thebastion | Day 163, Closed

Entry tags:

Day 163, Closed | WE HUNT!

Who: Colin Starfury, everyone who responded to his rallying cry
What: Hunting a Gasfella for a fallen friend
When: Day 163, "Oh God" Early
Where: The Skyway
Format: Whatever the heck you want, we're all big kids here
Open: Closed to those who responded.
Warnings: Violence, oh boy is there gonna be violence. Also, this thing has killed one person already, so there's that.

He'd gathered his crew. He'd interviewed Rin. He'd examined Night's body, the wounds she'd suffered. He had all the evidence he'd be able to get here, and now it was time to head out. He'd grabbed his pistols and an ammo belt, wearing both openly. Also, he'd fashioned a bandolier some time ago to carry grenades, and today was the first time he was going to wear it out.

He wasted no time in getting everyone who said they wanted to come. He was mindful of the residents who didn't want anything to do with it, those who needed only to sleep and mourn. But for those who were going to hunt this thing down, Colin was there, waking them from their rest and rousing them to meet at the Skyway entrance.

There, he set out what was coming in what he hoped was easily understandable terms.

"Okay everyone," he announces. "Our first stop is where this all went down. We need to find more information so we can track down the creature. Rin tells me it was a BIG Gasfella, different coloration than the ones we normally see out there. She'd tried to talk to it, and it attacked them mercilessly. It didn't want them there."

His eyes narrowing, he continues. "So we're going there, we're going to find what it was guarding, and then we're going to find it. We are going to give it one chance to surrender, and if it does anything other than lay down its weapon and put its hands in the air, we are going to kill it so certainly that it will have to crawl into its afterlife."

He looks at Nanaki briefly, then he looks at Paarthurnax and Alucard. "Again I'm going to say... No eating this thing. It tore apart two full-power demons, I don't want anyone getting close enough for a hug, because that will open you up to all kinds of hurt," he explains. "We can inflict plenty of harm WITHOUT opening ourselves up to close range attacks."

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[The monk keeps rolling. The others don't reach him in time but Rai isn't about to just go over the edge. He looks like he is about to go over when he catches the edge. He yelps, the pull causing his broken ribs to hurt even more than they were before. It was like he was being stabbed by long claws into his left side. He looked up and hoped someone was coming to help pull him up.]

H-Hey! A little help here! Please?!

Colin's eyes narrow again as Nanaki takes off, and he mutters "Civilians..." to himself. But his eyes follow her past the Gasfella, and frowns, first at the sight of Raimundo's predicament, then at the sight of the Gasfella. Well, that's certainly interesting. Raimundo had both of those two coming to help him, he was well in hand. The Gasfella...

"Don't like that plan of mine, do you, Fluffy? Or maybe you just realize I'm the one giving the orders?" he asks, his expression turning wicked. "Tell you what. Drop the rock, and talk to us, or we'll just see where this plan takes us. I don't often give murderers a second last chance to screw me over. What's it gonna be, Fella? Gonna play nice now? Or do you think you've got what it takes to bring me down where so many others have failed? Do you really feel that lucky?"

He lowers his pistol, his feet still ready to dodge. He's watching the Gasfella very closely. He calculates the odds of it actually lowering the rock at about 2 percent, but he will not go back to the Bastion without saying he tried.

Honestly, he expects that rock to fly at his head.

There's a pause as it seems to consider what Colin's saying... at least, to anyone that isn't Kitten and Alucard.

...What is it saying?

Because wow, Colin, do you never shut UP. That is a lot of words, and it seems the Gasfella understands very few, if any, of them. Either way, it seems to decide it doesn't care for all that chatter so, yes, Colin, your predictions are very right.

There is a large rock flying at your head.

Kitten panics as she sees the rock rushing toward Colin, whistling shrilly. The sound may be mildly unpleasant for anyone hearing it, but Kitten knows stones. She knows the different types, she knows their strengths and her weaknesses The only thing that could make her fail to destroy this one is aim or timing, and she's fairly certain she has those correctly. She holds her breath, hoping that Colin will be hit with nothing more than a few slower-moving bits of gravel.

