smash_logs | In the jungle, the urban jungle...

Entry tags:

In the jungle, the urban jungle...

Who: Jon and Shantae
What: The big bad wolf has come down from the mountains
Where: City outskirts
When: Tuesday Night because why not
Warnings: Fighting, violence, destruction of personal property.

The moon took up literally half the sky by now. At least, that's how it seemed to Jon.

His body had never been transformed for so long in one stretch and the strain was more than he could bear. He'd managed to hold it together as well as could be expected for days. Weeks, even. But now that it had dragged on to months, he spent his existence slowly slipping further and further into being a wolf, the man he'd once been dissipating out of his clawed grasp more by the second.

He'd been left care packages to provide for food, but the thrill of the hunt was what he wanted. The mountains and even the woods were so bare of life in these days directly prior to all out lunar apocalypse that he couldn't find so much as a rabbit to chase down. Not where he was. As his mind wandered further and further away from him and he lost himself to the moon's whims, he made his way towards the lights of the city.

Lights meant life. Life meant things to run from him and fight with him and give him something to do.

He was silent in his movements. His Kung Fu hadn't left him entirely. His muscles remembered even if his mind was faltering. He could make himself almost invisible to both eye and ear in this moon washed world, sticking to the shadows and stalking his prey with an almost religious devotion. Strings of saliva dangled from between fish hook fangs as he readied himself to strike...

Had he been more present as Jon Talbain, Martial Arts Instructor at Smash Academy and less absorbed by the Moon, he never would have thought to attack this person. At least, not without a clear expectation set out beforehand that she was to fight back. She was one of his better pupils. He'd been pleased with her performance in his class, especially for having joined it later in the school year. She'd even done the required reading! Some of those who had been with the class from day one couldn't claim that accomplishment. He'd been proud of her.

This evening, though, all he saw was prey.

He growled deep in his throat, assuming that would be the last thing she ever heard as he lunged forward...

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Shantae was not expecting to be attacked tonight. Taking a walk that evening in hopes of clearing her head, she had hoped to calm herself down. She wasn't doing anyone any good working herself up trying to find the missing masks and the thief who took them, least of all herself. But perhaps it was a good thing she was already on edge. It meant that when the werewolf lunged at her, hearing the growl made her turn, rather than ignore it. If she hadn't, she probably would be dead.

She backstepped away from the danger, watching as the beast landed in front of her. "All right, punk, you picked the wrong night to mess with me! I've got a bit of stress to work out, and your face will do just fine!" She raised her hands and cracked her knuckles, not quite making out who it was that attacked her just yet, but having dealt with enough monsters attacking her home just to start shit in the past that this felt like another day at the office for her.

The wolf felt his claws slice into cold, hard concrete, not warm, soft flesh. And if he wasn't mad before, he was now, whirling to face his plucky little prey for the evening with an open mouthed snarl designed specifically to illicit a 'My, how many teeth you have!' response from anyone too close.

There was a part of him, though, that was glad she'd dodged. That hoped she'd fight him and prove to be a challenge. A meal that was worked for always tasted the sweetest - no matter who or what you were, this was true.

"HRRRRRRrrraaaaar...." he growled before leaping forward again.

"Professor Talbain...?" Shantae recongized him the moment she got a good look at him. But something was very wrong. Her instructor was more beast than man. There was a wild look in his eye, and another backstep managed to prevent another attack from those sharp claws.

He was trying to kill her.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but if you think I'm gonna stand there and take it, you've got another thing coming!" Shantae shouted, dropping into a fighter's stance.

Whatever was left of the man he once was, sat buried inside the beast and it cheered for her. That scrap of humanity wanted nothing more than for her to rise to this challenge and overcome it, even if it meant his destruction.

Better that than the blood of an innocent on his hands.

Unfortunately, the wolf had no such qualms as it lunged forward, teeth snapping at her throat and hands arcing around to swipe at her exposed skin. He was fast and powerful - moreso now than she would have ever seen him before. He was not teaching today, not holding back, and was powered by an unending, moon fueled rage.

