Hunters of the Dawn [Mod]

[Ariane Ivers]

♫ _{Emerging from the fog~}

Despite her love of art, Ariane felt that she had enough of the museum for one week.  Or one lifetime.  She'd have to think about it--fire shooting tanks definitely weren't on the list of things that she wanted to see often.  It was true she needed answers, but a change of scenery would be nice for the time being.  After all, what was better for a change of scenery than a crypt most likely full of dead bodies?

True it was quite the flip from her previous exploration, going from art to death.  The difference was almost poetic, if Ariane was the type to enjoy writing poetry.  She wasn't, but she could of course at least appreciate the irony in all of it.

At least she was able to get a new jacket after she got out of work, one in the same style too.  It was a small blessing, she just hoped that she could manage not to destroy it this time.  Buying new jackets every day wasn't something she had planned out in her budget.  All she hoped was if she stumbled across any baddies tonight they would have the common courtesy to leave her wardrobe intact.  If not she would definitely be taking it as a sign to start dressing like a homeless person to investigate.  The corner of her lip twitched up as she stifled a laugh at the imagery--her standing in a huge overcoat and tattered pants, shaking a can of coins at a shadow as it awkwardly tried to walk away from her.

Stifling her laughter failed and she snorted, eventually laughing at herself aloud at her ridiculous imagination.  Gods, she was glad she explored alone.  It wasn't as though she knew of very many other weirdos like her, of course, but if she did she was positive she'd scare them all away thinking she was nuts.  Even though she couldn't put words down on paper her mind still ran a million miles a minute with silly imaginary scenarios.

Hands in her pockets, a part of her wondered if she should have waited before going back out again.  Her arm was still sore, and if she dreamed of punching anything with her left she was sure her hand would detach itself from her arm in revolt of it's treatment.  The Hind was with her, though.  Even if her body was still healing, she knew that part of her psyche would watch her back, despite her not knowing quite everything about it.  Despite being in this admittedly spooky crypt.  Just what made her think this was a good idea?

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

A pack of Shadows appeared!

Miss Maya

• Bufu
• Agi

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Light, Dark
Mister Maya

• Zio
• Garu

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Fire, Ice
Maya Jr

• Hama
• Mudo

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Elec, Wind

[Ariane Ivers]

For a little while, walking through the crypts ended up being oddly calming. There had been plenty of horror stories in her life that by all rights she should have been shaking in her sneakers, but from what she had seen as of late zombies and ghosts were pretty far down on the list of creepies. Odds were high that she would still wig if anything like that did show up, but she felt that the odds were pretty low. It was much more likely that something quite different would manifest, like the bird and the tank. Something like…

Well, like those, she thought to herself as her eyes narrowed at the two shifting blobs in front of her. They each had masks and arms, but not much more than that. The one to her right was smaller, but both gave her an equal amount of heebie jeebies. She tightened her stance, feet grounded and arms held closely in front of her. Both of them made the strangest churning noises that made her skin crawl, it almost sounded like it was coming from all around her. Chastising herself for getting ambushed, she thought out a plan. There were twice as many as before, but they looked much squisher this time around. It was a small blessing, she just hoped her initial judgement was right.

As she shifted her stance to attack, the ripping sound of wind filled her ears, and before she knew what was happening she was flung to the wall on her left. Gasping as the wall hit her already wounded arm she slumped, frantically trying to figure out what had happen. Neither of them moved! Was she that far off in her assessment of them that they could attack without warning? Struggling to regain the breath she lost momentarily, Anne realized her mistake. It sounded like the churning was coming from all around her because it was--there weren’t two gross blobs. There were three.

Holding her left arm as close to herself as she could, she regained her pose as well as she could, the wall now behind her. The third blob was larger than the first two, but other than that had the same basic appearance--mask, arms, body that blobbed into the dirt. That’s fine. She could do this. The Hind was on her side, and even if she couldn’t use her left side she still had her training. Ever since she had met Cery, she felt stronger, too. So what if these things were obviously supernatural of some sort, Ariane was by no means helpless.

What she did need to do was act. ‘The first to attack is the last to be dead’, and all that. Shifting her feet she charged the smallest blob, deciding to take out the apparently weakest to cull the numbers. Jabbing outwards with her right arm twice in quick succession, she connected with the shadow. It was strange using only one side of her body, but it wasn’t the first time she had to fight with a handicap. What she was grateful for was how much significantly softer this foe was from her last one. No solid steel to hurt her bones this time. After the second punch she grabbed her fingers in whatever purchase she could, in this case the mask, and attempted the same technique from her last encounter--throwing it. She didn’t have both arms this time, true, but it was much lighter, and she was able to get the leverage she needed. With a loud yell she spun, flinging the smallest shadow over her left shoulder and against the wall. It shrieked, disintegrating in a puff of smoke. “Well, one down, two to g--oof!”

Before she could even finish her gloat, the middle sized shadow seemed to yell, flinging both if it’s arms at her at once in a rage. It was her fault for focusing so hard on the not dispatched shadow, and it caught her off guard. In mere seconds she found herself on her back a ways away, breath knocked out of her for the second time that night. ‘This really isn’t a habit I planned on getting into’ she thought to herself, finally able to take a deep breath again. Rocking backwards she put her arms by her head and pulled her knees up tight, ignoring the momentary strain on her left arm before she used the momentum to kick up back to her feet.

She could feel herself tiring, and knew this needed to end fast. Sticking to her guns of culling the apparently weak, she focused on the mid-sized shadow, left arm tight at her side and right held in front. Shifting her feet again she pushed forward, pushing into the blob with the heel of her hand. As with the smaller, it yielded easily. Pulling her hand back she jabbed forward again, finishing off her combo with a hard kick into it’s mask. It followed suit with the smaller one, giving a short shriek before turning into a cloud of smoke.

Ignoring her brief inward curiosity of just what exactly happened to them when they were killed, she spun to focus on her last foe. No getting caught off guard this time. Except, of course, for the fact it let out an angered howl at seeing it’s last companion fall and seemed to chuck a bolt of lightning at her. Just barely managing to put her arms in front of her, Anne let out a disgruntled grunt as it connected, pushing her back a few feet. She could almost feel her hair standing straight out from her ponytail and she scowled, feet planting themselves on the ground. “I’d rather do without my ends being singed, thanks. I just had it cut the other day.” As she sassed off, the monster took no time to wait, wind swirling around it for a moment. See, that’s why Ariane was so confident. She wasn’t really alone after all.

“Cery! Times up!” Right arm outstretched as the hunter appeared over her in a sound of shattered glass, red eyes scowling at the blob. Anne clenched her fist decisively. “Bufu!” The Hind clenched her own fist, eyes aglow as the creature was assaulted with the ice. It screamed in anger before it exploded in smoke. The Cerynitian Hind glanced through her mask at Anne for a moment, tilting her head before disappearing as well in a much less permanent manor. “I think that’s enough excitement this week, Cery. I’ve definitely met my limit of getting my ass whooped.”

Hands back in their pockets, Anne turned to leave the crypts. She may have looked like a madwoman with her hair standing out in every direction as she talked to herself, but after yet another long night she didn’t care much how she looked.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

Success!

You defeated the enemy!
You also found: Medicine