Over My Head (Better Off Dead)

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Pricklemist Hill stood as out-of-place as ever.

It was only on the edge of Rainfront town, perhaps a twenty or thirty-minute walk for most able-bodied Pokémon. But, despite the close proximity of the two locations, the aura between them could not be any more different. Rainfront was cozy and welcoming, a small town nestled on the coast boasting a number of different attractions. Between those and the beach, it was a content lazy little corner of the world, happy with itself and its place in life. A tourist attraction for most people. On the other hand, the hill on the edge of town was as dour, dark and sullen as it could be. Thick, swirling mist wafted through the air, clouding what little light was in the air in the first place, thanks to the eternally cloudy skies overhead. An old, faded trail lead from town to a small copse of trees atop the hill, somehow appearing foreboding despite the innocence of the picture. It was difficult to tell the time of day, but the gently chilling bite of the cooling air told one particular croagunk that it was nearing evening if it wasn't there already.

Goro shivered. He was pleased to be back.

The last time he'd been here was when he was checking out his metaphorical backyard after settling down in Cattail Marsh. The area had struck him as distinctly creepy and gloomy, and he remembered wanting to share a sense of kinship with the area. It'd given him a bad case of the creeps, though. The fighter had been constantly looking over his shoulder, wary of whatever night-time terror would burst through the thick mist to claim his life. Now, though... now, he was different. Stronger. More capable. A better fighter and a Pokémon with his head on straight. He'd been an aimless vagabond looking for a hole to hide in last time he came here, but this time he had a purpose, power, and experience. He was a little bit older, a bit more wisened. When he came to Rainfront last time, he believed the story the old cronies used to tell on the streets about the tragic fate of a family atop the hill. Now... it was probably just an old wives' tale to get tourists out of their hair. As he strolled down the faded trail beaten into the grass leading up to the old hill, Goro felt more at ease with himself than he had... perhaps ever before.

The Umbreon in front of him probably had a lot to do with that. The croagunk was less interested in surveying their surroundings, as he'd been here before, and busied himself with staring at Krikka's figure in front of him. She'd plucked him out from the hovel he was squatting in inside of Cattail Marsh and taken him on the kind of harrowing desperate adventure that he only used to hear stories about, drifting from seedy town to town wishing for a purpose in life. Krikka had given him that, too. And now she'd brought him here, to the haunted hill on the edge of the tourist's town. Why, exactly, was a mystery, but he didn't plan on asking. At this point, she had long since earned his trust and respect. If she had something she wanted to take him to do in the middle of nowhere, then he'd come along for the ride, no questions asked.

Still, maybe he would have appreciated it if she'd had said something about how cold it would have been outside. At least warned him to bring a cloak or something. Absently, the croagunk rubbed his palms together before exhaling a hot breath into them, trying to warm his hands before folding them into one another.

Flawless execution and an actual reaction of pain should have been enough to merit some level of satisfaction, but Dusk felt nothing toward it. She didn't care that she was winning, and in fact, didn't even register the concept or winning and losing; the only thing she cared about was what came after victory, and the idea of any other result was foreign to her. There was only one thing about her successful maneuver that caught her attention, and that was a distinct, metallic taste in her mouth. A fresh wave of adrenaline rushed through her at the taste of blood. Her tongue slid out of her mouth and brushed over the length of her maw, sampling the red stains over her lips as she stared blankly at the croagunk reeling away from her. Every motion was calm and precise despite being driven by primal urges and impulses. The desire for blood was the only thing guiding her, and now, she had finally been granted a taste of the thing she so desired; sight was one thing, but this...

The black pupils of her wide eyes narrowed.

The croagunk bounced back quickly from whatever damage he had taken, but for Dusk, there wasn't much to recover from in the first place. She continued her approach toward the now-bleeding frog, her eyes focusing on his bleeding wrist, the mere sight of it sending thoughts of gore surging through her mind. Impulse after impulse to attack him in so many ways fell over her, and just as he started off toward her, this time, she responded equally. Rather than simply wait for him to try and fail to hurt her again, she was finally going on the offensive. She still held no concern for her own safety and, as such, no care for making any effort to avoid his attacks out of any sense of self-preservation. She did, however, recognize his fists as obstacles in the way of the more...tender parts of him, and that was unacceptable. The uppercut should have been nigh-impossible for her to track and react appropriately to, much like the last use of this attack, but suddenly, it was child's play. Her perception slowed to a crawl and her processing capabilities skyrocketed; suddenly, she was able to see even the smallest detail in the croagunk's movements, and she could foresee how they would play out. Not only that, but she could even see every way in which to avoid his attack, and from her perspective, she had plenty of time to choose.