Then she rounds on the Gasfella, scales going red in anger and smoke streaming from her nostrils. They were the antagonists before. She could hold her temper. But Colin is a friend, one of the only ones she has here. Kitten is careful to speak so that everyone can hear her, her anger obvious. "He was telling you to drop the rock if you wanted to talk rather than fighting! It was an offer of truce!" A very rude one, but an offer nonetheless. "WHAT ARE YOU PROTECTING?!"

Edited (HTML is forever the bane of my existence) 2014-03-08 17:51 (UTC)

[Ippo saw the rock flying towards him and Colin, triggering an immediate action as he took a more streamlined stance...only to watch it get blasted apart by the small dragon; the noise she made to do it was enough to make Ippo want to grab his ears, but he kept himself focused enough to bat away any bigger pieces that might be left. This...wasn't working, they were still threats to the Gasfella, no wonder it was still attacking; as much as Ippo wanted to be a threat, he sighed and looked back at everyone.]

I don't think it understands us...but maybe it'll understand actions.

[It was worth a try, and at the very least it could only lead to horrific injuries; totally worth it, right? Ippo took a step forward and began to undo his Gauntlets, slowly setting them both on the ground as he raised his hands in front of him; both palms extended towards the Gasfella to show he was rather unarmed as he approached slowly and spoke even slower. Maybe it wouldn't understand him, but maybe it would understand the intention behind his words; or maybe Kitten would bother translating for him. Either way, his voice was softspoken, but definitely clear enough to be understood.]

Mr. Gasfella...sir. I'm putting down my weapon, I...I'm done fighting you. Right now...I just want to know why you felt the need to...to...

[His voice hitched in his throat, he hadn't exactly admitted to himself that Night was dead since the incident; as if holding off saying it would somehow magically bring her back, or that she would be awake and apologizing for worrying everyone when he got back. That's now how things were though, she was gone and she wasn't coming back...just saying it in his head was enough to make the tears flow freely, but he wasn't going to back down from the Gasfella now, not when it was right there in front of him.]

Why did my friend have to die?

"You idiot," Zuko hisses under her breath. She'd backed off after Ryu's ice blast, in part because she was definitely not expecting him to turn into that, but mostly because firebenders and ice don't mix particularly well either.

Now, though, she's moving back in, hoping to be close enough to snag this fool out of the way of the attack she's sure is going to come. Zuko doesn't believe those hesitations on the Gasfella's part have involved any consideration of not harming them; it was just reconsidering its odds against them. Ippo is offering himself up as an easy mark, and it'll weaken their fighting strength.

Nanaki lets the others deal with the Gasfella for the moment. With it's weapon gone, the future she had seen has definitely been averted for the time being. For now, she focuses on getting to Raimundo and grabbing his arm, so she can help him back up.

For someone who looks tiny, she has quite a bit of upper-body strength.

"Come on, I've got you."

[Alucard knows well enough that Ippo is a capable fighter even without a weapon, but... Well, deep down he worries. Add that to everything going on around him and he might just be paying a little less attention to his own safety than he should be.]

Colin's already dodging the throw when the rock bursts apart. Fortunately, it wasn't moving particularly fast, so the fragmentation isn't much of a worry, but he still ducks and covers his head anyway, letting the shards of rock bounce off of him. It's enough of a distraction that he can't tell Ippo to stop what he's doing immediately. By the time he lifts his head, Ippo's already taken off the guantlets.

Score one for insufficiently resourced actions.

Frowning, Colin looks around to take count of his assets. Three temporarily indisposed, one acting foolish, and a few more in position to actually do something. "Zuko! If it moves for Ippo, burn its eyes!" he shouts. "Paar! Nanaki still seemed worried about something from above! Watch yourself, but try and put a shot into its back! Tris! You too!"

He turns his attention back to the rocks, running a scan for biological and chemical presences. "Alucard, translate for me! Tell it that its mother clearly failed in raising it right, and that if I wanted to fight a giant, hulking, stinking half-wit, I'd have stayed in my dimension and fought Bulrathi!"

Finally, he moves his hand to prepare a grenade, and he starts towards the rock formation. "Kitten, with me! I want someone watching my back over here!" he calls out.

