Dristek, after a long and infuriating trial, where, in standard imperialist fashion, she had no right to speak, she was short-tempered and unhappy. She had been accused of murder, by High Admiral Zane. The trial had ended quickly, she had no defense and several pieces of evidence against her. But Zane had made an error, potentially a fatal one. As she had been lifted out of her cage and was taken to the platform where she would be hung, she had loudly spoken out against the system of Imperialist law. Zane quickly grew tired of this. "Shut up, deadbeast." Dristek allowed a thin smile to cross her face. "I am a prisoner, and a doomed one, to be treated with respect. You have just insulted me, not allowing me to die with honor. I am within my rights to challenge you to a duel, and I shall. If I win, I gain my freedom and you lose your office. If you win, I die."
And so she stood, with Admiral Zane charging at her with his sabre and prod.
OOC: So sorry I took ages to put this up. The first two times I tried, it got deleted and I got frustrated. Now we can finally kill each other :D
The stocky otter stood her ground, paw on sword hilt, and glared coldly at the creature who had ruined her life. Even if she won this duel and was freed, nobeast would trust her. Why would they? She was a convicted murderer. Not that she technically committed a crime- the beast had been trying to kill her. But he had been a high-ranking Imperialist. Which, of course, meant that he was above scrutiny, which made her a cold-blooded killer in other beasts' eyes.
When the Admiral was within striking distance, Dritsek made her move. In one swift, fluid motion, she unsheathed her scimitar, slashing up and across her torso. Zane would pay for his actions in blood.
Zane had been half-expecting this move. He blocked her strike with his prod, spun around and struck at the back of her neck with his sabre, simultaniously releasing a high-power zap from his prod and, if he had judged correctly, up the cutlass and the arm of the beast holding it.
Another crazybeast crying out for their life, he thought. This will be over quickly.
Dritsek, instead of fighting the block, slid her blade down the length of Zane's prod and toward his fingers. To lend it more force, she stepped forward- and narrowly avoided a fatal strike from the dog's saber. It hit mostly with the flat, though the sword's edge did leave a scratch along her shoulder blades. Before she had time to react to this, however, the electricity from Zane's prod hit her. It shot up her blade and into her arms. She hung on gamely, refusing to let go of her weapon, though the shock felt like a living thing, trying to rip her to pieces. And it did succeed in shoving her backwards a few steps.
Arms still buzzing, the otter switched her scimitar to one paw and drew her stun-gun. Not taking particular aim, she fired at Zane and shoved the gun back in its holster. She placed both paws on her sword hilt again, resuming a defensive stance.
A skillfully-fired tendril of electricity deflected the bullet, though he misjudged and it grazed his boot. He felt no real pain, but his food started to go numb. After a few moments, the feeling faded away. On part of the prod, was fitted a hopper of sorts, powered by clockwork rather than gravity. When he moved his hand a certain way, a small copper and zinc disc, with harmless-looking barbs, slid out of the mechanism and into a sort of grasp at the end of the prod. With a quick 'Zap!' the disk was charged, electricity arcing between its myriad spines. Zane knew it would not hold a charge for very long, so he slung his arm, and the prod along with it, in Dristek's direction. The disc smoothly slid out, and was propelled, spinning, towards the otter. It was not very accurate, but it was a very efficient way of incapacitating enemies at a greater range than he could with a simple zap. Three more of these projectiles in quick succession, only the most agile of creatures could dodge this, the wretched little murderer didn't stand a chance. Unless he had underestimated her. He had only underestimated an opponent once, and that had had disastrous consequences.
OOC: Quick question- were the disk-things all fired in the same small area, or in more of a general space? It will definitely affect how Dritsek responds, and I don't want to walk all over your intentions.
OOC: They were all aimed directly at Dristek, but they're not very accurate- feel free to PP them as misses, or as dodges, or whatever. :)
OOC: All righty then.
BIC: Dritsek saw the first coming and simply side-stepped it, mock disappointment clear on her face. Then three more followed. They spread in such a way as to make it impossible for the otter to dodge all of them. Unless... She abruptly dropped to one knee and bowed her head, letting the discs pass her by. Even so, they were uncomfortably close, and one even clipped her ear. She gritted her teeth, determined not to let Zane see her in pain, and got quickly back to her paws.
"I'm afraid you'll have to come a bit closer if you want to damage me, coward. Show me how well you wield that fancy blade of yours- if you even can."
"Alright, Dristek, let's see how good you are with a blade." The Admiral held his prod above his head as if it was a ring knife- a left hand dagger, for fencing. However, this was much more effective than a dagger- He didn't even have to make contact. He rushed forward, and began tapping her cutlass with his sabre- Not hard, only hard enough to prevent her from accurately striking. He liked fighting this way- the otter had made a mistake. He continued his defensive strikes, but followed them with a strong, heavy, thrust with the prod. If he had aimed correctly, then her dominant shoulder, the one she held her sword in, would be completely destroyed- a localized high-amperage zap could do a lot. It might even knock her out.
