Mind vs Matter

[Dane Regan]

Edit: Added the M tag for some of the violence. Don't know if it strictly needs it, but better safe than sorry.

Ding!

Dane froze, looking about for the location of the sound, before realising it came from his own phone. Fumbling through his pockets, he eventually found the device, pulling out small compacted lumps of paper with it. Vague scribbles and equations littered its surface, figuring they were probably important, he shoved them back in before flicking through the notifications.

A new bounty has been added to the bounty board:
13-Jzall ...

Clicking it brought him to a more informative block of text. Appearance. Last known whereabouts. Crime. And a few other notes, but nothing regarding abilities - although the fact that the Stormtroopers had been killed with guns did provide some hints.

From the looks of it, given his cloak and mask, he wouldn't be too hard to spot - especially in the Nexus where he had apparently headed. 

Breaking into a run, Dane sprinted the rest of the way to the Nexus gate. Attacking, even if provoked, wasn't usually his style.

But, hey, this could be fun.

Not if we die... again.

Eh, who cares, we'll respawn. Anyway, this guy killed people himself, he deserves it.

It was an excuse, a laughable attempt to add a moral reason to his highly irrational pursuit. Dane had always been fickle like that, making nonoptimal choices just because he could, yet always calling himself a logical person. In the depths of his mind, there was usually reasoning there somewhere, but often it stemmed from the enjoyment he gained from pretending the following successes were merely chance - that he'd just gotten lucky.

Even the common, "If you can't predict yourself, no one can predict you," wasn't actually used to validate his actions. Dane just fancied himself as being important to the Universe.

He was Dane Regan after all.

Quit with the self-obsession and run faster already.

Stifling the thoughts, he continued at the same pace. It was a good pace, and he'd probably meet his target without having to speed up. His only battle plan was to test out some of his new tricks. Nothing fancy, but he figured it'd be fine. Worst case scenario, he was left bleeding to death on the ground. 

---

It didn't take long for Dane to make it to the gate, still hidden behind his stealth. Almost the moment he made it there, a cloaked and masked individual walked out.

Dane blinked.

That was fast.

Huh, maybe I shouldn't have been so lazy, good thing he was coming to us, I guess.

Muffling his own voice so he could talk out loud to himself, Dane held an invisible thumbs up to the sky. "Thanks Omni-dude. Dunno if that was you holy-divine-guidance, or if you're watching or not. But I gotta say, you're the best man."

Carefully, Dane moved forwards, tailing the man as he walked through some of the denser foliage. After about ten minutes, Dane sent a quick text before teleporting behind his target, shortsword drawn.

Still invisible, he swiftly grabbed the man's shoulder, holding the sharp blade against his throat, drawing just a few tiny drops of blood.

In one continuous motion, Dane spun his target around and pushed the guy backwards - his back slammed into a tree, not hard, but with enough force to stun him - all while removing his stealth spell and then drawing his other sword.

Smirking, Dane spoke. "You gonna make this easy dude, or am I gonna have to work for this bounty. Either way, your head is mine, kiddo."

This is gonna be fuuun.

Dane is challenging 13 to a fight (about half a mile or so from the Nexus gate, and in the jungle). He can try to run with up to 800 words (and then I'll chase him), or he can do an intro post, then we'll start the fight (unless he wants to skip the intro post).

[13-Jzall]

13 turned around, there was a man with a blade aimed at his head threatening him. “Who are you?”
“My name is Dane and I’m here to collect your bounty.”
“Oh, well this is awkward. I’ll maybe see you later when I’m done building the train.”
And with that 13 slammed a fire powder canister Dane’s head, threw 3 more around him and shot all his bullets at his face point blank. 13 then sprinted into the jungle, reloading as shooting wildly behind him as fast as he could. 13 turned around, Dane had almost disappeared completely and totally. 13 could still see Dane’s outline because of the dust and flames covering him. This advantage was soon lost however as the last of the dust fell off of his body. The grass under Dane’s feet immediately sprang up as he heard something his the ground behind him. Great, 13 thought, he could ether teleport or turn invisible, maybe both. 13 analysed the situation, he was still relatively new and was fighting against someone who had the capability to never be hit by his bullets. 13 turned around slowly as he saw Dane raising his sword and getting ready to teleport. There was one last chance at peace and 13 was going to take it. Readying his sniper rifle slower than normal so Dane wouldn’t attack him immediately, 13 then put his pistol and the most recent fire canister on the ground and leaned over on his aquebus a bit. “I am from the universe of the space marines. I could give you anything you want from that universe, say what you want and it’s yours. Just don’t kill me, I have places to be.” Dane thought about it for a moment and then gave his answer. “Nah.”
13 immediately shot at Dane’s face, knocking him over. Dane got up and disappeared, reappearing behind up and swinging the longsword. 13 was hit in the arm, which knocked him off balance a bit but not a lot. It was enough for Dane to press the advantage though, hacking at 13 with his short sword. The attacks didn’t deal much damage but the range didn’t allow 13 to attack back. 13 spotted where he had planted the fire powder earlier and worked with Dane’s slashes to get him back to where the fight had started. Once they had fought their way over to the patch of fire dust, 13 twisted his metal feet and set the powder on fire, taking this time to reload his weapons, 13 shot five times into the air and once at dane, keeping him away for a moment longer. The fire powder ran out but 13 threw a new one onto Dane’s clothes and then shot him, the fire keeping him obscured for a moment longer. Dane flickered for a moment and moved to the left, most of the already lit dust falling off but the rest of it lighting up. They froze for a moment, either waiting for reinforcements or for the other to make their next move.

511 words, fuck you and fuck your intro post. This probably means that I'll be posting first in each round.

[Dane Regan]

"Speech."
Thoughts. (if on its own line)
'Telepathy.'

Clearing his mind, Dane focused, waiting for his foe to make even the slightest movement. Guns were scary. He wouldn't die from a single shot, but he had to track movements and dodge the bullet before it was fired. Which wouldn't be too different from dodging crossbow bolts, if not for the fast rate of fire. The difference is speed was negligible in small distances, given most of the reacting was still done prior to the projectile flying through the air. He had some grazes on his face from the near hits, and some deeper ones on his chest, but nothing that served to cause anything more than pain.

In other words, Dane had to be careful with closing the distance. Luckily, he could teleport, but that was tiring, mentally and physically. While fights tended to feel fast, the generally lasted a lot longer than one might think, and blowing it this early wasn't particularly a good idea. Part of him wished he'd simply stabbed the guy in the back, but that was missing the whole point of this skirmish. Dane wanted to practice, and he'd found himself the perfect test dummy - at least of footwork and movements, maybe not physical prowess.

He smirked, ignoring the faint pain of the burns. Now he knew the substance wouldn't stick with him upon teleportation, he figured they wouldn't be so hard to deal with.

"You could just... let me kill you. You've got nothing to lose man. You'll come back in a week or so, maybe longer, maybe not. And I get paid regardless. Ain't it great?" Dane sheathed his shortsword, switching it out for a shield.

"Or, you could just accept my offer. Let me go, and gain much, much, more."

"Y'see kid, I got no insurance on that. And killing people is fun. So I get a double win."

A lie. This was practice with a test dummy, nothing more. But playing the "bad" guy was exhilarating.

Adrenaline rushed through Dane's blood. It had been a while since he'd felt this alive.

Tilting his head back, he laughed, maintaining just enough attention on Jzall to teleport away from the spree of bullets he unleashed. Inaccurate, but hard to dodge all of them. Luckily, he already had the thing prepared.

The guy can't touch me.

Nor could he see Dane in his hidden spot, perched on a tree branch while sending a quick text to his friend.

'You're dead, kiddo. Accept it.'

He reached out with his mind, carving the words into Jzall's head.

Fear. Worry.

He felt both of them for a fraction of a second, before it cut out abruptly. 

Did he block me?

No. 

Dane could still sense inside Jzall's mind, at least. Faint glimpses of tactics, just no emotion.

Lame.

'Pretending you're not scared isn't gonna change anything, dude. Let your fear drive you - it's like chugging caffeine, sorta.'

