On the Hunt

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Loose twigs and scattered leaves crunched under tread of her sharply heeled boots as Samus Aran made a hasty dash through the jungles of Kraw. Ducking and dodging and jumping under and around and over the ever-present threat of the visually non-threatening plant life, not wanting to chance getting caught by even the most innocuous of vine or creeping strand of plant stem. Regardless of how it looked, it was always a worryingly credible threat. Her brief time here had forced her to rely solely on her own memory, access to her logbook and data stores within her power suit and gunship lost for the moment. She didn't have the luxury of a perfect recollection and targeted warning displays, just what her own eyes and ears could tell her.

Right now, they told her 'anything green and leafy is a potential threat'. The entire world, as she had come to find out, was a predator in some way. She had already seen and confirmed that much, watching vines slither about like snakes, and grab visibly obvious predators in a stranglehold to drag them into the shadows where there was only the mingled sound of crunching, tearing flesh and pained animal screams before silence fell again.

As much as 'silence' ever fell, here.

More than the threat of the jungle and its greenery, though, were the actual predators. Such as the one that currently pursued her relentlessly, making the very ground quake with every step it took as it lumbered after her. Its sheer bulk and mass let it simply crash through and snap the vines and branches and crawling plants in its path, too massive for such lurking ambush plant-predators to even slow it down. A vicious roar bellowed out as it stamped down on a fallen tree, crunching it into so much mulch and making. The air (and Samus's ears) rang with the noise, as nearby birds and smaller animals were disturbed and sent fleeing in blind panic from the horrendous noise.

She had never encountered such a beast before, at least in person. But that didn't mean she had no clue what it was. A dinosaur. A living, breathing, actual dinosaur, just as depicted in images about the history of Earth. They were all long since extinct back home, of course. But that didn't seem to bother this one, a particularly angry -- or maybe just particularly hungry -- specimen of a tyrannosaurus rex. It was every bit as large, in charge, and utterly terrifying as its name of 'tyrant lizard king' implied.

She wasn't quite afraid, by any means. After all the assorted monsters and vicious creatures, both predatory and non that she had dealt with in all her years, something as relatively 'mundane' as a giant vicious lizard was surprisingly easy to cope with. It was terrifyingly strong, and she knew with a chilling certainty one solid stomp or one good bite from its massive jaws would spell her end. It was no more or less than she usually had to contend with, even if she was facing down such a problem without her power suit at the moment.

Still...this was something she could handle. She was already beginning to run short of breath, certainly, and barely keeping a lead on the beast. But she was still keeping ahead of it, and she knew that somewhere nearby there was a river with a rare stretch of open ground along its banks. There, with nothing to dodge around and over to slow her down, she could outpace the rex in a contest of pure speed. All power and no brains or real speed thanks to its sheer bulk, the only reason it was still hot on her tail now was the sheer fact it could just barge right through anything in its way. Under such conditions she couldn't really start to increase her lead on it, and it was all she could do to keep ahead of it and out of reach of those steel-shearing teeth.

"It figures that the one time the auto-pilot screws up, I end up crashing onto a world that's in the middle of one giant 'waaaah i'm hungry!' fit..." She was more than slightly upset, and the words breathlessly hissing out through nearly-clenched teeth painted a soul-gnawingly clear picture of that.

Not that the great scaled dope chasing her down particularly cared. An angry snack was as good as any other kind of snack, in its mind.
 
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"Come on, come on, should be...!" She gritted her teeth, bounding over a fallen branch and dropping into a roll on landing to tumble and spring back upright again.

More and more greenery, lush and strong, now surrounded her. That meant the river she had spotted before was drawing ever closer, or so she hoped. She'd been to so many bizarre worlds that something as simple as a 'normal' ecology, whether proximity to water influenced plant growth or not, completely slipped her mind. It seemed right, but she was far too frazzled and focused on more important matters -- 'not getting eaten' being chief among them, of course -- to really devote much time to thought of that kind.

The brush behind her exploded as the ground trembled. She whirled around to shield herself from the sudden shower of greenery and ruptured wood as the king of lizards let loose with another air-splitting roar that Samus was quite sure made her teeth rattle. And then it lunged at her, covering a frightening amount of ground in one surprisingly swift bound.

But the Hunter leapt into motion herself, jumping back and away from the crushing jaws as they slammed closed. She could feel the putrid, moist heat of the predatory reptile's breath It made her recoil and gag, and she stumbled a step on her landing. The rex pounced on it, snapping and gnashing after her. She desperately rolled and hopped away, until she managed the momentum to curl into a backward roll and land on her feet.

"Okay, big ugly...you need to back off..." she breathlessly wheezed, squeezing one hand into a fist. If she just had her power suit! Hell, even her paralyzer would have been useful here. A shot to the eye might put it out of commission for the minute she needed to really get away. But she didn't have either one at the moment, just her wits and body. Which she threw into motion again, as the rex snarled at her, as if enraged at her impudence for not already being eaten.

Samus bolted, barely getting a dozen steps before the ground rumbled and shook from the tyrant king's renewed pursuit. Hot on her tail, and as she was growing increasingly worn out it almost seemed to be gaining ground.

splish

She stomped through a patch of mud, and her relief was instant. The overgrown jungle around her started to peel back slightly, giving way to ever so slightly more open ground. No constant worry of branches to slap and claw at her, less hanging and grasping vines, no sudden piles of sinister shrubbery. Just open, muddy ground and murky water flowing lazily. It was far from a pretty sight, but in her current predicament it might as well have been a priceless work of art for how beautiful it looked to her.

"Okay...here goes everything..." She sucked in as big a breath as she could and really put the spurs to it. She summoned up one last surge of energy and took off for all she was worth. The ground was muddy and slick, and in some places grew slimy and treacherous. But the muck was easy to navigate, danger she could acknowledge and see coming. It provided the perfect chance to put distance between her and the increasingly angry beast chasing her down.

....or it would have, if she didn't catch sight of something that made her stomach plummet.