Zane was up to something. What was with all the soft, petty strikes? Dritsek ought to cut right through them- ah. The prod flashed toward her shoulder, and she only saw it at the last moment. Barely enough time to jerk away, let alone actually block the thing. Intense electrical pain shot through her shoulder, and she almost blacked out. Almost. The otter retreated several steps, always facing her opponent, as complete numbness spread through her shoulder and down her arm. As the lack of feeling began to take hold of her paw, she switched the blade, preparing herself to fight left-pawed. Dritsek smiled grimly, ears flat.
"Tsk. Tsk. I asked how well you used your blade, oaf, not how sneaky you were with that glorified bug zapper. Now let's do it properly this time, shall we? No tricks, old dog."
Zane smashed the pommel of his sabre against a flat, blue crystal on the prod. Electricity arced up the blade. "We'll see, streamdog." The prod in a defensive stance, he struck out with the newly electrocuted sabre. His thinking was that he would arc a jolt up the otter's arm.
Dritsek quickly decided that making contact with Zane's saber was one of the worst things she could do. Instead, she skipped nimbly backwards, avoiding his blade as she tried to find a way to beat him. She couldn't do anything while he had that blasted prod! Aha. This was going to be difficult. Dritsek sheathed her blade and reached for her stun-gun. If Zane wanted to play with electricity, he just might get shocked.
Zane saw the move that she was making. He discharged his sabre into the ground, and then fired off another volley of spinning blades- seven, in total, spread around her so that they would be hard to dodge. He readied another blade- If he acted quickly enough, he could hit a bullet mid-air and deflect it. The magnetism of the blades would probably help him some- but not much. If all else failed, he could try to deflect it with a zap, but that was very unreliable, and he was lucky that it had worked last time.
Dritsek was forced to drop again, though this time she rolled away as well, so as to not present an easy target. Popping back up to her paws, she discharged a few bullets of her own, all aimed at her opponent's middle.
Zane did a whole lot of things all at once. He fired off his disc, completely missing anything of relevance. He zapped out a wall, which, with another extreme stroke of luck deflected two of the three bullets. He also attempted to dodge, but, one cannot dodge a bullet, even if you anticipate it. It hit him in his side. He felt the full force of ten thousand volts coursing through his body. As the pain faded away, he contemplated how lucky he was that the jolt was low-amperage. Any more than a few amps and he would be dead. He knew, of course, the exact voltage and amperage of his own prod. Forty-thousand volts, at one and a half amps. Deadly, if it struck in the right place. He charged forward, attempting to put those forty thousand volts straight through Dristek's heart.
Ha. Dritsek's actions had forced Zane 'into the open', so to speak. Not that a jack russell rushing towards her with deadly force in his paw was anything to laugh about. It was better than him being sneaky, though. Dritsek couldn't abide cheaters and such. Fortunately for the otter, Zane had to recover from his own shock and cross the distance between them before he could really do anything. Which meant that she had a few seconds in which to think of a plan. Or not.
Dritsek performed a quick turn, lashing out at the dog with her solid rudder and drawing her scimitar simultaneously. As she completed the turn, the otter slashed horizontally with her blade. Her hope was that if she had not succeeded in tripping Zane, she would manage to gut him.
Zane did not see the rudder coming until it was too late. It thwacked him solidly in the leg, and he lost his balance. He managed to not fall over, but there was no way he could dodge the sword. At the last second, he pulled up his own blade to take most of the force. He was not directly hit, but he fell backwards onto the ground. Hoping to buy himself the time he needed to get up, he fired several blue bolts of electricity at Dristek.
There was nobeast alive that could have dodged all that electricity. Dritsek definitely couldn't. She managed to avoid a few bolts, but took one on her already-injured shoulder and another on her outstretched rudder. Wonderful. If there was hope of her arm recovering before, there was certainly none now. Besides, the sensation Dritsek was feeling was rather like being stabbed by thousands of white-hot daggers. There was only so much pain the otter could endure- she had reached that limit, and promptly blacked out.
Moments later, a very sore and slightly charred otter raised her head from the floor. Her fur was all standing on end, and her ears were ringing. Dritsek struggled to regain her paws.
OOC: Feel free to have Zane take advantage of the short time she's unconscious (about 40 seconds or so).
Zane rolled to his feet. He had knocked out Dristek, but she wouldn't stay that way for long. He began accumulating massive amounts of power on the tip of his prod. As the otter raised her head, he aimed the weapon and called out to her. "Surrender to your fate, otter. Drop your weapons and kneel, if you want to avoid eighty thousand volts through your heart." He had made his threat, and he intended to carry it out. He neglected to mention that if he fired this charge, his prod would be empty of power, and useless.
The otter was clearly torn between fierce, independent pride and a wish to live. Finally, she unbuckled her belt (which held her scimitar and gun) and let it fall to the floor. Head down, shoulders drooping, she knelt in front of Zane.
