First Challenge: a traveller

[Zaden]

an oddly one-sided post

Full-thickness burns? Try fourth-degree. The shield Pythos engaged moments before being engulfed did little to prevent the heat from penetrating right through it. He released the shield as he fell away and began crawling on the ground and screaming in pain. The smell of burnt skin filled his nose while he quivered in shock. He pulled out a Goddess Tear and splashed it on himself, hoping that it would give him any form of relief. The easing of pain was minimal, but the healing water kept him from dying. The damage was far from negated.

Frederick Hanford grabbed a compact, single-barreled version of the beloved USMC "Spanker" and stepped outside to see Pythos kneeling on the ground. He aimed the rocket launcher at the time-traveller and fired. Pythos reached into his bag and came up with a string of Catch Beads. As he gripped the ancient beads, he felt power surging through his mind.

<Catch!>

Pythos held his palm forward and focused. With the power of Psynergy bestowed upon him, he created a large, invisible hand in the air in front of him with his mind. Pythos then closed his hand and the mentally-rendered hand moved in correspondence, clamping around the oncoming rocket and snuffing the explosion.

"What the...?!"

To say this was visually absurd would be an understatement. The giant hand was invisible to Hanford. He dropped the now empty rocket launcher to the ground in bewilderment.

But, alas, Pythos is no Adept and the Catch Beads cracked after being used.

"Catch this!"

Frederick pulled out a shotgun and ran forward while Pythos pulled out the Golden Tiger Claw and fitted it around his left wrist. Pythos slashed at the air... slicing it open? The ripped-open reality looked like a tiger-striped optical illusion just floating there. When Hanford came within reasonable firing distance, he aimed the shotgun in Pythos' direction and squeezed off a blast while Pythos tumbled into the dimensional rift. The shotgun balls ripped through the air where Pythos had been a mere fraction of a second before and the rift sealed up. As the soldier anticipated where his opponent had warped to and turned around, Pythos was already swinging the Home-Run Bat with all the strength he could muster. The sports equipment connected with Frederick's torso and transferred the legendary force.

*KREEEEENG!*

Frederick Hanford sailed forty feet through the air (the shotgun disappearing into the horizen) and smashed to the ground before tumbling to a stop. Pythos collapsed to his knees, dropping the bat and howling in pain once again. The wide, hard movement of swinging the bat agitated his horribly burned skin, resulting in blazing, searing pain. With a degree of difficulty, he pulled out a Pokéball and flung it as far as he could toward Hanford.

* * *

The Convention soldier stood up in a daze and looked around for his opponent. He was not expecting to see what he saw. Hovering in front of him was a sixteen-inch rock. This rock, which had two arms protruding from its sides, complete with stony biceps, and even more disturbingly, eyes, is quite a new sight for anyone who has never seen a Pokémon.

It suddenly shot forward and slammed its cephalothorax into Hanford's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. It then unleashed an unending barrage of rock punches at Hanford's face, not caring to stop any time soon.

"Geodude!"

This Pokémon obviously wasn't going to wait for trivial things such as its master's commands. It was going all out.


Meanwhile, while Frederick was busy trying to catch 'em all, Pythos used the time that Geodude was buying him to try different healing items, searching for relief from his fiery stinging pain. He drank a Hi-Potion. It gave him energy and restored some vitality, but he still looked like a sausage that had been left on the grill too long... and felt like it, too. He used a Burn Heal on himself even though it was made for Pokémon. Finally, he used a Wound Salve on his fried skin. He may be ready to fight again, despite his greatly marred appearance. Yet was he still not free of the pain and damage of being burned...

[Fairlight Excalibur]

Kaboom

“Geodude.”

This was, by far, the most authoritative voice Hanford had ever heard coming from a rock. The soldier lost his footing as the airborne boulder plowed into him, and then he crashed into the ground as the gravel monster mounted him. Mounted is a generous term, given that the creature was merely hovering over him, but nevertheless its arm struck out instantly, landing a crushing blow on Frederick's helmet and shattering his visor completely. Frederick countered with a right hook, hitting the rotund creature under its armpit.

This punch had no effect, as the stone creature ignored the blow and struck out again. This time, Hanford's left arm lurched forward and blocked the incoming punch... at the expense of breaking his own elbow. The old mercenary choked back a howl of pain as the overpowering might of the rock monster snapped his elbow with the impact. But that was just the start. The creature pinned Hanford's right arm down with one arm, and from that advantageous position, began to beat the living snot out him.

One punch two punch, red punch blue punch. The golem creature had no opposition as it freely pummeled the defenseless marine, who fumbled around inside his combat armor to avoid the incoming punches. While the creature had been aiming for his head, it quickly discovered that its hands were to big to land a punch inside the visor. The shape of the helmet began molding into the form of Geodude's fist as it continued raining furious blows.

On the inside, Hanford was truly tempted to self-destruct the suit and blow them both to kingdom come. Yet, his allies would be compromised if he died with his ship intact; there was too much valuable information in the ship's computers. He HAD to get this rock toy off him and get back over there before that Federation assassin found anything.