Rather than make the smart decision to avoid both fists by moving away and giving up some of her ground, the umbreon chose to simply dodge the uppercut; it was more likely to delay her advance. She stepped easily to the side and out of the way of the attack when it came, and immediately, she lunged for the bleeding wrist on instinct. Unfortunately, the croagunk's second punch came too soon, striking her in the cheek while her head was turned toward his other arm. However, much like his last successful attack, Dusk didn't even flinch, planting her paws firmly against the ground and matching the force thrown against her. The distinctly cross-like red lights lit her fur aglow once more, now contrasting the lifeless grey of her rings before fading. Her eyes trailed over to her victim's face, and all she could see was someone stopping her from enjoying herself. The presentation of such resistance almost upset her in a way, as if he was somehow offending her by delaying the inevitable not offering himself up willingly. However, any signs of true emotion were drowned out by the bloodlust overcoming her, and all she could do was fight violently against the attempts to keep her from her goal.

The umbreon's red eyes stared blankly into her adversary for a moment, her pupils further shrinking into slits. Now that she was close, she could smell the fresh blood, and it was driving her further into her maddening trance. After fighting against the force of the croagunk's fist, she pulled away from it before moving to lunge for his uninjured wrist. She had a dual goal in both weakening both of his arms and making him bleed more, and after that, she would start targeting more vital areas. However, as she bore her saliva-dripping fangs, a sudden, unexpected force slammed into her from the left, sending her tumbling to the ground. It hurt worse than the croagunk's pathetic punches, and there was more force behind it, but it still barely fazed her. Mid-roll, she threw her legs against the ground and stopped her body, instantaneously bringing herself back into a standing position. She turned her head just in time to see another pulse of the darkness that had assaulted her closing in, and for the second time, the world slowed around her.

With a perfect, immediate reaction, she sidestepped to the right and stopped herself when she was just barely out of range. The pulse blew past her and she could feel the pressure of the outer edge of the attack against her, but with her distance, it was harmless.


Things were not happening how Krikka had expected them to, and it was actually beginning to concern her. Her faith in Goro's ability to beat the living shit out of some random idiot was unfaltering, and his opponent was even weaker than "some random idiot." She was prideful and stubborn and reckless and emotional and WEAK, and she'd clearly only gotten worse over time, now resorting to begging an pleading before a fight had even started! She was weak, and Goro was absolutely stronger than her in literally every way, and yet he actually seemed to be losing despite obviously not holding back! With every trade, he was being pushed back despite this bitch just letting him hit her, and even in physical strength where he should have been superior, she was actually overpowering him! Krikka knew her own species well enough to know they could match a croagunk's physical power at best, and one so weak as this shouldn't have been able to do even that, let alone overpower him.

Her mind and body froze as she realized two very important things about this situation, things someone as smart as her should have realized immediately. She watched as the other umbreon suddenly avoided a bullet punch from Goro, casually, like it was somehow easy... and then she took another drain punch from him, with the same result as the first one. Despite how it had struck her in the cheek and should have been an even better hit than the first one, it seemed to have the exact same effect: none at all. She seemed invincible, and now it was starting to look like she could actually avoid his attacks and was just choosing not to, as if to make a statement about her own power. At that, she seemed to be getting even more overbearing every second, almost like Goro's punches were somehow empowering her. Since it seemed impossible that being hit would do nothing but make the girl stronger, that left very few options, and after having a while to think on it, Krikka had finally found an answer to it all.

Her body lit aglow with an aura much darker than the pale grey of the other umbreon. Just as Dusk opened her mouth, Krikka loosed a forceful pulse of energy directly at her, brushing her to the ground with ease; she was proud of her precision in avoiding Goro with the brunt of the attack despite how close he was to the opponent. Her pride extended to the sight of the weaker umbreon rolling across the ground from the attack, bringing a confident smirk over her face. Then the newfound lively atmosphere around her suddenly faded; her ears drooped while her eyes widened, mouth falling open n a shocked frown. Shrugging off hits from Goro was one thing, but this... weakling... One second, she was being thrown away by the force of an obviously powerful attack, and the next, she had stopped herself, seemingly recovering with barely any effort at all. Without a moment's hesitance, Krikka shot another shock wave out, but this time, Dusk somehow avoided it despite only noticing it mere moments before impact. The astoundingly quick, perfect reaction was unnatural, and now, she was truly concerned.

