NOVEL SIMPLE 30 - Round one! FIGHT!
Four pairs of razor-sharp claws lashed out from every angle, and David was forced to flap backward to avoid them, then drop like a stone as the beast leaped at him. He hit the ground hard, dashing forward as he activated Glare preemptively before whirling on the spot. He was immediately rewarded with a notification chime in the back of his mind as the Ability finally connected with Thomas right before he touched down. The panther-ish creature fumbled the landing with a surprised yowl, falling heavily to the ground as Glare locked down his movement. David pounced before he had time to recover, and hit hard enough that Thomas grunted with the impact. David quickly slithered behind the feline’s head and latched onto his shoulders, delicately biting the back of his skull before Herold called the match.
“Point to David! Well done! Gentlemen, take your places. Best two out of three, you know.” The beetle boomed as a small crowd of Hatchlings huddled underneath his armored carapace shouted their support for either combatant.
They had gathered on the lush grass outside the warehouse shortly after Dawn, though Claire had elected to remain inside talking to Betty until David had woken on his own, at a bit past noon. He’d found that almost everyone was gone, out Hunting alone or in teams depending on their capabilities. Kai had gone too, though Claire had mentioned that he would return soon by the time David had woken. So, David had sought out Herold for a rematch, and found to his frustration that he could not penetrate the beetle’s armor no matter how hard he tried. This chagrin quickly turned to awe as he realized a straightforward fact that had doubtless contributed much to the people who participated in his ‘training’.
Abilities still leveled up if they connected with a target, as long as the target was the same rank as you.
David had received a notification that Nocturnal Strike had leveled up as he hammered away at the thick plates covering Herold's back and paused happily. According to Claire his smile had been ‘Grinch-like’, and ‘deeply concerning’ which he was inclined to believe, based on the simple fact that it had triggered Unnerving Mutagen to level up as well. After a short conversation with Herold, the elderly man had allowed him to continue raining blow after blow onto his armored body until David finally had to stop and allow his talons to begin healing. His progress on the skill had been massive, though not enough to rank it up, and he was quite happy with himself.
Thomas had sauntered over to ask for a spar as David had been sitting on the grass next to Claire. She continued to speak with Betty as he agreed to a spar and he thought that the two of them seemed to be getting along famously.
“What the hell was that?” Thomas asked curiously as David hopped off his shoulders and began to walk back to his side of the field.
David stopped and turned to face the big cat, “What, the Ability I used?”
Thomas nodded enthusiastically before shaking himself and stretching, the movement looking odd with the extra set of powerful front legs located slightly behind the first. David cocked his head curiously in return, unsure exactly what the man was asking.
“It’s called Glare, it’s in the Control category. Most of my abilities are Control Abilities, one way or another. I just took an Evolution better for combat, you know, cover all my bases and build on my foundation or whatever.”
“Oh, that’s neat. I don’t think anyone here except Betty and Wendy have any control abilities. Most people went for more direct stuff, I know I did.” Thomas replied after a moment of thought, “Are you saying you’re only using half your abilities right now?”
“Uh…kind of? I’m using Glare and Nocturnal Strike. The other two Abilities are...not great for ‘friendly’ fights. It’s why I’m trying so hard not to break the skin or flap in your face unless you’d rather be deaf, sedated, and hallucinating for a couple of hours?”
“Jesus man, what the hell is it like out in the forest you gotta come up with a build like that?” Thomas replied with a shake of his head before walking a bit closer and adding quietly, “I uh…I might come to talk to you about the hallucinating thing later if you were offering.”
David gave the big cat an extremely incredulous look and shrugged his wings noncommittally before quickly hustling back to the starting point as Thomas followed suit.
Damn dude, I know life's hard lately but how bad has it been over here you’re willing to snort bat-dust to take the edge off? Shit. I’m gonna be asking Kai some serious questions about things when he gets back, I know that for sure.
David glanced at his readout and checked the string of notifications that had piled up as he waited for the critically lazy feline to finish meandering back to his position. They started every match at opposite ends of the warehouse, simply because of the speed at which most evolved predators could move and Thomas wasn’t in any particular hurry. Ever.
–Health 90/90–
–Stamina 178/215–
–Dread Stalker has been inflicted with |Fear|!–
–Glare has leveled up!–
–Gained 3xp!–
–Glare has leveled up!–
–Gained 3xp!–
–Your |Fear| has faded on Dread Stalker.–
Wait a second, Dread Stalker? Is that the name of Thomas’ species? Shit, are you telling me that all I’ve needed to do to figure out stuff’s name is to hit it with a Control effect and watch the readout? That’s it, man, I bet I can… let's see…
With a few mental commands and a bit of rearranging David placed a second box of information opposite that of his health and stamina, hovering on the right side of his periphery, with only one purpose; to alert him when Control effects landed or expired. After a bit of fiddling, he increased the size of the text and nodded in satisfaction as it minimized itself into a tiny purple dot that he was sure he’d learn to ignore just like its blue counterpart on his ‘left’.
