The Big Bad Tengu <Wilderness, Earth Kingdom>

[iikagen]

Iikagen pulled his step short, attempting to avoid being stabbed in the thigh by the warrior's inital jab. However, after reacting to the offered strike, his opponent showed some cleverness in delivering a a different strike while he had slowed down. Even in the darkness, the Igni managed to traced the blade's path by the glint of its steel. However, it was nothing more than his acute reflexes that allowed him to jerk his head sideways and down to avoid having his head removed. But even as he ducked and lunged forward, the shaft of the spear still caught the upper edge of his mask and threw off his balance.

Iikagen stumbled forward on his next step, but he had enough awareness of his opponent's position to press the attack. Reaching out with his right hand, he used his shortspear to keep the bladed end of the spear at bay while he stepped up close to the Earth Kingdom warrior.

With his weapon at bay and almost no room to move, Iikagen quickly jabbed at the man's arm with the trio of darts that were clenched between his fingers.

[erlang]

Erlang growled as he felt the dart get lodged into his bicep. The blade end of his spear was being held at bay by the spirits toothpick of a weapon so couldn‘t bring it up. Instead, he slid his hand down the shaft and gripped it closer to the butt. Knowing that the slightest delay would leave him open he moved low. In an explosion of motion (the exertion of which caused the poison in him to move even faster) he stepped forward and brought the but of his spear up in a mighty upward swing. Once he felt the impact against the spirit he shoved upward with all his might.

The two heartbeats he felt after this caused his vision to blur for a fraction of a second and every inch of his body to feel as if it suddenly expanded with the beat. But as his hands were already moving the next attack he paid no heed. Before the spirits feet were able to touch he brought his spear back to it’s default position and lunged, releasing with his front hand and turning to gain every inch of range he could. He grinned when he saw the blades glint became dull and red tinted.

This was the last clear thing he saw as immediately after his vision began to shake with his pulse and he felt the sudden loss of his equilibrium. The ripple dose of poison combined with the exertion and caused it to hit hard and almost immediately. By the time he fell to his knees his vision was full of swirling colors and his gut felt as if it were being shredded.

[iikagen]

Feeling the darts sink into flesh brought a grin to Iikagen's face as he realized that it was only a matter of time before victory was his. However, while he struck at the rider's arm, he in turn recieved a sharp blow to the gut with the rear end of the spear. At such close quarters, the Igni could practically feel the movement coming and he tensed his abdomen and offered his free hand in defense. Still, the impact was painful and he let out a grunt as his opponent heaved and tried to lift him.

Whatever strength he thought he had, Iikagen was not exactly one to be tossed around by a ragdoll. However, it did offer him a chance to break off from the scuffle and so he pushed off of his opponent as well. He planted one foot on the man's upper thigh and kicked off, throwing himself into a backflip.

In the air, the Tengu mask slipped a little further up on his face and Iikagen suddenly found himself unable to see clearly. There was a moment as he experienced a split second of weightlessness where the Igni thought to himself, "Dis isn't good..."

He misstepped on his landing, staggering once before catching his proper balance. But in that wasted moment where the eye-holes of his mask were realligned, he caught site of his opponent coming right at him. Iikagen brought his spear in front of his body, holding it horizontally with both hands bracing it and tried to roll backwards at the same time.

However, it wasn't quite enough. The three-pronged blade caught on the spear, lodging the shaft between two of its points, but there was too much force behind it to be deflected. Instead its middle point pushed through the igni's defense and jabbed him in the upper chest while the curved point beneath it left a trail of blood underneath it. The pain hardly registered for the first few seconds as iikagen then pushed the blade away and rolled back into a more stable crouching position. Instead he stared down the Earth kingdom warrior who seemed to have been spent on that last attack.

He dropped to his knees, not bothering to continue his assault, and the Igni realized that the fight was all but over. However, despite a victorious smirk that was tugging at his features, he became increasingly aware of a warm feeling trickling down his chest. He brushed his free hand against his chest and felt the moist, somewhat viscous texture of fresh blood. Just judging by the amount, he could tell that it was not exactly the type of wound he could just ignore for very long. He would just have to kill this bastard and then find something to stop the bleeding.

Iikagen willed his feet to carry him forward, but barely a moment after starting to rise the loss of blood pressure brought him right back down. He fell to all fours for a moment and then rolled onto his side. A curse muttered through his lips as he stared through the mask's eyes at his opponent. The bastard needed to die for this. No one scored an unanswered hit like this without paying for it with equal blood.

