[BATTLE PRP] [1 VS 1] Wolf Hunting [Gale vs LW][f]

[Kyrieko]

"You heard me right, dear Gale." LW sighed heavily, eyes flickering down her own body. "Genderbending. A swap of genders. I was stuck as a guy. Take your pick." She shook her head. "Not something I care to experience again."

The she-wolf eyed him, tail swishing. A very small smile graced her lips. "What? Don't tell me you've had to deal with this horror before?" For one faint moment, she wondered if just maybe, the Hunters knew something about what had happened. Like usual, things were kept kind of quiet - aka not answered at all.

Once safely on the other side of the room, LW allowed herself to take quick inventory of what all still hurt and what could be ignored. Leg felt bruised, but nothing more. Side hurt if she twisted at an angle. Otherwise, she could breathe still and not worry about pain. Good. She was alright...for now. As she watched him get to his feet again, LW recalled her spar with Tybalt. They had both been unable to determine what strategies worked best against their opponents. But there was one thing that they had learned. Keep a clear head. Don't let anger or fear drive them. And they fought best on four legs.

Her own eyes narrowed, head and ears lowering and hackles raised as she growled. "Well forgive me for not having any sympathy. But unlike you, I have something to return to. Recklessly throwing my life away is not an option."

Muscles bunching, she pictured her spar with Tybalt. Then darted in, snapping at his legs, trying not to give him a chance to stand still and shoot her.




HP: 28/40
Target: Shorty Gale
Damage: 4
FEAR: Y2 // Silence of the Bells {The Mind} - LW enthralls her opponent with an eerie dance of bells causing her opponents mental state to become unsettled  

[kuropeco]

"I imagine not," said Gale, tilting his head as he tried to ponder the very negative ramifications of this particular happening. He did not really care to be female, and he could only imagine what the rest of the male hunters - hunters like Bix, Marcus, and Robert - would do if they suddenly had feminine body parts.

The horror.

Gale quickly extinguished that thought from his mind, shaking his head.

And then the look he leveled at her was nothing like the ones he had given her before. There was a dark, haunted expression in his eyes, as though a shadow had passed over him, and Gale stood still for a moment, his gaze resting on the wolf in front of him.

"I've had to deal with horrors, yes," he said, in a slightly strained, hollow sort of voice, but he did not expand on it. There as a sharp snap as he stumbled onto a piece of broken wood from the couch, the wolf's jaws nipping at his leg. Gale did not need to stand to shoot, but having no balance at all was throwing him off. It was clear that she was not about to let him win this fight.

"I don't need your sympathy," he said calmly, pushing himself back up. "I'm not looking for sympathy. If I was, I wouldn't be here now. I don't recklessly throw away my life for nothing."

But a small, nagging part of him had been stung by her words - she was right - he had nothing to return to. No family, no girlfriend...he had friends, certainly, but other than that.

He was alone.

<< She's playing mind games. Ignore her. >>

Gale slowly stood again, the rifle held in his hands.

"Maybe you're right," he said, and smacked the rifle across her back as she darted around him. "Maybe I don't have anything to return to.

"But I'm still going to fight, regardless."




[ HP: 34/50
Target: LW
Damage: 2
Charge: 2/2
Charged Attack: Diamond Dragon of Fucanglong: For a limited time, when Jin is shot, tiny ribbons of crystallized ice twist around with the bullets, giving them more force and causing more discomfort to the target. Gale uses "The Battle Cry." ]  

[Kyrieko]

"Consider yourself lucky." She muttered low, mostly to herself. Maybe it was just who she was, but she couldn't help the small conversations or the very tiny part of her that was being 'nice'.

That look, however. Oh she was familiar with that look. Or one very similar to it. Some small ghost of an emotion very briefly appeared in the she-wolf's eyes as she met the hunter's look. She personally did not have to deal with such powerful horrors. Or nightmares. Granted, she did have some of her own. But that look itself had haunted her for too long. Then it was gone from her eyes, replaced with nothing but the creature she was. All wolf. All Halloween. Only a small sliver of the cheerful thing that she normally was.

