Sometimes outnumbered, never outgunned [priv Jet/Hunt]

Where are they when you need them?

Avery let out an aggravated sigh. She stepped out of the pitch-black depths of a small cave and savoured the drop of sunlight. She had come to this place this morning in hopes of finding a grimm to kill. And just when she was in the mood to do so, no creature had yet to show its presence to the bored girl.

Charming.

Avery clicked her tongue and proceeded to walk off, counting sheeps in her thoughts. She slid her hands inside the pockets of her shorts and wondered how poorly dressed she was in response to the weather. Her top was nothing but a thin piece of white sleeveless shirt and her shorts were micro. You know, those types that covered like, nothing. The only appropriate clothing she probably wore were the pair of boots that reached up to her knees. That's it.

From her pocket she took out a piece of gum and popped it in her mouth, chewing and popping a bubble occasionally. As she continued to walk, she reached for one of her golden pistols in her holster and begun spinning it in hand. Anything to stray away from the boredom of this hunt.

“So… Deathstalker presence detected around… blablabla… considered highly dangerous… blablabla… Reconnaissance requested to assess threat level… blablabla… Do not engage alone. Ah well, I may ignore that one if it’s just a small one.” Jet was reading off of his scroll as he was walking. He made sure to keep the sun behind him, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to spot anything.

Why was he always asked to deal with Deathstalkers? Yeah he had a scorpion as an emblem but that was mostly a reference to the way his weapon can remind people of a stinger… or a snake but he went for the scorpion reference instead, looked cooler. Sighing, he put his scroll back in his pocket and resumed his scan of the forest. He couldn’t see that far, making him wonder why they always assigned him reconnaissance during the day when they know he has impaired vision at that time.

He could see a silhouette a few ways away but the sun was hitting just in the wrong place, so the only thing he was seeing was a general outline of the person. At least he could see that it was a person and not a Grimm, would be awkward to attack her by mistake… or shout a greeting to an alpha-beowolf.

As he got closer, the more details he could see until he managed to recognise her. “Ah! Avy-eeeeh oops Av sorry! Why do I keep stumbling on you in this forest? Not that I’m complaining mind you, there’s always something fun happening whenever I see you.”

Now that he was only a few feet from her, he could see that she was dressed in a pretty minimal outfit. Less fabric than that and she might as well be in a bikini. She was a pretty girl so you wouldn’t catch Jet complaining about it in this lifetime, but it did surprise him some on the spot. “Aren’t you cold dressed like that? Wait… Never mind, stupid question…” With her semblance, it wasn’t so surprising that she wasn’t bothered by the cold. Heh, wouldn’t it be funny if she couldn’t tolerate heat though? Wait, maybe she doesn’t and she keeps her body temperature low with her semblance! That would be cool, she’d be like a walking AC for her own body.

Shaking his head slightly at the sudden train of thought, he turned around, looking for the Deathstalkers. “So seeing you have your gun at the ready, I’m guessing you weren’t here on a simple stroll. I’m personally looking for a bunch of Deathstalkers, no surprises there. Task says reconnaissance only but with you, I think we could tackle any threat level it could be.”

It was a beautiful spring day, yes it was indeed. The birds had finally returned and were chirping, forest creatures scampering about to make up for lost time due to the winter season, and giant Grimm on the prowl to tear flesh from bone and paint the new and freshly green grass below red.

Such was the intent of a rather large Deathstalker, who was quite anxious to feel the aura slowly fade and die from another fleshy victim...and today was that day. Having been bored throughout most of the winter season as many of the fleshy ones were retiring somewhere warmer for most of it, but now with the green every which way it knew they would be out and about and ready to scream and cry before they die, a thought the excited the giant scorpion.

The beast searched both high and low, but was having trouble finding and flesh worth tearing apart, so after a few moments it sat and waited for any toys to come to it. It waited and waited, and finally it was rewarded: two smaller fleshy ones showed up, one with long hair and one with weird black eyes that seemed detachable for some odd reason. It was far enough away not to be spotted and adjusted itself to lay as low to the ground as possible, the giant beast was about to charge in and pierce it's stinger through the chest of the long-haired one...but they were distracted by the assault of two equally-sized Deathstalkers that came up from behind.

These two had each been stalking one of the fleshlings respectively since they entered the forest, and they were now charging in and ready to crush them into paste. The lone Deathstalker lie in wait for the perfect moment to strike...

Charging in, the one who had been stalking the long-haired fleshling rushed in and attempted to bring down it's right pincer to crush the puny fleshling. Should it move to the left to avoid it, it was already preparing to snatch it with it's other pincer and begin squeezing it around the middle.

