damned_institute | Nightshift 37: Soccer/Recreational Field

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Nightshift 37: Soccer/Recreational Field

[from here.]

Since the recreational field was quiet tonight, Phoenix found himself pausing briefly between doors, glancing up at the sky. It was what the sky looked like on television, pitch blackness interrupted by bright points of starlight, which was what really made him stop in the first place, really. He'd spent his entire life in Los Angeles. He didn't expect anything from the night sky but a dark, dusky rose, dotted with perhaps five valiant stars, assorted satellites, and the blinking slow-motion of airplanes coming and going from LAX. Seeing the sky the way he'd always known it was supposed to look pulled at him strangely. There wasn't supposed to be a single thing about this place that was beautiful, but there were the stars, cold and twinkling and completely unfamiliar.

He turned away abruptly, walking quickly for the next door before he could stare any longer. This wasn't the time to get caught up in things like that.

[to here.]

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Going outside was getting higher and higher on his list of things he really shouldn't do at night. Not that he took great measures to abide by his own rules. It was the second time now that he'd run into the birds and if the only cure for attracting them was correct, he was pretty sure he'd be running from them for a long while yet.

What he couldn't bear, however, was these innocents who kept getting hurt, all to protect someone like him. He was ready to grab Ururu and run, but try as he might to deny it, the girl was a warrior, a trained fighter, and if she wanted to fight, he was going to have to try a lot harder if he wanted to stop her.

He had nothing to fight with and if he tried to add his own flying kick, it would probably be more likely to get in the way than it would be to do damage. He was ready to run as soon as she landed, hoping that the kick would stun it long enough for them to both get away. And if not, he'd just have to be ready to pick her up and run twice as fast.

The prey decided to come closer for whatever reason, but the aquila didn't bother to think too much about why. It just adjusted the dive to allow for the movement, beak gaping in a silent cry as it prepared to tear and rend and then --

And then suddenly the small prey jumped up and struck it in the chest, hard enough to hurt. The avian's claws closed on nothing as it gave an undignified squawk, missing its target entirely, and was subsequently distracted for a few crucial moments. The blow had knocked it just enough off-kilter that one wing brushed unexpectedly against the ground, and the aquila had to struggle not to end up in a crash on the grassy field.

It managed, finally, but in the time it took to regain sufficient altitude it wasn't looking at its targets below.

Ururu felt it when her kick connected, and she was glad that she'd made the hit. She would protect Fai-san by beating the bird; unlike the older man, she had no intention of running away. Ururu didn't want it to hurt anyone else, and that meant beating it completely, here and now.

Ururu landed neatly on her feet, and immediately ran at her target again. She'd hit it once, but that wasn't enough, and she knew it. The bird wasn't looking at her, so she jumped up again, this time aiming a punch at the bird's head. She wasn't as strong as she should be, but maybe if she hit it there, it'd be enough. At least Ururu hoped it would be.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/532444.html?view=43221724#t43221724)]

Shiki saw the fight with the huge bird as soon as she was over the wall. As promised, she didn't hesitate this time, running over and getting into a defensive stance. "Fai-san! Ururu-chan! Are you all right?"

Kurogane suddenly wished they'd gone the other way.

"Can't you stay out of trouble for five minutes?!" he barked down, making his neck throb at the shouting, but once more ignoring it.

Leaping down the wall, he sent his attention up at the strange bird. Ururu had taken it's guard down, so it wasn't paying attention to any of them as it tried to ascend. "Don't just stand there. Get a move o-- hey!" He'd been expecting everyone, Fai in particular, to know that this was the chance to run, but Ururu took off after it before anyone could.

Kurogane swore under his breath and gripped the broken crutch in his hand in preparation. Tonight just kept getting worse.

When Ururu's kick connected, he started over toward the girl, but it seemed she had other plans. And apparently they'd been followed by the other party as well. Why Kurogane felt the need to keep checking up on him, he could never understand. He'd been sure the man would head toward the basement instead.