Jzall glanced through the trees, still catching no sight of Dane.

A faint breeze ruffled the looser shrubbery, causing Jzall to immediately turn and fire two shots into an empty bush.

'A bit jumpy, are we? I can fix that.'

Focusing, and grabbing hold of, Dane reappeared in the sky, holding his shield under his bent legs and letting gravity do its work.

Slam!

Wood and metal crashed into the top of Jzall's head, splinters flying through the air. The makeshift weapon split, cracking straight down the middle, each half falling along a side of Dane's target. Dane himself slipped onto the collapsing man's back, pinning him against the ground. "Now, hold still for me. Or squirm, it's more enjoyable that way."

13 grunted, coughing small specs blood while reaching out towards his gun. 

Quickly drawing his shortsword, Dane laughed. "Nice try, mate." He flicked the revolver away, pushing it out of reach.

Muscles heaving, the criminal pushed against the ground, trying to shove Dane off to the side. He made good progress, but it was quickly halted as Dane drove a knee into his back.

Yet, the slight freedom, even if temporary, was all Jzall needed to reach a glass canister from his waist, tossing it behind him. The glass shattered on Dane's right shoulder, powder spilling on both him and 13.

Not wanting to get hurt unnecessarily, Dane focused, teleporting to one side as Jzall rolled to the other. Dust ignited the grass between them giving, giving Jzall the freedom to recompose himself.

Paying no notice to the flames, Dane used the quick rise of smoke to hide once more, channelling all his mana towards his strength. 

Jumping, Dane flipped over the fire, landing on the ground behind Jzall with a loud thump. By the time bullets were fired, Dane was already to the side, following up with two quick sword slices.

"Try harder kid."

799 words according to wordcounter.net

Form change from 1/2/3/6 to 5/0/6/1 (former has leather armour, the latter is just a normal shirt) near the end. Feel free to write him using either form if you feel it's appropriate.

A fire has started and may spread. Dane is stealthed. Dane's shield is broken so he is now using a longsword + shortsword combo.

[Dane Regan]

Axreth growled at his men. "Why have you brought me here? To this pansy land." He spat, slamming the wooden handle of his large axe into the floor. "I made it clear I wanted nothing to do with Ambrosia, yet here we are."

One of the smaller soldiers bowed down onto his knee, looking at Axreth's feet as he spoke. "Jarl, we're here to steal the train."

"A train!" Axreth shouted, projecting his voice into the jungle. "What need would I, the future overlord of the Vasty Deep, have for a train?" 

Muttering broke out from the group. Heads turned, as if something clicked for all of them at once. Why actually were they stealing a train?

One gruff voice broke the silence. "Because you asked us two, Sir!"

"...oh. So I did." Axreth paused in thought. He did remember something like that. "Well, why didn't you stop me then?" Silence. "I am a reasonable leader."

More silence followed until one of the soldiers raised their sword. "Aye, Sir. You are!" A chorus of "Aye"s followed.

Axreth was about to bark a command when his eyes spotted something of interest. The faint light of a fire in the distance, and smoke rising above the treetops. Most would run at the sight of this, not wanting to get trapped amongst the burning wood. But not Axreth. Nor his men.

It was cloudy, and not particularly hot, even if it was humid. In essence, that meant someone had to have started the fire. Maybe even a prime. But it was more likely due to two or more primes fighting each other.

"It seems the gods have given us a gift, men."

There was no greater death, Axreth believed, than that caused from fighting a worthy opponent. Those men that understood what was happening affirmed this by roaring, and those that didn't did so shortly after, so as not to feel left out.

"To battle men!"

It was not dishonourable to fight with larger numbers. His army was just an extension of his strength, so should he win, it would be due to him. His superior regime. His commanding. And his strength when it came to battle.

Vibrations reverberated through the ground with each step of the warriors, shaking trees and causing birds to flee from their nests. The fire wasn't large, but the thin grass and shrubbery it was burning let off a lot of smoke.

With a shout of battle rage, Axreth ran into the clearing, flanked by his men, preparing to charge at all who moved in their path, unknowing that killing one of the primes would reward them. Not that that mattered, they were in it for the blood. The thrill of combat.

To clarify. This post is fodder. All participants have agreed with this. In other words, I get no benefit for writing this (so it should not be considered when grading the fight), and no one writer should directly benefit from the concequences of it (regarding the outcome). Everyone is free to write the characters as they please, providing they don't have them single out on an individual fighter, or do something obviously OOC. In general, just be reasonable. They're secondaries, after all. This is basically a writing prompt.

Summary of the mob:
The leader (Axreth), has a big twohanded axe.
15 of the other men just have swords or onehanded axes, as well as wooden shields.
4 of the men have lighter armour, and shortbows. Don't expect them to have great aim.

In general, an unskilled Viking-looking mob with a bunch of buff middle aged guys. Feel free to make up other stuff about them.

[China]

China followed after the yum-yums he'd stumbled across, remaining in the trees above to keep himself hidden by their plentiful foliage... not that he need have bothered, for the foods seemed focused entirely on reaching that blaze up ahead. They left a blatantly obvious path in their wake, full of roots, sticks and leaves crushed under heavy boots, and broken branches hacked off with swords and axes. Slow and clumsy, they were, whilst he sprang almost effortlessly from tree to tree. Keeping up was not hard.

Before long, they came across the source of the smoke and immediately charged, roaring and shrieking wild battlecries.
Their target was a slightly-different-looking foo-

No.

That one was a thing. Hard to tell yet if it was strong enough to be called a 'scary thing', but definitely not proper food. China recalled seeing yum-yums previously which would cover themselves in metal shells... but this one was different. It wasn't just tasty meat hidden behind a horrible, cheaty, fake shell... somehow, this food had gotten all mixed up with its shell, as though part of its body were actually made of that icky stuff.

Interesting or not, it didn't look appetising in the slightest. What a disappointment.

Just as he was about to head down while no one was looking his way and try to snag one or two of those bow-wielding foods right at the back, something else darted out of the shadows, slamming into the side of the herd as they bore down upon the yucky one... it seemed as though this newcomer didn't want them killing that other, for some reason... was the yucky one part of its herd? Or was it merely trying to stop them from stealing its prey?

But no, it must have been the former; no one could eat things, so why would they ever go to all the effort of trying to kill them?

The yucky one threw fire and shot its strange weapons at every food which charged its way, backing up all the while, trying to maintain a distance from the tasty meat, for some crazy reason, whilst its friend – which looked scarcely all that different from the members of the herd –  raged against them like a tempest, its two swords dancing swift as lightning as it lopped off an arm here, a leg there, and batted aside countless thrusts and swings.

“Oooooh. Me much-much impress, yes-yes. Yum-yum much fast.” China muttered to himself happily as he crawled through branches from tree to tree. He vaguely recalled hearing a two-legs yum-yum saying once that fast food was the best food, so this ought to be a real treat.

As soon as he was in the position he sought, the Ceramic Beast dropped directly behind the fast food, reorienting himself as he fell, to land on all six primary limbs, as agilely as a cat would upon its four. He was easily outside the yum-yum's line of sight, and the noise of the fighting and fires must surely have drowned out the sound of his light landing... yet with the senses of an expert hunter, it somehow seemed to notice nonetheless, and jumped, somersaulting backwards in the process. It flew straight over China's head, to land somewhere in the gloom behind him, beyond the reach of the firelight... though not before one blade lightly clipped his right ear as it passed, shattering it entirely.

The Ceramic Beast hissed in annoyance. He recalled now that the two-legs he'd overheard that one time had been talking to another, and that that one had insisted that fast food was bad for your health. Though he hadn't comprehended it back then, China now realised that this must be what it had meant. This food was strong.

The slower ones 'rushed' him... if it could even be called that at their sluggish pace. With a lazy flick of one arm, he disembowelled the nearest, then spun, darted behind a tree, and scrabbled up into its higher branches in just the time it took those clumsy oafs to stumble past the soon-to-be corpse he had left to hinder their progress.

He looked around in search of the fast food, but it was nowhere in sight. It was clearly the scariest of this lot by far, even the yucky one paling in comparison, despite all its firey tricks... could the taste really be worth such risk?