She decided now was the time to actually start taking this seriously, which meant turning this fight into a two-on-one and informing her ally on what was going on. "Goro! That cloak you saw is making her more durable, and I don't know what the fuck that glow is, but it's not normal and it's making her stronger! If you're not taking this seriously, that needs to change right the FUCK now!" she spoke, her tone urgent and much louder than it needed to be. She wanted him to know this wasn't just training anymore; Dusk was threatening to become a legitimate problem if they didn't deal with her quickly, and after the speed she had already displayed, running was looking like much of an option. She didn't plan to flee from this bitch either way, but the fact that they were probably stuck in this fight made it that much more important that they not let it drag on.

Goro tried to act without thinking as he exploded into action once more, his fists flying through the air toward his opponent, but it was a little hard not to get distracted by an opponent such as this. It was understandable for his foe to get excited about drawing first blood, but it was... less understandable when she began to run her goddamn tongue across her mouth, visibly sampling the taste of his lifeblood. Aside from that movement, she barely even reacted to her successful attack, except for the slightest narrowing of her pupils. More than anything, it gave him the distinct impression of a savage feral, mad with bloodlust. It was... more than a little unnerving, especially since that kind of thing couldn't exactly be faked. Especially when it was taken into consideration alongside all the other weird shit that this girl had going on for her; her borderline insane personality switch, the growing aggressiveness and stubbornness, the strange cross-like symbol that just flashed behind her, the unnatural and lifeless gray hue to her glowing rings... something was very off about this girl. And it was getting to him. He tried his best to be stoic about it, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he was failing. The hateful sneer that was plastered on his face slowly morphed into an expression of confusion and naked fear as Goro stared down his opponent.

Still, he was determined not to let such feelings hamper his performance. He had a job to do, and he wanted to do it. The gall alone that this umbreon had shown was enough for him to be willing to teach her a painful lesson in humility, but he had an order to get it done on top of that. And the fight was only just starting - sure, he was on the losing side of this little exchange so far, but she'd taken almost as many hits as he did. No matter what her expression said whenever she got clocked, it had to hurt. It just didn't make logical sense for her to be invincible. The only explanation for this kind of phenomenon was her simply possessing purity of focus and a shit ton of willpower. She was putting her guts on display, and his punches weren't up to par. The realization was harsh, and it stung. It certainly didn't make him feel any better about it; if anything, he just wanted to prove her wrong even more. The fact that he'd only used one drain punch so far helped soothe that notion - maybe her taking it so well had just been a fluke. Paying no mind to how she overpowered him after and the strange flashing symbols that lit up behind her when she did, it was possible that it was just a freak occurrence. Those happened sometimes in fights. The alternative wasn't worth entertaining - there was no way she was so much stronger than him that she could just tank his blows without flinching.

The only sign of surprise at his enemy's sudden approach during the wind-up of his uppercut was a minute widening of his eyes. Given the manner in which she was fighting so far, Goro didn't expect her to actually go on the offensive so soon. He figured she'd want to commit to this little plan she had going of taking his blows to prove a point, but apparently, she figured she'd already done so. The thought was just as infuriating as all of the other arrogant behavior this umbreon was displaying. The croagunk's bullet punch shot forward, a deadly quick punch aimed once more at the vixen's chin, but to his shock, she managed to actually dodge it. The whole thing happened quick enough that he didn't have much time to process it, but it wasn't hard to recognize the ease and casual manner with which she sidestepped his lightning-quick uppercut. She made a movement toward his outstretched and now quickly retreating fist, looking scarily focused on the bleeding wound on his wrist. In the instant that he recognized it, he felt his spirits rise. She wasn't concentrated on the real threat here - that being, of course, his incoming strong right hand infused with a super effective move. With a flawless shift of weight, he disabused her of that course of action by slamming his drain punch into the side of her face. Like the other one, it was a damn near perfect punch. And just like before, it appeared to have done jack shit. The umbreon, her blood-red pupils further narrowing into animalistic feral slits, dug her paws into the ground and pushed back against his force. His fear of her growing savagery be damned, Goro pushed right back, grinding his fist into her face and refusing to acknowledge the possibility that this dark type was stronger than he was.

