10-06-2017, 04:34 PM
Kroll cast a sidelong glance Hijiri's way, and the Prime nodded. The man's face may have been completely obscured by the helmet he wore, but the question he wanted to ask was obvious; 'can you beat this thing?', which was why Hijiri had given him that nod. He had no idea if it was true or not; in fact, he was almost certain it wasn't... but with his skill at concealing his true thoughts behind a cool and serious expression, along with his knowledge that their blasters were utterly useless against this thing, it wasn't like there was any reason not to act confident.
“I will be your opponent, beast.” he stated, tossing aside his katana's empty scabbard and taking a few steps forwards, “these men are no threat to you, so there is little point in you targeting them.”
“Oh my, my, my, how very rude of you, to address my associate by the moniker 'beast', as though she were naught but a wild animal. Tut, tut, tut.” The suited man tried to appear disappointed, giving a 'sad' shake of the head. The effect was spoiled somewhat by his apparent inability to stop smiling. “Nevertheless, you are correct when you point out their weakness. Ignore them, my dear; subdue their Prime first.”
The wolf's head was just feet from the ex-Rabbit's own, and when she darted towards him – moving even faster than he could – it was all Hijiri could do to avoid her. Literally bending over backwards to get away, he pressed his empty palm to the ground to keep from falling, as her huge jaws (easily large enough to bite him in half, could she catch him) snapped shut directly above him.
Bringing up his knees, he slammed a kick into her lower jaw and used the force of the blow to roll backwards to put a little distance between them. The wolf reacted immediately, and once again gnashed her teeth at him. This time, though, he was prepared.
She was not aware of his ability to interfere with gravity, and so was not expecting him to be able to step back as quickly as he did. She also did not anticipate that he might raise his blade directly in front of him the moment she attacked, not to strike at her throat or attempt to ward her off, but simply to ensure that if she did take a bite, she'd end up with a mouth full of steel.
She did, and she did. Yelping and backing off, he was pleased to see that not all of her body was so well defended as her skin and fur; blood now trickled slowly from her gums and tongue. The stormtroopers gave a cheer, and she glanced back at her companion. He continued to smile.
Snapping her head around to face her target once more, she snarled and lunged again, though this time she led with one clawed paw. Leaping straight up, he took her by surprise again.
Three times, actually. The first shock was the height of his jump; a full sixty metres straight up. The second was the speed of his fall; after reaching the apex, he began drifting down like a feather, as though he weighed barely anything at all. And his final surprise was when, as she waited below to catch him in her gaping maw, he suddenly seemed to acquire a massive amount of weight seemingly from nowhere, causing his speed to increase drastically. The tip of his blade struck her directly between the eyes, in a blow with hundreds of pounds of force behind it.
… and glanced off.
He landed awkwardly, off-balance with one arm (and the sword at its end) drastically heavier than the other, and fell to his knees. He was genuinely shocked to not have killed her with that blow. So shocked, in fact, that for a moment he couldn't even react to what was going on around him. He couldn't even bring himself to try and stand back up.
The wolf had not been cut, but having still taken quite a knock to the head, she was actually slightly dazed. Having the instincts of a wild beast, though, she would not let something like that stop her; in a moment her paw was arcing out towards him, and before he could react, four deep gouges had been cut in his side. He screamed, and was sent tumbling.
His body came to a sudden and painful halt when he slammed up against the wall of a building. Shaking her head a couple times to clear the hazy feeling from her thoughts and hopefully somewhat alleviate the headache he'd given her, she then charged. Despite the pain in his side – along with the lovely new collection of bruises he'd picked up from being tossed around like a ragdoll – Hijiri had gotten over his momentary shock and was back on his feet almost instantly.
He sprung directly up once again... but this time, she knew what to expect. No sooner had he kicked off than the wolf had leapt into the air after him.
He was almost too fast for her. Almost, but not quite.
Her jaws closed around his right ankle with a sickening crunch, and when she struck the wall he'd been tossed up against she gracefully kicked off and landed smoothly on the road. With a flick of her head, she slammed his body into the ground, face first. She then threw him forward, all the way across the street and into the side of a parked car.
The metal crumpled as he struck it, and a few more cracking noises sounded from some bones or other. In as much pain as he was right now, Hijiri couldn't even even identify the breaks; his entire body felt as though it had been tenderised with a mallet made of solid lead. He crashed to the ground and lay still as the blood flowed freely from the shattered ruin which had once been his nose, prior to a certain high-speed collision with the surface of a road.