His hesitation lasted only a moment, before desire got the better of him and he dived out into the jungle, casting his gaze around wildly in an attempt at catching a glimpse of his elusive prey...

Word Count: 799 (site counter)
Writing 1100 words was easy. Removing 300 of them, not so much... T_T

Summary:
- China sees 13 first but ignores him because metal doesn't taste nice.
- Dane intervenes to stop the mob stealing his bounty.
- China grossly misinterprets the term 'fast food' and decides to eat Dane.
- China kills 1 NPC (I'll leave it up to you two to decide how many you got).
- Dane cuts off China's ear, jumps away, and stealths. He's still in his 5/0/6/1 form.
- 13 is fighting NPCs.
- China cluelessly chases Dane.
- Clown hasn't shown up yet.

[13-Jzall]

13 watched as Dane disappeared and went after the ceramic beast. He had seen similar animals to it owned by tech adepts of the Astra Millitarium, the holy enginseers. They robotic beasts made to hunt and kill. There were also common dogs kept as pets on holy Terra but they were a far cry from the long-legged beast that had arrived out of nowhere. He turned his attention back to the fight, a group of Norse warriors had arrived and were attacking both Dane and 13. 13 hadn’t seen how many Dane had killed but the rest had all started focusing on 13 when Dane went to hunt China. 13 didn’t care that the attackers were inaccurate and not as strong as they looked, an axe hit was an axe hit and they were to be avoided at every opportunity. 13 emptied his gun on three of the axemen, his leg getting struck by a lucky arrow in the process. 3 dropped dead as 13 ran towards the bowman, reloading as he jumped and flipped to avoid damage. 13 shot the attacker square in the chest and ran off, another foe fallen meant another heretic killed. 13 set his eyes on the leader but before he could begin the attack China ran back from the forest, Dane rapidly attacking as fast and as powerful as he could with his two swords. Dane looked at 13 and teleported over to him, hacking at 13’s cloak and body so fast that the sword had become a blur. Every strike made took off a piece of metal and chipped the paint on his robes.

13 flung fire capsules at Dane who dashed to the side and continued the attack, each hit knocking him and making it nearly impossible to attack. Then, China leapt in and knocked Dane down, biting and slashing at him with an inhuman ferocity. Dane began bleeding quite fast but he managed to get back up, slashing at China. China immediately ran back into the forest, muttering something under his breath. 13 observed China’s ear wiggle around ever so slightly in the direction of where China ran off. 13 and Dane brushed themselves off, 13 looked up and saw that the trees were burning quite well but the spot where he shot was burning a lot fiercer. Good, his overall plan was coming together just as planned. 13 jumped up as Dane did the same, the two combatants eyeing each other and getting ready to strike. 13 saw the ear going towards him and then he ‘felt’ something behind him, getting closer quickly. 13 ducked down and China jumped over him, hitting the ground next to Dane. 13 used this distraction to shoot Dane which knocked him down onto the ground, reloading 13 watched as Dane teleported over to his leather armour and quickly slipped it on over his shoulders. 13 shot twice at Dane, China was not a problem at the moment until he did something more notable than attack some cannon fodder and bite Dane a bit. Dane dropped his short sword and put his longsword into both hands, getting ready to teleport. China shakily stood up, shaking his head and opening his jaw. 13 opened his vial and poured living metal into his gun, he aimed square at Dane’s chest and fired.

557 words, 13 killed 4 people and China probably killed some more. Dane switched back forms and is now using his longsword. I am using my T1: living metal (I think) at Dane.

[Dane Regan]

This ain't so bad.

Dane's eyes rolled over the carnage. It had a certain chaotic beauty to it. Perhaps, he thought, he'd been looking at fights all wrong. It wasn't about the winning or losing, survival or death.

It was about having fun-

and then brutally murdering the opposition. Leaving their mangled corpse to rot and burn. To become one with the land - except here where they tended to just disintegrate.

Of course, that didn't mean Dane could throw all logic out the window, just most, enough for him to have fun. So, as 13 loaded his gun, Dane was left with a split-second decision: Overcharge the teleport to avoid the attack in time, take the hit and use the energy for something better, or carve a pretty picture into the kid's flesh. 

Obviously, there was only one real option, he thought, reallocating his mana.

The bullet seemed to pass through Dane's body, doing nothing. Dane smirked, seemingly unmoving. Before Jzall even had time to recognise his failure, trails of blood dripped out of his calfs, spraying into the air as if cut by an invisible blade. More slash marks appeared, the back of his robes falling to the ground, soaked with red. Even as his body slumped, they continued, not stopping.

A laugh rang out from the air around him, echoing; Dane still held still, taunting him.

As the torrent of blades relented, Dane stepped to the side, avoiding a powerful axe swing from one of the burlier delinquents. Steel arced through the air, once again becoming wet with blood. The man recoiled, but didn't fall immediately, braving the pain and moving in for another predictable attack. Before it could land, Dane's leg kicked out, hard, echoing with a loud thwack as the Nordic warrior was shunted into the inferno.

Sneering, Dane teleported beside the Jzall's involuntarily shaking body. Bones grinding to push him to his feet. "Looks like my gods are better than yours, mate."

Namely, because they're all me.

Crouching, he ignored the mob, admiring his handiwork. "I even drew you a happy face." A pair of verticle dashes lay etched above a crude curve. 13 grunted, trying to steady his gun.

An arrow slammed into Dane's right shoulder, sending vibrations down his arm. Longsword clattering to the floor.

Snapping the shaft, he spun around, shortsword ready.

"I'm trying to have a moment here." He glared, feinting anger and dashing towards the bowman, again diverting his mana to speed and strength.

His target stared back, drawing a similarly sized blade that swiftly found itself relieved of its owner.

Holding the blade firmly, Dane pushed it against the man's neck, using the other hand to force him against a tree. With one swift flick, Dane hacked off his jaw. "Good luck talking your way out of this one, dude."

Spinning around, Dane's eyes met the same monster that jumped him previously. It seemed to be eyeing him up again, preparing to strike when his back was turned.

"No."

Dane pointed, commandingly.

"Bad... thing."

It seemed to halt, unexpectedly.

"I'm only going to say this once, so make sure you listen," his eyes stared, unblinking, "if you touch me, I will shatter you into a thousand pieces and force feed ya to-" catching a glimpse of Jzall out the corner of his eye, Dane's head jerked, his hand point out shortly after. "This guy... so kill these other shits instead."

A small axe thudded into the tree beside Dane's head, the handle slightly singed.

Roaring, its owner charged Dane, shield raised, albeit burned. The fighter's helm had been lost, yet he still held his axe.

Fuck off.

Flipping through the air and landing behind the buff man, Dane hooked a leg around his, bringing the bloke to the smokey ground. "On the plus side, if your brain explodes, at least it won't ruin your hair-"

He jerking, pausing for a moment. 

"Actually... we can test that, can't weee." Dane giggled, singing the words like a drunken university student with a bad cold.

Splat.

"Huh, I was wron-"

Bang.

"Oi!"

Another bullet tore into Dane's weakened right arm, damaging the tendons.

Without a moments thought, Dane was already on his feet, sprinting at 13, leading with his right shoulder, mana flowing through the arm.

Two more bullets came. One dug into his shoulder, temporarily disrupting the magic, but the other missed, grazing his back.

Switching his posture at the last possible moment, Dane let his right side shift back, before twisting into a punch. His muscles worked little on the force, already torn to shreds. Yet the mana drove it, smashing it into 13's face.

Crack.

Dane's arm fell to the floor, leaving a charred stump while 13's limp body ragdolled into the flames.

"The joke's on you. I'm left-handed."

800 words.