Barely a hundred yards on, the river turned to a frothing mess and picked up force before disgorging itself violently over the edge of a cliff. She couldn't even begin to guess how high up they were, or whether there was any kind of safe landing down below, but...

"Try following me after this..." she hissed. And she didn't so much as slow down, sprinting the last dozen yards to the cliff edge and hurling herself off. It was a clumsy, less than graceful jump, but she still managed to curl forward and point herself downward. There was, as it turned out, water down below. A frothing, murky gray-brown mess of water being churned by the endless torrent pouring into it from high above. But it was water.

And as she drew near, she could only hope it was deep enough to break her fall.
 
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One shaking hand slowly rose out of the churning, murky froth to grasp at a rough hunk of stone jutting out of the shoreline. And slowly, the arm it was attached to grew taught and hauled its owner up out of the sludge-colored depths of foaming waterfall-landing-site. Samus retched out what felt like an entire lung-full of muddy liquid as she all but collapsed atop the jagged stone.

It took a monumental force of will to make herself roll over onto first her side, and then with a racking cough which expelled another copious amount of water, onto her back. Her sight was wavy and bleary, and the colors merged into an unruly smudge of muddy brown and emerald green and sparkling white.

It made her eyes hurt, and she realized after several irritating seconds she wasn't going to be able to see anytime soon whether the angry rex was still up at the cliffs' edge above.

She groaned in frustration, covering her eyes with one hand. "Guess it doesn't matter...not like it's gonna be coming down here after me..."

Of course, her blood immediately ran cold as the air shook from a noise like thunder, rapidly drawing closer and closer. She threw her arm aside, eyes snapping open and stared in sudden clarity -- the kind which only terror-fueled adrenaline could provide. Screaming down from above, tiny arms flailing madly and huge tail thrashing against the cliffs and through the waterfall, huge jaws snapping and salivating, came the monstrous form of the T-Rex she had fled from.

"Oh, for the love of--" The hunter's exasperation was cut off by the absolute explosion of shattered rock and cascade of water as the tyrant king lizard hit the muddy pool with its best imitation of a bomb.
 

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It would've been way too much to ask for, she knew by this point, for this damn overgrown crocodile to do anything that would be classed as 'sensible'. Something like "giving up on the quick, wily prey" or heaven forbid "not jump off the hundred plus foot high cliff". What world could she possibly be living in where animals and beasts could be expected to do things like that? Common sense had clearly long-since flown out the window. Flown out the window, and let itself be replaced by the utter absurdity of "HUNGER" being the only thing which mattered and drove this god-damn insatiable and relentless reptile to do the completely fucking ridiculous!

All these thoughts, and more, sputtered and swirled around in Samus's head as she was helplessly flopped and rolled along, down a rocky incline which quickly turned to a mess of mud. A veritable tidal wave of water and muck had been thrown out by the Rex's "graceful" dive and splashdown. And that tidal wave was all too happy to carry her along with it, and deposit her many dozens of feet away on the edges of the much calmer and shallower by now river.

When she finally came to a stop, she hacked out another series of ragged breaths, convulsing through the fresh agony of an all-new series of aches before swiftly springing up to stand. The decision was one she immediately regretted, as the world around her did its best impression of a tilt-a-whirl inside a forest-colored kaleidoscope. That, or she was suddenly standing smack in the middle of Greenhouse Jack's Mad Emporium of Spinning Trees.

She really, really hoped it was just the former.

The dizzying spin of her surroundings was accompanied by a surge of pain in her head, one of her hands reflexively moving up to grasp at it. "Ugh....yeah. Not the best decision to take that dive after all..." Her hand came away from her head, and she looked at it with eyes that she had to blink several times to clearly focus. A small spattering of blood on her hand, standing out starkly against the pale blue of the zero suit. Some kind of injury, but seemed minor. At least on the surface.

The distant sound of snorting and thrashing drew her hazy focus to snap back toward the waterfall-fed pool again, trying to ignore the fact it did blurry somersault as she strained to focus. Steam rose from it in sharp puffs, as the king of tyrants slowly worked its way up to stand. And with a sudden lurching movement, the thing jumped from the rocky bottom of the pool up to the bank, with far more grace than anything that big should ever have.

It made the hunter's stomach twist into all new kinds of knots, as the thing leaned forward, its belly nearly growing parallel with the ground. And it sucked in deep breaths, with sharp sniff-snort noises. Beady yellow-orange eyes peered dumbly around as it swung its head this way and that.

....and then it saw her. Its maw opened wide with another world-shaking scream of a roar, and it lurched forward into its far too fast, thundering stride.

Samus fell backward in her haste to try and resume her efforts to FLEE. The impact sent fresh waves of agony through her everything, but a doubly sharp pounding through her head. Her eyes swam and watered, and the world briefly went to nothing but static before her eyes.

She only barely managed to roll aside, the jaws of the massive Rex snapping closed and scooping up a mouth full of dirt, rocks and river water in place of her. The closeness of the sharp SNAP of teeth slamming together, and the crunching of pulverized stone, told her clearly: she was definitely right before, one chomp from those would end her.

It also didn't help the persistence and unnatural cunning of this beast was driving her uncomfortably close to flashbacks against a certain long-time adversary. She couldn't really ever manage to run from him either, but she didn't have the firepower to do anything else against this one. She would have loved nothing more than to put a dozen missiles down the throat of this overgrown pair of shoes and take it out of commission, but...

It snorted and spat out the detritus in its jaws, rounding on her for a renewed pounce.

Running it was.
 

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It was taking all the willpower she could muster up to keep her breathing quiet and steady, as she sat carefully perched behind a shroud of greenery. She had managed to lose the giant lizard for a few precious seconds, and that was all she had needed to pounce on the chance to dive into hiding.

A hop, trip, and frantic jump had carried her up the side of a tree, halfway between the ground and the leafy canopy overhead. Several quick steps to continue her momentum just that last little bit, and she managed to snag a low-hanging vine to haul herself the remainder of the way up. Up, and into the shadow of the leaves.