OOC: Please don't just execute her on the spot- she has a trick up her sleeve, but it needs a reaction from Zane first. (I didn't want to PP his reaction, whether skepticism or belief or gloating or whatever.)
Zane, holding the charge, smiled at her in a triumphant, cruel sort of way. "Is that a forfeit, prisoner? Hmm. I really did expect more of a fight from you. That duel was almost... routine. Hmm, I think I'll put in a good word for you. How does a guiottine sound, instead of the gallows?" He lowered the still-charged prod.
OOC: Thanks!
BIC: Dritsek sighed. "As long as I don't have t'see your ugly mug for too much longer, scum," she muttered. Then, she suddenly launched herself into a forward roll between Zane's footpaws, hoping to catch him by surprise and knock him over.
Zane was indeed caught by surprise. He rolled forward, in a slightly controlled fashion, and leaped to his feet. However, in the confusion, the bolt from the prod fired, and harmlessly struck the ground to his left. He grimly fired three, now non-electric, discs at Dristek. As he fired a fourth time, no blade came out. Click. Having run out of discs, he charged angrily at the otter, ready to slash her with sword, or gore her with the discharged prod.
The otter popped up to her footpaws just in time for a passing disc to cut through the side of her ear. Grunting in pain, she clapped a paw to the injury and glanced at her weapons- which were still on the floor where she had dropped them. Armed with nothing but her paws and her wits, Dritsek kept light on her toes, ready to dodge. When Zane charged, she leaped aside and dove for her scimitar and gun.
Zane had expected some kind of trick, but going after her weapons in this sort of charge was not what he had in mind. He attempted to kick her gun at least temporarily out of reach, but he was distracted by a footpaw to his face. Some dive that was, he thought. He blindly slashed out, hoping he would strike the otter in some way. Running backwards, he regained his composure.
Zane's blade opened a long, diagonal gash down Dritsek's rudder, actually lopping a few inches off the tip. Roaring in pain, she grabbed her scimitar and spun around, not bothering to draw it yet. The sheath was sent flying towards Zane's face, and Dritsek pressed her advantage, rushing in behind the sheath.
Zane stumbled backward. The hard, brass-tipped sheath had bludgeoned open his nose- Mucus and blood were pouring out of it. His sense of smell would be severely impaired for the rest of his life- In short, his career was over. He spun around, barely in time to avoid the slashing scimitar- He was not, in fact, in time to avoid it completely. A large gash was torn in his uniform. His 'Valorous Strategist's Order' medal was dented and thrown off his chest. Blood began to seep through the gap, soaking the front of his uniform. Filled with rage and pain, and dodgeing or blocking several more scimitar swipes, he rushed the otter, attempting to impale her with his prod.
Dritsek smiled grimly as Zane's medal lost its spot on his chest- a missing symbol of honor and prestige likely meant a gap in the dog's pride as well. The otter kept coming. She had the upper paw now- at least, until the ferocity of Zane's counters caught her off-guard. Dritsek was being pushed back, and the prod actually pierced her wounded arm more than once. Her cuts and slashes turned into blocks, and those blocks soon had a slightly desperate edge to them. But if she could just hold out, maybe she could outlast him...
The otter continued to block and parry, waiting for an opening.
OOC: Hello? Has I been forgotteded? (Hi- just checking!)
OOC: No, I've just been away for a while.
BIC: Zane knew he couldn't keep this up much longer. He was tired, bloody, and bruised. He gritted his teeth and continued the assault- knowing that one wrong move from either side could cause defeat or even death.
OOC: WARNING! May cause a severe case of death.
OOC: Oh, talk about irony. ;D *shakes head* My deepest apologies, Rus. Btw, I'll be sure to keep your warning in mind. ????
BIC: Dritsek could see victory just around the corner- if she could only keep her blade up for that long. It wasn't going to be easy. Already her sword seemed as if it was made from lead. Not to mention how tired her arms were. And that one was severely injured. This fight must end quickly if she was to survive.
The otter suddenly felt her footpaw land wrong. Time seemed to slow as she scrambled to keep her footing. If she fell, it was over.
OOC: She recovers her balance pretty quickly, but since you're probably going to take advantage of the slip, I thought I'd leave the post here so we don't overlap weirdly.
Zane could feel his strikes slowing. It seemed that no matter what he did, the otter parried it. He knew she was desperate, but so was he. In a last-ditch attempt, he hurled himself backward, and threw a small, round, sharp metal directly at the otter's face.
If this fails, he thought. I don't have much of a chance.
Spots swam before his eyes, and all went black.
OOC: He's not dead, but unconcious- again, for maybe half a minute.
Quote from: KitrallStreamrippler on November 08, 2013, 03:21:15 AM
OOC: Hello? Has I been forgotteded? (Hi- just checking!)
Umm... Ditto?