Edited 2014-03-09 07:57 (UTC)

With Nanaki catching Raimundo, he's nearby if they need a bit more muscle to pull him but, but Nanaki looks like she has it well in hand. Even so he turns and offers the end of his tail. With the two armored notches at the tip, it should be easy enough for Raimundo to get a grip if he needs the extra lift. Ippo's actions earn

He examines the rest of the battlefield in the meantime, steam rising from his mouth. He lets out a rumbling growl, glancing in Colin's direction. Most of his dragon forms don't allow him to speak normally, so he's hoping Colin will catch that Ryu is looking to him for what to do next. He's none too pleased with Ippo letting his guard down, but if the Gasfella makes a move, then Ryu can give it another gust of ice or present himself as a bigger target. That pickaxe may have been able to crack the armor on his back, but the Gasfella seems a bit less dangerous without it.

At the same time, Ryu can feel a familiar sense of displacement. The transformation will only last so long, so he's hoping whatever he needs to do with it can be done before it runs out.

She still wants an answer from the Gasfella, but Kitten would never refuse protection to a friend. Kitten stays as far out of the fight as she can manage while making her way to Colin. "I'm at the limit of my destructive magic here. I could perhaps manage one more spell, depending on how my first attack was classified. I am not a very good guard at the moment."

She thinks for a moment, then offers as she reaches his side, "I can make you invisible, if that would help." Unless Colin protests, Kitten will put a subtle and fairly complicated illusion spell over him, making him vanish from view.

The small dragon will also warn their companions of what she's doing, so that no one worries when they can't see him. Kitten can sense her own magic as easily as breathing. She won't lose track of Colin and can make sure that no one's attacks take them near him.

"I'd like that, but not yet. It needs to see what I'm doing," he calls to Kitten, amusement evident in its tone as he jogs towards the rocks. "I want it chasing me, rather than killing Ippo. Hold the invisibility until I call for it, someone else might need it more! And you can do plenty for me just by watching my back and warning me if something's about to jump me!"

To no doubt the surprise of all the naysayers, the Gasfella doesn't make an attempt at beating Ippo to death.

Which isn't to say it's actually calm. In fact, there's still that air of hostility and aggression hanging about it like a heavy cloak. If its attempts at weaponry hadn't been thwarted time and time again, it's probably obvious to the group that the enormous creature would still be making a go at separating their various body parts from one another. As it is... While there's still its fists, it's obviously not comfortable without a mining tool in its hand. To Ippo's good fortune, it just hovers in place and gives him dirty looks although its hunched shoulders belays its uncertainty.

Its gaze goes from the Raimundo rescue effort to Ippo and back again a few times as it tries to gauge the situation, not immediately answering Kitten's questions or even commenting on the dubious offer of a truce considering the OBVIOUSLY untrustworthy individual. The hostility radiating from it only seems to get more noticeable when it glances to Alucard and Zuko.

Guess which one of you are on its shitlist. Guess.

So many people to keep track of means it does lose track of Colin for that one moment, but the second it realizes where the man is heading- Kitten and Alucard are going to get a terrifying scream.

LIARS! LIARS FULL OF FILTH AND RUIN! GET AWAY, GET AWAY, IT DOESN'T MATTER, I WILL KILL YOU It whirls around only to crumple a bit it seems, one hand going to its gut. The momentary pain doesn't distract it for long; no more ax means less weight. More things to do with its hands. It bends down, fingers digging into the earth before it suddenly launches itself forward back towards the rocks its so aggressively defending. This makes for a faster way of traveling than just floating along, especially with the Gasfella's immense upper body strength.

GET AWAY!

If Colin can manage to ignore the giant Gasfella bearing down on him in short time, then his scan might pick up that these are definitely the sort of rocks that belong deep underground instead of floating in the air. There's also something else deep within the large piece of former cave- seems like the sort of composition Shards usually have. Considering Windbags are like pinatas full of Shards, this is probably not surprising. The energy of the shards does seem to be blocking something else, however... Hard to tell this far away even for Colin's advanced tech.

Damn!