One thing was for sure, though. This was real, and it was happening. The first punch wasn't a fluke - she was doing this on purpose, and she really could eat these hits without thinking twice about it. If her demeanor and immediate resistance hadn't tipped him off to this, then the lack of tell-tale influx of vitality rushing down his arm and spreading through him after a successful drain punch was irrefutable evidence. If there was anything going on there, he didn't feel it, and that was a very worrying thing. Even more so was the sudden flashing of red crosses on her figure once his strike landed. Something very unnatural was happening with this fox. In a twisted sort of way, this would have been a good thing, since it meant there wasn't anything wrong with him, but Goro was more occupied with the fact that he was tangling with an umbreon who felt absolutely nothing after taking some of his strongest blows. Before he had long to stew on the fact, though, she repeated her motion from before and pulled back from his force, lunging at his outstretched wrist again. Unlike before, though, he was ready for it this time - stepping back in equal parts healthy fear and caution, he pulled his arm back toward him as quick as he could.

And no sooner after he disengaged did the cavalry arrive. Goro looked on dumbly as a dark shockwave crashed into his enemy, sending her rolling to the side for a moment before she righted herself. The sight had his head snapping off to the side where it came from, and the image of another pulse of dark energy flying in his general direction had him stepping back once more. Unfortunately, the nameless vixen saw it coming just as well as he did, sidestepping the attack cleanly. The way she did it was almost surreal in its perfect execution. Still, he tried to keep his gaze fixed on the enemy in front of him, even as Krikka began shouting at him from her position. While he did appreciate the assistance (because he did not that freaky bitch to bite him again), he didn't figure he was doing badly enough to merit such interference - they'd barely gotten started! He and the other umbreon had only had a few exchanges, and he'd gotten his fair share of licks in on her. On the other hand, though, this bitch was seriously starting to creep him out everything she was doing.

He understood the sentiment, if not the gravitas behind it. She was powerful and creepy, and she had some strange cloak that kept her from getting her face pushed in by him - they could still probably handle her. As much as it stung his pride, he himself probably couldn't have got the job done, judging by the way things were going, but between the two of them, he felt his spirits lift. Krikka was stronger than this other umbreon, he knew that in his heart. She'd put him down in moments when they'd fought, whereas he was going toe-to-toe with this bitch. The croagunk's expression hardened as he got set once more, nodding to show his acknowledgment of her order while raising his fists in preparation. If Krikka was going to get involved, then he'd wait for instruction from her, unless he had to intervene and get between the two dark types. Just from the top of his head, he figured he'd be handling the physical side of things while Krikka slowly peppered her down with attacks from the back - a slow, but steady victory in the making.

Krikka was using her head, thinking and making sure not to rush blindly in and try to beat the other umbreon to death.  She knew she couldn't, based on what she had seen from Goro's struggle, and besides, she wasn't interested in getting her paws dirty here if she didn't have to.  More importantly, though, she felt like the best course of action here was for Goro to handle the physical combat; they both needed to stick to their strong suits so as to make this fight as winnable as possible.  However, it was becoming clear that just blindly attacking, even as a team, wouldn't be enough to guarantee a win here, as the other umbreon was a juggernaut capable of taking all their attacks and more.  Her first dark pulse seemed to have at least done something, but she didn't dare loose another, knowing that Dusk would simply avoid it with the seemingly perfect reflexes she seemed to have.  Krikka knew she had her poison and could always use that, but there was a good chance it would hurt her just as much as the opposition, considering one of the things their species could potentially do.

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be many options here, so poisoning the opponent at the risk of doing the same to herself seemed like the best bet.  No matter what kind of unnatural defense was at play here, it surely didn't protect against toxins, and on an even playing field, Krikka was sure she could outlast this... cheater.  She still held absolute confidence that, at base value, she was more skilled and had greater strength and endurance than the lesser umbreon, and this would be a good way to take advantage of her obvious superiority.  Plus, it was two on one, so they could surely manage to stall long enough for Dusk to drop dead if all else failed.  Still, she wasn't looking forward to potentially inflicting herself with her own toxins, but she figured she would be able to handle the effects well enough anyway.  Rainfront was nearby, so as long as she was on the winning side, she would be able to rush into town for treatment if she really needed to.  She was open to other ideas, but none were coming to mind and she didn't want to sit around giving the enemy a chance to recover and think of a plan of her own.