"Ururu!" he called after her, "Ururu it's enough, we can go!" He followed her further into the field, in spite of what his instincts told him, though he kept a close watch on the skies, just in case the bird had friends.

Of all the absolute indigities it could suffer, the aquila had to be struck -- twice -- by its tiny prey. It moved just in time that the second attack missed the avian's head, but the creature screeched in mingled startled pain and anger as Ururu's punch instead connected just above where the wing met its body.

It was already low enough to the ground at that point that the aquila dropped to a slightly awkward landing, but as it did it still tried to grab the girl, to land on top of her if possible. It wanted to drive her down to the ground and immobilize her, preferably before any of the others tried to interfere.

For someone like Ururu, running away wasn't her instinct. She wanted to fight, because that's what came naturally to her. To fight and protect, an urge that was stronger now with more of her friends there.

But beating the bird wasn't as easy as she wanted it to be. Ururu's punch landed on the body, not the head where it would have done the most harm. And because she had missed, the thing could fight back better against her, and that was no good.

Ururu didn't want to get trapped. Not when everyone was yelling at her to stop. If she got trapped then they'd all say that she shouldn't fight anymore, because she was so weak. Ururu didn't know what she'd do if that happened, so when the bird tried to pin her, she tried to jump out of the way. Unfortunately it still managed to land on her leg, which wasn't good at all.

But at least it had only gotten one.

"Get off!" Ururu kicked up hard at the monster with her free leg. She wasn't just going to lay there and get eaten. That would be bad, and she didn't want that.

Shiki thought, and thought quickly, to the materials in her bag. She knew most of them wouldn't do much good, but if she could throw something at the bird's eyes, it might let go. She shuffled through the bag's contents and settled on a pair of the scissors. It was a long shot - especially since they were so blunt - but they might be enough.

She nodded once, and then threw them, aiming for the bird's eyes. She just hoped they would do enough damage to it - or at least make it flinch enough to get it away from Ururu.

If nothing else, Ururu was doing well to keep the bird grounded and a stationary (enough) target for him to attack, but the longer the bird was only attacking her the more injured she could become.

Kurogane didn't waste any time and was moving in before the bird fell upon the girl, his weapon drawing around to strike. He also aimed for the head, but he didn't pause at the thrown scissors from Shiki. Instead he used the projectile blades to his advantage. On their own they might be enough to maybe pierce one of the creature's eyes, but with the added force of Kurogane's swing more damage was sure to be done. So that's just what Kurogane did - he timed his swing with the sailing scissors and struck them at the handles when they went past, following through to take both it and his weapon into the creature's face.

It felt like a horrible repeat of their run-in with the same birds just a few days ago. And judging by the way things were playing out, they were none the wiser for the experience.

The moment Ururu went down, Yuuhi was on it. While he knew Kurogane would be the first to strike at the creature, he was more concerned with the girl trapped beneath it. He ran at the bird, putting his shoulder into it and hoping to ram the thing hard enough that it would alleviate some of the weight on her leg.

Though it was initially successful in getting hold of its small prey, that was about the extent of the aquila's luck for the time being. It lifted its wings and started to try to launch into the air with the intention of taking Ururu away with it, but its plans were interrupted in the form of three different attacks.

First it had the uncooperative prey kicking it rather fiercely from below; that plus the lingering ache in its wing kept the avian from taking flight right away. Then the thrown scissors (in and of themselves not that much of a threat) became an added bonus to Kurogane's swing, striking just right -- or wrong -- and impacting directly against the creature's eye.

It shrieked in pain and turned its head to lunge at Kurogane, half-blinded but with beak agape, talons unconsciously closing about its prey on the ground lest she be lost. Its attack was thrown off once again, though, when the fourth person rammed into the aquila's side. The creature staggered at that, forced to step off of Ururu, its wings spreading and flapping once, both for balance and to hopefully drive away its attackers.