...Now if only he could physically move close enough to drive his spear through his heart.

[tali]

Silently her eyes opened just enough to see it was still dark. Inwardly she groaned, for a second thinking she was back in bed at the in. Though as soon as she moved her body slightly she knew she wasn't, her eyes opened again adjusting the the vague light to see leaves and branches above her, not exactly the best sight in the world to wake up to. Not the worst either, still there was a feeling of dread holing itself up inside the pit of her stomach. It was enough to keep her silent

While Tali knew she wasn't the more relaxed sleeper she found it hard to believe that she'd walked herself outside and into a bush. The lantern she had lit hours before was set on the ground a bit away, flickering quietly. She must have set it down. Still why was she in the bush. It might be best not to question it. Carefully she got up rolling to her feet after a little effort, working to remove the leaves and twigs from her hair before continuing on, a quick survey of her clothing told her she was fine, no rips no tears, nothing she'd need to mend, it was a good thing. Before this trip of hers she'd never worked with a needle and thread, she wasn't the best at it.

Softly padding along the ground she made her way over to the lantern picking it up to see that the oil left in it wouldn't last much longer, wonderful, she was in the middle of no where with about as much direction as a worm. Slumping her shoulders she sighed softly before looking at the odd glow casting off her hands. Upon closer inspection she noted it was caked on and dried, dirt? mud? Her eyes flicked over to the dead man her heart skipping a beat. Oh yeah... him.... Her lips turned into a thin line, unease and nervousness oozing off of her, She should bury him... It'd be the right thing to do, unless he had family, they'd want to know.

It still wasn't really the time, if she knew the way back she'd carry him to the village, though she wouldn't be able to carry him for long, her little nap helped her calm down. For some reason a dead body was a lot less frightening than a man dying. The pit in her stomach turned into a knot, if her food hadn't worked itself through her system she might just throw up. Closing her eyes she sighed softly saying a silent prayer for the man. She didn't know him but it was before his time.

An odd glimmer to the left caught her attention, her head followed it with a small bit of interest. Sourly her attention flicked back to the dead body, she imagined he wouldn't be going anywhere for a while.. Smoothly she pushed through the undergrowth watching silently the damage done to the area, ostrich horses flickered about angry and upset, trees and branches were bent and slashed. Was this from the fight she was glimpses of?Lifting her lantern up a bit higher she couldn't see much beyond shadows, a bit of discarded armor and a sliced off saddle,

An Ostrich horse spoken, ran for her, nearly toppling her over. Tali's eyes widened in res ponce and she held up her free hand in a symbol of peace. " woah, woah, easy there...shhh shhh..." Her brown eyes stared into the beasts wild ones and his nostrils flared in agitation, he didn't seem to be very trustful of her, he looked beat up. " There you go...easy....." Carefully her hand found it's neck stroking him gently. Where was his rider...?

[iikagen]

After a few steadying breaths and a good amount of applied pressure with his free hand, Iikagen managed to keep from losing enough blood so that he could stand up. His legs felt a little numb, as though he'd slept on them wrong, but he was an Igni warrior, the best his tribe could offer. He had an intimate relationship with pain and injury, so it wasn't too difficult to ignore his wounds for the time being.

The Tengu-clad warrior took a few deliberate steps toward his opponent, who seemed to be having a more adverse reaction to the toxins on the darts than he usually observed. He almost wondered if he would even survive much longer if he was already crippled by the nausea the mushroom-poison brought on. Either way, he figured that he would leave no doubt who was the superior warrior.

However, as he shifted his grip on the shortspear so that he held just under the blade like a dagger, the sound of rapid footsteps caught his attention. Iikagen turned quickly, and by the time his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the rider's ostrich-horse was almost on top of him. He jumped back and quickly back-pedalled, but the mount stayed on him. The Igni growqled in frustration, still keeping his free hand tightly clamped to his chest. After a few steps, his foot caught on a root and he fell backwards. Only swift thinking allowed him to roll sideways into the shadow of the tree beside him prevented him from being trampled by clawed feet.