Krikka's attention was still drawn to the eerie grey glow that had taken the place of the yellow that had previously emanated from the generic umbreon.  She was trying to focus on figuring out how to win, but this little problem kept coming up in her head, mostly because she knew now that it was some kind of empowerment.  It needed to be stopped, and... could Goro do something about that?  She hoped so, because the clear, steady increase in the foe's strength would make it very difficult to stall her out, especially if it was allowed to continue unchecked.  "We've gotta shut down that glow," she spoke, figuring it didn't make much difference if this part of her plan was heard by the target.  With how psychotic the filthy mirror of herself was acting, she had half a mind to believe her words weren't being picked up anyway, but even if they were, it wasn't like much could be done in response.  All they needed to do was disable whatever the booster was, poison this wench, and wait for her to drop, which seemed obvious enough that she figured she wouldn't need to tell Goro that they would be playing defense.  She still planned to fill him in when she got the chance, but this part of her plan, she felt, was worth not speaking aloud for all to hear.

Krikka would have liked to make the first move and gain some momentum in the fight, but Dusk was quicker on the draw; fortunately, there was a distinct range gap the blind beast would have to close before being able to do anything, and even if she had some unholy barrier over her fur, she could surely only take so much abuse.  So, as the foe bolted toward her, Krikka let loose another blast of dark energy directly at her, and as expected, the target simply stepped to the left at the last second to narrowly avoid it with perfect reflexes.  She continued onward without skipping a beat, her red eyes trained on Krikka like she was the only thing in the world that mattered, but she wasn't the only one who could react fast.  Almost immediately, Krikka fired off another pulse, and this one actually made contact, bringing the recipient to a momentary halt and pushing her back against the ground.  However, she recovered quickly; actually, it seemed more like she just didn't have anything to recover from, simply continuing forward as soon as she could make her way through the force of the impact.

Unleashing another shock wave, Krikka stepped back in idle concern, and the reception of this attack did nothing to ease her growing anxiety.  This time, her pulse was ignored entirely, spreading harmlessly around the yellow-ringed vixen's fur and allowing her to pass through as if it were nothing more than a puff of smoke.  Again, she fired, and again, it was shrugged off without so much as slowing the enemy's advance.  Krikka's steps trailing away from the oncoming, unstoppable creature grew faster as she began to truly understand just how much she had underestimated the weak child; in truth, it seemed as if Dusk was gone, and this thing was much stronger than her.  Her bright, yellow eyes widened as she shouted out, "Goro!" calling for his assistance; she was trying to keep herself calm and made an active effort to sound demanding like she normally would, but there was a hint of worry left in her tone that she couldn't hide.  Dusk was too fast for her to run away from, and her attacks were doing nothing.  Still, she released another futile pulse from her aura, again doing nothing to help her situation; at this point, she was beginning to think she was doing nothing but wasting her own energy, and she was already starting to feel it.

In preparation for the worst, the fur on Krikka's tail fur bristled and hardened into metallic needles; meanwhile, toxins began to drip from her pores, saturating her fur.  One definite bright side to fighting alongside Goro was that she didn't have to worry about accidentally poisoning her ally by touching him.  The same could not be said the other way around, but that wasn't seeming like too big a deal at the moment since she was pretty much planning on getting herself poisoned anyway.  She knew she was far too slow to block or avoid the incoming attack, so she figured she would just do what she could to take advantage of it and make sure her fur was brimming with toxins when they made contact.  Her tail was prepared to help her fight against the likely followup attack since she doubted the beast was just going to hit and run, but she doubted she would be able to hold up in a slugfest if Goro couldn't.


The unrelenting battle came to a brief halt at the entry of the third combatant, and even through the haze clouding her mind, Dusk still paused for a moment.  She was waiting to see if they would do anything, but that wasn't the only reason she was humoring this temporary calm.  Simply put, she was having trouble deciding who to attack, as the croagunk was already bleeding and thus an attractive target, but the other umbreon had been so bold as to interrupt her satiation by becoming yet another obstacle in the way of the gore she craved.  Her bloody eyes flicked back and forth between the two as she tried to decide which of them to attack, ignoring their movements and words as she focused on her decision.  For some reason, the blue marks, yellow eyes and distinct dark pulses were all pulling her attention more toward her kin, giving her some odd impulses to focus on that one.  With her corrupted mind, she was unsure why, but she actually wanted to hurt this victim, not just kill her.  She wanted her to suffer, which may have been an overreaction to a single, weak attack, but it felt right.