LW was silent, the only movement she made as he spoke the rise and fall of her ribs. The slight sway to her tail. It was the only real pause she took before falling into constant motion, nipping and dancing around the hunter. One ear always trained on him, even though she did not speak again. She was listening. And might have felt a pity for the hunter had it not been for one image that fueled her attacks. Another that had carried a similar haunted look about him.

The blow to her back staggered her and LW snarled, jaws snapping swiftly to catch a corner of a hand holding that blasted rifle.

Finally, she broke her silence, to ask a simple yet complicated question. "Why?"




HP: 26/40
Target: Shorty Gale
Damage: 2
FEAR: Y2 // Silence of the Bells {The Mind} - LW enthralls her opponent with an eerie dance of bells causing her opponents mental state to become unsettled  

[kuropeco]

"I have never considered myself lucky," said Gale honestly, even as he was stepping slowly around in a circle his eyes fixed on the roaming red wolf. They were playing a game now, each one trying to get as much information as possible about the other, baiting each other back and forth. It was as if they were playing some demented form of chicken somehow, neither one willing to give in.

Her bite snapped at his hand, and this time Gale really did drop the rifle; however, his left hand had already shot out to catch it - an automatic, trained reflex that had him lifting it up, far out of the grasp of the wolf. Her teeth had left scrapes on his skin, ripping through the gloves and leaving dots of blood to appear on the white fabric.

"Why?"

It stopped him momentarily, her question. Gale stood with his bleeding hand cradled against his stomach, his left hand holding the rifle tightly as he stared at her.

Why do I fight?

He'd been asked the question before, of course. Asked it himself, by Jinhai, by others. Seen how others had reacted. And though it was...admittedly strange, hearing it come from a wolf's mouth, hearing the question come from a creature all in all was...not something he had expected.

Images flashed through Gale's mind, fast and hard - his parents, Leslie, Bix, Clarice, Eva, Candace, Caelius - the rest of the hunters - Ben -

Why do I fight?

A hollow, bitter sounding laugh escaped Gale's throat.

"Because I have nothing else."




[ HP: 32/50
Target: LW
Damage: 0
Charge: 2/2
Charged Attack: Diamond Dragon of Fucanglong: For a limited time, when Jin is shot, tiny ribbons of crystallized ice twist around with the bullets, giving them more force and causing more discomfort to the target. Gale uses "The Battle Cry." ]  

[Kyrieko]

If only he'd managed to drop his weapon...! She could have gotten a good hit on him. Or she would have hoped it was a good hit at least. The she-wolf circled him, the soft clacking of her nails heard with each step she took. A quiet predator. Yet, she was giving this...Hunter her attention. Genuinely curious about the answer to her question. Why? Why would a human become a Hunter? Why did this human become one? This...Gale. Whom actually tried to apologize for the actions to come earlier.

LW held his gaze, pausing in her circling. Would he answer her? Should she strike while he was not as on guard at the moment?

No. She would give him his chance to answer. Or choose not to and shoot at her.

The she-wolf's ears flattened at the bitter and hollow laugh. A sound only someone that believed they had nothing left would use. As his answer proved.

Moving again, slowly padding to and fro, LW's gaze flickered to what was left in the room to use as cover should she need it. But her focus remained on the human. She didn't speak right away, regarding him with...something in her gaze.
Pausing again, one foot partially raised, LW attacked. She ran straight at the hunter, aimed for the small space between his legs, and forced her way through his legs to send him to the ground twisting and placing both front legs against him. Pinning him to the ground.

But she didn't do anything else. Just stared down at him for one long, minute.

"I don't believe you." LW said quietly. "Someone that fights as hard as you has something left. You just have to figure out what it is."




HP: 26/40
Target: Shorty Gale
Damage: 6
FEAR: Y2 // Silence of the Bells {The Mind} - LW enthralls her opponent with an eerie dance of bells causing her opponents mental state to become unsettled  

[kuropeco]

If there was one thing Gale was not going to do, it was drop his weapon. He had long since trained himself to hold it, catch it, make sure it was near him at all times. Though it was not as if the creatures of Halloween could even touch it; it would not have worked for them, after all. But the rifle had already become a part of him, whether he liked it or not.