[Whelp, that definitely looked like a clear case of fission mailed; the sudden movement snapped Ippo out of his sadness and on pure instinct he was pushing himself back to slide next to his gauntlets, the weapons getting snatched back onto his arms in record time...he'd had plenty of time to practice before they left after all. Whatever headway they had made...it just seemed like the Gasfella was more interested about the rocks it was protecting rather than being any kind of civil...whelp, at least he could say he tried.

Now it was time to focus on keeping the rest of the people here alive, and considering it was bearing down on Colin, Ippo acted as fast as he could. With a slight weave of his body to get some centrifugal force going, he leaned on the balls of his feet and dashed forward; his momentum carrying his dash far quicker than he might normally move as he dashed off towards Colin and the Gasfella. He wasn't worried that Colin could hold things down until he got there, but with this new hesitation in his heart, he would have liked to know just what the stakes in this fight really were...]

[Well, that escalated quickly. In a split second decision that everyone may come to regret, Alucard loudly repeats verbatim what Colin said about the Gasfella's mother in the hopes of distracting it for a moment. Yes, including the bit about it being a hulking, stinking half-wit.]

[Somehow, Paarthurnax isn't particularly surprised that Colin is the one to trigger the Gasfella into action again. There's not much he can do as of current. Ippo and Colin are both too close- if he were to use one of his Shouts at this height, one of the others might get caught in it. This may require more finesse if Ippo doesn't reach the creature first and if Colin has no tricks up his sleeves..]

[Which he probably does, to be honest. Still, Paarthurnax calls to his rider.]

Strunjud.

[Just that- he has a feeling she knows how to handle herself just fine.]

'If Colin has no tricks up his sleeves.' Good one, Paarthurnax.

As it happens, Colin has plenty of tricks up his sleeves. Heck, at the moment, he's got a trick in his hand. He's been cooking a grenade for a couple of seconds, and now that the Gasfella is coming after him, he breaks into a full run.

"EVERYONE! COVER YOUR EYES!" he shouts as he runs, dropping the grenade so that anything following him will run right into it. "FLASH GRENADE OUT!"

For a second, nothing happens. Then the flashbang detonates, with a blinding flash of light and a crack of sound not unlike a thunderclap. Colin was expecting it, and the sound is still enough to make him cringe as he runs.

Anyone looking right at it, or too close to it, will not be enjoying their senses for the moment.

And as for Colin, well, he's just going to keep running for the rocks. If nothing else, they'll provide a little more cover to hamper the Gasfella's ease of attack. He's seen these readings before...

Kitten closes her eyes immediately, but she still winces at the light through her eyelids, and much moreso at the sound. She leaves her eyes closed for a minute, blending her scales into the rock around her from memory; she can adjust it slightly once she looks again. This is pure camouflage, a physiological change rather than a magical one. She says softly to just Colin, "My hearing is also more sensitive than human, not just my sense of smell. I'll catch up in a moment."

She opens her eyes cautiously and improves her camouflage before taking off after Colin. He has a head start, and Kitten's legs aren't long. Keeping up with Colin was hard enough. Catching up is harder, and she's grateful for four legs to balance on.

[Thanks to Ryu and Nanaki, Raimumdo is pulled up and out of danger. He hisses as he holds onto the dragon's tail with one hand and lets the small but surprisingly strong girl pull him up. He makes a small note to never piss either of them off.

Once he's up, he wraps one arm around his side and another shoots up to cover his eyes when Colin cries out. A flash grenade? Where the heck did this guy get all his toys? Was he friends with Batman or did he come from some crazy GTA world?

Didn't matter. Even if he was hurt, he's not about to just sit this out. He looks up once the flash is over and waits for right now. This thing is going down. He just needs to find the opportunity to help take it out.]

As can only be expected, the flash bang does its job perfectly and better than just pulling the hood over the Gasfella's eyes. It reels back at the sensation assaulting its sight and hearing, unsure of anything. Under normal circumstances, it might even just plain have stopped.

But these are quite clearly abnormal circumstances so it doesn't. After that split second, it still tries to propel itself forward in the same hands-to-the-earth manner it's been doing thus far. The result is something not unlike a drunk bull: slamming into rocks at full force and floating about unsteadily. It doesn't seem like it'll be attacking anyone soon at this state, especially since now it seems just focused on trying to make its way into the rocky clearing before Colin does.