Driven by impulse, she needed no further reason than this desire to guide her through the fight.  Without question, without hesitation, she suddenly broke into a sprint toward her new target, assuming she could run fast enough for the stale croagunk to be unable to block her path.  In a quick reaction, the umbreon opposing her launched another weak blast of energy at her, but it didn't even make her pause to think.  Her stride continued until the last second, at which point per perception slowed once more and she threw herself to the left, avoiding the attack with ease despite how close she had come.  At the same time, she was putting more distance between herself and the croagunk whose presence threatened to get in the way of her new "plan."  Detect, as this power of enhanced processing was called, enabled her to find the most efficient ways to deal with imminent threats.  Using it too much came with side effects, or at least, it did from what she knew about it.  Fortunately for her, she had never abused it to such an extent, and so she had no experience with whatever consequences came of using it too frequently.  It was, however, very difficult to use for more than a few seconds at a time, even with the unburdened mental state she was in.

Due to this difficulty in holding her increased processing capabilities for extended periods of time, it faded before she was able to dodge the second pulse.  This blast of tangible darkness blew over her black form, the force stopping her for a moment due to a lack of preparation, but she hardly felt it.  Almost immediately, she started back up running, her speed enhanced far beyond the natural levels of her species, especially considering the curse she was actively inflicting upon herself.  She was built to counter her own deficits, and while it cost her in raw power, her species wasn't known for that in the first place; besides, she was actively increasing her physical strength to compensate.  Pretty much the only relevant thing that she wasn't strengthening was her ability to take hits such as a dark pulse, but it didn't matter since her natural resistance and the cloak's influence were more than enough to all-but-nullify the attack.  She had demonstrated this multiple times already, but now that she was prepared for them, the pulses were truly useless.

Again and again her victim-to-be desperately lashed out with the useless energy, and now that she was steeled for it, she was truly unfazed.  She discarded all effort to avoid the blows, instead simply rushing straight through pulse after pulse, forcing her way past them with ease.  They didn't hurt and weren't strong enough to overpower her now with her enhance body.  Her eyes didn't even blink through the bursts of dark, hazy aura washing over her, instead staying wide open and staring straight at the other umbreon who was now backing away from her in what seemed to be fear.  The gesture exhilarated her, and her maw slowly opened as she neared, salivating at the thought of biting into this new victim.  Unlike bipeds who could use their arms to shield themselves, a quadruped's neck was always exposed, and so that was exactly what she focused on.  She didn't care about any moral stigma toward sampling the blood of her own kind, and in fact, she was looking forward to it.

The introduction of another opponent seemed to give the other umbreon pause. Goro listened attentively as Krikka uttered her first instruction, making no real effort to mask her words from their opponent. He idly wondered if it was because she thought it didn't matter if their enemy knew or if Krika didn't think she could even understand at this point; ever since the fight began in proper, she hadn't said a thing. Her behavior and appearance both were growing increasingly eerie and animalistic, and the only signs of intelligence she was showing were savage and cruel in nature, and that was to say nothing about the amazingly stubborn and physical stubbornness on display. If she weren't his enemy or if she hadn't pulled the pleading trick at the start of this, he might have even admired the umbreon for fighting in such a way. It took serious balls to go head-to-head physically with a Pokémon that had an inherent advantage over you, and it took something more to come out on top of it regardless. Still, said Pokémon was him, so he held back on the admiration and nurtured the growing indignant anger blooming inside him. The fact that a dark type, of all Pokémon, had made a point to physically challenge him and beat him at his own game had him furious. Krikka seemed to think that it was the cloak that was lending itself toward her defenses, and he wasn't sure what would be better. On one hand, he'd feel better about himself if it was an item that was enabling her to take his hits and give back just as good as she got. On the other hand, the larger part of himself wanted to be able to beat her at this game despite whatever unnatural shit she had going on. What did it say about him if all a dark type needed to withstand him was some weird vanishing cloak? What would it say about him if he could knock her out regardless?

He wasn't sure what her glow was doing, exactly, since there was a lot of weird shit going on with her in the first place. Was it some kind of defense booster? Was it the thing that was making her gradually stronger and stronger? Did it have something to do with her increasingly aggressive mindset? As shallow and hedonistic as it was, Goro wasn't sure if he wanted to shut those things down yet. Making her less of a tank would be nice, admittedly, since it would mean she would feel real pain from his strikes, but he wanted to earn that, as well. If he wasn't strong enough to make her wince and cry out in pain, then he hadn't earned the right to those sensations. It was an extremely childish way of looking at it, but it was how he felt about the situation. Still, the statement from Krikka had basically been an order, and far be it from him to challenge that. It was his duty to somehow stop this girl from using her glowie technique. There wasn't a lot that he had to use against it, as she'd taken quite a few punches from him and more or less shrugged them off. If it was an actual move she was utilizing, then perhaps he did have a trick in mind...