She shuffled quickly along until reaching a point to jump to an adjacent tree, carefully avoiding the flora she had identified as being carnivorous. Several more paces, hopping this way and that and even doubling back on her trail, and she finally flopped down to sit on a large, sturdy branch. Nestled safely among a screen of exceptionally pungent-smelling floral growths, which she hoped would mask the exact placement of her scent to the worryingly persistent reptile.

The smell clouding the air didn't exactly make it easy to catch her breath, but it did seem to accomplish the other half of what she had been hoping for. The giant tyrannosaur slowly lumbered into, its towering cranium only a few feet short of where she sat as it scanned the path for any sign of where she had gone. She quietly sucked in as deep a breath as she could manage and held it.

She could hear the deep, grating sound of its incessant sniffing, snorting, and irritated growls as it failed to pinpoint her. After what felt like hours, it finally gave one final snort and stomped off, its tail thrashing about with such ferocity it made every tree it passed shudder from a thundering impact.

Samus wisely decided to wait several minutes for it to be well and truly out of the area before even daring to breathe again. It made her head swim, her chest ache and her vision start to go dark, but she somehow managed it. and when it finally came time to breathe again, it came in the form of a spluttering cough and a sharp gasping intake of air.

And an entire lungful of whatever pungent fragrance was clouding the air in her perch of choice.

That sent her into a renewed coughing fit, and sent her lurching unsteadily into movement to get out of her apparently less than amazing hiding place, and toppling right off the branch and into freefall toward the ground below.

The impact when she hit the ground was a sickening thud, and it made her see stars.

And then she saw nothing at all.
 

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The Icy huntress looked to the world around her, and gave a sigh of resignation as her gaze shifted to the bright white Jacket around her shoulders. She was certain there was something she could wear to make herself more obvious in the dark green and brown scenery Kraw laid before her... but she couldn't think of anything off the top of her head. The Schnee's normal jacket and coat, already battle-worn and damaged from her trip to the void, still glowed like a sparkling beacon within the overly life-filled wonder of Greenery. The Grime refused to latch onto the Schnee's equipment, and while that would be nice for the eventual dry-cleaning bill, it was very annoying when looking for a way to camoflage herself in this situation.

The Schnee sighed. She didn't know how the natives were on this new, new world in this new, new universe, so perhaps concealing herself would end up being a bad idea regardless. Only an hour into this new world, and she already felt overwhelmed, out of her depth once again. The confidence she'd finally gained fighting Icingdeath had faded whilst coming from the Omniverse into a new world.

The huntress almost stopped in place as the memories struck her, and her foot slowly dragged through the muck, suddenly too tired to lift itself from the ground, as she remembered the last conversation she had within that place. Not for the first time this hour, she wanted to scream, to break down... but only for a moment. She'd just earned true freedom - she wasn't going to squander it by crying in a corner somewhere until... whatever lived here decided to eat her. Assuming she was even appetizing, given she was undead and fake, apparently.

With a growl, the girl continued on. People. she needed to find people, or, failing that, a place to catch her breath and maybe even get some sleep. She at least felt warm here - far warmer than the unnatural cold that creeped into People's bones near the peaks in the back of the Frozen Fields. It was appreciated, but it made rest far more welcoming after a couple days straight of being awake-
A whistling sound echoed through the forest, And Weiss leaped back just in time to see a dart whisk past her nose.

"Screee!"

Weiss turned to face monsters, only to find... well, a group of something.

It looked like there were a few dozen. Tiny people that could almost be mistaken for human, if not for a few licking their lips (and in some cases, their eye-balls, which caused the huntress to visibly cringe and shudder) with an oversized tongue. Primitive garb was combined with primitive weapons, and Weiss was almost convinced they weren't a threat until she saw fiendish smiles, and a few who moved far faster than their small frames suggested.

Adrenaline filled Weiss's body once more, and she drew Myrtenaster with one swift flick from it's place on her belt. With one single slash, a barrage of darts was sent flying away from the huntress, and the former prime gave a soft smile even as she dodged a spear-thrust from an approaching frog-pygmy that nearly gutted her like a fish. With one swift motion, the huntress kicked the weapon up into the air and slashed the Murderous grin off the creature's face.

"...Stop, or I'll-" Weiss nearly bit her tongue on the frustrated statement as she was forced to dodge a grain-flail to the face with a step back, and the Huntress was quick to smash the spear she'd sent flying earlier into it's owners face, the Lizard-hide vest it wore breaking like wheat before the deadly weapon.

Weiss groaned, as she realized her predicament. These things weren't going to let her go, they were almost as fast as she was, and they knew the terrain better...

Within the space of a backflip, a few more spears were sent with starting accuracy her way as the pygmys came in hot pursuit, surrounding the huntress with a variety of knives, curved hooks, spears, and bows...

Weiss stood within the middle, holding out her sword pointedly, and waited to see their first move. She was trapped in this area of the forest clearing, and it felt grimly appropriate that the only spot free of foliage, that let light stream in freely, was the very spot these Tribal... things had trapped her in.

"Strong! Offer to Shadkjah!" One of the pygmys managed in it's primitive dialect, as it leaped forward with a large club. despite it's diminutive size, Weiss was pretty sure that stupid thing was at least ten pounds given it's ridiculous shape, and if it landed it's blow Weiss was certain her leg would have outright broken.

The Huntress Darted forward in a dash of motion, appearing as a white blur to the little creature. The Pygmy landed on it's knees, looking confused for a moment, before coughing up blood.

In the same motion, from behind the circle, Weiss brandished her blade to the sky, and a trail of blood flicked from it in a red trail.

The rest of them turned to attack the huntress, and a crimson glow enveloped the woman's palm as she turned, Giving a short leap backward to gain distance as she briefly closed her eyes.

Within an instant, she opened them, feeling the burning energy that coalesced in her palm, hearing it scream like a kettle, and watching as it struggled like an over-excited dog in a kennel to be let loose!