Groaning, it was all he could do to glance up as the enormous wolf padded slowly towards him. Whereas he was scratched, bruised and broken all over, bleeding profusely from the gashes on his torso, from his nose, and from whatever remained of his ankle and foot... she appeared to have barely even exerted herself.
It would seem Michelle had been right; he really had been out of his depth in coming to Tier Five after all. The Primes in this area were just too strong for a newcomer like him to handle. Hijiri sighed and closed his eyes as the creature's jaws parted, and she came to a stop before him.
She lunged.
…
Instead of being struck by an enormous canine, though, a sudden flare of blinding white light erupted out of nowhere, seeming to burn straight through his eyelids, and at the same time, a feeling of renewed strength swiftly coursed through his veins.
For a moment, Hijiri thought he had died, and somehow, in the peaceful slumber of death, a week had already elapsed; that this light was the Nexus' bright sky, and the strength was his body re-forming in the land of the living.
And then the light was gone.
Opening his eyes, Hijiri saw the huge wolf backing off, shaking her head, whining and pawing at her eyes, as though trying to rub the light from them. The pain of his wounds struck out at him once again, searing his entire body like fire... yet now, though, it somehow seemed almost a trivial task to find the strength to push through that pain.
Getting to his feet – placing as much of his weight as he could on his intact ankle – Hijiri looked down at himself – at the long, black coat and the pair of white boots he now wore, and at the slightly shining purple gem embedded in his chest – and realised what had happened; somehow, in his time of need, one of his old powers had suddenly re-awakened. His true form had returned to him. Hijiri had become a Battle Rabbit once more.
“Oh yes,” he said softly, a wicked grin momentarily flickering across his face before his usual cold and ruthless mask re-asserted itself, “oh yes, this will do nicely.”
Bending to scoop up his katana from where it had fallen when she had struck that vehicle, Hijiri then darted forwards at his foe. His ankle screamed as he ran, sending burning spears of agony racing up through his leg; despite the shiny new footwear that covered it, the flesh and bone beneath was clearly still just as messed up as before. He could make it, though. He had to last just a little longer.
He jumped, at the same moment she recovered enough to snap at him again. This time, though, he was the one just slightly too fast for her, and rather than being caught again, he used her snout as a stepping stone as he dashed over her head. Grabbing a fistful of her black fur, he hauled himself into a sitting position on her back. She bucked wildly, trying her best to toss him off, since her claws and fangs could not reach him where he sat.
He stabbed her. This time, unlike his futile efforts of before, the blade of his weapon sunk into her side until the guard struck her skin; a full twenty-eight inches of razor sharp steel were embedded in her guts as she howled at the pain of it. He ripped the katana free, then stabbed again. And again. And again.
Realising that she couldn't hope to endure this for long, the wolf hurled herself into a building, smashing his body against its stone wall. Stumbling from the force of the rebound, she rolled, flattening him against the ground, then charged again, this time striking him against a lamp-post.
Not even having the strength to so much as try to avoid or even soften the blows, the Battle Rabbit simply clung on with all his might as she continued to throw them both into any and every solid object in their vicinity, grit his teeth, and kept trying his very best to lacerate her internal organs. His vision was dimming around the edges, and his body felt not-unpleasantly numb... he was no doctor, but it was pretty obvious to the Prime that he couldn't hope to stay conscious much longer... hell, he'd be lucky to live much longer.
At long last, though, she stopped, and collapsed on her side. Realising that it was over, Hijiri let go and allowed his limp body to fall, bounce, and roll off a metre or so.
As he watched, though his vision was blurred and dimming by the moment, the Battle Rabbit saw his erstwhile opponent shrink; her body seeming to cave in upon itself as she returned to her normal form... where there had been a mighty, jet-black wolf, there now lay a dark-skinned woman with a hand pressed weakly to her stomach in a futile attempt at staunching the flow of blood which rushed freely from it.
In moments the stormtroopers had closed in on them, and he allowed himself a small smile as he drifted off...
***
“He's out cold!” Leon called. He and Priya had only just returned from hauling away their sergeant – and calling in an airborne transport, since there was no way Davion would last until they reached the barracks if they were forced to spend hours in traffic again – in time to see the tail end of the fight and rush over to begin carting away their Prime now as well.
