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 Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 6:00 pm
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Kurama no Koishi generated a random number between
1 and 3 ...
2!
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 6:02 pm
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 6:23 pm
The Legionnaire hadn’t been expecting that punch, though in retrospect she probably should’ve, especially since she couldn’t help but burst into loud peals of laughter when Bataar began choking for no apparent reason. Well played, mosquito.
Her laughter was abruptly halted when she found herself on the ground of her bedroom later, a stinging sensation bursting across her jaw. She lay there in shock for a moment, before rubbing the side of her face where the punch had connected to make sure that nothing was broken. Somehow, nothing was. But Van was livid now—how dare he hit her in the face? Righting herself and jumping to her feet, Van bounded toward the window, grabbing her butterfly swords before launching herself out the window, blades flying.
There was little she could do about what she was wearing, but that didn’t matter much—at least it wouldn’t hinder her movements. She glowered at the Captain standing across from her for a moment as she planned her next moves. The last fight they had been in, they’d both been students, and they’d been on Bataar’s turf. They were on Van’s territory now, though, and she was sure she’d be able to claim some sort of advantage this time around.
Deciding then that there wasn't much she could do face-to-face with the captain—he still had the size advantage and, she noted, his sword was much longer than hers—Van thought to try something new. She ran toward the edge of the jungle that she now knew he feared. Whether she was leading him deeper in or farther out, no one could be sure yet. One thing was sure, though, and that was that even though the rainforest contained many variable factors, Van knew how to deal with most of them. “You won’t get me just standing there, Bat!” She still had one taunt left in her, before she ran into the dark.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 4:12 pm
Upon later reflection, Bataar would realize that punching Van in the face probably hadn't been the best course of action to take. Of course, there weren't very many other ways for the Mongolian man to channel his anger, and so it had perhaps been inevitable, for the most part. In any case, he knew as he watched her fall to the ground that he'd probably just dug himself a massive hole of some sort-- his own grave, perhaps. And how was he ever going to get out the jungle now?
Before he knew it she was launching herself through the air, weapons in hand. Bataar wasn't the most insightful creature in the world, but he did know that he was now in trouble. He drew his sword hesitantly, checking again for wildcats before taking up a defensive stance. He simply didn't understand why no one could manage to take his punches to the face quietly, or why they never accepted the fact that they deserved to be punched in the face. Fights were fun, but not that fun, as far as Bat was concerned.
In spite of himself, he found that his mouth was agape yet again as he watched his enemy dart into the jungle. He paused, his arm with his sword swinging downward as he tried to figure out what the hell he ought to do. As much as he hated being taunted, he hardly wanted to traipse into the jungle, perhaps into the jaws of something about his size. There was no possible advantage to grasp in this situation, and Bat knew it. He would just have to follow Van.
And so, with a hesitating step, he lifted his sword again and walked into the forest, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as the moonlight was cancelled by the thick canopy above. He advanced further, shivering at the sound of unidentifiable animals. "Where the hell are you?" he demanded, barely keeping the tremor from his voice.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 4:55 pm
Looking behind, Van was pleased to see that Bataar had taken the bait and had followed her into the jungle. She was several yards ahead of him still, and crept behind a large fern now, her footsteps covered by the sound of the nighttime jungle. The femme didn’t answer him his demand, instead waiting for him to approach her hiding spot. Because he didn’t know where this was, though, he couldn’t get much closer than where he was right now. She’d have to make her move from this distance.
Holding the blade of one of her short swords, she took a moment to aim at the captain, whose form was still dimly visible against the soft moonlight that illuminated the clearing behind him. There was no hesitation as she flung the sword directly at his abdomen—wouldn’t this be a great accomplishment to boast about later, if she were to kill a captain tonight? What Van wasn’t expecting, though, was to hear the clang of metal on metal, and to see Bataar’s figure mostly unaffected.
Swearing softly, the Legionnaire jumped up from her hiding spot and ran to find another one, for Bataar would know the general direction she was in now that she’d thrown something at him. How had she not hit him? Had she, by some ridiculous chance, ended up hitting his sword? There was no way he could have seen it coming. Van just had to curse her luck and move on with one blade.
Looking back every couple of paces as she snuck around, Van frowned when she saw her one sword gleaming near the entrance of the forest. She’d have to pick it up later, but now she only had half the steel she’d started with. It looked like she’d have to use what the wilderness had to offer to continue.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 7:09 pm
Bataar realized as he stepped into the forest that he had no idea where Van was. She could have been leading him into a massive trap, or just into the middle of the jungle so that he'd be perpetually lost, for all he knew. The thought was, to say the least, absolutely terrifying. He gazed around the jungle, his eyes attempting to penetrate the deep shadows in order to differentiate between the darkness and the foliage. That would be a start, at least.