The one stalking the weird black-eyed one went for a full-on rushing attack and attempted to double-grip onto the fleshy one with a pincer aiming for just under it's arms and the other just below it's knees.

Perfect: both fleshlings were distracted, so there was little chance it's attack would miss! It pushed forward and used it's weight for momentum, carrying it the fight in just a few seconds. It then stopped and used it's momentum again to turn violently fast, ready to whip the long-haired one with it's tail should it attempt to move to right to avoid the initial pincer-slam of the other Deathstalker.

OOC:

Still spinning her gun and completely oblivious to her surroundings, it didn't come as a surprise that the sudden voice from behind startled the living hell out of Avery and she flinched, dropping her gun. Fortunately, that was the trigger for the second form and the weapon merely shifted to its flamethrower gauntlet around her forearm.

"Bloody hell. One of these days I'll shoot you by accident if you keep sneaking up on me like some creepy stalker that you are." Avery growled, glaring daggers at him. This James guy again. Why did she suddenly have a feeling she'd be fighting scorpions again?  Or maybe it's just coincidence. Avy dismissed with a small shrug. Just as she was about to ask what his excuse for being the same location as her again, he informed her of a reconnaissance mission involving, surprise surprise, Deathstalkers.

"Of course," she muttered in bemusement. "And what do you mean 'with me' like we're some sort of a team? You go do your scorpion business and I'll go hunt somewhere else. Bye."

Avery turned to leave but halted in her tracks upon hearing the familiar scuttering of several legs which could've only belonged to a Deathstalker. The blonde cursed under her breath and looked at the person beside her accusingly. Him and his freaking scorpion king essence always attracting grimms at the most convenient time.
___________

As the first Deathstalker charged at her head on, only an absolute noob would dodge a right pincer attack by going to the left knowing the scorpion has two pincers. Instead, Avery pointed her flamethrower gauntlet forward and triggered raging blue flames right at its face intent to set it on fire. The weapon's jet propulsion recoil then pushed her several metres back effectively dodging the pincer by inches and giving her time to take out her other pistol.

Before she could further attack though, a motion from her side caught her attention but realized too late that it was a tail whip by another scorpion behind her. Out of reflex, she was able to create a thin ice wall to minimize the damage before it broke through and violently sent her propelling away.

Tsk. Ambush huh? Now that's new. Avery thought slightly winded. She twisted her body in the air but instead of landing on the ground, formed a block of ice in thin air landing on one of its sides. It then extended forward acting like a spring which shot her back to the fight. Her weapon shifted to their gun form as she zoomed through the space in between the first and third scorpion and held the trigger to release high calibre bullets on their sides.

Finally landing on the ground behind the two scorpions, she spun in her heel and emptied her clip on the third scorpion's backside.

Battle Log:

Avery’s cold dismissal of Jet wasn’t a surprise to him really. She was pretty jumpy too for someone looking around. It’s not like he was actually sneaking around, he was walking normally and without hiding or anything, so if she failed to see him in plain daylight or hear him when he wasn’t muffling his footsteps that was her problem! With a feigned hurt look, the black haired boy took on an obviously fake sad voice. “Aaaah, you’re so cold AvY!” He put a lot of emphasis on the Y in the name. He didn’t know why he felt like teasing her at the moment, but for some reason riling her up sounded like fun. “And here I only thought we should help each other since our respective goals overlap-oh crap our goals are about to overlap right over us!”

Jet would have tried teasing her more but he was interrupted by the charging Deathstalkers. He saw the pincers coming and jumped backward to avoid the attack. At the same time, he shot his weapon forward, aiming for the eyes. It was more a reflex attack aiming for distraction over damage so he could better take his distance. The velocity of the blades wasn’t extreme but it would hurt a lot still if it hit one of the beast’s red eyes.

Finishing his backward jump, Jet started running to the left side of the Grimm to target the legs. Those were the easiest parts to hit that weren’t covered by enough bone armor to render the attacks useless. With a quick wrist move, the chain made a wide arc, slicing at every leg on that side of the Grimm. The male fighter continued his move by using the start of the rotation to complete a full spin while reeling in his weapon. The combination of the spin and the reeling made the chain accelerate fast and when his full turn was completed, he shot his arm forward like a whip, unlocking the mechanism at the same time. The heavier blade at the tip shot forward between two legs, aiming to pierce at the Grimm’s side.

