[Invite] Bump in the Night

It was late evening by the time Zriracha had deigned to hunt for herself. She was on her way back home to the forest in the southern region, but had stopped near the East when she just couldn’t wait any longer. As she soared through the air, a scent would catch her attention – fire, made from vegetation, if she was identifying it correctly. She stopped in the air and looked down, spying a small glow of some light from the sky and it looked as if it might grow bigger. She tilted her head to the side in thought; she was unconcerned for the forest, but curiosity was another animal altogether.

She dropped down, landing a distance away and levitating just above a tree branch so as to not break it with her weight. As she approached the light, a figure would come into view as well as another body that wasn’t so humanoid burning from the same fire around him. Oh? Is this another hunter, I spy? She thought playfully, contemplating playing a little game with him.

With a loud ‘FWUMP!’, Zriracha would drop down not far from this man’s game and linger with a grin. The fire would illuminate her form partially, revealing the dark brown of her fur and skin, her eyes glowing in ephemerally. “Nice night for a hunt, wouldn’t you say?” Her power would increase as a way of preamble before she would lick side of her lips. “Let’s play a game.”

Cress

By the look of his stance, and that tail she could assume made him a Saiyan, this male was wholly perceptive to her offer. It was a simple one, too – one he couldn’t refuse. Without words needed to express exactly what her game was, Zriracha quickly made to close the distance between them- rushing toward them with an elbow aimed straight away toward their face. Fully revealed to him, Zriracha would introduce herself properly and slightly ply off his hunger with a joke, “And I am known as Zriracha of Chakkapak! Prepare yourself, Hungry!!” She jumped back, hooves clomping loudly in the dirt as she lowered herself into a stance as well.

Zriracha tilted her head at him, “In case it isn’t clear, I am also hungry and wish to do battle for your catch.” She didn’t really imagine he needed the clarification, much less over a game, but there was always that one-off chance that she would offend him and lose out on a potential bit of fun.

Cress

As her elbow came to him, he’d also thrown his own punch out and their force had collided in a powerful mashup that would force Zriracha to bound back into the forest. Her voice could be heard as her hooves grinded into the dirt, branches and foliage within the darkness. “As you wish!” Then, from the shadows, a ball of fire would scream toward Cress – the next apparent move from Zriracha. It held little power and would hardly hurt should he decide to block it or get hit; no, it’s purpose was merely to distract the Saiyan as Zriracha laid in wait for him to follow.

From the tops of one of the highest trees, Zriracha would be perched – levitating from the branch so as not to make any noise from her weight or break it. She kept her senses open as she readied another blast of fire, a little more potent than the last one, this time. She called to him, taunting, “I hope you’re not afraid of the dark! Here, let me light up the area for you!” Quickly following up by sucking in a breath and blowing out a massive wave of black flames in his general direction. They burned away at the foliage, blackening the bark upon the trees and incinerating most of the matter within it’s path along it’s way.

“Oops! Sorry, I forgot my that those flames aren’t quite bright enough to help you!” She laughed.
Cress

Her laughter was cut off quite abruptly, interrupted by his sudden call back at her as the flames she’d sent at him appeared to harmlessly pass by his form. Did he possess some form of shielding or charm to resist her attack? I’ve got to be careful with this one! Already, he’d proven to see through her tactics by lighting up his place within the forest - effectively making hitting him MUCH harder. “Tch, you’re taking the fun out it,” She muttered, eyeing the incoming ball of green and white energy and bounding effortlessly away from her tree. It exploded upon contact and rendered the entire branch to dust, blackening the tree. Zriracha allowed herself to free fall for a moment or two, watching the Saiyan from upside down, before she flipped and recovered to land in the dirt with a heavy ‘FWUMP!’

Around her, the forest burned with black flames – illuminated ever so slightly by the saiyan’s aura as a measure to likely keep from being surprised. She had to plan this out carefully; her newest attack could have potentially taken him off guard – had he not responded with the form of protection that he did. That left her with two options: get creative or a full assault. One certainly has more appeal than the other.

Still, there was always room for banter, “Is this how you treat a lady?” She teased. “Whatever happened to a nice midnight stroll through the forest? Although, I do like the mood lighting,” Her hand came up, ignited in now red flames, “-Let’s add to it.” With a heavy toss, she hefted the ball of flames in his direction. As it approached, however, Cress would find that it didn’t come close to hitting him and instead blasted a tree behind him. It crackled and groaned, before finally, it fell forward towards him.