Weiss held her palm forward at the encroaching natives.

"Cero."

A sound like a rotating sheet of metal roared through the jungle. The Pygmy's were enveloped in a crimson blast of energy as Weiss's irises shone black-and-gold. The incinerating shot ripped up the grass, the dirt, and most importantly, the pygmys, leaving almost nothing left of the war party but scorched earth and burning bodies.

"...Phew." Weiss managed. that shot took a lot out of what was already very taxed reserves. She couldn't allow herself more than a second to rest, though. There were still a couple left.

Catching one of the pygmy's slowly walking away was easy, but their skin was apparently so thick - or their frog-hide armor so effective - that the one she caught only noticed his pursuer by the second poke from Myrtenaster's tip.

"Hey!" Weiss yelled, and the Creature screamed and jumped so high his dreadlocked ponytail was flipped in front of his face... it almost made Weiss feel bad for the carnage she'd caused, but she felt the attempted murder had justified it.

"I know you speak my language! What's your name!" Weiss snapped.

"M... murdkjet" the creature murmured.

"Okay, Murdkjet. Lead me to actual civilization. please!" Weiss snapped, summoning what was left of her teenaged sass as she struggled to be hard on this four foot nothing interloper.

"O-of course. Murdjket will do this." Murdkjet pleaded, throwing his hands forward in a sign of submission.

"and go pick up your bow... There's some big monsters on this planet. I can't leave you defenseless-"

Weiss blinked as she looked into Murdkjet's big, brown eyes, and noticed they were crossed, with his tongue lolling out entirely too far down his face... and was that a hint of drool.

"-In case of big scary." Weiss groaned. Guess these things liked smaller words.

Murdkjet got that much, and picked up his bow happily, leading her forward. she could only hope this wasn't some big trap.
 
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Everything was just a hazy, indistinct mess. All of her senses felt dulled and clouded, and even moving felt like a major chore. Partly, she knew, that was from simple exhaustion. Time to calm down and the adrenaline to fade from her veins, and that brief surge of energy had left her. Left her an exhausted, weakened mess.

But the larger part of it, as she knew, was something far less natural. Whatever had been in those plants she hid in. She knew she had disturbed something, some kind of obnoxiously-bright hued flowers among the vines and on the bark of the tree she clambered up. In her haste, she suspected, she had made the most grievous mistake she could have in the given situation: a lapse in attention. Whether it was just some kind of defense mechanism for an agitated but otherwise helpless plant, or something far more sinister, she couldn't really be sure.

But it had definitely knocked her out cold.

Now she was a little less out cold, though. Maybe only out lukewarm. Groggy and tired, and it was a real fight not to just give into the deep-rooted urge to just 'roll over and go back to sleep', as her body was telling her to do. The aches and stiffness from such a frantic flight, not to mention the impromptu swan dive and several rough tumbles and falling sprawls were a very tempting series of evidence. It was almost too much for her to contend with, and she could only muster the quietest groan of protest in response.

Then she was jostled lightly, sending a fresh wave of screaming, fiery discomfort coursing through her....well, everything. And that was enough to cut through the haze and snap her senses back to alert, making her blink several times as her eyes struggled with the glare of murky leaf-shrouded sunlight she was suddenly staring into.

She had landed on her front, when tumbling from the tree. Now she was on her back. On her back, being carried by what felt like dozens of abnormally small hands, and securely tied with what surely had to be an unnecessary amount of rope. Or...vine, maybe. She twisted slightly in place, stretching and trying to test the strength of her bonds. Sturdy enough...and also flexible and malleable enough that sheer brute force wouldn't get her far in her exhausted state. Fully rested it might have been a different story altogether, of course, but now...

"Awake, awake; the flightless one is awake!" came a chorus of warbling voices, both from the ones carrying her and from a number of other diminutive figures near at hand in an unsettlingly dense throng about her. From her angle she could see very little, beyond the primitive clothes they wore, and that each and every one was armed to the teeth with the finest bloodletting implements the stone age had to offer.

"Strong and fast, but also much spirit; resist the Sleep-Cloud Flowers good!" one spoke up from the rear of the group, and a figure leaped up to come crashing down for a landing...directly on her stomach, driving what little breath the hunter had clean out of her. Beady yellow-brown eyes, the pupil of one eye unnaturally distorted and stretched like that of a reptile, peered unblinking from the shadowed sockets of a cracked lizard-skull helmet. "One breath, sleep comes, until next sun. But this one, yes, not so. Not so! Not even until sun-mirror in sky; not even half starshift, and sleep leaves!"

A sickeningly slimy tongue slithered out from beneath the jaws of his bony crown, and even as Samus recoiled from the oozing appendage it prodded her in the forehead. "Much glory to be granted for Kjjslhfg when you go to Shadkjah. Yes." And the tongue with drew with the same blur of speed as a retracting tape measure, only pausing to flash up into each eye socket and sweep over each exposed eyeball.

Samus found it hard to suppress a retch at the sight. "I have no idea what the hell you just said...but I don't plan on going anywhere without a plan. For your own sake, I think you should put me down and leave now, before this gets messy."

The one still standing atop her midsection took a step forward, bringing all of his weight down on her chest and making breathing uncomfortably painful, while an arm covered in all manner of leather wraps and a dizzying assortment of bone and tooth charms and trophies snapped out to point at her, mere inches from her face. "No. You go where we say. You strong, but not strong enough to order. Go free? You escape! We not let you go." And he jabbed forward with his hand, the jagged nail of his index finger easily splitting the hunter's skin to leave a thin, red cut just below one of her eyes. "Stupid, stupid star-walker."

Samus did her best again to protest, or put up some measure of struggle, but was cut off from most of her efforts by a sudden feeling of intense agony. Stinging, burning, radiating from the otherwise minor cut just delivered to her. "I....said..." She sucked in a deep breath in an effort to fight down on the pain, gritting her teeth and with an effort of equal parts will and what actual strength she could muster, managed to lift both arms and toss the uppity pygmy aside and off of her, sending it crashing down into the crowd to her left.

