[1v1] The Front Lines (Malodore & Jericho)

[Sosiqui]

Amityville was no longer safe. Recent events had made that abundantly clear. For all that Malodore had never intended to be on the front lines of battle, it was evident that the Hunters were not going to respect that wish - and the sight of Riley on that cot in the nurse's office filled Malodore with a cold fury that wanted out. It wanted to hurt the creatures that had done that, to make them suffer and prevent them from ever doing such a thing again.

Thus, the plague doctor had come to the gymnasium, after sending a message to Jericho in hopes that the dragon would help it. The tents that had filled the place the last time it had been there were gone now, but the signs of battle were everywhere. Evidently it was not the only one who had felt spurred to action. Still, the entire thing felt strange and alien, and Malodore made a vague swipe at a battered target. Plague doctors were not generally fighting creatures, and while it had done all right against the beings of JOY in Christmas Town, when it came to Hunters...

... well, it had no idea where to begin.

Blade Kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Quite frankly, Jericho was a bit surprised to receive that text from Malodore. The Plague doctor never really struck him so much of a fighter. Then again, that was probably exactly the reason why it had contacted him in the first place. Everyone needed more battle experience, even those who might take more of a healer or medical role.

It took him little time to reach the gymnasium, where he spotted Mal waiting for him.

"Hey Mal," he greeted, doing a few light stretches as he approached, "You ready for this?"  

[Sosiqui]

"Ah..." Malodore bobbed its head in greeting. "Thank you for coming, mio amico. I am not ready, but if we wait for me to become ready, we will all be taken by Hunters." It bristled even as it said the word, its wings arching outward slightly, the feathers jangling discordantly against each other.

"How shall we begin?"


((Initiative go~))  

[Blade Kuroda]

((Lol not going to beat that))

"Anytime, Mal," Jericho nodded to his friend with a smile before taking a more serious look, "And yeah, we all need to prepare as much as we can."

Taking in a deep breath, he looked over the Plague doctor, then motioned for it to come.

"You go ahead and strike first. We'll go from there."  

[Sosiqui]

"As you say..." Malodore took a deep breath, for the calming effect, then flicked its tail around. The blade on the tip was sharp and dangerous; it gripped both hands around its tail, trying to wield its own body as a weapon. "This is how I have always fought before..."

It jumped at Jericho, slashing a bit awkwardly with its tailblade - a hit, but a clumsy one. The tailblade's movement was limited by the fact that... well, it was on a tail.


HP: 40/40
Damage: 2  

[Blade Kuroda]

Jericho watched as Mal grabbed onto its tail. Hm.. Well that could work, seeing how it had a blade, but it was also a bit limited. This was shown as it made the attack to have him dodge most of it. Before saying anything, he lunged to try and punch the Plague doctor.

"The tail might not work too well for you. Your claws already look sharp. Why not try fighting with those?" he asked once he made his move.

HP: 38
Damage: 5  

[Sosiqui]

"With my claws?" Malodore curled its fingers up and studied the sharp tips as if it had never seen them before. "I could try, though... I do not like the idea of engaging my hands in such uncontrolled and unpredictable violence. A doctor's fingers are vital; without them, much is lost..."

Still, despite its dubious thoughts, the plague doctor raised one hand and swiped at Jericho, aiming to rake its claws across the meat of one arm.

HP: 35/40
Damage: 4  

[Blade Kuroda]

Jericho could understand Mal's apprehension with using its fingers, but right now, it was one way he could think of for it to attack more efficiently. As it struck out, he brought up an arm to try and block. His scales provided some level of defense, but the claws still stung him a bit.

"Ah yes, that's better. Well. If you don't want to use your claws, there's your wings too. It might be tricky to use those but they're bladed too," the dragon pointed out before stepping in to get in another punch.

HP: 34
Damage: 4  

[Sosiqui]

Malodore stumbled back from the punch, dropping into an awkward sort of crouch as it stared up at Jericho. "My wings? I had not... taken them into account, I must admit..." It spread said wings, as much as it could, the bladed feathers flaring outwards, chiming against each other as they bristled. The plague doctor's control over the wing structure was much better now, but it had no idea what it could do to attack Jericho with them. Other than back into him and wiggle around and hope something cut...

No. That would be ridiculous.