Right after Kurogane connected, he waited until the bird had moved away from his weapon before pulling back enough to keep out of its way. It was injured now, and would be desperate to keep itself from getting hurt further. When the magician got involved and managed to take the bird away from Ururu, Kurogane readied himself again.

"Get her out of there!" he ordered at Fai, then charged for the thing, this time having to rely on his own weight as he tried to slam it away from the girl.

Yuuhi didn't have to be told, he'd been planning to pick Ururu up as soon as her leg wasn't caught, it just took a second or so to regain his bearing after running so hard into the bird in the first place. He kept his back to the beast as he picked her up, blocking her if he had to from incoming attacks.

"We're going inside now okay Ururu?" he gave her a reassuring smile despite his disorientation. She was fairly light, so it didn't take a lot to pull her up into his arms and start back toward the building.

Ururu had been getting to her feet when Fai-san suddenly picked her up. It took the girl a moment to understand just what was happening, and when she did, Ururu immediately shook her head.

"No! It's not dead yet, and Kurogane-san already got hurt!" Ururu had seen for herself how the ghost touched him, and the deep mark left behind on his neck. She didn't want anyone else to get hurt, especially when she could still fight. "Please let me go, Fai-san. I want to help!"

Especially now. If Kurogane got hurt because of her, Ururu wasn't sure what she'd do.

"It's hurt, Ururu-chan. If we stay longer, we might all get hurt," Shiki said, trying to reason with the little girl. "You've done a great job so far. But you're hurt, and Kurogane-san's hurt, and the odds are against us. It's as important to know when to run as it is to know when to fight.

Besides - we have a good chance now. You and Fai-san and Kurogane-san and I all weakened it. I'll bet it won't follow if we go inside the other way," she added, dodging the creature's wings as she moved next to the pair. "We don't need to wait any longer."

Though the aquila had no desire to be hurt any further, it was also ravenously hungry and surrounded by potential food sources, as well as maddened by its own injuries. Its smaller prey had been lost now, dragged away by one of the others, but the largest one was charging it now.

The avian turned its head so that it could see Kurogane with its good eye, its beak gaping and wings mantling as it prepared for his approach. It didn't bother trying to dodge or fly away, instead it seemed to almost welcome the man, allowing itself to be knocked over - for that freed its talons to grab at him and beak to snap, trying to drive into his temptingly appetizing flesh.

Kurogane only paid attention to when Fai grabbed the girl and left, then kept his attention completely on the battle from then on. Hopefully they'd take the hint this time and get out of there.

While they did, or should, Kurogane continued his rush and slammed the bird without much trouble, but the lack of resistance there made things worse. The thing was smarter than it looked, and Kurogane knew the moment he hit that it had allowed him to get in close. It was trying for an easy meal.

Keeping close to it but moving as he did to avoid any major damage, Kurogane worked at finding an opening. The thing had to be kept to the ground if he wanted any chance of finishing it off, so Kurogane could deal with some gashes. He finally found what he needed when the beast's beak made a snap for his "Sword" arm. "Like I'll let you!" he snarled, then shoved the broken crutch into its mouth, forcing it down its throat as far as he could.

Yuuhi was torn. Ururu desperately wanted to go fight and Kurogane was struggling with the bird. If he let her go, she might get hurt, but if Kurogane had to deal with it, things would only get worse. While it told him that Kuro-pyon was still worthy prey for the virgin birds, teasing was out of the question at the moment.

When the bird went toppling over only to start snapping and clawing at the ninja, Yuuhi's grip on Ururu weakened in his surprise and though he knew he would only have himself to blame if she was hurt, he let her go, following quickly after. Even if he would rather run, if everyone else was intent on fighting, he knew he couldn't just leave. It was contradictory, he knew, but when wasn't he?

He set his jaw to a grim smile as she ran once more at the bird, trying to land a hard kick at its exposed belly now that Kurogane had knocked it over. The targets were few with the beak and the flailing talons, but if nothing else, maybe it would divert the thing's attention long enough for Kurogane to kill it.