“Begin!” Herold barked in a commanding tone of voice soon after Thomas had taken up position and the next round began. Claire and Betty cheered loudly for each of them, and David briefly heard one of the Hatchlings taking bets to his extreme amusement.
Grass and dirt exploded like shrapnel from beneath Thomas’ paws as he went from relaxed and flatfooted to flying through the air in a savage predatory leap in less time than it took David to rise a single wingbeat into the air. The feline touched down like a feather and rocketed across the open grassy field like a nightmare fired directly out of a canon, snarling viciously in complete silence as he charged. David blanketed him with Echolocations as he moved a safe distance away from the crowd and hovered just within his enemy's range, allowing the Combat Expertise to build. Thomas closed the remaining distance in only a few seconds before he leaped again, soaring into the air towards David in a way that only other cats and deer could hope to match.
Gotcha, bitch!
David sucked in a breath as he calmly watched Thomas ascend towards him, all four forward limbs reaching for him with claws extended, a glint of suspicion in his eyes at David’s refusal to move sparking far too late.
David barked out a short but solid Screech, cutting the ability off after only half a second, the damage already done. Thomas jerked slightly at the unexpected attack, the pain in his sensitive feline ears causing him to close his eyes for a brief second in pain. David activated Nocturnal Strike the instant he saw the opening, the talons on his wings seemingly pulling him forward as the Ability altered his momentum just enough to make his gambit possible. He dived through the gap in Thomas’ attack and felt a single claw tear into his wing with a grimace of pain. He braked hard the moment he had cleared his target, rolling over in the air and diving straight down, his eyes locked firmly on Thomas’ neck, instinctually recognizing it as the only location that wouldn’t get him mauled in retaliation.
The six-limbed panther flipped almost automatically in the air, orienting himself to stick the landing and sinking low to the ground as he absorbed the impact before David slammed into him. Thomas was driven to the ground with another grunt and a strangled curse as David locked his jaws around the base of his skull once again and Herold declared him the winner.
“Point and Match to David! Splendidly done! Though, David, perhaps you may wish to engage in less risky strategies in the future.”
“Fuck! I hate fighting things that fly, no offense.” Thomas sighed as David once again hopped off of his back, “I jump, you know where I’m going to go and I can’t change the angle once I’m off the ground. Meanwhile, you flappy bastards live up there and just sidestep me three-quarters of the time. Any advice?”
“Don’t jump right away? Try and surprise us with it. When you take off like that every time with a big jump it lets me know how high you can go, and how fast. Flying is all about judging distance, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Wait until we dive, and then jump right into us, if it’s fast enough we probably won't be able to turn?” David finished as Thomas nodded along with him.
“What the fuck David, are you some sort of idiot savant at fighting all of the sudden?” Claire rumbled in surprise as she overheard his short explanation while the pair of fighters walked back off the field together amicably.
“No, I just started paying a lot of attention after the third time I almost got eaten alive and you had to save me. Plus everything is bigger than me, I always have to think everything through like that. I just didn't have a lot of practice before, I’m trying to get better.”
“Two times, you handled the fish just fine, but I’ll take the compliment,” Claire replied as both of the combatants joined her and Betty under the tree and allowed some Hatchlings to take the field. Herold marched around and paired them all up, before supervising the fights closely and barking advice or commands the entire time in a jovial voice.
David was about to reply with something snarky when he caught some movement above them and noticed the light glittering off of Kai’s golden plumage as he soared high above the park. He slowly spiraled down to the ground over a few minutes, dropping the heavily mangled body of something that looked a bit like a salamander by the front of the Warehouse before making a beeline straight for David. His icy blue eyes shone with excitement and he forgot his dignity and even performed a few ungainly hops to speed himself up instead of his usual stately avian stride.
“DAVID! YOU WANT A SHITLOAD OF XP FAST?! DALLAS AND I FOUND SOMETHING GOOD, BUT WENDY’S BUSY AND WE NEED MORE WINGS!” The golden bird was poofy, every feather on his body fully raised and the crest adorning his skull at full extension. He practically screeched the sentence in a single breath and left his beak fully open in his excitement as he waited for an answer.
“Uh…yes? What is it?” David asked curiously, flattening his ears to protect them from the sheer volume of Kai’s almost out-of-character excitement.
“Event Quest! For flyers! Hurry there’s a fucking timer on it, I came back to get you! LET’S GO ALREADY!” Kai screeched again before lifting off and rocketing away at full speed.
David was airborne and following in a heartbeat as he called down to Claire, “I gotta check this out! I’m so sorry, I’ll be back, I’ll bring you something good!”
“I’m glad you’re making friends, I’m gonna take it easy where nothing is trying to eat us for once.” Claire bellowed lazily up at him as he surged into the air, following the enormous eagle into the sky.
Within moments they had cleared the treetops, climbing higher and higher into the air as they swung out over Riverport and headed directly for the heart of the city.