Pondering, Malodore slowly reached back and ran one claw over a feather. "A thought," it said, after a moment. "Bloodmetal is bound to FEAR; these feathers are as much a part of me as my claws..." It tightened its grip on the feather and yanked, hard. The feather-blade came away in its claws.

Then, in one movement, it pulled back and threw the sharpened blade at Jericho.


HP: 31/40
Damage: 2

((after the blade hits it will dissipate; bloodmetal is attuned to a single FEAR and it dislikes hanging out near other FEARs XD))  

[Blade Kuroda]

Jericho watched as Malodore plucked one of its own feathers. He didn't know it could do that, especially since the wings weren't exactly made of normal feathers. They were made of a special type of metal. As the bladed feather flew at him, he started to move out of the way, feeling the feather graze against his cheek.

"That could work. The blades are pretty small though. Would there a way to throw multiple at once? It'd help increase your chances of landing a hit too."

Since the topic was on wings, he moved back closer and attempted to bat the plague doctor with one of his own. It might have been an alternative demonstration as well... but his wings were considerably larger.

HP: 32
Damage: 4  

[Sosiqui]

The buffet from Jericho's wing nearly knocked Malodore over; as light as the plague doctor was, it really didn't take much. Still, as it steadied itself, it was aware of a tingle in its wing as the feather it had thrown reformed, though a glance back showed that the metal was now blunted and sullen, as if it resented the intrusion.

Well, it would have to deal with that. Fighting from a distance definitely seemed to be the best option, and moving FEAR through its wings was now second nature, thanks to all the work it had had to do to get the wings integrated with its body in the first place. "At once... at once..."

An idea came to mind.

Malodore straightened, then spread its wings as wide as it could - which wasn't very - and focused its FEAR in them. The bloodmetal responded with a tingling sensation, and the sharp feathers tugged at their moorings, pointing at Jericho - a bit painful, but nothing Malodore couldn't handle. "Perhaps... so?"

It swept its wings forward as hard as it could, and a number of the feathers detached and flew outwards towards the dragon, like arrows.


HP: 27/40
Damage: 10.5 so either 10 or 11 because I can't remember if you round up or down derp  

[Blade Kuroda]

Jericho was a little surprised to see all the feathers pointing at him. Before he could really ask what Mal was doing, they all came flying right at him like arrows. It was really hard to try and move out of the way of the barrage of bladed feathers and the dragon ended up taking a number of cuts around his body as a result. Damn that hurt.

"Tiamat's s**t! That was awesome!" he cried out, though it sounded a little like a wince, "That's what I'm talking about. Ow."

With Mal further away, he was going to either need to go in close or try for a ranged attack of his own. Right now, he opted for the latter. It would be good for the doctor to learn how to deal with fire.

"Oh yeah. Dodge!" He didn't elaborate before he took in a deep breath to unleash a large FEAR-infused plume of flame right at Malodore.

HP: 21 (I always round up for the .5's XD)
Effect: n/a (missed)  

[Sosiqui]

As Jericho expressed his admiration, Malodore was frozen between an absurd sense of did I do that and wincing at the sting as all the feathers it had launched re-formed in their previous positions, blunted from having their FEAR expended. It was an odd sensat-

FIRE!

Malodore dove away from the flames on pure instinct, coming up with its FEAR flaring. A hissing mist rose around the plague doctor, looking noxious and foul, but it met the remains of the flame and dissipated harmlessly. "Ah... mi dispiace," Malodore said, abashed. "Just... the flames."

Surely Jericho understood undead and fire by now.



HP: 27/40
Damage: none (miss!)  

[Blade Kuroda]

Jericho was fairly impressed with the way Malodore had handled that, countering his flames like that. At its words, he nodded a little apologetically.

"I know Mal. But it seems like the Hunters may use flames as well. It would be good to lean how to face the fire. Face your Fears," he explained before unleashing a smaller jet of flames at the plague doctor. This one wasn't FEAR infused like the last, but it would still do some damage no doubt.

HP:21
Damage: 2  

[Sosiqui]

Malodore tried, it really did, but the fear of fire went well beyond rational consideration. It was, perhaps, the most bone-deep instinct the plague doctor had. At the last minute, it broke and tried to jump back, but one sleeve began to smolder and it spent a moment flailing that arm about before it managed to extinguish the embers. Its retaliatory strike was uncoordinated, the flung feather-blade just barely nicking Jericho.

HP: 25/40
Damage: 1