Dane switches to the 5/0/6/1 stats while 13 is loading his gun.
Dane countered 13's T1 with his T2 Super Attack (Was that the Wind?). 13's T1 was cancelled out, and Dane's acts at T1 strength.
Dane carves a smily face into 13's back.
Dane get's hit by and arrow (right shoulder).
Dane plays about with his shortsword only.
Dane says 'no' to China.
Dane plays about again.
13 shoots Dane's arm a bunch.
Dane punches his own arm off by hitting 13's face super hard. (Using "Break a Leg", which he'd used a bunch on the mob members as well).
Dane is going to switch back to the 1/2/3/6 stats, and play a bit more defensive. Unless CP buffs him with, when he'll probably keep these base stats, but be more agressive with it.
Dane will also try and reclaim his longsword if he gets the chance. Remember, he's only got his left arm right now.

We're probably at about 10-13ish left with regards to the mob.

2/4 SP Remaining.

[Clownpiece]

Follow the smoke.

The once clean forest air, now heavy with ash and smog, rushed past Clownpiece’s ears. Leaves and branches lightly scraped against her face as she weaved between the trees, rushing headlong to her friend’s aide. She took in a deep breath, the soot-filled air stinging her lungs, and a manic grin slowly crept across her face. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest, pure excitement coursed through her veins. The sounds of battle began to seep through the smoky veil. Shouts, the clashing of metal, gunfire. All of them drew steadily nearer. It was time.

Clownpiece burst forth from the foliage in a bright, tri-colored blur, a trail of purple light streaking behind her. Before she had so much as a moment to skim over the skirmish, red flashed in her vision and she slammed shoulder-first into someone like an overly-patriotic missile. A powerful shock rattled through her body, and suddenly her world was sent spinning. Greens, browns, and oranges all mashed together in an indistinct blur, before she was suddenly halted as something was driven into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. The world continued to spin for a few moments, but even in spite of her daze, she could tell she hadn’t hit the ground.

“Enjoying the party?” A voice, which she immediately recognized as Dane, asked. The festive fairy rapidly blinked a few times, getting her bearings back and quickly taking in her surroundings. Though she couldn’t see much from her perch on his shoulder, she could see enough to tell he was pretty banged up. And missing an arm.

“Still need a hand?” She responded cheekily, grinning widely. Without a moment of hesitation, the swordsman rolled her off his shoulder and she hit the ground. Unshaken, she hopped back to her feet as cheerfully as ever, the flame on her torch flaring up even brighter. All she needed to do was rile up her friend and they’d tear apart the red-coated guy in no time. “Alright Dane!” she cheered, turning her head to face her ever-faithful ally, only to find that he’d already disappeared and left the child to her own devices. Panic began to well up in her chest, and she frantically glanced around, trying to find where he went.

Three figures burst forth from the foliage before she could find him, each outfitted with equipment not unlike Dane’s. With a quick alteration of her spell, Clownpiece desperately swept her torch out in front of her, casting a purple glow over them. She threw herself backwards just as the closest one to her lunged, sword carving through the spot where she’d just been. She sailed backwards, eyes flicking over all three of them. One stumbled forward, thrown off balance from his slash, the second was still making a beeline for her, and the third stood back, arrow nocked and drawn.

“Stop...” she whispered, throwing her voice at the archer. His aim faltered, and suddenly Clownpiece had room to focus on the other two bearing down on her. She dove backwards, hellish sparks springing to life in her left palm. A gout of fire erupted out from her outstretched hand, and the two rushing raider’s halted in their tracks for a moment as the brush in front of them caught alight. That moment was all the infernal fae needed to put distance between them, and by the time they pushed themselves through the burning bush, she was ready.

The two burly men stormed forward, side-by-side, and Clownpiece hopped back a step, planting one foot into the undergrowth and throwing the sound at the rightmost one. The sound of a wily enemy creeping up on you. Accustomed to Dane’s trickery, the leftmost renegade lashed out towards the sound, determined not to let the sneaky swordsman get the drop on him. His sword cut deep into his comrade, disemboweling him, and suddenly his face was white as a sheet.

“K-Kormak." his voice was scarcely a whisper, almost inaudible over the din of battle.

With her work here done, Clownpiece lifted into the air again, setting off in search of the bounty. Red flashed in her periphery, and the fairy quickly cocked her head to face it, reaching out her left palm. A powerful stinging pain erupted in her head as a small vial shattered against her face. Her left hand immediately shot to clutch at her eyes, and suddenly the world was white-hot. Choking back a scream, the hell fairy clenched her teeth and forced her eyes open, desperately trying to ignore the flames eating away at her face.

“You want fire?” She growled, staring right at the red-robed gunman. “I’ll give you fire.” She extended her left hand, palm out, towards him, chest heaving with every strained breath. “Hell Sign. Shooting Star.”

800 Words
Using T1 Super: Hell Sign “Shooting Star” on Jzall. (3/4 SP remaining)
Clownpiece raises hell!
Tackled Jzall
Met with Dane
Used Lampad’s Torch and made brigands paranoid
Used Hellfire to start even more fires
Made paranoid brigands kill their friends (1 dead, 1 not in the mood to fight)
Got lit on fire from Jzall’s Fire Powder. She took exception to that.
She’ll try to put it out, but first she has to make a point

[13-Jzall]

13 dived behind a large, ancient tree as Clownpiece fired a fireball at him. It immediately went through the tree and sent him flying into another tree. 13 managed to get back up and dodge the stream of stars that Clownpiece sent at him. Seeing that she needed room to cast her spells, 13 ran in to get close but Clownpiece muttered something under her breath and sent a stream of flame after him, causing a tactical retreat. 13 tripped over a stray root in the undergrowth. Falling, 13 shot at her but only 2 of the bullets hit her in the leg and the chest respectively. This caused Clownpiece to fall over onto the burning ground. Clownpiece, getting back up and walking towards 13’s body, began to laugh, “You’d never make it to hell with that kind of fire. How about I help you on your way?” She then began to wave her torch at 13 and he began to feel surprisingly angry. 13 shot the last bullet in his chamber at Clownpiece which knocked her down again. After making sure that she was down this time, 13 reloaded his pistol, picked up his sniper rifle and walked off into the forest to hunt Dane.


13 only had to wait for a minute before he saw Dane looking through the dirt and grass for his longsword, he found it just under where the fight had originally started and then looked up at 13.

“Well it looks like you’ve met Clownpiece, how did it go?”

“Better than this will go for sure. First, you attack me, then insult my god and call in your minion.”

13 heard Clownpiece shout “His-?” from over in the forest before being cut off by someone or something. 13 would have smiled if he still could, China had saved him yet again. 13 began to laugh as he continued.

“And the best part is that you still haven’t figured out why I shot into the air.”

Dane continued looking 13 with his constant bored expression and simply answered

“I’m going to shoot you into the sky.”

Dane teleported at 13 into the sky, moving over to his long sword and moving in a blur then throwing it. He then teleported the sword into 13, where it lodged itself in tightly. Dane kicked 13 down into the burning blanket of trees and then teleported back down into the forest to catch his breath.


As 13 fell he thought to himself about how lucky he was that Dane didn’t have both of his arms to put the sword into his chest. 13 saw that the trees were coming up closer and closer and estimated that he had about five seconds to save himself. Great, it was plenty of time. 13 twisted himself with an accuracy that only a servant of the machine god could hope to achieve and landed on the exact branch that was crucial to his plan. 13 dislodged the sword from his front and shot two times at the base of the branch. Bracing for impact, 13 hit the soft ground and rolled, attempting to save himself from the impact shattering his legs. Unfortunately, the fall knocked his ‘knee’s loose of his legs which would cost him dearly soon enough. 13 saw Dane finish clearing his head and looking at 13, noticing that he was now holding the sword that was so recently stuck in his flesh and metal. 13 pointed up and Dane looked.


The branch fell down in front of Dane as he dashed back to avoid being hit. Quickly, 13 poured most of what remained in the vial into his pistol, lined up the longsword with it, and fired.

618 words

13 dodged behind a tree, shot clown but then she made 13 angry and then China attacked her.

13 dropped a large branch in front of Dane and used his T1 super to attack Dane and break his longsword.

The forest fire is quite a bit larger now and the occasional small branch will probably fall down and kill a secondary.