Still, if anyone wants to test their luck and get close, they're more than welcome to.

With that momentarily taken care of, Colin might have some more time to notice other things. They're scattered throughout the way into the heart of this particular patch of skyway. The bloody feathers of a Pecker against one little wall, the brutally cracked faceplate of a Lunkhead over there... Bloody clothes of Caelondian style shoved to the side. It seems Night wasn't the first being to fall to the Gasfella.

Tris had turned her head, closing her eyes and using Paar's neck as added protection against that flash grenade. The noise is a little bothering, but not as bad as it could be.

What the Gasfella is doing, however, is something she can interfere with.

"Give it space!" A twist of a breeze brings her voice to the Skyway, and another twist of winds has the weather witch altering the Gasfella's aim. If she can deflect arrows, or thrown pottery, she can make the Gasfella hit a great deal more rocks than it wants too. If it gets too close to Colin, she'll try spinning it around.

[Ippo's hands were already in front of his face due to his peek-a-boo fighting style, all he had to do was duck his head down a little as he skidded to a stop; the sound and explosion from the flashbang making his teeth clench. Thankfully it was a momentary thing and a quick shake of his head was all he needed to get his senses back; with that he was right off again, noting that the Gasfella was stunned and firing right past it to get to where Colin was...until he saw the grizzly scene in front of him, the very sight of it was enough to stop the young man in his tracks.

This--this was brutal. No matter what justification the gasfella had...all this death and carnage was just too much; it was just killing things on a whim without even trying to understand the situation. With every new horrific thing, images of Night kept flashing through Ippo's mind...the happy times, the smiles, everything he had liked about her as the slideshow in his mind was punctuated by her bloody, lifeless face looking up at him...]

[He felt something snap in the back of his brain, as if all the sadness, anger, and frustration that had been building since he had seen Night's corpse had finally built up enough tension to break his mind like a wound up rubber band. He felt a cold numbness take hold of his body and the chill seemed to extend throughout him, even going so far as to make his breath visible in the air as he turned around. The look in Ippo's eyes no longer belonged to the softspoken, polite young man that had been there only a moment before; instead in his place was the look of a wild animal that stood poised to sink its fangs into the nearest thing that moved.

He'd tried to be diplomatic, he'd tried to understand the Gasfella's side of the story, he'd even gone so far as to push all of his feelings to the side for this one purpose, but there was nothing left for him to understand; the low growling coming out of his mouth was a testament to that. In this moment, in this time here and now, Ippo Makunouchi was out for one thing and one thing only as he slowly advanced towards his target. Blood.]

Maybe to make up for her less-than-perfect eye, Zuko has pretty sharp hearing, and even if she managed to shut her eyes, her ears are ringing from that bomb. She hasn't kept up with Ippo, but she's still closest to him of anyone in the group, and one of the first sounds that comes back to her is that unnerving growl he's making.

Zuko isn't really one to talk when it comes to letting her anger get the better of her in a fight, but she's at least come to realize that it's rarely done her any good to lose her head like that. Sometimes it can add power to attacks, but it can also make a person vulnerable. Ippo hasn't shown very good judgement on that front already.

"Hey!" Zuko shouts ahead to him. "You heard her, right? Keep up, but keep your distance." She can't see his face well enough to discern whether he's past listening to reason, but she can at least try to talk him down from doing anything else stupid until she catches up with him.

[Although he manages to close his eyes in time, the explosion is still enough to make his rather sensitive ears ring even from his position farther back from the Gasfella.

He doesn't need his ears to know he needs to move though. His eyes are enough to tell him that their target is in a rather more vulnerable state than it was. They are also enough to tell him that Ippo is on the war path. It poses an interesting dilemma. Does he find a more suitable spot to cast from for the sake of keeping himself uninjured for the time being? Or does he risk injury for the sake of perhaps preventing others from taking too much damage.

Once he would prioritized his own safety. But now... Now he chooses to rush the Gasfella while it's still blinded to hopefully take it down quickly.]

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