"Let. Me." She lifted her bound arms, and with a wordless grunting scream, put in so much effort she felt her aching muscles would snap before the vines did....but after several second they gave way with an organic-sounding snap and loose leaves and bits of stem flew everywhere. "...go!"

She made it as far as clubbing one of the diminutive creatures actually carrying her with a hammer-fist, staggering it and almost managing to sit up, before something hit her in the face. Something wet and sticky, the exact same viscosity as the dab of drool still on her forehead. It smelled absolutely horrid, and the bits that inevitably got into her eyes stung as if acidic. She reached up to claw at it, even as she started to lose strength. Everything started to turn hazy and become an indistinct blur.

"Kiss of Shadkjah too much for outsiders," the 'leader' of the bunch sneered, his words only barely audible through what sounded like the roaring of ocean tides as Samus's body went limp, topping back into the full embrace of the strange little horde. "We go, before kiss-sleep leaves! Quick now, temple not far!"

And then her world was again nothing but blackness and static.
 
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Myrtenaster slashed through another set of Brambles that Murdkjet, somehow, seemed to completely ignore as Weiss warily followed the little pygmy. For how little he seemed to be able to do as an opponent, it appeared he was a pretty good woodsmen. At least as far as Kraw was concerned.

The huntress kept her eyes peeled warily as they walked through the cretaceous ferns, bushes filled with wide needles and trees with odd, spiked fronds she’d never seen before. In the place she was before, she’d never seen such lush greenery, and in her homeland the flora was a lot more… normal. Less filled with teeth.

Weiss winced at the thought. Her homeland. The thought still clung stubbornly to the world of remnant, but it was a fake one. She’d never stepped foot there. She’d never really seen beacon. She’d never been exploded by her soon-to-be partner. She’d never been abused by the father of someone else and she’d never hung up for the last time on him when she’d set off to find the girl she wanted to save.

In the end, she was just a hastily-made copy by a childlike god for the purposes of mere entertainment in the mixed-up world that the Omniverse was.

The thought almost made her drop Myrtenaster, but her strength found her a moment later, and her grip steadied itself anew.

That past might not have been real, but what she’d made of herself was. The people she’d met were, even if they weren’t who they were before. The people she’d saved had been real people. It wasn’t their fault they were made for such a hedonistic purpose, and she wouldn’t regret what she’d done. Nor would she regret what she was now.

The thought left the huntress distracted, not for the first time since she’d begun this trek, and she flinched out of her reverie in surprise as Murdkjet excitedly pointed out something.

“Hmm?” Weiss managed, before seeing exactly what he spoke of.

A single woman, laid out in a rather revealing blue bodysuit that immediately showed an impressively toned build - one even Yang would probably be jealous of. She was stunningly beautiful even from a glance, but had a certain hardness to her features that gave off a feeling of danger to her, even unconscious and…

Well, from the looks of it, drooling ever so slightly.

Weiss approached carefully, even as the woman’s eyes snapped open.

Murdkjet gave a sniff to the air, taking a smug, knowing look as he did. “This one given Kiss of Shadkjah. Probably-”

Whatever Murdkjet had to say next was lost as the Woman’s eyes suddenly darted to life, and with a blinding rush of motion sent a kick right for Murdkjet’s forehead.

With a blur of white, Weiss brought her blade up to block the strike… only to immediately regret it as she felt the shock of the warrior’s kick impact through the blade and turn her arms to jelly, myrtenaster falling from her grasp as pain racked through her arms. This woman was abnormally strong!

Seeing a new target, the woman continued with a swift punch with an elbow from the other side, but Weiss was quick to backflip away from the attack - sending Murdkjet running as he made what Weiss could only describe as a chittering ‘Gonk’ sound. It was awful, and it nearly disrupted her focus as the unarmed warrior continued her assault. Luckily, what Weiss lacked in brawn in comparison to the fighter in front of her, she made up in speed - each blow was dodged quickly and without compromise. The woman was fast and every blow was made with precision, but her body. Even weakened, was healthy enough to compensate, and while these attacks were fast, it was nothing compared to having to dodge Anderson’s bayonets or automatic bolter fire. A lot of the attacks came from unexpected angles, but so had Kuzuru’s.

Still, it wasn’t going to get her anywhere on her own.

“Stop! I’m trying to help you!” Weiss snapped, more out of a lack of air with all this ‘dodging’ nonsense than irritation. The woman blinked in response, as she suddenly seemed to… regain consciousness?

Weiss shivered.

“You… You’re not one of them, are you? What are you doing with him” The Blonde fighter asked, eyeing Murdkjet with a glare.

Murdkjet, for his part, started making a set of gurgling noises that made Weiss fervently miss the simple ‘Gonk’ siren that was going before, and part of her groaned as she realized she’d likely not seen the true depths of how unpleasant the frog-man could sound even now.

“I fought off a group of them, recently. He was among them, so… I asked him to bring me to some place more civilized than the jungle. He’s been pretty good about it so far.” Weiss finally responded. “...Though if he’d had the opportunity I’m sure I’d be in a very different position right now.”

Murdkjet continued gurgling. Weiss… really wanted him to stop.

“Weiss Sch-...” The huntress started, before shaking her head. “Weiss. Just Weiss, now.”

“...My name is Samus Aran. It’s a pleasure to meet something on Kraw that isn’t trying to kill me.”

Weiss gave a smile back, as the realization hit her. This was another person! She didn’t have to talk herself crazy, or talk to Murdkjet, who’s conversational skills had only convinced Weiss that he was both gross and not much fun to talk to.

“Likewise!...And this one calls itself Murdkjet.”

“Murdkjet.” the frog-man replied with a sudden elegance and properness to his voice. Weiss…

Yeah, she was done questioning why he did things anymore. She’d just be grateful for the prim language.

“...It doesn’t have a silent function.” Weiss would note with a frown.

Samus held a look of confusion. “...but you wouldn’t let me kick him.”