She was right. He meant to kill her.

Well good, because she wasn't holding back either. And to prove that point...

CRACK!

Shantae's magic ponytail whipped about with a flick of her head and cracked against Jon's jaw with a sickening smacking sound to deflect those powerful jaws. She followed up with a couple more whip cracks as she thought up her next move...

Shit - that HURT!

How could hair hurt so badly? He checked his headlong rush and ducked to the side instead, trying to slice at her with his claws from the side. Her hair had more reach than his claws, but he was sure he could move his arms faster than she could move her head. No matter how good a perimeter she managed to create with that hair, he'd duck in and slash at her...

Despite her own power, Jon was still the superior martial artist. And she wasn't prepared for his side slash, taking the hit to the side. It left cuts in her skin, but she was able to pull back enough that he didn't tear her in two. "AAH!" she screamed. A flick of her head cracked him again with her ponytail, following up with several more blows after that. She had to put some distance between them to figure out what to do next.

Fortunately, she had just the thing to deter him from getting too close to her. She held out her hands. "PIKE BALL!" she called out, activating the Pike Ball spell and summoning a trio of spiked balls that began to orbit her at a distance.

Jon ran his claws over his tongue, happy to have at least made contact. He growled deep in his throat, getting ready for a more final blow when she made her spell.

And he was assaulted directly in the face by pike balls.

Not a technique he was expecting, and as he raised a hand to defend himself, he felt the ball smash into his fingers, rendering them broken and useless. His inbuilt healing factor meant this was a temporary setback.... but not that temporary. He'd be down one hand for the remainder of his fight.

"AWOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAARRRGH!" he howled. His coat seemed to come alive with blue fire and he rocketed towards her in a Beast Canon.

At least the pike balls had forced Jon back enough that she could see the attack coming. He'd taught her well, and she had quick enough reflexes to jump, allowing the Beast Canon to fire underneath her. Hopefully he couldn't change direction too quickly, and she could slam him with a hair whip from behind while he was recovering from the attack. She didn't even realize he had that ability. This was getting very dangerous, very fast. And with his killing instinct in good form, if she wasn't on her toes, she'd be lunch.

"C'mon, snap out of it! You're Jon Talbain, the best martial arts teacher I ever had!" she called out to him hopefully.

German Werewolf folklore was some of the kinder stuff relating to the beasts. In fact, the remedy for Lycanthropy in their traditions was a simple addressing of the afflicted by full name. Danish folklore, likewise, held that a simple scolding of the werewolf was enough to render the beast inert and prolonged scolding was seen as a cure.

Neither of these had worked for Jon. He'd tried them both, along with many and varied other folklore inspired cures. Most of them not nearly so gentle.

However, hearing her speak to him that way stirred something within him. Like a long forgotten memory. The same fuzzy recollection someone might have of a time when they were very young. A vague sense, almost like deja-vu, that something was happening that was special. That needed to be paid attention to.

The ki engulfing his body dropped and he landed on his shoulder in the street, sprawling across the asphalt and looking dazed for a moment. His head, with its glowing eyes and many teeth swung to look at her, shaded harshly by the giant, red moon overhead. He looked confused for a moment, then he looked sorry. Then he looked just as angry as he had before. He got up onto all fours and started stalking towards her, favoring his right hand with its fingers at odd angles to where they ought to be, thanks to that pike ball.

Then... there was three of him.

She got through to him. She could see it in his eyes, if only for a brief moment. There was still hope of stopping this before either of them did something they'd regret.

...Three of him, though, that could be a problem.

Shantae dug quickly into her pocket and pulled out a small wrapped candy. "I know you're still in there, Jon, and I'm gonna get through to you, even if I have to beat it into you! You taught me well, so now let me show you what I've learned!"

She quickly unwrapped the candy and popped it into her mouth. As the Twin Mint took effect, suddenly it appeared there were two Shantaes.

"Let's dance, prof!"

"Hrrrrr!"

The three wolves circled quickly, obviously surprised at the fact that there were now TWO of her.