[China]

China leaned back, swallowing the disembodied arm he had been half-heartedly chewing upon. These slow ones were far from the worst meals he'd ever had, but he'd really wanted to try that fast food. Alas, it had repeatedly foiled his attempts at creeping up on it by noticing his arrival... it was almost like bright white and blue paint didn't blend in all that well in a forest...

Now, though, a new yum-yum had shown up, and whilst not as fast as the first, this one was a baby food, which must surely make it almost as tasty, at the very least. After all, as every hungry person knew, baby meat was extra soft and juicy. Just the thought of consuming it would have made China's mouth water, had he been physically capable of salivating.

Despite getting a front row seat to watch as it and the yucky one threw fire at one another, China's gluttony overpowered his caution once more, and the instant it seemed to lower its guard, he leapt.

It had just been getting up off the ground after being shot, lifting back into the air and starting to say something in response to a comment that metal-y thing had made, when he smacked into its back, bearing it back down into the dirt, twigs and leaves of the forest floor.

It gasped, the breath knocked from its small body. He remained perched on its back, the hands and feet of all six limbs keeping its arms and legs locked in place as he loomed over his next meal. Its face turned to one side, trying to get a look at its captor. China obliged, lowering his head to hang right in front of its, and grinning broadly.

“Hello, little-small yum-yums, you look much tasty-nice, yes-yes.” he said to it, his voice little more than a whisper, as always. He nodded in affirmation of his own comment, and would have licked his lips as well, if only he had had a tongue... and, well... lips. Despite his surely ferocious appearance, though, rather than scream in terror, as any normal baby food ought to when captured by a hungry person, it merely looked surprised for a moment, then angry.

Briefly thrown off by this odd behaviour, China hesitated before delivering the killing blow.

That, as it turned out, was a mistake.

A pair of large, shining orbs suddenly appeared in mid-air, one to either side of the yum-yum, one red, one white. Panicking at their abrupt arrival, China flinched back... only realising that this too was an error when the baby food giggled and twisted free of his now-loosened grasp, spinning as it shot up into the air.

China hissed his annoyance as he followed her with his eyes.

Those eyes bulged wide, then, and he darted to the left in a vain attempt at dodging the two beams of light which converged upon his position.

His two right arms twitched. They clawed at the air. They writhed, managing to flip themselves over. Their claws dug into soft earth.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Ceramic Beast was over two metres away, having dived and rolled off to the side in his attempt at escape. His smile had well and truly gone, by this point, that wide maw gaping in horrified astonishment at the massive hole in his side.

He had always known he could be broken easily, but to see both right-side upper arms, their shoulders, and a large chunk of his torso simply vaporised, was almost more than he could handle. Only one beam had been white... yet even so... this could only be Purification.

Nothing else could simply destroy all it touched, in such a terrible manner. The light had even continued on after striking him, searing the ground behind where he'd stood, reducing the fallen leaves and sticks to embers.

But this ought not to be possible... magic was hard. Even the great Archmage who had summoned him had required decades to learn his craft. A mere baby food simply could not do this. It was unfeasible. No, unfathomable.

The scary thing – for that was most assuredly what it was – laughed and waved its purple torch, and what little of China's courage remained deserted him then. He screwed his eyes and mouth shut for a couple seconds, absorbing them all back into his face, before the front half of his head split in half, once again revealing the rows of blue, ceramic fangs, though this time arranged vertically. One eye hovered inside his empty head, gazing out expressionlessly at his foe.

Like a cornered rat, he backed away, baring his fangs in a feeble attempt at scaring away the cat.
Grinning wickedly, the scary thing flew closer, flames spewing from one hand...

Word Count: 800, according to OpenOffice (799 on wordcounter.net).
I couldn't even find the words to involve the mob at all this time... or Dane & 13, for that matter... -_-

Summary:
- China has killed a bare minimum of 1 more NPC off-screen.
- China jumps at CP at the point specified in 13's post, and pins her down.
- CP uses Barrage: Stars and Stripes (Stripes) to freak him out, distract him enough to escape, and burn off two arms.
- CP uses Lampad's Torch (Paranoia) without the Ping, causing China to lose the last of his will to fight.
- CP uses Hellfire... I'll leave it up to you guys whether he manages to dodge this time.

I wasn't kidding when I said China wasn't designed to be good in fights.

[Clownpiece]

A stream of bright orange flames billowed forth from the hell fairy’s palm, swiftly closing in on the hapless beast, nearly frozen in place. At the last second, the glassy cat found its nerves once again, and hurled itself to the side in a white blur, hellfire scorching the detritus it had just been sitting on. Clownpiece giggled as the strange, six-limbed monster ground to a halt, simultaneously rearing up and shrinking in on itself, trying its best to intimidate her while simultaneously being utterly terrified. It had the bravado, but all it would take was one little poke and that confidence would shatter like the china it was made of.

She gently lowered herself to the ground, fire-dried grass crunching beneath her almost-bare feet, and threw that sound just behind the beast. It’s entire body tensed up for a single moment before it took off like a bat out of hell, disappearing into the underbrush as fast as its legs could take it. Her face stung as she cracked a bright smile, and her chest throbbed with every laugh, but even the pain couldn’t dull her mood.

“Now that that’s out of the way...” she began with a mumble, the flame on her torch growing brighter. “Dane!” her childish voice pierced through the forest. “Lets show them the strength that lies in madness!”

“Sure,” the swordsman just... appeared in front of her, speaking nonchalantly. Clownpiece compulsively flinched back, before composing herself with a short cough and resuming where she left off.

“It’s Lunatic Time!” Two vibrant, purple arcs seared through the air, and the lunatic glow fell upon Dane’s eyes. His demeanor shifted, his usual confident and relaxed stance disappeared and he tensed up, his eyes darting about, studying the area behind the fairy with a restless intensity, and just like that he was gone. A scream started up and was immediately cut short. Clownpiece whipped around, turning around just in time to watch as the bisected body of a brigand toppled to the earth.

“Half the man he used to be...” Dane quipped, momentum from his slash spinning him to face the hellspawn.

‘Behind you.’

A voice that sounded suspiciously like her ally’s boomed in her mind, and she continued her dizzying spin without a second thought. Two more generic raiders stampeded out from the forest, weapons raised high, and two bright orbs shining red and blue rose into the air on either side of the fairy. Not a moment later, Dane appeared right in the line of fire, whipping his sword upwards, and suddenly one of the men’s noses disappeared in a flash of steel, causing him to reel back.

“Got your nose.” The swordsman fired off another pun, before suddenly shifting a few feet to the side. A pair of dazzling lasers pierced through the bandits, and not a moment later, both of them collapsed. 

“Alright!” Clownpiece cheered, waving her torch over her head. “Who’s ne-” her voice cut off with a choke as searing agony tore through her collarbone.

CRACK

Almost simultaneously, the gunshot reached her ears. The fairy fell to her knees with a cry, torch plummeting to the ground. Her right hand shot to the wound, infernal fire welling up in her palm. She clutched the ragged hole, pure agony wracking her shoulder. Her chest heaved with deep breaths, which were released out through clenched teeth. Hellish flames washed over the injury, scorching it, cauterizing it. Her jaw clenched with all her might, a muffled scream barely escaping, and suddenly the flames cut out, leaving only a torturous burning and an immobile right arm in their place.

Clownpiece lifted her head back up, world blurring through the tears in her eyes, and tentatively picked up her torch with her left hand. A vague red shape rocketed through her vision and slammed against the trunk of a tree with a powerful crack. The wounded fae stayed in her spot, trying to keep her breathing in check. Her red-cloaked rival stirred faintly, prying himself off the tree and slowly rising to his feet.
“You’re pretty tough, I’ll give you that.” Clownpiece said softly, standing up on wobbly legs.

“Thanks?” Jzall responded uncertainly, his voice shaky. He started to lift his pistol up, not drawing it nearly as fast as he would have liked, only to be cut off swiftly as Dane suddenly appeared next to the fairy. A fresh coating of blood covered the swordsman.

‘You got a plan, kiddo?’ Dane’s voice sounded in her head, and Clownpiece wondered when he learned that trick.

Don’t look at my torch. She thought, hoping that the trick worked both ways.