“He’s been good recently.” Weiss added. “...In that it’s been hours since his first attempt to kill me, and he hasn’t tried again.”

Samus gave an audible sigh. Murdkjet croaked. And Weiss remembered just how awkward conversing was.

“Right. Well. Strength in numbers.” Samus added. “...I have vested interest in finding my suit somewhere here. But somewhere with a shower and a roof would also be very helpful after spending days out here. So how about we work together to try and find at least one of these things?”

“Deal!” Weiss added, holding out a hand to shake. It was quickly taken.

So began their strange partnership.
 
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For now, Samus was willing to give the benefit of the doubt to this...Murdkjet. He seemed far, far less unpleasant and outwardly insane than that obnoxious shaman Kjjslhfg had been if nothing else, and had apparently managed to be at least somewhat useful to her sudden new partner. Leading her through what was at least a reasonably safe path through these decidedly un-safe jungles. Whether that had been intentional on his part, or just sheer bumbling idiocy, she had no clue.

She didn't really care enough to try and rationalize the thought process of a disgusting little frog-man either, though.

"So. Murdkjet." That name was still a tongue-twister, and she didn't even want to try and spell it properly. "Some of your friends caught me earlier, and were takin' me somewhere or other, last I was aware. Then I got a very unwanted kiss..." She wiped at her face with the back of one arm, her face twisting into a mask of disgust at the memory. Her aggravation made her 'pat' the unpleasant little frog man on the head with her other hand, hard enough to make him tremble and let out a nervous little squeaking croak. "...I have a feeling you'd know right where that would be."

Weiss just strode alongside the bounty hunter, alternating between looking up at her and down at Murdkjet. "Do you really think he knows anything? He seems kind of...dumb."

"Dumb doesn't mean much. He might be bad at thinking and being clever, but I'm sure he knows plenty. Don't you?" And her hand came to rest on the frog man's head, and this time didn't leave. She could feel the resulting quake in his little amphibian bones.

"Y-Yes, yes, Murdkjet is knowing. Knowing many things and ideas of information pieces, yes," he croaked. "What does sleeping one want to know?"

"They had me all tied up, before." She could almost hear the way Weiss's eyebrows show up at that statement. "And were hauling me off somewhere or other. They mentioned a....Shadkjah, and his glory or something like that. Ring any bells?"

The mere mention of the name had made Murdkjet skip a step and stumble, and let out a strangled 'gonk' noise. "S-S-Shadkjah. He is the Lord. The green one in the water. Speaker of the vast gonk. The one who will utter the final croak at the end of all things." He trembled, lifting his head and twisting eerily at the waist to peer directly up at the two taller figures with him. "He is..." The frog man paused, his long tongue darting out to nervously lick at one eye -- Samus winced slightly -- and then his other eye -- Weiss winced slightly -- before he continued. "...great. Must be appeased. Sacrifices made."

At this point, Samus's hand moved down to seize the mutated jungle pygmy by his tattered clothes, hauling him up clean off the ground until he dangled helplessly at eye level with her. "if your next words are anything suggesting they were going to use me as a sacrifice, you'll get a firsthand experience of what it feels like to be a discus."

The frog-man wailed and squirmed, his words devolving into a mix of incoherent blubbering, gurgling and loud distressed 'GONK'ing, which echoed uncannily through the trees.

"H-Hey, don't threaten him!" Weiss stammered. "It's not like it's his fault all the rest of that bunch that captured you were all weirdos! Besides, they ended up setting you free anyway, didn't they?" She gestured wildly back the way they had come from. "All those vines or...ropes or whatever!"

It took a few seconds for the hunter to register. Not just Weiss's words, but something else, as well. "....they set me free," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"WHAT?!" By now, Weiss had to shout to be heard above the increasingly distressed wailing and intermittent GONKs of the manhandled amphibian. "I can't--" And she stepped forward to wrap an arm around Murdkjet's mouth to muffle his racket. "He's loud for such a little thing, isn't he?"

"They set me free," Samus repeated. "When they were supposedly taking me somewhere to be a sacrifice. It doesn't make sense. Unless..." She looked around quickly, scanning the nearby treeline and every inch of open space. "...we should move. Fast. Now."

"W-What? What do you--" Weiss tried to speak up, but Samus cut her off by just shoving the frog man into her arms. "Hey!"

"This is either the most absurd level of stupidity I've ever seen, or some kind of trap we're too smart to figure out. I'm not really sure which is worse." She had already started moving again, at a brisk pace. "The fact he never mentioned anything about a specific location or place for this sacrifice or whatever is what gets me."

"Oh." Weiss remained standing in place for several seconds, looking to Samus's retreating form, then down to Murdkjet, and then back to her. "....oh." She promptly dropped the frog man to the ground and hurried to catch up, dragging him along behind her. "That's not good."

"Understatement of the millennia. Just make sure he's still leading us somewhere halfway civilized."
 
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Sunlight flew in tattered remnants through the jungle as the two kept moving as fast as Murdkjet’s stubby little body would allow. For all of his disgusting habits, he seemed to be just as panicked as the other two, and Weiss quickly figured out he had never been going a fraction as fast as he could have been as they were moved from hidden rock through concealing bushes and more.

This was worrisome, because it proved Murdkjet was well and truly scared to Weiss.

“...Murdkjet, what do you know?”

“Murdkjet not sure.” The Frog-man shot back at the front of the pack, before a blue-gloved hand patted him firmly on the head.

“Well, tell us what thing you’re unsure of before it catches up with us.” Samus responded, her words calm but commanding. Weiss was still not sure what to make of the woman, but she was clearly not the ‘nice’ type.

Murdkjet’s frog tongue slapped out of its mouth and spasmed everywhere as it gave a few croaks, before clearing its throat. “Shadkjah’s Spawning. Those who grew from the eggs on his mighty back. The Gonklords.” Murdkjet managed.

“Gonklords…?” Samus asked, her tone disparaging and a little judgemental. Weiss… couldn’t blame her.