Ururu wanted to argue that it wasn't so bad, that she wasn't so hurt that she couldn't help. She hadn't passed out like Kurogane had, after all. She's just gotten her leg pinned, and she could still use it well enough to fight. And Kurogane wasn't coming. Ururu could see the fight even though she was in Fai-san's arms, and she could see that Kurogane wasn't running.

But Fai-san did something then that surprised Ururu too. He let her go.

The girl dropped to the ground and immediately ran at the bird, calling out a thank you to the man over her shoulder before she realized Fai-san was coming too. She had much the same idea as Fai-san, though not to cause a distraction. Ururu just wanted to hurt the bird as much as possible, so it'd be easier to kill. So she aimed in almost the same place as Fai-san, punching hard at the belly, hoping it'd do good. She didn't think it'd be able to dodge, at least. That was something.

Shiki was honestly surprised that Fai let Ururu go. He had expected the tall blond to run as soon as he got the order. Well, if they were all going to fight it? She wanted to pull her weight, too.

Using another pair of those blunt scissors wouldn't do much good, and there wasn't enough weight to the rest of the objects in her bag to do much damage. Therefore, she decided to do as the others were and aim for the bird's belly.

She got into a fighting stance and, with the leg that hadn't been injured too badly, aimed a kick just to the left of where Ururu had hit it. It didn't seem to be dodging, and she reminded herself that it was just like fighting Noise - it was trying to hurt them and needed to be erased. That was that.

The aquila's powerful beak snapped down on the crutch before it could get too far into its mouth, but that left it unable to bite at Kurogane like it so wanted to do. And now it was starting to regret allowing itself to be so grounded, as with one large human on top of it and the three smaller ones swarming from the sides.

It thrashed and flailed as hard as it could with wings and talons alike, trying to both pull the crutch out of Kurogane's hands and push him away, but it was hampered by the attack on its side. It was too big, too hampered to be able to dodge, and as it felt a rib snap under impact it became only increasingly frantic to get away.

There went his weapon again. What he wouldn't give for a proper sword for a change?!

Knowing that there would be no point in trying to fight the bird for his weapon back, in one piece anyway, Kurogane held it hard and let the bird hold on as it would. He still had it on the ground this way and was going to keep it there until he could be sure it wouldn't get at anyone he was defending. It shouldn't have taken too much to manage that if the others had done as he'd said and left, but they just couldn't listen could they? No, that would have been asking too much.

Instead for yelling at them for not listening and being idiots, Kurogane chose to go with it, forcing the bird's head away while the others went for the body.

As much as he might waver in indecision, he was too involved now to back out (now where had he heard that before?). It was hard to completely avoid the flailing talons and their razor-sharp tips clipped his upper arm, sending him back a step. The thing only had an advantage if it was in the air, otherwise it was outnumbered and sure to be quickly put down. He just had to find a way to keep it grounded.

He aimed his next kick for the bird's left wing, high in the bones that supported it, aiming to break them if possible. It was a shame none of them had any proper weapons.

All three hits connected, and Ururu could feel the bird's bones giving way under her fist. That was a very good thing, because it meant that they could win the fight. But it was too soon to be happy, because a moment latter there was blood in the air, and a quick glance to the side told her just whose it was.

Fai-san had gotten hurt.

Ururu could feel her heart racing at the thought, but it didn't look too bad. Even though he stumbled, Fai-san recovered quickly, and kicked at it's wing. Kurogane was holding the bird's head back, and the little girl dashed back, both to avoid the talons, and to take advantage of the newly open spot. Her leg still ached though, and a claw managed to get her across the chest. Ururu let out a little cry, but she didn't let that stop her. Not now, when things were almost finished.

She had to be careful. But she had to end it. The bird was an enemy, and it wanted to hurt her friends. The cut was bleeding, but it wasn't a lot. She could still fight.

So she ran around Shiki, ignoring the pain, and aiming a sharp kick at the bird's revealed neck.

Nightshift 37: Soccer/Recreational Field

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