“Get him back to the van while we wait for the air-transport; we can't afford to remain out here; we're much too vulnerable in this location.” Kroll vor Iechtelstier commanded. No one was entirely clear on why he had decided to take it upon himself to assume command in Davion's absence, though the man had mentioned before that he was once a noble on some small backwater planet before being cast out by his family and forced to join the Imperial Army... so perhaps it was simply due to the characteristic arrogance of the nobility? “Dodson and Woodvale, get the woman.”
“Huh? We're taking her too?” Trevor demanded. By this point the woman had also lost her grip on consciousness, her hand had slipped weakly to one side, and her lifesblood was ebbing away. “Why not just leave her to die?”
“I agree completely.” The suited man butted in, still seeming perfectly chipper, despite his circumstances. “My associate here has gravely wounded your dear comrade here, why should she be deserving of your mercy?”
“Yeah! What he said!” Trevor agreed. Kroll gave a sigh of exasperation.
“Please try to actually think before you mindlessly agree with our enemies; we have no Banishment Circles, so if we kill her now she'll only be reborn a week later and before we know it she'll be back on the streets again... do you really want that?”
“Oh... uh... I guess not.” as Trevor gave his awkward response, the suit chuckled lightly.
“Come on.” the speaker – 'Woodvale' – had a lilting, almost effeminate voice. He moved towards the enemy Prime, but was interrupted before he could secure her.
“Just a moment, my dear fellow. If you are planning on leaving her alive, perhaps I might be allowed to give her this?” without waiting for their approval, the man unbuttoned and shrugged off his jacket, before approaching his compatriot and covering her in it. Priya nodded in approval, and no one else raised an objection; unlike in the case of Hijiri – who had returned to his human form upon losing consciousness, and so was now dressed in a black suit once more – this woman's transformation apparently did not come with a free set of clothes... and, well, they could hardly just leave her like that.
“Yes, yes, of course.” Kroll agreed absently, before approaching the unresisting man and snapping a pair of cuffs around his wrists the moment he had finished dressing his partner. “Alright, come on. Let's get these three into the van.”
As they marched off, the stormtrooper couldn't help but glance back over his shoulder for a moment at the spot where that first grenade had landed... killing two more of his squad-mates, who had been unable to get out of the way in time. He sighed again. As badly as this operation had gone, if it hadn't been for the actions of first Davion and then Hijiri, it could have – would have – been much, much worse...
“I will be your opponent, beast.” he stated, tossing aside his katana's empty scabbard and taking a few steps forwards, “these men are no threat to you, so there is little point in you targeting them.”
“Oh my, my, my, how very rude of you, to address my associate by the moniker 'beast', as though she were naught but a wild animal. Tut, tut, tut.” The suited man tried to appear disappointed, giving a 'sad' shake of the head. The effect was spoiled somewhat by his apparent inability to stop smiling. “Nevertheless, you are correct when you point out their weakness. Ignore them, my dear; subdue their Prime first.”
The wolf's head was just feet from the ex-Rabbit's own, and when she darted towards him – moving even faster than he could – it was all Hijiri could do to avoid her. Literally bending over backwards to get away, he pressed his empty palm to the ground to keep from falling, as her huge jaws (easily large enough to bite him in half, could she catch him) snapped shut directly above him.
Bringing up his knees, he slammed a kick into her lower jaw and used the force of the blow to roll backwards to put a little distance between them. The wolf reacted immediately, and once again gnashed her teeth at him. This time, though, he was prepared.
She was not aware of his ability to interfere with gravity, and so was not expecting him to be able to step back as quickly as he did. She also did not anticipate that he might raise his blade directly in front of him the moment she attacked, not to strike at her throat or attempt to ward her off, but simply to ensure that if she did take a bite, she'd end up with a mouth full of steel.
She did, and she did. Yelping and backing off, he was pleased to see that not all of her body was so well defended as her skin and fur; blood now trickled slowly from her gums and tongue. The stormtroopers gave a cheer, and she glanced back at her companion. He continued to smile.
Snapping her head around to face her target once more, she snarled and lunged again, though this time she led with one clawed paw. Leaping straight up, he took her by surprise again.
Three times, actually. The first shock was the height of his jump; a full sixty metres straight up. The second was the speed of his fall; after reaching the apex, he began drifting down like a feather, as though he weighed barely anything at all. And his final surprise was when, as she waited below to catch him in her gaping maw, he suddenly seemed to acquire a massive amount of weight seemingly from nowhere, causing his speed to increase drastically. The tip of his blade struck her directly between the eyes, in a blow with hundreds of pounds of force behind it.
