided that the best course of action would be to throw you a curveball. A replacement has been selected.

EMMA FROST: No matter, I have confidence in Hollow against anyone here. Who is it then? Kate?

SAGE: No, all the other members of this team already have commitments to other matches. The alternate was picked from outside the current teams.

EMMA FROST: Wait, Longshot, you just willingly gave up your spot entirely? Why?

LONGSHOT:  It’s a little complex but Sage made a great offer.

SAGE: A promise of a dance with a certain white skinned, black eyed, femme fatale of fortune who is here but not currently competing. I will figure out a way to incorporate it, that’s my job. The real challenge was who would take his place

Longshot’s left eye sparked with a yellow glow.

LONGSHOT: As luck would have it, Synch came looking for Sage during our conversation with a plea to get a close friend of his somehow in the tournament. A mutant who was itching to get into the action.

SAGE: A perfect opponent for Hollow, the somewhat savage mutant with diamond skin, long, razor sharp claws and animalistic agility.

SYNCH: Your opponent is Laura.

A nearby door swooshed open and in stepped Laura Kinney, X-23. She smirked and immediately hugged Synch.

EMMA FROST: Hold on now, these teams were selected because of the ties each member had. What ties does Laura have with this team?

SAGE: Emma, do you not remember, Laura’s first roommate was Shadowcat. She has been a member of the X-Terminators with Dazzler.

EMMA FROST: Playing a little loose and easy with the established guidelines, aren’t we, Sage?

SAGE: Says the woman content with trying to bend the rules in her favor.

EMMA FROST: No matter. My faith in my students remains unchanged.

X-23 and Hollow stared at each other intensely but with no malice behind their eyes.

FORGE: I feel like I should call on Shaman just in case things get too ardent in there.

The young women stepped in the Danger Room which transformed into the Savage Land.

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Hollow
Read more about Hollow at Wikipedia
Official Site: Marvel Entertainment Links: Wikipedia Comicvine Marvel Database

X-23
Read more about X-23 at Wikipedia
Official Site: marvel Links: X-23 Wikipedia Marvel cinemas-online

[leroypowell3]

This one's going to be bloody. I'm actually liking Hollow.

[RakaiThwei]

I'm gonna go with X-23.

[DSkillz]

Okay, I've spent much of my log-in time today reading through the matches in this arc, and I think I'm almost caught up now.  

Good set-up, Johnny. There's been some interesting match-ups between characters in the X-Men lore in this arc, and this is no exception. 

As for the match, I think things might have to risk getting serious for a winner to be decided here. Hollow may have her diamond-hard skin, but I'm not sure that's much of an advantage for her. X-23 might match her agility, and she has a good chance to pierce Hollow's flesh with her claws.

Add in Laura's superior combat abilities and smarts and healing factor, and I think she takes this. 

[Pizza Guy]

X-23 takes it mid diff. She’s got way better combat feats and I doubt Hollow’s skin will hold up against adamantium claws.

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
4.50 - Pizza Guy
4.60 - DSkillz
5.00 - Boratz

FPA Calculation:
3 Total Votes cast
14.10 Total Combined Score
14.10 / 3 = 4.70 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
Hollow: 2
X-23: 5