“So instead of beating you into the dirt...” she hefted her torch. “I’m gonna let you burn yourself out!”

A single purple streak lit up the air.

800 Words
Used T2 Utility: “It’s Lunatic Time!” and T1 Utility: “Driven Mad” (0/4 SP remaining)
Clown scared off China by using his paranoia after he dodged the hellfire.
Clown used “It’s Lunatic Time!” and “Agitation” to buff Dane to 9/2/3/6 and halve his charge times.
Dane slaughtered most of the remaining NPCs with speedy teleporting and 9 ATK strikes.
Clown got some NPCs with Barrage: Stripes
Jzall ruined Clown’s right arm with a precision sniper strike. (It’s still there but she can’t move it)
Clown cauterized with hellfire.
Dane kicked Jzall across the fucking verse with “Break a Leg.” His foot is probably not in the best shape.
Clown’s using “Driven Mad” on Jzall only, unless Dane choses to look at it.

[Dane Regan]

OOC Note: As noted in the OOC chat, Dane used 1 SP on 'Can't Touch Me: I' to dodge the T1 Attack 13 used earlier. So Dane started this post with 1/4 SP Left.

---

Don’t look at my torch.

A small question nagged on Dane's mind. What would happen if he looked at the torch? He was genuinely curious. After all, whatever did occur couldn't be so bad. No worse than his fractured foot and missing arm, anyway. Amusingly, his two most prevalent injuries were actually his fault, but fear and regrets were for losers - like Jzall.

Don't be stupid.

His rationality called out to him but he suppressed it, turning his head towards Clownpiece's flames.

"Dane, no!" His teammate pleaded.

Fight. Attack. Destroy. The torch whispered into his mind.

Your wish is my command.

His muscles whirred without his direct approval, mana dispersed through his body and he smirked - all while the back of his mind screamed at him not to. Kicking off the ground with his good foot, he dashed forwards towards the nearest target, 13, recklessly leaving himself open. He didn't care. He was going to fight this guy anyway, why should he care about the means?

Avoid the fire.

The small voice continued to cry out from its spectator seat; it achieved nought.

"You can't tell me what to do!" he replied, speaking himself externally. The statement was punctuated by him ramming his right shoulder into Jzall's chest - oblivious to the bullet now wedged into his stump from the exposed advance.

His opponent growled, throwing a weak punch towards him in an attempt to regain some distance.

Dane let him, yet twisted forwards, slicing the blade down into Jzall's upper ribs under his raised arm. Blood spurted out of the wound, gracefully arcing through the air as Dane jerked his blade back, kicking his target into the closing inferno.

Without a second thought, Dane plunged in after him, allowing his mana to start flowing normally again. He kept moving, skin and armour slowly burning yet soaked with blood. Hopping from side to side, he ducked his head and rammed it into 13's chin.

Crunch.

Teeth ground together. Cracked.

Blood dripped from his jaw.

Pivoted. Falling.

A burning tree splintered from the impact of his head, yet Jzall still flailed. Gripping his rifle firmly, he attempted to swing the butt at Dane. 

Dane let it connect with his ribs while focusing his mana into his bad foot.

A claw stabbed into his calf, breaking his focus. It was at this point Dane came to the realisation that he was on fire.

He hopped into the air with his good leg, spinning and shaking off the flames. With a thump, he landed on one of the few remaining branches.

I fucking warned you, ya little shit. Guess you're gonna find out what it's like to be food now.

Using the sound of claws scraping against metal to guide him - Dane scanned the smoke for his target.

Stationary. Hiding behind a tree. Perfect.

He jumped off his perch, flipping through the air.

Given his rough height, he estimated it'd take about three seconds to hit his target. Conveniently, it typically took him about three seconds to ram enough mana down his leg to crack an average skull open - at least back home.

As he fell, Dane caught a glimpse of Clownpiece tackling the remaining mob - their eyes meeting by coincidence. Naturally, he waved his sword, trying to give her a thumbs up.

'You idiot,' she mouthed, evading an axe.

Crack.

While China had moved slightly, Dane succeeded in correcting his course enough for his heel to punch through the creature's side. The china mutilated his foot like a compilation of razors, but it was worth it. He yanked it out with no care for his health.

"I keep my promises."

Making a point of stuffing a clump of the creature into his pocket, he focused for a moment before reappearing beside Jzall. 

This was it.

This was his victory. It had to be. The beast had to have fallen by now. The raiders had to be dead. Tired breaths caught in Dane's throat, and he stumbled. The world span around him, and even as he shook his head to clear it, the afterimages still remained.

He could have sworn there was only one Jzall a moment ago.

Not that he cared. They were both barely conscious.

...and he apparently had two left arms to deal with them.

Dane pushed his remaining mana through both of them, slamming them down. Both met one of 13's rifles, the pair of guns were shortly crushed - snapping in half.

He drove the next set of swings into 13's arms, then his chest, before wedging the steel down into the man's left leg - all while both images merged back together.

"Eat this, ya discounted marine."

Roughly gripping the pointed shard, Dane moved to ram it down his throat.

Unnoticed by Dane, Jzall clawed to the side, fingers weakly closing around his gun.

799 words - Dane_irl

Dane looks at CP's Torch and is "Driven Mad" along with 13.
Dane switches to 5/0/6/1
13 shoots Dane's shitty shoulder but he doesn't notice (no feeling in the fucked up arm).
Dane stabs 13 and pushes them both into the fire.
Dane switches to 1/2/3/6
13 flails, trying to melee Dane.
China claws Dane's shin.
Dane jumps out of the fire.
(Off screen) 13 moves out of the fire.
Dane uses 'Break a Leg' from the sky.
Dane damages his lower right leg a lot, but smashes a hole in China's side.
Dane teleports to 13, and realises how near-dead he is.
Dane switches to 5/0/6/1
Dane uses T1SA - Magical Enhancement (with his Longsword). (1 SP used, 0/4 SP remaining)
Dane stabs his sword through 13's leg.
Dane tries to forcefeed China to 13 while 13 reaches for his pistol.
Clownpiece spends this post playing with the trash mob.

And we're ready for judging now.

[Ash]

Bounty Hunting: Dane Regan and Clownpiece vs 13-Jzall vs China

Ignoring the intro, not matter how hilarious it was to imagine Dane's phone flopping around in the air like a Magikarp.

13-Jzall
DAMAGE: 20/20 - DEFEAT
This was already an up-hill battle fighting just Dane, between teleporting, reckless attacks, and the slight level advantage he had, but then Clownpiece came in and tipped the balance even more. China helped rebalance it with his neutral stance, but by then the damage was already being done.

Notes:
[spoiler]Pros
Each post that you made was an improvement over the last. I didn't like the fact that you just posted a large text block for the first, but sure enough the second had spacing between the action. I didn't like how it was all clumped together still, but your third continued to show progress. It feels you have made a conscious decision to take more from this fight than just the experience. I appluad the growth shown in just a few short posts.

Cons
-Lack of multiple pronouns: Using '13' as the only way to address your own character got repetitive and boring. I would take some time to find other ways to describe your character, and perhaps add it to your Roster so other's can make use of it. =3
-While I loved what imagery you've painted in your posts, I felt like there were times when you could have elaborated in details. It looks like you rushed through the posts; Perhaps it was just because you didn't know how to but it was dissapointed by the lack of details.
-Unused words: This goes hand in hand with details. You had about 200 extra words you could have used to fill out the post.
-Some missing words: I don't like to critisize Grammar, because I am not perfect. But your posts lacked a word here and there. I had to guess a couple times what you were saying, but like.. Everyone does this once in a while so it wasn't too high on my list of gripes.
-PvE: I didn't see a lot of use of the fodder elements, there was a bunch about the fire but it feels like you ignored the axemen completely. Just something to keep in mind.

Summary
In short, I suggest you take the time to proof read and give your posts a little extra love, I know you are capable of it~! I believe in you.[/spoiler]

Dane Regan
DAMAGE: 19/20 - Winner?
Lucky SoB. GTFO of the fire you insane idiot...
Betweent he exploded arm, broken foot, and the fire that you decided to stand in... You get the idea.