Cress

She watched as the tree had begun to fall onto Cress, burning and breaking from her attack. Just when she was sure that he would be overtaken by the tree, he grabbed it as if the fire meant nothing to his skin and throw it in her direction. The Demon stared at the tree with an expression of shock before leaning forward – just as the tree would appear to almost hit her – she would leave behind an afterimage. The wave of Ki that had destroyed the tree would pass through her afterimage, destroying a few trees that were behind her in an explosive show of light and debris.

For a few intense moments, all was quiet aside from the crackle of the fire and shuffle of the wind. The animals had long since abandoned the area through self reservation, fearful of the powerful monsters that had taken their homes. The fires had started to bloom and spread, taking over many of the trees beyond the two. Should they continue, the fires would likely keep spreading and eventually form a dangerous forest fire that could destroy miles of land.

Grinning and with her fist blazing with a powerful fire enchantment, Zriracha would appear above Cress. “If that is so, then I am sure you’re quite the Casanova!” She joked with a laugh, clasping her hands together before she would attempt to throw them both down into Cress’ head. She would be woefully depleted of magic for a time but hopefully she would give Cress a powerful lesson in underestimating her.

Cress

She stared down at Cress’ form, breath heavily from utilizing so much magic at once. While her attack had been a success, something didn’t quite feel right about this. Just as she was certain he might have had enough, the saiyan was back on his feet again and didn’t really look that worn down – unlike herself. In spite of this, however, Zriracha couldn’t help the grin on her face at the challenge before her. General Kraktus was a powerful opponent and one I had no chance against – How will you measure up?! Vainly, she tried her best to regain at least something to move with or counter-attack with.

However, by the look and feel of Cress’ energy, she would be left without any other option than to simply hope her natural endurance could take whatever he was going to dish out. However, the longer she stared on, the most powerful his energy became until it completely overtook her own. Her mouth gaped, sweat gathering and rolling down her forehead. “W-What power-!” She hissed in fear.

Suddenly, the wave of heat was upon her; faster than she could escape and far stronger than she could take. Wait! At the very last instant, Zriracha’s hand would clench – opening to reveal a coin that could promptly smashed within her palm. Her power doubled just as the wave of power made contact and she gave an agonized howl of pain as the wave bowled over her form and knocked her body to the ground. Her body sustained intense burns and she was still exhausted of her magic reserves – but she hadn’t taken as much damage as she could have.

The following destruction around her left more trees mangled and most other charred beyond repair. As the dust settled, her form would be revealed to have slightly changed yet no less worse for wear from the attack. Her clothes were burnt away in many places, the Gi half-torn exposing part of her undershirt below and her burnt skin. Her horns had grown and curled, the fire that burned atop their tips now burning within the open curl of the horns. Her red eyes glowed with power as she grimaced.

With a groan of pain, she leaned up and gave a wince of pain grasping her shoulder where it took most of the damage. “D-Damn, that… He did not lie. This hurts like a son of a bitch!” She looked around, trying to find her opponent. She was in no condition to defend against another assault like that. If she was going to claim victory, it had to be with more caution than she’d been exercising up to this point.

Cress

With her skin burnt in some places and certainly bleeding in others, she went about searching for the Saiyan she’d underestimated. Scouring the forest, she would swiftly soar through the trees as they burned and seek out the power that Cress had displayed. Was he actually hiding?! She snarled, the fire burning within her horns flaring from her emotions. Well, fine… if he wanted to try and hide, then she’d smoke him out somehow. “Where are you?!” She would bellow, intent to get under his skin through the way of his pride. She laughed, loud enough for him to surely hear, “Is this the extent of your power? A few grandiose abilities and that’s it? Come out! Show me the strength of your will!”

However, Zriracha was not going to wait very long for him to appear, flying higher into the air as her power radiated with darkness. She would dig deep and – as she promised – smoke him out one way or the other. Once high enough that she felt he would certainly be hit by her attack, she would declare, “If you won’t come out – then I’ll MAKE you come out!” Then, with little preamble, she would take a deep breath and ignite the flames in her throat. Like a rain of fire, she would blast a wave of black flames down upon the already burning forest, either ignorant or uncaring of the destruction she wrought down.

The Demon was not down or out of the battle yet, though whether she would realize sooner rather later that their ‘game’ had gotten a little too intense would remain to be seen.

Cress