… and glanced off.
He landed awkwardly, off-balance with one arm (and the sword at its end) drastically heavier than the other, and fell to his knees. He was genuinely shocked to not have killed her with that blow. So shocked, in fact, that for a moment he couldn't even react to what was going on around him. He couldn't even bring himself to try and stand back up.
The wolf had not been cut, but having still taken quite a knock to the head, she was actually slightly dazed. Having the instincts of a wild beast, though, she would not let something like that stop her; in a moment her paw was arcing out towards him, and before he could react, four deep gouges had been cut in his side. He screamed, and was sent tumbling.
His body came to a sudden and painful halt when he slammed up against the wall of a building. Shaking her head a couple times to clear the hazy feeling from her thoughts and hopefully somewhat alleviate the headache he'd given her, she then charged. Despite the pain in his side – along with the lovely new collection of bruises he'd picked up from being tossed around like a ragdoll – Hijiri had gotten over his momentary shock and was back on his feet almost instantly.
He sprung directly up once again... but this time, she knew what to expect. No sooner had he kicked off than the wolf had leapt into the air after him.
He was almost too fast for her. Almost, but not quite.
Her jaws closed around his right ankle with a sickening crunch, and when she struck the wall he'd been tossed up against she gracefully kicked off and landed smoothly on the road. With a flick of her head, she slammed his body into the ground, face first. She then threw him forward, all the way across the street and into the side of a parked car.
The metal crumpled as he struck it, and a few more cracking noises sounded from some bones or other. In as much pain as he was right now, Hijiri couldn't even even identify the breaks; his entire body felt as though it had been tenderised with a mallet made of solid lead. He crashed to the ground and lay still as the blood flowed freely from the shattered ruin which had once been his nose, prior to a certain high-speed collision with the surface of a road.
Groaning, it was all he could do to glance up as the enormous wolf padded slowly towards him. Whereas he was scratched, bruised and broken all over, bleeding profusely from the gashes on his torso, from his nose, and from whatever remained of his ankle and foot... she appeared to have barely even exerted herself.
It would seem Michelle had been right; he really had been out of his depth in coming to Tier Five after all. The Primes in this area were just too strong for a newcomer like him to handle. Hijiri sighed and closed his eyes as the creature's jaws parted, and she came to a stop before him.
She lunged.
…
Instead of being struck by an enormous canine, though, a sudden flare of blinding white light erupted out of nowhere, seeming to burn straight through his eyelids, and at the same time, a feeling of renewed strength swiftly coursed through his veins.
For a moment, Hijiri thought he had died, and somehow, in the peaceful slumber of death, a week had already elapsed; that this light was the Nexus' bright sky, and the strength was his body re-forming in the land of the living.
And then the light was gone.
Opening his eyes, Hijiri saw the huge wolf backing off, shaking her head, whining and pawing at her eyes, as though trying to rub the light from them. The pain of his wounds struck out at him once again, searing his entire body like fire... yet now, though, it somehow seemed almost a trivial task to find the strength to push through that pain.
Getting to his feet – placing as much of his weight as he could on his intact ankle – Hijiri looked down at himself – at the long, black coat and the pair of white boots he now wore, and at the slightly shining purple gem embedded in his chest – and realised what had happened; somehow, in his time of need, one of his old powers had suddenly re-awakened. His true form had returned to him. Hijiri had become a Battle Rabbit once more.
“Oh yes,” he said softly, a wicked grin momentarily flickering across his face before his usual cold and ruthless mask re-asserted itself, “oh yes, this will do nicely.”
Bending to scoop up his katana from where it had fallen when she had struck that vehicle, Hijiri then darted forwards at his foe. His ankle screamed as he ran, sending burning spears of agony racing up through his leg; despite the shiny new footwear that covered it, the flesh and bone beneath was clearly still just as messed up as before. He could make it, though. He had to last just a little longer.
He jumped, at the same moment she recovered enough to snap at him again. This time, though, he was the one just slightly too fast for her, and rather than being caught again, he used her snout as a stepping stone as he dashed over her head. Grabbing a fistful of her black fur, he hauled himself into a sitting position on her back. She bucked wildly, trying her best to toss him off, since her claws and fangs could not reach him where he sat.