He carefully slid his right arm out of the armored shell as another punch connected, denting his helmet even farther and reducing his vision. Once he had his arm free on the inside, he felt around until he located the storage space on the inside, a sort of futuristic glove compartment. He pulled the handle to open the secret storage and reached inside as another punch jarred his brain, and he was now getting dizzy. He wrapped his fingers around a good old friend.

The rock monster reacted with surprise when the chest plate of the armor suit opened up, and the arm that had been pinned down now emerged from Hanford's torso.

“GeodUGH....”

The rock created choked as the frag grenade lodged in its throat. With this momentary distraction, Frederick's legs shot up and launched the creature into the air before the explosive went off. The resulting explosion threw shrapnel and rock pieces everywhere as the frag erupted, ending the fistfight.











Pythos looked up just in time to his Pokemon explode in midair. The mech soldier was charging at him now, though his movements looked strained. The beating he had suffered seemed to throw off his equilibrium. Pythos hefted the bat once more as the Convention soldier made one last charge. As the war dog threw a slow right hook, Pythos brought his arm up reflexively and blocked it, though the Tiger Claws shattered upon impact. Pythos returned the favor, and this time, the bat tore clean threw the soldier's midsection, ripping him in half.

Pythos heard the footsteps at the last moment, but it was too late to react as Hanford, now completely armorless, tackled him from behind. His shoulder plowed into Pythos' ribcage as they toppled to the ground, while the uninhabited armor collapsed into a pile next to them, its decoy purpose accomplished. Hanford, with only one good arm, chose to once again snatch Pythos' goody bag as they fell.

They slammed into the dirt with Hanford on top, but with only one arm, he was doomed to lose a wrestling match. Pythos scrambled and turned to face Hanford just as the soldier reach into the bag and pulled out the first item he felt.

The electric can opener made an indentation on Pythos' skull as it impacted, breaking into several pieces as it fell. Pythos covered his face after the impact, only to be struck in the stomach by a chinese encyclopedia. He struggled to regain his breath after having it knocked out of him by the Yongle Dadian, but was not given opportunity before he was struck down by a Kirby vacuum cleaner. The toilet seat cover, fortunately, missed him as he fell, while Frederick fished around for another item.

“There's nothing in here but useless crap!!” the soldier yelled, and then hurled the Cosmos Bag inside his broken down ship though one of the broken windows.

Pythos bounced back up to his feet and gritted his teeth. Every random piece of junk he had been hit with stung, thanks to his burn wounds, but thankfully Hanford did not know how to use the bag and locating truly destructive items was impossible for him to do.

Pythos planted a spinning heel kick directly into Hanford's chest and blasted him him backwards before Pythos made a run for the ship to retrieve his equipment. Hanford once again landed hard on the dirt, but this time he was smiling. As he regained his footing, he began making rapidly away from the battle.

“Ship's computer, activate self-destruct sequence, authorization Alpha Omega Bravo Hanford 7223.”

A female mechanical voice began the countdown just as Pythos entered the ship. He could plainly see the Cosmos Bag laying on the ground front of him, only fifteen feet away.

“Ten,” the ship began.

Pythos dashed for the sack, knowing that within it was an easy way out of this predicament. Nine seconds was more than enough to travel fifteen feet, reach down, grab the bag, open it, locate the item he needed, and activate it.

“Ship's computer, override self-destruct sequence countdown and commence immediate detonation, authorization Delta Omega Echo Hanford 7223.

The ship complied.

(aaaaaargh page stretcher but awesome image but page stretcher aaaaaaargh - Galefore)

[Zaden]

Pythos leaned forward and his magical Cold Boots zipped him across the floor at an incredible speed. With a fluid motion, he snatched up the bag and pulled out the Titan's Mit, fitting onto his right hand. Activating the Roc Feather, he rocketed upward and a megaton punch from his newly-gained Titanic strength blasted him through the ship's roof.

Immediately followed by the ship's cataclysmic detonation.

A large titanium plate from the ship's hull slammed into him directly from below and, although shielding him from most of the blast, tore off his lower legs and carried him into the mesosphere.


The exhausted Convention soldier rested for a few minutes after the blast and prepared to dodge any falling debris. After collecting his thoughts, he proceeded to the wreckage of his armor. The only thing he hoped for right now was to find a working communicator. As he searched, he was quite surprised to see the charred and broken body of his opponent stop suddenly above the ground next to him. Pythos vomited before landing safely on his back.

He was almost mutilated beyond recognition. His normally light Caucasian skin was completely black like an overcooked hotdog. His legs were blown off at the knees. He began twitching!

As Frederick cautiously approached him, he could not see any sign of the Cosmos Bag or any dangerous weapons. He only held a small object in his left hand.

Pythos turned to Hanford, and with what little face he had remaining, gave him a friendly smile and a wink. Such a benign expression shocked the soldier. The affable twinkle in his eyes... his amiable grin... this was not the face of enemy!

With his left hand he held up the object and waved it wearily while giving the soldier a gregarious thumbs-up. It was a white flag.

"That was a great fight, buddy..." half the words died in his throat.