Weiss saw a pond in view as the group continued to run, and Murdkjet’’s eyes widened, going bloodshot as fear entered his frame and a large, constant croak came out of an engorged neck.

“What is it?” Weiss asked, but it was no use, as Murdkjet’s legs simply gave out on the spot, the creature falling over in a trembling ball.

Weiss’s question was instead answered by the sudden trembling of the cliffs around them, and a great wave of water as an enormous “GONK” echoed through the air.

Weiss looked up to see what had caused it, but could only see the tidal curtain of water, and leaped back just in time to avoid being completely caught up, leaving her up to her feet in water.

She looked back with clear eyes just in time to see it. A great frog - it had to have been fifty feet in height. It Was covered in dense skin and held a glowing yellow to it’s eyes. Its face would have looked almost peaceful, but the great gonklord licked it’s lips as it looked down on them like the fly-shaped morsels they must have been to him.

And look down it did, as Weiss was forced to roll to the right to avoid a titanic slam.

“Samus!” Weiss yelled as the frog slammed into the ground, the shee force of the impact sending the huntress tumbling further.

Just one jump, one Weiss avoided, but just the force of the frog’s miniature earthquake from the impact had left every muscle in Weiss’s body sore and aching from the shockwave. She struggled just to get back on her feet, using Myrtenaster as a crutch to force herself to stand.

Her eyes darted around, looking for Samus. The hunter had darted to the top of a nearby, sturdy tree, and was similarly looking around - trying to find an opportunity, or just another exit point, she assumed.

Whatever she wanted to do, she didn’t manage it, as a sound like a great whip cracked, and Samus was forced to jump out of a collapsing tree.

It took Weiss a couple blinks to make sense of what just happened. A flash of pink that could barely be seen had flicked in and out of the Frog’s mouth… a supersonic tongue?! That would explain the sudden deafness in her ears…

The Hunter was busy jumping, panickedly, from tree to tree. At this rate, neither of them would survive…

Weiss could cut and run here. Or… She could hold it off. Keep it distracted. The thought briefly danced in front of her. It would allow Samus to move on, Murdkjet to hopefully lead her somewhere decent, and

Raising her hands, she held her palms forward and focused, a large, red orb humming into view as she charged another cero, the red blast glowing as she could dimly hear her companion blurting out a “What kind of-”

And with a brilliant crimson light, the offending frog was struck with a brilliant crimson beam of explosive force that exploded on impact, bathing half of it in explosive red light…

And clearing with almost no mark on the behemoth whatsoever, save a slight burn mark at the epicenter of the blast.

The frog’s large, bulbous eyes blinked, before turning to her, and Weiss could feel the sweat pouring off her. Her best move - at least at the moment - and it was a dud. She needed to retreat, Find a better position.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud ‘gonk’ next to her, and a vision of a large, gruesome tongue flickering into existence at the same time a running murdkjet did as well.

The poor frog was sent tumbling, end over end, as it clumsily dodged, but the power of the supersonic whip had done a job on Murdkjet’s leg, and he was left hobbled by the attacked, blood pouring out of what had to be a completely shattered leg.

He couldn’t move. He was helpless. Forget attacking, another tremor like shadkjah’s servant had made the last time it had jumped could be enough to kill him.

Shock had the chance to kill him now. Right after Weiss had met him.

The White-haired Huntress gritted her teeth and put her hands forward. “Samus!” The huntress screamed.

“You have a plan?” The hunter asked in response, materializing nearby as she slid down a tree she’d leaped from a moment before another tongue-lashing stole the tree and let the frog swallow it whole. “Oh my god.” Samus muttered quietly at seeing the sight.

“Yeah. I do.” Weiss added, a devilish grin she didn’t feel appearing on her face. It didn’t fit her, and it sure didn’t fit how she felt whatsoever, but it felt appropriate.

She’d already lost people, she’d lost so many allies, but she still had something from each one of them, and this was the exact smile she’d use before trying something crazy like this.

“I’m not going to let anyone else die!” Weiss managed, the Hunter seeming to just raise an eyebrow at the dramatics. At least, until Weiss raised myrtenaster to her hand.

“What are you doing?!” The Blonde yelled, concern now flowing into her voice at what this seemingly suicidal notion was.

“It needs blood. And time. I need you to get me that last one.” Weiss said. “Or we’re all going to be Juicy flies for this thing anyways!”

Samus gave a look that could have been respect or pity. Weiss couldn’t really process which one it was as she pulled the blade across her right hand, and the slicing pain forced a grunt of agony from the Atlesian.

“...fine.” Samus finally managed, as she moved in a blur, barely dodging the next attack with a somersault through the air, before returning fire with - Hm. Weiss only just noticed that Samus had managed to loot Murdkjet’s short-bow. The arrows hardly penetrated more than a millimeter of the great frog-thing’s skin before simply falling off, but it was enough to keep the Gonk-lord annoyed annoyed and distracted

Weiss gave a smile, before holding both palms forward. An azure hue filled the area, and the sky darkened ever so slightly. Keeping focus on this much energy was a hassle at the best of times - maskless, weakened, losing a lot of blood and running starved and thirsty wasn’t making it any easier.

The Huntress gritted her teeth.

She’d lost Ruby. she’d lost Kopaka. Indeed, she knew she’d left behind a whole host of people from where she came from she’d never see again, who were on limited time. She’d cursed her powerlessness the entire time. But right here, right now, even if it was a frog cultist, she could save someone with the power she held in her hands.

Weiss planted one heeled foot forward, focusing her power into the large, aqua sphere as it swirled and crackled, Growing to the size of her head as Weiss planted her feet.

Today, she finally felt the strength to stop something, and as the Frog’s eyes turned to follow the glow, Weiss gave a grim smile as she realized how lucky she was that it had only thought to look at the last moment.

She wasn’t about to look away from the only break life had given her in years, however.

“Gran Rey Cero!”