He nearly lost his composure when he noticed a gleaming piece of metal flying straight at him. He lifted his sword, almost helplessly, and appeared to be rather dumbfounded as the knife actually hit the warped metal of his weapon. Bat's fear had probably saved him, and he knew it. It was making him uneasy that he'd only blocked the knife by accident, and he was only glad that his expression was probably unreadable in the impenetrable darkness of the jungle. In any case, he wasn't dead so he would have to count that as a bit of luck.
The captain charged in the direction of the massive fern, his sword lifted, having heard the whispers of a curse and frowned when he found nothing. The jungle was terribly confusing for him, which was part of why he'd managed to get lost in the first place. He grimaced, aware that he had indeed been led into some sort of a trap.
"Well?" he asked aloud, staring around, noticing movement almost everywhere. "Not going to come out and fight me?" he demanded, trying to challenge the fighter. If he could just manage to figure out where the hell she was, he might be able to nail her. Guerilla warfare was not his specialty, in any case, and if she wanted to keep sneaking around in the jungle like this he might not be so lucky next time.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:13 pm
Van was sure Bataar didn’t realize this, but he had just barely missed her when he’d charged toward her old hiding spot. For a giant brute, the Legionnaire had to give him credit for being fairly fast. This early into the fight, though, Van knew that she’d lost much flexibility as far as her options for fighting Bataar. She had one knife now, and she certainly wasn’t about to throw it, lest she miss again and be left without a bladed weapon. If there was one thing the jungle didn’t offer, it was swords growing on trees.
By the time Bataar voiced his taunt, Van had already begun scaling a tall coconut tree. She tried not to yelp as the rough bark dug into her hands and feet—she hadn’t had the foresight to put on shoes of any sort before she’d rashly jumped out the window—but the shaking of the tree and the brush around her was a telltale sign of where she was. Who knew, with any luck Bataar would think it was a giant cat ready to jump at him through the bushes.
Until then, though, Van would have to keep fighting. It was a while, but she finally found her way to the top of the tree, and straddled one sturdy-looking branch so that she wouldn’t have to worry about falling off. Wasting no time, Van took her remaining butterfly sword and began hacking at the stems of some of the large green coconuts.
When she had two, she stuck her sword into the bark for safekeeping. Juggling the large fruits in her hands for a moment, a bright smile grew across her face, though it wasn’t visible in the darkness. She was beginning to have fun, so she thought she might as well warn him. “Heads up, buddy.” And with that, Van launched both of the coconuts at the captain’s head.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:58 am
Bataar, quite frankly, had no idea where Van was hiding. He did his best to turn around and around, and to look here and there and everywhere but to no avail. The only advantage he had was that he knew it would be impossible for Van to see the anxiety spreading across his face. He was, after all, barely on his feet, having to deal with many vines and thick foliage underfoot. It was a distressing situation to be in. His sole comfort was that he knew she only had one of her knives and even that wasn't enough for him to relax into the battle.
He twisted around upon hearing quite a bit of rustling and looked up immediately(probably worried it was a tiger). A cat didn't jump on him and eat him, so he was going to assume that it was Van climbing that tree and not a leopard. All the same, there was absolutely no way he could reach her if she clambered all the way up. Bat would have broken the damn tree had he attempted to scale it, and he knew it. It took the captain a moment to figure out that the tree was shaking, even with Van's weight.
And so, even as coconuts began raining down towards his head he was marching toward the tree and, as awkward as it looked, hugging it. He swallowed nervously as one of the coconuts smashed into his shoulder pauldron, and bit his lip as the other landed upon his boot. Both would leave sizable bruises for him to have to deal with the next day.
It was at that point that Bat began shaking the tree with all his might, hoping that instead of a rain of coconuts he'd get a Legionnaire with a broken limb or two. As far as he was concerned, this was exactly what Van deserved.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:42 am
Van was sitting pretty in her coconut tree, smug as she heard her two coconuts land on Bataar somewhere. Apparently not his head, for there would have been a much larger thud rather than the smattering of thumps from coconuts hitting the ground. No sooner had the fruits landed, though, did Van feel her heart jump into her throat—the feeling characteristic of the scare of losing one’s balance and beginning to fall. The Legionnaire screeched (big cat, or Van?), grabbing wildly at the branch she had been sitting on as she fell to the right. Was he shaking the tree?
Luckily, the woman managed to save herself for a moment, but was dismayed to find now that Bataar was not the only one hugging trees tonight. She, too, was hugging onto the branch for dear life. Thankfully it was dark, because watching her environment sway back and forth would have made her dizzy, and she’d fall. A fall at this distance, something like 50 feet above the ground, would at the very least mean a few broken bones. Then she’d be at the mercy of the captain below, and she'd be easy prey for the rest of the jungle when he left her. This realization motivated Van to keep hanging on.