Notes:
[spoiler]Pros
I was on the edge of my seat for a good portion of your posts. I laughed at all the puns - because I love stupid humor like that - and I was holding my breath at all the action. I like Dane as a character, he's such a dick. You have a lot of comedy in your post, I approve.

Cons
-Hard to Follow: I was not lost for all of the action, but there were times when I had to back track to understand, and even then I had to confirm what I was reading with the quotation box at the end.

Summary
You are pretty good bro, but work on getting your point across in the post instead of in the box. (I know the stuggle.)[/spoiler]

Clownpiece
DAMAGE: 8/20 - Winner!
Get that boy(Dane) a leash already.
Not even the Hell Fairy is immune to fire, nor is she immune to the weight of a ceremic beast or a bullet to the collar bone.

Notes:
[spoiler]Pros
Everything. Just... Liked everything.
Okay, going to be honest; Went into this thinking I'd just be rolling my eyes at CP the whole time. But damn it if she wasn't a good character. And damn you for being a good writer. You have just so much to work with too. Your roster is just so filled out. (Unlike your.. Chest... or Something insulting...)

Cons
There were only a couple of times that I was lost. But I'm honestly having a really hard coming up with something to say here. So maybe I'll just keep typing to make it look bigger and move on to China. Blah blah blah. Okay, cool. Moving on.

Summary
Just keep what you are doing, dude.[/spoiler]

CHINA
DAMAGE: 18/20 - The REAL Winner!!
He's my favorite~! <3
And really effed up after all that. xD

Notes:
[spoiler]Pros
This character is the best. His mannerisms, his stupid intelligence, his animalistic ways. Like.. I fully expect him to be put in a cage before his RP career is done but I am sure it won't be the end of it. Very interesting indeed. I love his terms, especially calling everything 'yum-yum'. Your posts are both entertaining on a humor level and well written. (Also, I feel you pain. Deleting half your post is all I did in DA.) But dang it if your character wasn't so fun to route for. Poor thing.

Cons
-Hard to Follow: I think this is a creative choice, you are writing in psedo-character. Just be aware that it can get confusing.
-Lost: Hand-In-Hand with the above, there was a point where China was attacking CP and until you started using the pronoun 'she' and 'her' I was like 100% sure you were attacking Dane.

Summary
I want to RP with China so badly now. I love what you are doing here, but don't sacrifice too much detail. Keep up the great work.[/spoiler]


FIGHT SUMMARY - Winner(s): Dane and CP
It definately was a fight that gave Dane more trouble than he asked for, but the winners are Dane and Clownpiece. I believe winners are are choosing to kill their prey. (Good luck Dane convincing CP not to just kill you and claim the bounty for herself.)

As for China, if there's anything left of him, his life is in their hands as well. Just note that he does not have a bounty and is both in pieces and in a pathetic state. I suggest he run if challenged - if he can.

[Dane Regan]

Dane's knee crunched down onto Jzall's chest, cracking the already weakened ribs. Jzall grunted and spasmed before falling limp - his gun fell just an inch too far out of his grasp, yet the tips of his fingers still twitched. The fight was over, but he hadn't lost hope yet. Both were barely clinging to life; Dane's shaking hand was clear evidence of that. But, despite Jzalls resistance it still moved closer, drifting through the smokey air.

Face contorted in glee, Dane twisted his knee deeper and giggled at the grinding sound. "Open wide, child. Here comes the aeroplane."

China grated through 13's lips and teeth, dislodging, shattering, and tearing everything in its way. Fueled by adrenaline and madness, Dane leant forwards, pushing it down to the back of his throat.

"I wonder if you can actually taste this over your own blood?" Dane shrugged; the motion travelled to the china, pushing it just far enough back to pierce an artery. He didn't notice and continued his speech, croakily singing. "Eh, who cares. Blood tastes great anyway, y'know. At least, my own does. I do wonder about yours though."

Jzall's mouth had clamped shut; Dane ignored it and jerked the china out, pulling blood and teeth with it. Looking down with starry eyes, Dane trailed his tongue over the length of his arm, ending it with a sharp flick. Spittle and blood splashed onto Jzall's face, trickling down the side. "Hmm... I prefer my own. You've got a bit too much iron in there for my taste. Nice and tangy, but not brilliant."

Dane coughed, orange-red diluted blood dripped out the corners of his mouth. "Y-yeah. Like that..."

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" His neck twisted rapidly, eyes reflecting the fire as he examined his victim. "Playing dead, eh? Well, I suppose you can't complain if I make your disguise more authentic."

Primes are so annoying sometimes. You never quite knew when they're dead. Turn your head for one moment, and suddenly they're up on their feet and stabbing you in the back.

Instinctively, he tried to reach for his sword with his right arm. Nothing happened. "Whoops, I forgot about that. Aww well, guess you're gonna get the special treatment then."

Dane slammed his fist down, using 13's chest like an elaborate pincushion. Except the pin was a razor-sharp shard of china, and 13's right lung was the cushion. "Alright kiddo, here we go..."

Forcing wave upon wave of mana down his arm, Dane clenched his bloody fist. From side to side it wobbled, muscles lax and bones trembling. Yet, powered by his weight and forceful shoulder, it drove down.

Boom-splat.

The explosive force hit Jzall on the side of his head, pushing it down and twisting his neck with a snap. With nowhere else to go, it was forced into a crater in the ground - his skull shattered from the impact, gore spraying outwards.

Dane didn't fare much better, the force spun him to the side and rocketed through his fist, leaving him splayed out to the side.

He needed sleep. Sleep sounded nice.

But he had work to do.

First off... how does this bounty thing work?

It's the dataverse stuff, right? On the messageboards. Do we just post a picture or something?

I dunno. Let's try that. I'm too lazy to check the help page.

Swiftly, he pulled out his phone and flicked to the camera app. He wanted a full body picture of both himself and his victim's corpse. For the memories, and as proof. But, unless he held it horizontally, he couldn't hit both of them in. And if he did that, then their chests and legs would be cut out.

If only there was some device that could hold a camera further from me, such that I could take this photo easier...

As it turned out, there was such a thing. He remembered almost fighting someone for one and building a small collection of them back at Dante's Abyss. Groaning, he curled his palm against his chest, focusing. The crackling of flames was still going strong by the time he finished, but most of the fighting ground was left charred with the inferno spreading elsewhere.

He glanced to the side at his selfie-buddy. "Smile for the camera, dude."

Swivelling the stick up into the air, he pushed his thumb down onto the button with a satisfying click. He winced internally as pain ran down his injured hand, but managed to suppress it enough for it not to show in the photo.

Carefully, he tried to pivot his back upright using his elbow but only succeeded in twisting himself to the side. The adrenaline had run its course. He wasn't going anywhere.

Guess I've gotta rest up after all.

He wondered if the monster was dead, but Clownpiece looked alright. He figured she could deal with it. Worst case scenario, he'd just die and come back later. But dying was lame.

Another cough ricocheted along his bones, driving blood up to his throat. He spat to the side, hacking up small red clumps. Disgusting. The liquid stuff tasted alright, but when it clumped together it made him want to puke - and he wasn't even sure if he could. Not without food in his body, anyway. But, Dane was in no mood to test it.

Diverting all his efforts through the pain, faint wisps of coloured light flowed out of his palm, slowly weaving across his injuries.

Let's see how this 'healing' thing works.

Dane's passing out to heal. What happens to China is on you Clown. 13 is dead.

[Clownpiece]

Thud

Sticks and leaves crunched as the last charred bandit corpse collapsed. Clownpiece breathed a sigh of relief through the wooden torch clenched in her teeth, and brought her good arm, which had been outstretched to release that last bout of hellfire, up to her face and retrieved her torch. That had been the last of the renegades, and judging by the sounds of battle, or lack thereof, Dane must have finished off the red-coated sniper. Or been finished off.

“You still alive, Dane?” The hell fairy called into the forest, voice echoing through the smoke-filled grove.

“Never better!” Came the response, half-sarcastic, from not too far away. “Is everyone dead over there?”

“All the bandits have fallen to hell!” She answered smugly, starting to float over to where she heard his voice.