At that moment, the third Deathstalker came out of the forest and charged the blonde gunslinger. For once, Jet cursed. It was one thing to fight two scorpions of that size, being able to each focus on their own, but it was another thing to face two when alone. Not that he thought she was really in any trouble, he had fought with her often enough to know she could handle herself as well as him, if not better. Still, turning back to his current adversary, he frowned. He was going to need to go all out now and try to get rid of that one so he could support Avery and distract one of the two she was currently facing.

Battle Stuff:

Status:

OOC: As per new grimm rules, skipping the grimm to finish this hunt faster~

IC:

Huh. Seems it's effective.

With her guns emptied, Avery jumped back and made a quick swipe to the back of her waist holster, reloading her guns fluidly before continuing her bullet fire barrage at the exposed backsides of the scorpions who seemed to have taken the full blow of her weapon earlier. She was not sure what happened but any gunslinger felt satisfaction when none of their bullets miss. In saying that, that meant the two scorpions were bound to die sooner or later and a few more attacks would finish the job.

Avy aimed the guns forward and fired bullets at the first deathstalker's backside, then moving to its legs in hopes of making it lose its leverage to prevent it from turning around. Almost immediately, she shifted and targeted the third scorpion's back this time, running to its right and emptying her clip on its exposed sides as well.

Battle Log:

Jet didn’t stop his movements. He was determined to end things fast here… and why not without hurting his foot this time? Still, before the Grimm could counter-attack to his first three attacks, he sent his chain to wrap around the beast’s tail just under the yellow part. Even if it tried to fling Jet around with it, it would only help him. Reeling in the blades so he was just over the scorpion’s back, he used his semblance so tighten the noose and cut down the stinger, thus freeing his weapon from it at the same time.

As he was falling, he also spun quickly on himself, once more using his semblance to accelerate the chain’s motion in mid-air for a wide circle attack on the other side of the Deathstalker, aiming again for the legs, maybe even cutting some off with the amount of power that was behind this move.

Semblance still active, he swung his arm backward, the whole length of the weapon snapping like a whip behind him, before he brought his arm forward again, his semblance accelerating the tip as much as he could to pierce the side, actually trying to make the whole thing go through to the other side.

Battle Stuff:

Status Stuff:

Avery made another quick swipe to the back of her holster to reload her guns and fired another barrage of bullets against the scorpions but halted once she saw the two Deathstalkers collapse to the ground lifeless. She blinked and walked closer to inspect what happened. She realised all her attacks had made their mark again. Well that was easy.

The blonde had to admit, the first few attacks of the scorpions caught her off guard, especially with their positioning. However, thereafter she wasn't sure what happened, whether her skills had improved that much or the scorpions were simply dumbstruck by her awesome comeback. Whatever the case, she wasn't complaining. A mission done is included in her records and she get paid for her efforts.

But that didn't mean she was entirely happy of the result. She took up the huntress life for fun because it provided a challenge with one's life at risk - nothing can get more exciting than that - and yet it ended abruptly just like that, the same way her past few hunts had gone.

Nevertheless, she turned around from the dispersing black ashes and went to the shades guy.

"I'm done with mine. Are you?" She asked, sparing a glance at his scorpion who seemed to either be dead or dying soon anyhow. "Hmm. I'm sure you can handle yourself. Bye now."

And with that she left.

[exit]

His attacks all hit their marks perfectly, which made Jet smile with a bit of pride. Granted, the Deathstalker didn’t do much and the sunglasses wearing guy just didn’t let it have any time to retaliate in any way. It was satisfying to see his weapon pierce all the way through the scorpion’s side as the Grimm’s stinger got cut off and fell down on its back.

Jet tried pulling his weapon back but it was stuck in his opponent’s slowly dissolving body. With a few pulls and trying to reel in, he kept trying, still wanting to go help Avery should she need. At some point he finally looked in her direction and saw that she was actually done and walking toward him. He stopped pulling and waited for what she had to say, leaving the bladed chain where it was as if it was perfectly normal.

“Yeah, I’m done too…” He barely started to talk that she was already walking away. “Oh well, no conversation today either I guess.”

Jet waited another few minutes for the dead Grimm body to dissolve enough to free his weapon and reeled it in. Taking out his scroll, he marked down three more scorpions. Though should he really mark three? He only really fought one, Avery took care of the other two. Well, according to school rules, that counted as a hunt in duo, so her kills counted for his, as well as his counted for hers. Such a convenient system, but he still wished he was stronger so he could provide equal contribution. Something was telling him that he would be fighting with Avery more often.

[exit]

3300 lien, 3630 for Av because of her group and 4500 exp each rewarded.