He let her attack him, at least in a way. He had dropped his guard and allowed her to weasel in with her questions, her steady gaze as she looked at him with an expression he could not read. The wolf in her was clearly evident - she ran for him, knocking into his legs and sending him careening into the ground before two large paws pressed against his chest. Completely winded, Gale stared up at her, his eyes still holding that same, dead hollow look in them.

He was still laughing.

"I have nothing left. There is nothing else. I've been left behind - and I've chosen to leave behind everything else. I am by myself, and I only fight for myself now.

The barrel of the rifle lifted, pressed against her stomach. Gale's face looked gaunt in the shadows that stretched around the rooms, and his eyes were strangely bright. It was difficult to tell if it was a trick of the light or if his eyes were oddly glassy...

"Being a hunter is all I have left."

BANG.




[ HP: 26/50
Target: LW
Damage: 16
Charge: 0/2
Charged Attack: Diamond Dragon of Fucanglong: For a limited time, when Jin is shot, tiny ribbons of crystallized ice twist around with the bullets, giving them more force and causing more discomfort to the target. Gale uses "The Battle Cry." ]  

[Kyrieko]

Was that what truly made the Hunters? Humans that were nothing but a shell of what they used to be? The only thing important to them now, being to fight. To battle her kind. Lone beings that came together to form the group they called the Hunters. Always fighting...

LW stared down, eyes shifting for a brief moment, a flicker of the kind ghoul she was showing. "Then I feel sorry for you, Gale."

Then there was white hot pain erupting. Too late she'd felt the rifle. Too late her mind had shifted gears to move. LW took the full shot at point blank range. A howl tore from the she-wolf, filled with many things, but the most prominent being pain. Something wet dripped against the Hunter before the she-wolf jumped with what strength she had left in her. It hurt. And her legs didn't hold her when she landed. Which wasn't nearly as far as she would have liked. She collapsed, which pulled another whine from her as her stomach smacked against the ground.

Jack...this...bad. Really...bad.

She tried standing, legs shaking as something...liquid slid down them, making the floor slick. Hurts...really bad... Skulls! She didn't dare change forms now. Not with a hit to her stomach like that. Craaaaaap! Oh man was she so in trouble. And not the obvious trouble right now. Ren was going to kill her. Ren...

Stupid hunters. Why had she let her guard down again?

Her teeth were clenched tightly, bared and gleaming at the hunter. She didn't have much left in her and LW knew it. But damn it, she was not going to let him walk away in one piece either! Forcing her legs to lock, to stay steady and not slip, LW used what little she had left in her to make a risky attack. Another straight on assault. But she couldn't jump. And muscles failed where she needed power to back her in ramming. So she went with the part of her that always worked.

LW sunk her teeth in his hip (it was the easiest thing to grab) and locked her jaws. Clearly, she was not letting go unless he finished the job. Or the pain became unbearable. OhJack...it hurts...




HP: 10/40
Target: Shorty Gale
Damage: 8
FEAR: Y2 // Silence of the Bells {The Mind} - LW enthralls her opponent with an eerie dance of bells causing her opponents mental state to become unsettled  

[kuropeco]

He had wanted to say he was sorry again, but the words had died in his throat too easily, too fast. Gale did not need, nor did he want his pity, and even as he was pressing the barrel of the rifle into the wolf's stomach he closed his eyes against it, felt the cold ice seeping up the metal. Jinhai made a soft noise just before he let go, and the shot was spot on. Ice and sulfur exploded beneath the vulnerable underside of the wolf, and the howl she sent out was ear splitting and spine tingling.

Gale rolled over, clutching his rifle tightly, trying to ignore the emotions raging inside of his brain. He began to crawl away, back onto his feet, but he knew he would not get far. She was too stubborn of a creature to just let him walk away.

Her teeth sank into his hip, and Gale just barely held back the scream. As it was, he merely grunted, but pain shot up and down his body, red hot and making it extremely difficult to move. He lay there for a moment, immobilized, the same strange, hollow laughter bubbling out of his throat once again.

"Don't feel sorry for me, darling. I'm not worth it."