Slowly, she began to shimmy down the branch back toward the trunk of the tree, which was a much safer place to be than on the wildly swinging branches. Grabbing her sword once again, Van tried to transition smoothly onto the trunk. She’d only just gotten her arms around it when she lost her footing, sliding halfway down the trunk before she could dig her sword into the wood again to stop her descent. It was only a moment this time before she reoriented herself safely, for the tree was not swaying so much lower to the ground.
She smelled iron mixed with the humid rainforest air, and the sharp stinging in her arms and legs told her she had some ugly scrapes to tend to after this. “You are a ******** a*****e, you know that?” she blurted crossly.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:03 pm
Bataar was glad to have the first advantage he'd gotten so far in the fight. It made him feel a bit more on the capable side, at the very least, hearing Van's screech. If she came down now, he'd know exactly where she was, in any case, and that would be nothing short of a huge help here in the jungle. The Mongol was out of his element and he knew it-- the only thing he wanted right now was to traipse away, victorious and hopefully not lost. That was easier said than done.
He was beginning to find himself in a position of great frustration as he attempted to figure out why Van hadn't fallen off the tree yet. He took a moment to shake it a little more violently, staring up with an indignant frown as she remained up among the branches. The behemoth looked far more pleased when he noted that she was beginning to shimmy down-- finally, she'd face him like she ought to! As far as Bat was concerned they now had a bone to pick, and he'd prefer to do it face-to-face.
Of course, nothing could ever turn out to be that simple. Bataar frowned, his green eyes tracing the faint outline of the fighter as she took a fall-- and managed to save herself. It was a shame, but he could still hope that perhaps she was injured. He needed such an advantage if he were to win this, after all, because he stood no chance otherwise in the jungle. The odds were stacked heavily against him, and he knew it. It would take nothing short of a miracle if he were to win this, after all. They were on Van's turf, now, where the rules seemed to be far less outlined than they normally were.
Bat supposed he had dealt out some damage, however, when he heard Van's voice sound in the dark. "I'd be less of an a*****e if you'd come down here and face me." he growled, giving the tree another good shake.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 1:34 pm
Van clung to the tree for dear life as Bataar continued to shake it, even though her limbs screamed against the pain every time the bark swayed back and forth. The Fighter knew that she could not face the Captain below head-on, especially not now that all of her muscles were burning even with the slightest movement. They’d stand no chance against his greatly bulkier form unless he was incapacitated in some way, which, judging from the way he was persistently shaking the tree, he wasn’t.
Even in this perilous situation, however, Van still had the nerve to retort back, “Actually, I really don’t think you woul—“ her statement was cut off as the Captain gave the tree one final shake, and she finally lost her grip and fell the rest of the way toward the ground, landing hard on her a**. Van screeched in pain as she landed, but the sound was drowned out by a much larger, feral roar which was accompanied by an ominous rustling in the bushes just ahead.
The woman felt her stomach drop. She knew that sound, and real fear registered on her face for the first time during this entire petty battle. Forgetting Bataar, and forgetting the bloody scrapes and aches in her limbs, Van grabbed her sword and immediately began climbing back up the tree at a frantic pace, the sudden burst of adrenaline pushing her faster than she had moved during the entire night.
She didn’t have to look down to know when the tiger burst out of the trees below; the animal announced its presence with a thundering crash and another deafening roar. And as Van sat high in the tree, trembling from the sudden change in the fight, she was grateful that she wasn’t the one on the ground right now. Her fight with Bataar would have to take a raincheck.
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Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:47 pm
The feeling of victory that he was currently experiencing wasn't to be compared with just any situation. Watching Van fall was one of the most exciting things that had happened all day and he was more than prepared to end her life in a matter of seconds. He launched himself forward, his balled, ready for attack, when the growl met his ears. The man may not have been familiar with all of the jungle creatures that must have been around him, but the sound of this particular kitty cat was enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
Any animal that sounded as if it were the size of Bataar Jaoret was an animal to be feared, and the look on Van's face was enough to indicate the need to flee. There was no way that he was going to get into a tree without felling it and so there was only one option: to run. More than a few lovely plants and flowers were breaking underfoot as the captain charged in a rather random direction, his legs pumping at a speed that he hadn't thought possible. Bat had never been much of a sprinter, but he was well aware that now was not the time to trip up. If he could manage to lose the tiger, maybe he'd be okay and Van was as far from his mind as she could possibly be.
He ran until his lungs sincerely ached and ended up tripping over an inconveniently placed tree root, but by that point the tiger seemed to have disappeared. The problem was, before he knew it, no longer the tiger at all. The problem was that he was completely lost in an environment that he knew nothing about and it might take days to escape if he ever even managed. In that time, the tiger might come back, but Bataar would be ready to face it prepared. If the need should arise, he considered it sane enough to go shopping for a tiger-skin coat. Tony had better prepare himself well.
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vs 
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