The Igni quickly got to his feet and edged around to the other side of the tree while the ostrich-horse started to turn around. He was breathing deeply by this point, finding it harder and harder to ignore his wounds as the bloodloss started to take its toll. Whether he liked it or not, he couldn't continue this fight any longer.

t was quite a frustrating situation, but Iikagen figured that it would be best to just call it a night. After all, he'd finally seen some rather intense combat. And though he didn't kill alll of them, two out of three wasn't bad. For what he gauged to be skilled cavalry, he'd done all right by his own standards and he considered the last rider's condition proof that he deserved to mark this battle as a win for himself.

Iikagen reached into the little pouch that was tied around his waist, suddenly remembering that he was performing all these acts under the guise of a Tengu spirit. His hand grabbed a handful of feathers that he'd brought along for some theatrics, and after rubbing them across his chest to coat them with blood he tossed the mess toward the rider.

The ostrich-horse had circled around by now, and though it seemed to be on the look-out for him, its primary concern seemed to be its master. That was well enough. Iikagen decided to just let it end and he silently crept away from the area before picking up his pace. Once he had put some distance between them, he could stop to apply some first aid.

[tali]

Tali nearly fell back as the ostrich horse she was trying to calm down charged off, she'd known enough to get out of it's way when his nostrils flared. Still she only managed to keep her feet from being stampeded upon.. Silent and quick he darted through the line of trees just out of her sight. Without much thought she gave chase, if he bolted and ran out of the area he'd cause trouble. Her feet stumbled awkwardly through the mess of roots before she paused watching the animal attempt to attack a man dressed in a mask. Her eyes widened a bit, disbelief quickly entering her mind, was it a spirit?

The way he moved, yellow eyes, red skin, she couldn't tell much else at her distance. His dress was odd, nothing she'd seen before, she wanted to question him but he bolted, another man was on the ground, red seemed to smear the area, she could only assume he was dead, she blanched. More bodies, and she'd only just gotten used to the one. Now her heart dropped, her desire for answers was filled with a hollow burn of anger and hatred.

Still her eyes honed in on the retreating figure and narrowed, so this "spirit" was behind it then, she'd have to track him down. A small corner of her mind shouted that it wasn't a good idea, that if some large men, most likely stronger than her couldn't defeat him then she'd have no chance. But she was Talia Shiofeun, no spirit would knock her down, sure, some blood and someone dying could but- well it didn't matter.

Her inexperience with gore aside she was ready to make life uncomfortable for him. With her jaw set and the possible battle situations running through her head she dashed after the man. Of course with her shorter strides she couldn't keep up, also she had the lantern to think about, running in the dark seemed oddly pointless. She'd loose the trail in seconds and wind up lost.

Greatfuly she noticed he left a trail, he must be hurt, other wise she assumed the tracks wouldn't be noticeable, small splashings of blood here and that. If she didn't have a source of light she'd never have known. Her breathing became hard after a bit but she knew to push through it. She wasn't about to stop and rest. Just how fast could this spirit run? She felt oddly stupid, if he really was a spirit he wouldn't get tired, then again would he bleed? Assuming he was a human he had to be some sort of acrobat to have such a long stride, either than or incredibly long legs.

A familiar burn found it' way into her muscles, a tension caused by the strain of moving, she knew it well, push just past it and you'll feel better. It would be a lot easier if the ground was level and there weren't roots to doge every two steps, this was something she'd have to work with. Her eyes trained ahead her body moving as fast as it could until she tripped, the lantern went with her as she fell face shirt into the ground, the metal case tipped and the fire went out. With a groan she realized she was once more lost in the dark. Today was only getting better...

Managing to find herself back on her feet she gripped the now useless object tightly following the same direction she had been going. It couldn't be too much further, unless he turned or doubled back, which would be unfortunate but with her luck right now rather likely. Her eyes smoldered, angry at whatever caused that mayhem, be it beast or brute, her fists itched to collide with something, to make someone hurt. Mostly for the men who died, putting them through such pain but also for terrorizing the village, no one had the right to do that.

When she found him she'd rip him to bits, her mind was set on this, final and decided, this "spirit" would get whats coming to him.

[iikagen]

After a hundred yards or so, Iikagn decided that he'd gone far enough and that his wounds needed to be tended to. He glanced back, taking note of the light source that was still tailing him. He'd noticed it shortly after he started into the woods, but he was completely at a loss as to who it could be. There were only three warriors by his count, and if there were any more of them, they certainly would have joined the battle before their comrades were slaughtered.