[ HP: 18/50
Target: LW
Damage: 0
Charge: 0/2
Charged Attack: Diamond Dragon of Fucanglong: For a limited time, when Jin is shot, tiny ribbons of crystallized ice twist around with the bullets, giving them more force and causing more discomfort to the target. Gale uses "The Battle Cry." ]  

[Kyrieko]

Her legs threatened to send her to the floor again. But she would not allow herself to be any more vulnerable than she already was. Locking her leg muscles, LW closed her eyes until they were slits, protecting her face should any hits come. But every breath she took, every beat of her hurt, sent waves of pain through her body. Not long. She wouldn't be able to hold on long. The pain was already making her eyes water.

The hit didn't come. Not yet. But she expected it. Every fur stood on end, body trembling from her effort to stay standing. To keep her death grip on his hip.

...Maybe she should just let go. Wait out the end of the battle. The werewolf ghoul had already resigned herself to how this would end. And having the all too familiar darkness engulf her would be much preferred to this...white hot, yet strangely cold, pain.

Then she heard that laugh. And his words. LW growled. Low in her chest. Only able to release her grip slightly and sink her teeth in a little farther. Her options were, not very good. As a wolf, she could use her strength, agility, fangs and claws. But all were halved or impossible with the major wound to her stomach. It reduced all motions, sapped her strength, and ensured that she could not shift forms.

At least my fur is crimson...and I can't see how bad it actually is. She thought weakly to herself.




HP: 10/40
Target: Shorty Gale
Damage: 2
FEAR: Y2 // Silence of the Bells {The Mind} - LW enthralls her opponent with an eerie dance of bells causing her opponents mental state to become unsettled  

[kuropeco]

He had been burned alive before - that had been probably the worst and most painful experience of his entire life, and nothing could have compared to that. But having someone - a wolf - sink its teeth into his hip; one of the most sensitive and crucial parts of the body - was a very close second, and Gale was only just barely keeping from writhing in pure agony. Every little move he made sent ricochets of pain up and down his entire body, and his legs felt heavy, his fingers trembling just the slightest.

Jinhai.

<< You'll be okay. Hang in there. >>

They squabbled a lot; bickered and quarreled like two children who were trying to play with the same toy. Jinhai enjoyed teasing him, and Gale enjoyed provoking him. But when it came down to it, they both knew when it was the time to make light and when it was the time to be serious.

And now was one of those times. Now was the moment when it became necessary for Jinhai to lapse into his calm, collected face and be the voice in Gale's head that he needed to be, to work together with each other to survive.

Because that's what he needed - to survive. For what, he still didn't know.

"Let...go..." Gale hissed through his teeth, more to himself, than to her, a few drops of sweat sliding down his face. It was taking a great deal of effort to simply move, and as he shifted his leg, attempting a rather pathetic kick at the wolf's side, he gave another grunt of pain.

"You won't kill me."




[ HP: 16/50
Target: LW
Damage: 1
Charge: 1/2
Charged Attack: Diamond Dragon of Fucanglong: For a limited time, when Jin is shot, tiny ribbons of crystallized ice twist around with the bullets, giving them more force and causing more discomfort to the target. Gale uses "The Battle Cry." ]  

[Kyrieko]

Half of her back legs felt numb and now her stomach churned nauseatingly. But still she held on. To release her hold would mean she admitted defeat. Something that seemed like a welcoming options right now. But clearly, she'd been hanging around a few certain boils for too long. And the stubborn resistance to accept true defeat or call it quits just yet was about the only thing keeping her from giving up.

That and the pain forming in her jaw from holding on so tightly was a nice distraction from the other, more serious pain.

At least she was hurting him too, right? Maybe. Oh Jack why her head felt dizzy. She couldn't think very well either. And her eyes had snapped shut to keep them from watering. And the blurred dancing of her vision from making her feel sick.

His pathetic kick didn't do much, really. But it hit her side and stomach. It was enough to make her gut convulse and she couldn't hang on anymore. The pain that raced through her body made LW shudder and her grip released his hip as she gasped. Just..end it....NO! No she was not...couldn't lose now.

"And I'm...not going...down alone!" The she-wolf gasped. She struck his arm this time. Near that Jack damned rifle. If she had any luck left, maybe he couldn't hold it properly. Or she could insure that it was difficult. Her jaws clenched as tight as she could on his arm, hoping to here that oh so sweet crack....