“What about the beast?”

“Ah...” she paused midair. She hadn’t paid particular attention to it. “Hang on I’ll find it!” With that said, she started to zip around with as much energy as she could muster up. Fortunately, vibrant white and blue tended to stand out in the middle of a charred forest, and she found the ceramic beast in no time, doing it’s best to huddle and hide in one of the still-intact bushes. “There you are!” Her voice was completely cheerful despite her hellish intentions. Leaves and branches rustled as the creature flinched. It shrunk in on itself, curling its tails protectively around its shattered side, staring up at her with large, yellow eyes, and no teeth. It knew it’s chances at this point.

“Aww, that’s no fair...” The star-spangled girl muttered to herself. It just looked so... lost and terrified and... Sorta like the hellbeasts back at home, now that she thought about it. And also now that she was one that subject, it didn’t seem as though it was like the bandits. Maybe it was just trying to survive, find a meal? “Alright, I’ll take care of you!” She said, her voice becoming muffled halfway through her sentence as she bit down on her torch again. She took another step closer to the bush, and the beast shrank back even more. Then, she pounced, hurling herself forward with all her might. The creature’s remaining claws dug into the dirt and it tensed up, getting ready to flee with everything it had. Clownpiece’s good arm curled around the cool ceramic of its torso before it had even moved a step. Sticks and twigs scratched at her arm as she tore it out of the bush and lifted it into the sky. Despite it being nearly twice her size, and starting to wriggle, she was able to carry it with surprising ease.

“Stop!” she ordered before it wriggled loose from her grasp, and much to her surprise, it did. She actually hadn’t been expecting that to work, but that meant it maybe knew a few orders like that. Maybe it was someone’s pet who got loose? That was a thought for later. Right now, she just needed to get a certain someone on board with her idea...

“Dane!” she cheered as she emerged from the copse, causing Dane’s head to jerk up. Her friend sat, leaning up against a tree, looking a bit like Cerberus just got through mauling him. “Look what I caught!”

“Good for you?” he said after a moment, thoroughly unconcerned and almost questioningly, too busy focusing on healing up his wounds.

“Can we keep it?” she pleaded, slowly lowering to the ground in front of him, the ceramic beast limp in her grasp.

“We?” he lifted an eyebrow at her. “Sure. But if it attacks me, I’m smashing it.”

“Don’t worry! I’ll keep it in line! Somehow. I never trained any hellhounds myself but I remember Master doing it sometimes. I’m sure I’ll do fine~”

China lives. And Clown’s trying to adopt him.

[China]

Trained? Hellhounds? Master?

China had never heard of a hellhound before now, but he was at least vaguely familiar with each of the terms individually, so could make a guess as to the meaning. Hell was the place where demons lived; he knew this because the Archmage who had created him had been both capable-of and fond-of summoning demons, in order to fuse them with various objects and lifeforms to create his new and interesting creatures...

Not that such a thing had happened to China, of course; he was just a drunken mistake... had he been given demonic powers, he might actually not have been so much of a disappointment to the master. Alas, the old man's magic had lacked the capacity to add new powers and abilities to his monsters after their point of creation, so when he'd forgotten to make China useful at the time of his 'birth', the Ceramic Beast had been stuck that way for good.

'Hounds' were a type of foods that the two-leg yum-yums kept as pets... and the scary thing in whose grasp he was caught had said that its own master had trained these things... demon-infused foods? It seemed like a waste of good meals to China, but he wasn't about to question his captor... it might take offence at that, after all.

As it set him down and turned to face him, he made sure to quash his body's natural instinct to grow a mouth; it looked (and smelled) just like a food... it was so near and so tempting... but he knew better. Yes, it was a trick! A mean, evil, nasty trick, meant to fool poor, unknowing hungry people into attacking something they couldn't possibly defeat!

And now it had said that it wanted to keep him...? As its own pet, did it mean? Like one of these 'hellhound' things? Did it want to be his new master? Was that what this was about?

“Alright, beast,” it said, its ethereal wings fluttering as it hovered just inches from his face. If he hadn't been so frightened he might actually have been offended by how casually it disregarded the danger of coming this close to him... but, well, that was scary things in a nutshell; if you're always right at the top of the food chain, why ever worry about anything beneath you? “you spoke earlier, so you must have some idea what we're saying, right?”

Cowering and crouching down to make himself as small and unthreatening as possible, China nodded quickly and repeatedly, “Yes-yes, me know how speak much-many words.”

“Good.” it smirked, “That should make your training easier.”

The Ceramic Beast winced at the inflection it put on the word 'training'. He really didn't want to think about what that might involve... “Yes, easy training please-please, me be very-extra good. Not need be kill-smashed, no-no."

The scary thing laughed, “See Dane? I'm a natural at this, I've got it all totally under control.”

“Uh-huh, sure, great.” the fast food replied distractedly, still intent upon whatever it was it was doing with all that rainbow light... looking across at it with some curiosity, China noticed that the yum-yum's wounds were somehow very slowly healing up...

Was that the light's doing? Now that he thought about it, the Ceramic Beast had a vague recollection of that nice little light which had saved him from Purification having handed him a globe of rainbows... though in his fear and confusion at the time he hadn't really kept track of what had happened to that stuff.

Seeing the direction of his gaze and perhaps reading the surprise in his eyes, the scary thing spoke to him again. “Oh yeah, we Primes can heal our wounds with Omnilium, didn't you know that?”

“Primes? Omnimum?” China asked timidly, never having heard either of these terms before. The scary thing cocked its head to one side slightly, a somewhat surprised and perplexed expression on its face for some reason... were the words supposed to be common?

“It's 'Omnilium', not 'Omnimum'... are you new here? Or...” it turned to its friend again, some thought suddenly seeming to occur to it, “is this thing even really a Prime? I mean, it's not exactly all that durable, is it? What are we supposed to do if it can't heal itself?”

“You want to keep it, you take care of it.” the preoccupied food answered bluntly.

“Uh. Fiiiine...” it faced the Ceramic Beast once more, who hadn't even considered attacking it whilst it had been looking away. He might have kept fighting had only the fast food been here to contend with, since it seemed just as badly wounded as he was... but fighting a scary thing was simply out of the question... there would be just as much point in that as trying to fight a tornado or an earthquake.

Regular hungry people simply could not win against such a foe... so he had resigned himself to his fate; he had gotten too greedy when going after the fast food, he was now fully aware, and this would be his punishment... whatever 'this' was...

“Alright, well, even if you are probably just a Secondary, we should at least make sure before I have to waste any of my Omnilium healing you, so let's try this; I want you to focus as hard as you can on getting better, okay? Imagine your body being whole again. Get it?”

“Uh... sure-yes, me-me do that thing, yes.” after nodding several times, China did as instructed, despite not having any idea why he was doing it... luckily, it wasn't all that difficult for him to concentrate right now, since his hunger had been subdued for the most part by all the meat he'd been able to snack on during the fight.

When the rainbow light appeared and spread out from within his body, though, he was so shocked that he almost lost his focus and cancelled the effect.

The glow wavered unsurely for a second, but he did ultimately manage to hold on... and was soon gazing in wonder as the numerous cracks which ran all along his battered body gradually began filling themselves in. He had always had the ability to heal faster than regular china (which is to say that he could actually heal at all)... but it had never been any quicker than that of an ordinary food's... even if this was still a long, long way from being Instant Regeneration, for him to even be able to regenerate quickly enough for it to be seen with the naked eye was nothing short of amazing.

He was so awed by what was happening that he didn't even notice as his mouth formed and dropped open slightly in an astonished gape... he also failed to pick up on the fact that at some point both of his disembodied right arms had acted on their own to instinctively crawl back towards their main body and now lay by his right side, waiting patiently to be reattached.

Floating down to the ground as it too began to heal itself with Omnilium, the scary thing (or should he be calling it 'the new master' now?) grinned at him... apparently happy to have managed to claim a fellow Prime for a pet...

China gets adopted. Clown & China are now healing themselves with Omnilium as well... and Dane apparently didn't stay passed out for long, but is still healing.