Still, Iikagen was willing to bank on the assumption that this was someone entirely new. If they really wanted to find him, he'd just have to deal with them when they caught up But if it came to actually dealing with this persuer, he decided it would be best to do so while he was not keeping his lifeblood from draining with his hands. Things like that tended to weaken your position in a conversation...

Iikagen made a sudden change in course, turning 90° to his right and walking a short distance before leaning against the trunk of a large tree. He tossed his spear down at the ground, letting it stick into the ground with its grip still protruding up into easy reach. Still clamping his left hand against his wound, he untied the knot of his sarong and then swirled it a few times until it was a single thick strand of cloth. Iikagen then sucked in a deep breath and quickly used both hands to wrap the sarong around his cest and tie a tight knot along his side.

After completing the make-shift tourniquet, he slumped down against the trunk of the tree and exhaled deeply. He felt absolutely drained. But from that position, he kept his eyes peeled for his pursuer. Their lantern had gone out, and he wondered if they had sensed that he had stopped. Maybe they were more clever than he gave them credit for, and were attempting to circle around him while he watched the direction he came from.

[tali]

She'd slowed to a walk, for one, she was tired, but also it was dark now, rather hard to see while her eyes were still adjusting. With a grim expression on her face she fumbled through the foliage trailing the direction the spirit had gone. The anger still burned away in her chest, images from earlier mad her stomach uneasy, the darkness was unsettling and made her nervous, all together it felt like she was being pulled in several directions all at once. She wanted to find the spirit and get it over with.

Up ahead she noticed the train of broken twigs was stopped, against a tree not too far away there was a person sitting fiddling with what appeared to be a cloth, she couldn't tell all to well in the darkness. She perked up a bit, she wasn't sure if he'd seen her yet, but since he seemed hurt it didn't look like he'd be going anywhere too quickly... but he was hurt. This was a conflict of interests, he killed those two men but was killing in return fair? Maybe she could turn him into the Earth Kingdom Military, let them handle it.

Tali stayed back, not sure whether to confront him or wait. Still it was the first living person she'd seen in a while. If she managed to apprehend him then how would she get back to the village, she was lost after all. Hesitating was no good either. There was no turning back at this point really. She just had to pick an option and stick with it. A small intake of breath and she'd decided .Balling her free hand into a fist she did her best to be quiet as she moved forward closer the the dark figure against the tree.

[iikagen]

Iikagen wasn't entirely sure what to expect of his pursuer, but when the silhouette of a young woman came into view he almost laughed. It was just too random, and it made him forget his rather dire situation.

She seemed to become aware of his presence too, and she slowly approached. As she drew closer, the Igni could see no discernable weapons in her hands or on her person, and he wondered exactly what she was thinking in chasing him down. If she saw what he'd done to the warriors, she was either foolish, skilled, or amazingly arrogant to come after him alone.

Deciding to test her nerves, he slowly rotated his head in a clockwise motion and made a steady clicking noise.

[tali]

Tali's eyes widened a little and she starred at the person, it was definatly a boy. Her shoulders rolled back and her spine stiffened a bit, it was clicking at her? What the hell was that about. Her eyes narrowed and she looked down at him, now in front of him. Her hand still stubbornly held the lantern at the ready, it nothing else she could knock him in the head with it. She wasn't too amused, her eyes trailed down his body to his chest where a wrap awkwardly covered his otherwise naked chest.

Was this for real? What was she supposed to do about this now. If he was a spirit she was as good as done for, but seeing the blood first hand made it rather unlikely that he was a spirit. Her eyes becoming slightly half lidded she pulled her lips into a frown, he was really asking for it. What could this man be thinking? Did he really kill those people? She was confused now.

In a dull dry voice she watched a bit of fresh blood travel down his chest. She wanted to shake her head, and shout at him, perhaps she should knock him in the head with the lantern after all, it'd get him to shut up at least... " your 'bandages' are leaking"

[iikagen]

The girl's response almost made him chuckle. Iikagen was expecting a 'Who are you?" or even a 'What are you?'" This girl seemed to have completely by-passed the obvious question in order to point out something different but equally obvious.

Apparently he was wasting his time with the spirit charade if she wasn't even going nibble at the bait. Iikagen shook his head side to side for a moment before reaching up with one hand and hooking his thumb under the Tengu mask's chin. He pushed it up and slid the mask up to the top of his head so he could see her more clearly. He glanced down for just a moment to inspect his makeshift wound dressing and moved it around slightly to better cover the wound.