Well, traveller, that was pretty entertaining. You're an incredible writer. I didn't expect such an emphasis on huge attacks, but I learned that that's how fights come to an end. Knowing this, PK FIRE! will be overwhelmed when I finish our fight. It was a great learning experience and you did awesome with Pythos.

Thanks for the match.

[Fairlight Excalibur]

Well played

A sick feeling began twisting in the old soldier's gut as it dawned on him what had transpired. Pythos' stupid friendly grin was like a knife in Hanford's back. He did not have much time to feel guilty about it, because no sooner had the explosion gone off than he could hear the Federation ships overhead, preparing to descend. Forget Pythos; Hanford was about to be surrounded by fifty enemy marines.

Then suddenly, Frederick had an idea. He scrambled into the remains of the ship, digging through piles of twisted scrap metal, until he found a solid steel water tank. Though the explosion was powerful, the water tank's cylindrical form gave it great resilience.

Hanford cranked the wheel on the tank, forcing the valve open. As the jet of water blasted out, Frederick put himself in front of it, washing the dirt and blood from his face and arms. After a quick ruffling of his hair, he turned and exited the vehicle looking as though no fight had taken place.

Three larger spacecraft were now hovering just above ground level, preparing to land. Rather than run from them, Hanford ran towards Pythos and knelt beside him. He quickly tore his own dog tags off and placed them in Pythos' hand before wrapping the injured warrior's fingers around them. Then he began jumping up and down, frantically waving at the incoming ships. He bit his tongue as his broken elbow screamed at him.

A panel on the underside of the ship dropped, making way for the eight armed marines who dropped out. They leveled their weapons at Hanford.

"On the ground, facedown, now! Move!"

Rather than comply, Frederick kept waving his arms. He did his best to sound like a panicked civilian.

"Help! Help! We need a m..ambulance! He's still alive!"

The temptation to say medic was so strong that he nearly slipped, but he was intentionally using civilian terms.

"I SAID ON THE GROUND!"

"Hey guys! Hurry! He's bleeding!" Frederick continued, ignoring the command.

The roar of the engines overhead prevented any accurate conversation, and soon the marine lieutenant became frustrated. He quickly marched forward and shoved Hanford to the ground. Even as he fell backward, Hanford kept up the ruse.

"Dude, did you see that explosion?!" he rambled, "I can't believe that guy survived the crash! I mean, really, hol..."

"Shut up," the head marine growled as the others closed in. A medical marine soon emerged from the ship, sprinting over to Pythos and kneeling beside him. The medic looked confident as looked up.

"It's nasty sir, but he'll live."

"ID?" the lieutenant inquired.

The medic saw the silvery metal clutched in Pythos' hand. He pried his fingers loose and inspected the tags. He flipped the shiny steel over in his fingers, reading both sides.

The first side read "Hanford, Frederick 7223-0902".

The reverse side simply said "Starhawk".

"Sir..." the medic said as he rose, "I think you might wanna take a look at this."

The medic tossed the tags to the lieutenant, whose gloved hand snatched them out of the air. His eyes widened as he read the tags.

"Captain's gonna crap his pants... five months of tracking this guy just to have him handed to us." The lieutenant turned to the private closest to him. "Get a stretcher. Now."

The lieutenant turned to Frederick, who was sitting still on the ground.

"What were you doing here, civilian?" he barked.

"He.. I.. the... he asked me to bring him his gun, but then I saw you guys comin and thought that was a bad id..."

"You were gonna bring him his weapon?!" the lieutenant roared, "You bloody frickin idiot! Can't you tell he's a Con?! Get out of here before I shoot you!"

"But.. But I.."

"Now!!"

Hanford scrambled to his feet and tore away as fast as his legs could carry him. The dirty kicked up behind him as he departed.

"And people wonder why I hate civilians..." the lieutenant muttered as he turned back to his squad. By now, the other ships had landed as well.

"Tear that ship apart," he ordered, "and grab anything that looks halfway valuable."

The soldiers descended on the ship like vultures.



But they would find nothing. The explosion had destroyed the intel they were looking for. It would be two weeks before Pythos recovered in a Federation military hospital and they could interrogate him. Between truth serums, lie detectors, and telepaths, they would soon realize that Pythos was telling the truth.


But Starhawk Hanford was long gone, having once again eluded the Federation troops.









Indeed, it was fun. I will also have you know that I was going to concede in my next post. Almost got me. :)






As far as the big attacks, my goal was simply to provide an opportunity to end the fight, without necessarily forcing the issue, and I did this via situations that would be hard to escape from. I wanted to back you into a corner to force a surrender. As I read the first few sentences of your last post, wherein Pythos escaped the explosion, my only thought was Crap, I'm screwed because I forgot about the boots. You had a legitimate means of escape, and my plan was worthless. I was prepared to concede in the next post, depending on your counterattack.

I believe that, based on our characters, the length of our posts, and damage inflicted, it was time to end the fight - and we both knew it.




Well played, good sir. Well played.

[Zaden]

:eek: I can't believe I was that close to winning! Thanks for telling me that; that's rather encouraging! Ending was great.