[Instability Portal] Odyssey (Rikki and Ying)

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

He'd been on his way to work when it happened. He'd just been walking down the street and heading toward the maul, though he was hurrying a bit because he'd woken up late. That probably went a long way in explaining why it took him so long to realize that something was off. He was just about to cross the street when something big sucked him up and spit him out.

The sounds of light traffic and chattering pedestrians changed to the clang and clamor of battle so quickly Rikki felt dizzy, unable to process what was happening. There was a jostle and a loud battlecry somewhere and that was enough to get Rikki to move. He tried to summon his weapon, his first defense, obviously, but to no avail. He flexed his hand, waiting for the familiar surge of fear.

That's about when he realized something was really off.

It wasn't that he couldn't summon his chains. He'd been in enough fear stunted areas that he knew he can't always rely on them. It's was that when he looked down at his hand, his tattoos were gone. In their place was unmarked flesh leading up to fingers tipped with lethal black claws. He tried to give a shout of confusion and his lips spread awkwardly over unfamiliar, too-long canines.

He doesn't even want to talk about the ears and tail.

So he's some kind of dog thing. And he's clad in unfamiliar armor. And it glows. All this, and he's left without his weapon. He's lost in the pulse of some sort of battle, though his settings are unfamiliar. And hes's going to be late for work.

He did the only thing he could think of and scooped up something nearby to defend himself with - a battered old shield. Now he and his shield have to figure out some way out of this.  

[chiickadee]

Ying, like Rikki, hadn't been doing much of anything. Repairs to cloth, just like always. It was a quiet job, one that didn't require the hustle and bustle Rikki was headed towards. With no warning whatsoever, the spidery claws of a portal came and grabbed her, sweeping her away to a new land.

She met with a clash of a scales, tiny hisses coming from her head. Gorgon? She was a horseman- not some ... some minipet inspired creature. No. Jack no, was she an animal then?

Ying didn't have time to scream or complain. A battle was waging around her. Humans were fighting, and she had her place. Kill all of them, the pathetic things. They really thought they could stand up to her.

A flick of her wrist, and she waited for her bow to appear with confidence, superiority even. Her bow wouldn't summon. What.

She backed up to stand side-by-side with a cerberus. "Friend, I suggest we work together!"  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

Rikki wanted to respond to the Gorgon offering to work with him, he really did. But he hadn't really figured out how to work his lips around too many teeth. So instead he just nodded once and lifted up his shield to protect his important bits.

The enemies were getting closer. At first Rikki thought they were Reapers, which would make this some sort of reaper-monster war. Which, okay. But he reconsidered that, because it still didn't make much sense. But if they were hunters? That made a lot of sense. He could definitely see a huge battle like this against an army of hunters.

He didn't have a whole lot of time to think it through though. The first of the enemies broke through towards them, and he swung out the shield. It collided with the side of their head with a resound clang and the human crumpled. He was seriously going to need to get himself a shield if they were this useful, because hot damn that was effective.

He tried backing up, keeping the Gorgon in his sights as he looked for a better angle. A lot of them were getting through now, and he felt open from all sides. He struck out with an open hand on instinct at a human coming from his side and his claws raked down their arm, slicing through flesh like butter.

Claws and shields. Rikki would need to make a list of things to obtain.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

He shouldn't have gotten a kick out of this like he did. He stopped using the shield as much as his new claws, enjoying the way it felt to be strong and not need to rely on his weapon. Compared to this, being a reaper was like being completely frail and breakable.

He already knew that there were parts of this he wouldn't like whenever he got out, though. He didn't like the layers of blood that began to coat his hands as his claws ripped through flesh after flesh. It stained his fingers dark red and made him want to gag. He also doesn't like the deep, menacing growl that gurgles up through his chest and between his teeth. He doesn't know how to shut it off, like it's directly related to the rage and hard work of battling. The harder he swings, the deeper his nails slice, the more ear shattering the growl. It was kind of disconcerting.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

He'd managed to back up until there weren't so many humans behind him anymore. He suspected that was more because of the thinning ground than any actual success on his part, however. Still, it was a relief to be able to concentrate just on what he saw.

He lashed out with his foot, pleased to see that the metal armored boot was just as good a weapon as the old and battered shield. He felt clumsy, like he was learning to fight all over again, but at least he had something good to work with. It was pretty hard not to yowl out in pain when something pulled his tail, though, and the feel of tearing flesh from his resulting flail was embarrassingly satisfying.

All of this was making him wonder if he'd never done anything bad to Demi. Jack, he hoped he hadn't pulled his tail or anything before.  

[chiickadee]

Ying nodded back at the male, a silent agreement between the two of them that they were on the same side. Quite frankly, it seemed in this battle, everyone Halloween was on the same side. A fight to the death, much like on her home island. Except this time, Ying was determind that they would come out on top. She couldn't stand to let that happen again. Countless relatives, slain in the midst of battle. Even worse, some were slain without notice. They never saw it coming. None of them did. The bomb wiped them off the surface of the planet like a wayward speck of dust.

Her hair by now was a writhing mass of hissing, all eyes angry and annoyed. This body was unfamiliar, and her weapon was all but non-existent at this point, but she had two fists. Two legs. A nest of angry snakes on her head. She could fight, and she would.

The Cerberus companion she'd picked out seemed to have the same sentiments, wielding a shield from on the battlefield. Ying watched a motley skeleton go down next to, sword gripped fiercely in his hands. That would do, well enough anyways. It was rather simple, but had a circle medallion on the hilt depicting a giant standing valiantly over a pile of human heads. A rather strange picture, but Ying didn't have time to question it. They had to fight.