"Hmmm, so it is..." the igni commented, seeming to give the girl barely any notice. After a few seconds he glanced up, scratching briefly at his rather scruffy beard that had been accumulating for almost a month. "So what joo want?"

[tali]

Her eyes followed his motions carefully, she couldn't tell much of his expression under the mask. He seemed to have not been expecting her words but she wasn't either. She was keeping herself serious, cold, she wanted to scream and yell demand answers but she wanted to know more. Again her curiosity kept her silent, against her better judgment her hardened expression flickered to interest as he pulled the mask back. The tattooed face seemed familiar, where had she seen it before?

Oh now this was it, Tali's temper flared at his lessafair attitude, was this a game to him? She was fairly certain he'd killed those people, he didn't seem to be showing any remorse, none-whatsoever and that bothered her the most. She had a feeling if she attempted to hit him he'd retaliate, he was injured but from what his build hinted that he was capable of knocking her out. She'd have to be sneakier than that, perhaps be nice, get him into the soldiers, if he was out here as a spirit he might know the way back to the village.

And that accent, he was firenation, but definatly not one of the soldiers, she hadn't paid much mind to the Fire Nation girl she met back in Gaoling but he seemed a lot like her, as far as mannerisms and accent, they were identical. She should play it cool, act like she saw nothing- " What did you think you were doing?" -so much for that.

[iikagen]

What did he think he was doing? Honestly, every time this grl opened her mouth, Iikagen wanted to laugh. It was such a mother-like question, or at least something a guardian would say. Iikagen never quite had a 'mother'-figure. Still he found her scolding tone somewhat amusing.

Iikagen's lips pursed for a moment and his eyebrow lifted on one side as he contemplated an answer. After a moment he finally shrugged and replied, "Surviving?"

It was a rather simple reply, and Iikagen was getting a bit of a kick out of playing dumb with the girl. However, the weight of his situation suddenly re-dawned on his conscience and his demeanor changed.

"So joo going to just stand dere or are joo going to give me a hand?" he asked, simultaneously extending his right hand toward her in order to have her pick him off the ground.

[tali]

Her eyes narrowed on him, surviving huh? While it seemed like a reasonable answer sher wasn't feeling reasonable at the moment, always one to get wrapped up in her emotions this was no exception. She didn't like how he seemed to be a second away from laughter while he was talking, it annoyed her. He thought this was a joke, that what he was doing was cute and funny. It was all she could do to keep herself from slapping him, she so wanted to but she kept herself calm.

She softened a bit as he realized his demur took on a more repentive one, until he spoke, seriously there was something wrong with this man. He held his hand to her, she sighed and grabbed his hand helping him up. She pulled harder than was necessary lifting him to his feet, hopefully tugging his arm out of his socket, she doubted it was possible for her though. Grudgingly she admitted to herself that there was still the matter of getting out of the forest, she wouldn't be able to do it on her own. She didn't know when she may next find someone out here.

With a bit of effort she kept him steady, where did he think they were going to go? She sincerly hoped he knew this forest, otherwise she'd leave him here. She told herself that she wouldn't care about it, that she'd feel no remorse but she knew she would. Her conscious was cruel like that. Still she'd get revenge on him somehow, she just hadn't gotten it figured out yet. " Do you have somewhere to go?"

[iikagen]

The girl's rough tug agitated the gash in his chest, but Iikagen barely allowed more than a slight twitch of his right eye to betray the pain. Instead he simply stood up straight and scooped up his shortspear in one fluid motion. He twirled the weapon around deftly between his fingers and tucked it along is forearm since he no longer had his sarong to hold it at his waist.

Truth be told, he was a little surprised she had even humored him this much. Iikagen couldn't help but wonder if she even knew why she was out here herself. Her question about his heading confirmed his suspicions somewhat, and he became more confident that he could simply manipulate this girl by maintaining an illusion of control.

"J'es," the Igni replied to her question, taking slow but steady steps forward as he kept the cloth pulled tight around his chest. "But where are joo heading?" he asked back, "Looking for blue-faced monkey-birds?" Iikagen did well to keep a straight face as he posed the possible explanation for the girl's presence. It was a saying from ack home referring to a made-up animal that was often used as the basis for a prank on young children. Such creatures never existed, but it was amusing to send gullible victims wandering into the jungle after dark in search of those rare, nocturnal creatures.

"'Cause joo know, it only counts if de face is blue, not green," he added, sounding every bit serious.