Before he could give it any thought and formulate a tactic to use it in, the savage umbreon decided she'd had enough waiting. She shot forward in a burst of sudden speed, blasting right past him and making a beeline for the more physically frail opponent behind the croagunk in front of her. It wasn't a bad call - he could take her hits and dish them out right back, and as ineffective as they seemed to be he was at least putting up a good fight. If she got a hold of Krikka, on the other hand, it would probably be a much different story. Goro cursed as the umbreon sped past him, turning on his heel and dashing right after her. He'd been too distracted by his own thoughts and she'd been too fast for him to react to, let alone intercept. As he ran behind her, he witnessed the sight of Krikka immediately acting, firing off a dark pulse of energy at the first sign that she was under attack. Using that same kind of unnatural precision that she'd used to evade his bullet punch, the animalistic vixen sidestepped the first projectile, and she powered through the second one with naught but the slightest of delays. Krikka let loose two more ineffectual energy blasts at the foe rapidly homing in on her, and Goro watched with a morbid fascination as the other umbreon simply powered through both of them as if they were nothing. It went unsaid that a dark type move probably wasn't going to put down a dark type Pokémon, but they should have at least done something. It seemed she was just as uncaring about special attacks as she was physical.

"I'm not done with you yet!" There wasn't much he could do other than haul ass after the faster Pokémon and call out to her. Even if Krikka's almost worried sounding call made him surge forward with a previously missing sense of urgency, when she was using that same speed-based movement that she'd rammed into him with, he was simply left in the dust. Still, there was nothing saying he couldn't try and provoke the bitch into finishing what she'd started; she had made it a point to respond to his physical challenge, and he was still on his feet and raring to go. They weren't finished with their fight yet. Goro dashed as hard and fast as he could, making no effort to stop or slow down his pace as he raced for the dark type's tail. His voice grew hauntingly oblique and twisted, an undefinable sort of authority ringing through it as he spoke once more - something darkly compelling in the words he spoke, in contrast to the harried shout earlier. There was an undeniable challenge to the tone of it, hanging in the air between the two moving Pokémon. "Turn around and fight me, ya mangy bitch!"

Still, he didn't have much of a strategy planned for if she did turn around and face him. Goro merely raced forward as hard and fast as possible, one arm positioned to stretch out once he grew close, intent on drain punching the dark type as forcefully as he could. Should all go well, perhaps she'd hear his challenge in the air and turn around right as he hit her; that'd be a satisfying sensation, if nothing else.

Krikka could hear her subordinate calling out, trying to get the attention of the rapidly encroaching attacker, but from where she was standing, it seemed to do nothing.  She tried to muster up another pulse in a desperate attempt to defend herself, but she had already overused it and her aura was flickering out.  She moved to lash out with her tail, swinging it to the right in preparation to spin in the opposite direction, but she was too slow.  The beast's mouth was wide open, teeth bared and ready, and then she lunged... for the throat.  Krikka's eyes widened; even she wasn't a big fan of killing, but Dusk, her morally pure reflection who had apparently decayed to a timid little girl at first glance, was trying not to beat, but to kill her.  She knew she had started this altercation, but such a reaction, especially from someone who was supposed to be "good," startled her.  She couldn't move fast enough to get away, and with the monster's strength having increased to an undetermined level, she didn't know how well her natural bulk hold up. The only bright side to what was about to happen was that her poison would, without a doubt, take effect.

In fear, Krikka recoiled away from the open jaws as the other umbreon turned her head clockwise; she stepped, or more accurately, stumbled to her right, reaching the leg on the corresponding side of her body up and placing it in the way of the gaping mouth.  She wasn't aiming to stop the attack, but rather, to prevent it from penetrating the important veins and arteries of her neck; she knew there was no way she was getting out of reach, and the likelihood of her being strong enough to protect herself through force alone seemed unlikely at this point.  The fangs slipped past her leg and clamped down on the lower left side of her neck, trapping her paw and wrist within them as well.  She knew it was going to hurt, but it was so much worse than she had expected; while she often praised herself for her pain tolerance and ability to outlast opponents, she was not at all prepared for this and couldn't help but let out a short-lived scream before restraining herself to a whimper.  With her paw effectively pinned to her neck, she tried to pull away, but to no avail.  It was all she could do to pull against the lower jaw in an attempt to keep it away from her carotid artery, making the pain worse in the process.  She could feel the demon's legs press against her chest and left shoulder, and... push against her; the pulling sensation on her neck exacerbated the pain, eliciting another whine.  She was scared now, and it was only made worse then she realized Dusk was literally trying to tear her throat out.