Her foot slipped in the blood that was a mix of wolf and human and she ended up slamming into the Hunter painfully, another cry escaping. Jackdamnit!




HP: 9/40
Target: Shorty Gale
Damage: 6
FEAR: Y2 // Silence of the Bells {The Mind} - LW enthralls her opponent with an eerie dance of bells causing her opponents mental state to become unsettled  

[kuropeco]

She let go of his hip, which was such a relief that Gale felt as though he were going to pass out from the pain.

But then it was back again as her teeth clamped down on his arm this time, and Gale only just barely managed to stifle the shout of pain as bile filled his throat. His head was spinning, his vision swimming in and out in front of him, going from black to white and back again.

But the laughter was still there - bitter, hollow, and deadened, as though he couldn't quite control it. It might have almost sounded hysterical, but it did not have the energy, Gale's hair falling in damp, sweat and blood soaked strands over his face.

"If you think I'm 'going down' with you, you're sadly mistaken."




[ HP: 10/50
Target: LW
Damage: ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME
Charge: 1/2
Charged Attack: Diamond Dragon of Fucanglong: For a limited time, when Jin is shot, tiny ribbons of crystallized ice twist around with the bullets, giving them more force and causing more discomfort to the target. Gale uses "The Battle Cry." ]  

[Kyrieko]

She just laid there. Breathing labored and mind swimming in a sea of burning and freezing sensations all at once. She was supposed to be doing something...fighting. Winning. Losing. Did it even matter now? Just give up. Her mind whispered. But another, much louder part, screeched at the thought.

And the laughter. She hated it. It's sound. The hollowness behind it. How it reminded her of all the suffering Ren had done.

"No." She wheezed, feet shaking as she forced herself to move off of this Hunter - although he was kind of squishy and comfy...like those pillows over there....

She wanted one of those pillows. Would it be possible to steal one?

No wait. That was so not what she needed to think about right now. Though they would make a nice addition to her collection. No, Jackdamnit!

"NO." The she-wolf repeated, standing on trembling legs and panting heavily. "I'm not." She wheezed and then threw all of her weight and strength into one last blow, bodily slamming into him as claws raked whatever they hit. Massive pain flared, but LW ignored it, shoving it back. Just one last hit. That was all she asked of her body now.




HP: 9/40
Target: Shorty Gale
Damage: 10
FEAR: Y2 // Silence of the Bells {The Mind} - LW enthralls her opponent with an eerie dance of bells causing her opponents mental state to become unsettled  

[kuropeco]

Gale could feel himself starting to drift off into unconsciousness even as she was snapping her jaws at him, red smearing across his line of vision. Jinhai was making quiet, reassuring noises in his head, noises that might have been words, but Gale was not exactly listening to them well enough to understand them.

She was a tough one, this wolf - her last attack was a determined, desperate one as she flung herself at him, her teeth clicking together, a horrible growling noise filling Gale's ears.

He was still laughing, even as his bloodied, bruised hand reached up to his collar and pulled out a familiar object hidden just beneath his shirt.

"It's been a pleasure. I do hope I see you again sometime"

His fingers closed around the pendant, and with a last look at the wolf, Gale disappeared in a flash of white light into nothingness.
 

[Kyrieko]

She just let herself collapse where she landed after her final and desperate attempt. Her body was screaming at her that there was nothing else she could do. To just curl up right there and die. Or sleep. Whichever one came first.

He was still laughing, she realized. But LW didn't care any longer. Her ear flickered towards him, but that was it.

And then his parting words...and the Hunter was gone.

The she-wolf gave a great sigh, just laying there. Not moving. Why couldn't one of the pillows be closer...? Someone carry her to the pillow please! Maybe.

Waitaminute.

LW groaned and cursed this place up one side and down the other. And that hunter - Gale - too. OhJackdamnit! If she was getting out of this place...she was doing it on her own feet. Oh for the love of-

"I hate Hunters!" She whined, mustering up whatever reserves of strength she could to get to her feet. Shakily and with a lot of pain (and cursing), LW got her furry butt out of there. Before something else jumped out and attacked her.