Weiss’s body shuddered all the way through as she found the will to send the orb spiralling for the frog. A pink, probing tongue lashed out… and then lashed back into the Frog’s throat with a loud squeal. The smell of burned tongue was coupled with the frog stumbling back, but the Cero was unbothered as it continued on it’s path. Space seemed to warp around the sphere, bending and almost cracking in places, but it was hardly noticeable with how fast the sphere was going.

Samus was lucky enough to jump clear right before the explosion, and the sound of a very frightened, very large frog echoed just barely louder than the incredible, rumbling explosion of reishi that enveloped the Massive being’s upper body in blue light. The blast rimmed everything nearby in different shades of blue, And Weiss was quick to hobble in front of Murdkjet’s broken body to give it some shielding from the blast… and take a few pieces of kindling to the face for her trouble, leaving a bit of swelling in her forehead.

“Did we…?” Weiss trailed off, surveying the destruction.

The Gonklord of Shadkjah had been reduced to nothing but skeletal remains, bones falling to the ground in a clatter as the once great creature was reduced to a sizzling and unpleasant smell in the air.

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, even as Samus headed over.

“...You have interesting abilities. Where did you learn to do that?”

Weiss opened her mouth to explain, but all that came out was “I learnededed outback inna ommver--” before the huntress felt her legs finally buckle and the lights start to dim upstairs. Sleep was very interested in claiming her, and Weiss was sure having problems finding a reason not to answer it’s clarion call.

“Weiss? Weiss do not go to sle--” Was all the Prime heard before silence overtook her and she felt blessed peace for the first time since arriving in Multerra.
 

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"ep..." Samus trailed off awkwardly as Weiss did precisely what she had been trying to warn against, and slowly went into a tumble. With a grimace, the Hunter covered the remaining few paces separating them and caught the younger woman before she could hit the ground. "Figures something like that would leave you wiped out...what in the hell was that, anyway?"

Her eyes slowly wandered up to the sizzling remains where the titanic monstrosity of a frog had just sat moments before. Nothing left now except bones, and a thoroughly repugnant smell of superheated and cooked flesh where bits of it still clung to the bones. Something with enough power output to do this, and with no visible power source to draw from or anything...there were very few places energy like that could come from to begin with, so the fact it had left Weiss more or less dead to the world gave a pretty clear hint as to just what it was about.

"Probably not best to stick around here for much longer..." She shifted her grip to hoist the young Huntress up and over her shoulders in a rough fireman's carry, grimacing as the exertion made her already aching everything give another whine of protest. "...what to do with you, though." She cast her eyes down to the form of Murdkjet, the frog-man giving pitiful little gurgling whines as his hands hovered inches above his mangled leg. She bent down to give it a cursory glance, and could only scowl slightly. She was no doctor, but she'd been in enough hell and been around for enough actual doctors and medics making their appraisals to be able to tell a few things for certain.

"Your leg is fucked," she said bluntly as she rose back up to stand. "You'll probably never walk on it again, not without some pretty urgent medical attention. And I mean proper medical attention, not like whatever mystical pseudo-science spiritual magic healing your frog-man pals out here would give you, if they ever found you or cared at all."

The flinch at her harsh words, and the deep tremble that ran through Murdkjet's body made the resulting croak come out in a shrill, bubbling wail. "N-Not want to be left out here, not want to never walk again." He looked up with eyes moist from more than his constant tongue-bathing, and stared at the Hunter. "H-Help Murdkjet? Please?"

The silence from her part was almost deafening, and the stare she directed back down at his nearly prone form sent the frog-man into convulsing shivers. "....do you have any clue where there's actually civilization on this place?" She finally spoke again, and the sudden sound of it made the little amphibian cultist recoil in surprise. "Some kind of actual settlement. A town, or city, or..."

"....th-th-there is place, yes." The frog-man fidgeted nervously, his eyes falling away from Samus's face. "Not one we go near...but y-yes, know where it is. Can show you."

"Good." Without further ceremony, Samus knelt down and grasped the hapless amphibian by the front of his tattered robes. "This is going to hurt when your leg moves. Try not to scream." And she simply hoisted him up off the ground, gritting her teeth against the fresh burning in her arm, as she struggled to shift him into a proper one-armed carry.

For his credit, Murdkjet managed to bite down on anything more than a brief, if very loud gonk, before he clamped both hands over his trap to muffle any further outcry. Only the occasional faint croak, intermingled with his gasping wheezes of discomfort, managed to make it through.

"Just remember, now. If you try and lead us into some kind of deathtrap, your neck's on the line to." With that cheerful reminder hanging in the air, the Hunter set off at a brisk jog. She wasn't sticking around here, with the remains of the Gonklord, any longer than she actually needed to. The lingering smell was starting to make her sick, and she was sure it would probably start attracting all manner of unwelcome others all too soon. Whether more of this bizarre cult, or just other predators of the world in general.

More than she could handle in her current state, especially with these other two being out of commission to worry about.

"Fill me in. Where exactly are we headed?" Samus glanced down to the fidgeting frog in her grasp. "What should I expect when we get there?"

"A-Abraxas," he managed to croak out after several seconds. "New. New Abraxas. Built in old ruins, many come and gather from the stars there. Hunting, exploring, book-making, item-taking..." He rambled on and on for several seconds more, but Samus already had a general idea. Not exactly a proper city...but sounded like the best shot for some place 'safe' on a world like this. And maybe a ticket off the world entirely, to somewhere less predatory and hungry.

"And you know where it is?"

"Y-Yes. Know....where borders of territory are. Told not to cross there." He let out a groaning croak, shifting in place uncomfortably. "Risk of fight too great. Not welcome there."

"Tch..." Samus scowled at that. Wonderful...so these little water-dwelling freaks weren't welcome at what might just be the only place of relative civilization and sanity on this entire world. That boded all kinds of well. "Maybe I can convince them not to string you up on account of your good behavior. We'll see."

Murdkjet just gave a quiet little 'gonk' of distress, and settled into mostly silent blubbering.

Samus almost felt bad for him.

Almost.
 
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