If she was paying attention, she'd notice that each clone was doing the exact same thing as the other, but very slightly delayed. It was a powerful technique, but not perfect.

They all pounced at once.

If there's one thing he taught her well, it was to mind her surroundings. The delay was slight. She could tell which one was real by following the motion of the others... The one that acted first must have been the original. Her twin mint mirror had no such latency, following her every move precisely. Unfortunately it would only last as long as she sucked on the mint, which meant not very long, and she had no idea how long Jon's mirror body technique would last. She sure hoped she was right, because if she was wrong, that would be the end of it...

When the three wolves pounced, she and her mirror turned towards the one she believed was the original, and both cracked their hair whips at the oncoming attacker.

It wasn't a technique with a terribly long run time, unfortunately for Jon. By the time her hair struck him in the face and chest, he'd reverted back into being one Wolf. He stalled and staggered back, claws dragging deep grooves through the asphalt.

Oh yes - she was here to fight, alright. And she was good at it.

He was excited.

His tongue lolled from the side of his mouth and his tail wagged. Not that he looked like a happy puppy. No. This was excitement of a different nature. This was going to be a more challenging kill than he'd anticipated - he'd have to earn his meal this evening, well and truly.

He charged at her again, his body lighting up one more time with that ferocious blue Ki energy. He threw forward a hand, his claws seeming to extend as he did so, aimed for the clone on his left's throat.

Jon chose... poorly. For as quickly as his mirage body technique ended, she ran out of twin mint. The clone on the left vanished into nothingness as Jon's claw reached it, affording Shantae an opportunity for counterattack.

She whipped her head about to the side to crack him in the side with her ponytail. He was a LOT more durable than she was, and she knew if this kept going, he would eventually wear her down. She had to get through to him somehow.

"C'mon, Jon... You're better than this! You're my friend!" she called out again, readying another weapon in case the wolf failed to let go of his psyche.

Crack! That hair again! He jumped off to the side to try and avoid it but she was just too damn quick, and he'd left himself wide open.

If he'd been at all himself, he would have decried this as being unforgivably sloppy. Amateur. And what was worse, he landed on his busted hand, causing him to fall over, again, ad yelp in pain.

He swung his huge, shaggy head at her and growled deeply. He heard her words, and between the shock of being hit, landing on his ruined hand and the pause this gave him, he had no choice but to listen.

His name, he understood. He heard it more deeply than anything else she said. This was the part of him, after all, that had the hardest time accepting ideas like friendship.

A cold wind was blowing in from the sea, and with it came storm clouds, heavy with moisture that may become snow by morning. Even the giant moon had no control over this, and as its light started to diminish, the part of Jon that was still a Man began to fight back. To try and claw his way to the surface.

The wolf's whole body began to contort in place as Jon did his best to suppress every instinct the wolf possessed. If he could stay down for just a moment or two longer, that would give her the chance she needed.

Would give her a chance to finish this.

Shantae could see the hesitation. She didn't dare drop her guard, but as the light above them started to lessen with the passing clouds, she realized what it meant. Was he losing the fighting spirit? Was she getting through to him? He seemed weakened. She couldn't keep this up forever. She had to end it decisively, if at all possible.

"Sorry about this, Jon," she said simply, lining herself up with his head and lifting her leg to swing down a hard kick on top of his head. With luck he would be knocked out or dazed enough that she could restrain him.

CRACK!

His head bounced off the asphalt and he fell limply into the middle of the street.

If she was looking carefully, she might have seen that just before his consciousness dissipated, he managed to smile. Just slightly.

Or he could just be grimacing in pain... it was hard to tell with that face.

She didn't move for a moment. She gently nudged him with the tip of her slipper... Once she could confirm he was out cold, she let herself breathe a sigh of relief, losing her combat stance.

"Didn't make THAT easy on me, did you?" she asked, grabbing Jon's arm and making an effort to drag the wolf man back towards the academy. "Come on... Let's get you some help."

And he managed to stay completely Out Cold for the duration of her trip.

Luckily enough for her.

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In the jungle, the urban jungle...

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