Certainly she was not well versed in the way of swordplay. Spears and bows were Conquest's specialty, not the sharp pointy objects of Death or War. She swung it in a circle and held her hand out in front of her. She would fight with honor and be buried with it as well.

"Friend, you are good at this!" Ying said proudly as her sword sliced clean through a human's stomach. She pulled the blade out and swung it around to cut another one's face. Surely she had chosen the best companion on the battlefield. Regardless of how strange the situation was, how disadvantaged she was, she was proud that this warrior was by her side.

A smile even came across her face as her demonic friend struggled to stay upright after a tail pull. Well dogs were never very sturdy to begin with, but it was somewhat surprising to see her "mighty warrior" flail around like a little scareling. "It is no matter!" she called out, trying to cheer the boil on. Battle morale was important after all! Cheerleading, really, but Ying thought battle morale sounded nicer and more important. She ran to slide in front of the dog, cutting across his tail-pulling offender. A wet squish as the blade met with the human's insides, the strange red liquid welling across fabric as well as her sword. She could have spat on the blood if the situation wasn't moving so quickly. These humans, tainting her blade with their stench, their being. It was infuriating. Did they know how much of her clan's blood they had spilled? Did it keep them up late at night, or did they simply brush it off and prepare for the next day's kill.

A snarl crossed Ying's face as another offender approached her. A big one, black hair and blue eyes similar to her own. He was large, but his axe was slow. It swung and inflicted great damage, but it was weak. Only a coward would take power over skill.

"Friend, I will take this one." Not that Rikki was itching to fight everything and anything that concerned her. They were both surviving- this wasn't a game ... was it? She didn't have time to think about it as she ran forward, a blur of green scales and snakes. Her sword slashed across the ogre of a man, deep cuts in his chest. As she moved around his oafish arms, her snakes took tiny bites of his flesh, pulsing a purple poison into his veins. She hadn't known her hair was capable of that, but it was a helpful skill. A gratefulness passed over her- at least she hadn't been reborn as something as useless as a skeleton or undead with brittle bones that snapped under the slightest pressure.

A shout from behind her alerted her to the enemies pressing around Rikki. No! Sure she had just met him, but companions were companions. In the fierceness of war it was always important to protect those who were fighting for your cause. She dashed forward to help him, cutting a few humans out of the way. That only annoyed the horde. She was a few feet away from him, and the area was clear. Good! He was safe then.

A spear buried itself in her backside. Her eyes widened. There was no time for any other reaction. Her own sword fell to the ground uselessly as the blood welled out of her mouth, involuntary tears coming from her eyes. What a pitiful way to die. Her crumpled form fell to the ground, and she snapped out of the portal.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

Rikki couldn't help a chuckle as the Gorgon danced around him, fighting off humans left and right and seeming to enjoy it. Like this was a sport. He rumbled approvingly at her and struck out with his shield to knock back another human.

When he turned back, her front was painted with blood and the pointed end of a spear sticking through her chest like a flag staking it's claim. He choked out a cry, and then the spear moved, jerking back out of her body as it's bearer retrieved it. Rikki looked up - and up - at his next opponent, a little terrified to note that the remaining humans seemed to be on horses. But the cruel smile that painted the man's lips sent a rage bubbling through Rikki.

He pulled his lips back over his teeth in a canine howl and sent his shield sailing off his arm and into the soldier, knocking him clear off his horse and onto the hard ground.

"For her," he snarled, kicking the soldier in the head.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

He slammed his clawed fist into the face of another human soldier and it crumpled, and a vicious roar worked itself from his lungs.

He knew that later he would think back on what he'd felt he on the battle field, because it was terrifying to feel this wild, but for now he was distracted enough by the flood of bodies and weapons. He had a comrade to avenge.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

The last of the human cavalry were going down, and Rikki dug his claws into the flank of a horse, causing it to buck and send it's riding flying. He could feel bile building in the back of his throat, burning and threatening to send him to his knees, but he fought through it. He could get out of this, he knew it.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

Rikki froze for a moment, staring at what he could only assume was the leader of these humans. But was he really human? He sat atop a winged horse with a glowing weapon, looking every bit as terrifying and surreal as those in halloween should, and he couldn't help feeling this thing shouldn't be attack them.

It was though, and it brought it's glowing sword crashing toward Rikki. Rikki brought up his beaten shield and blocked the blow, but the force of it jarred his entire body.

There was no way he could beat this.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

Rikki picked up a discarded sword, chipped at the end from the sheer intensity of the battle it had been through, and swung it toward the huge warrior, but it easily knocked his strike away it's own sword, sneering down at him.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

He tried to jab at the winged horse that the warrior rode, but just as the blade came close to sinking into the flesh, the warrior knocked it away and swung out at Rikki, sending him flailing backwards over fallen bodies. Rikki's arms windmilled but there was no keeping his balance. He fell in a heap over a broken and bloodied body.  

[DarkHeartedSorrows]

His armor was too awkward, too heavy, for him to right himself. He felt more than heard the heavy hoof beats as the warrior moved closer. The was thick, hot breath on the back of his neck as the winged beast bent and sniffed at him, and then a whinny rang in his ears. The horse reared back and the warrior let out a call that made Rikki's entire body shudder, and then everything was falling back towards the earth and the warrior used the pull of gravity to send his glowing sword straight through Rikki's armor.

There was the piercing pant, and then the suction of the sword being swallowed by skin and muscle, slicked by blood. Rikki screamed, but it all seemed out-of-body. He felt it, every inch of the blade that sunk between his bones and eventually out through the other side, but it was like his mind was trying to protect him, distance him. Even the hot, salty tears that ran down his face felt like someone else's.

He tried to work one more gurgling breath, but didn't even manage to release it before the world faded to black and everything just... stopped.