He stabbed her. This time, unlike his futile efforts of before, the blade of his weapon sunk into her side until the guard struck her skin; a full twenty-eight inches of razor sharp steel were embedded in her guts as she howled at the pain of it. He ripped the katana free, then stabbed again. And again. And again.
Realising that she couldn't hope to endure this for long, the wolf hurled herself into a building, smashing his body against its stone wall. Stumbling from the force of the rebound, she rolled, flattening him against the ground, then charged again, this time striking him against a lamp-post.
Not even having the strength to so much as try to avoid or even soften the blows, the Battle Rabbit simply clung on with all his might as she continued to throw them both into any and every solid object in their vicinity, grit his teeth, and kept trying his very best to lacerate her internal organs. His vision was dimming around the edges, and his body felt not-unpleasantly numb... he was no doctor, but it was pretty obvious to the Prime that he couldn't hope to stay conscious much longer... hell, he'd be lucky to live much longer.
At long last, though, she stopped, and collapsed on her side. Realising that it was over, Hijiri let go and allowed his limp body to fall, bounce, and roll off a metre or so.
As he watched, though his vision was blurred and dimming by the moment, the Battle Rabbit saw his erstwhile opponent shrink; her body seeming to cave in upon itself as she returned to her normal form... where there had been a mighty, jet-black wolf, there now lay a dark-skinned woman with a hand pressed weakly to her stomach in a futile attempt at staunching the flow of blood which rushed freely from it.
In moments the stormtroopers had closed in on them, and he allowed himself a small smile as he drifted off...
***
“He's out cold!” Leon called. He and Priya had only just returned from hauling away their sergeant – and calling in an airborne transport, since there was no way Davion would last until they reached the barracks if they were forced to spend hours in traffic again – in time to see the tail end of the fight and rush over to begin carting away their Prime now as well.
“Get him back to the van while we wait for the air-transport; we can't afford to remain out here; we're much too vulnerable in this location.” Kroll vor Iechtelstier commanded. No one was entirely clear on why he had decided to take it upon himself to assume command in Davion's absence, though the man had mentioned before that he was once a noble on some small backwater planet before being cast out by his family and forced to join the Imperial Army... so perhaps it was simply due to the characteristic arrogance of the nobility? “Dodson and Woodvale, get the woman.”
“Huh? We're taking her too?” Trevor demanded. By this point the woman had also lost her grip on consciousness, her hand had slipped weakly to one side, and her lifesblood was ebbing away. “Why not just leave her to die?”
“I agree completely.” The suited man butted in, still seeming perfectly chipper, despite his circumstances. “My associate here has gravely wounded your dear comrade here, why should she be deserving of your mercy?”
“Yeah! What he said!” Trevor agreed. Kroll gave a sigh of exasperation.
“Please try to actually think before you mindlessly agree with our enemies; we have no Banishment Circles, so if we kill her now she'll only be reborn a week later and before we know it she'll be back on the streets again... do you really want that?”
“Oh... uh... I guess not.” as Trevor gave his awkward response, the suit chuckled lightly.
“Come on.” the speaker – 'Woodvale' – had a lilting, almost effeminate voice. He moved towards the enemy Prime, but was interrupted before he could secure her.
“Just a moment, my dear fellow. If you are planning on leaving her alive, perhaps I might be allowed to give her this?” without waiting for their approval, the man unbuttoned and shrugged off his jacket, before approaching his compatriot and covering her in it. Priya nodded in approval, and no one else raised an objection; unlike in the case of Hijiri – who had returned to his human form upon losing consciousness, and so was now dressed in a black suit once more – this woman's transformation apparently did not come with a free set of clothes... and, well, they could hardly just leave her like that.
“Yes, yes, of course.” Kroll agreed absently, before approaching the unresisting man and snapping a pair of cuffs around his wrists the moment he had finished dressing his partner. “Alright, come on. Let's get these three into the van.”
As they marched off, the stormtrooper couldn't help but glance back over his shoulder for a moment at the spot where that first grenade had landed... killing two more of his squad-mates, who had been unable to get out of the way in time. He sighed again. As badly as this operation had gone, if it hadn't been for the actions of first Davion and then Hijiri, it could have – would have – been much, much worse...
Quote:Word Count: 2480, according to OpenOffice's word counter.
Total Word Count: 12567/5000-10000.
![[Image: Hijiri_Name_Sig.png]](https://image.ibb.co/k1H7Hd/Hijiri_Name_Sig.png)