In a panic, Krikka threw her free leg up and tried to push against the chest of the unholy being assaulting her, thinking in the moment that adding to the force tearing at her neck would somehow help.  Her eyes shut on reflex, but she forced them open as far as she could; it wasn't much, but she could see, albeit barely.  The sounds of pain escaping her warped to introduce a growl; she refused to sound like a victim and give this psycho what she seemed to want.  Krikka knew the signs of a sadist, and while this one was more primal than herself, she could still see it.  She would not be reduced to a victim of karmic retribution, no matter what.  She continued to pull away mostly on instinct, her mind skipping past how it was doing the opposite of helping, and in that moment, she truly came to understand how weak she was in comparison to this other umbreon.  She couldn't fight against the vice clamping down on her, and her durable fur and flesh were doing little to protect her.  She could feel the teeth dug into her, and she knew she was bleeding, though she was too shrouded in the sensation of pain to tell how bad it was.  She did, however, know that what was being done to her neck was making it difficult for her to breathe.

She got a glimpse of the opponent to see that the grey lights were fading away, at the very least, and she felt the grip of the many little daggers piercing her skin begin to let up.  For a moment, she thought that perhaps she was safe and Goro's taunt had worked; and maybe it had, but she wasn't quite as saved as it initially seemed.  Almost as soon as the pressure was relieved, the jaws clamped back down, sending a fresh wave of pain through the area.  Krikka was already growing weak from the lack of oxygen, but it was only made worse with every second of this torture, and while there admittedly hadn't been many seconds of it, it was enough.  By this point, she was unable to put up much of a fight when she felt herself suddenly being dragged along the ground and... thrown.  Her eyes snapped shut once more; the feeling of the teeth suddenly ripping out of her was about as bad as the initial penetration.  She was glad she had put her leg in harm's way despite how badly it now hurt, as it had helped stop the ravenous beast from digging too deep into her neck.  It was a hefty price to pay, but had she not made this choice... she didn't want to think about what would have happened.


The words spoken did not register in her mind; rather, not immediately.  She continued forward, now unimpeded by whatever pathetic resistance the futile bursts of energy may have provided, and lunged straight at the other umbreon's throat.  It wasn't that she saw just a victim rather than one of her own species, but more that... she didn't care.  Actually, this was untrue, as the idea of biting into her own kind exhilarated her, doing nothing but further provoking her desires.  Her victim tried to shrink away from her and throw a paw up; she couldn't even manage the level of consciousness required to consider the purpose of the latter of these two movements.  Regardless, her maw clamped down, hard, and she felt instant gratification.  Feeling her teeth sink into the flesh of... anything, really, was ecstasy, but now that it was an exposed neck instead of just a wrist, the feeling was more intense.  She didn't quite get the clean bite she had been hoping for, but it was more than enough, and she could already taste the blood pouring out.

Perhaps it was the pleasant sensation of fur rather than the croagunk's unpleasant skin, or maybe it was how much cleaner the victim was, or perhaps even how it'd been an innately toxic creature before, but this one's blood had a heavenly flavor.  It was almost enough to tempt her to bite herself, at least, at some later point... if she decided she needed another taste.  For now, however, she was provided for, and it sent a feeling of bliss through her, almost bringing her to release her grip and just... collapse.  She couldn't get a good look at the wound she was creating, but she could feel the amount of blood pouring out, and it was far more than she had gotten from the frog.  The taste was so pure, and it was new to her in general since she had been fighting the urges so fiercely until now.  In the midst of this new experience, she couldn't understand why she had tried to resist in the first place, and she now wanted nothing but to spend the rest of her life in this rapture.  It was so pleasant, melting all her problems and even her anger away, making it seem like the only thing that mattered... and she wanted more.

In her struggle to delve deeper into this experience, Dusk placed her paws against the chest and shoulder of the source of her newfound pleasure and pushed, tugging away with her neck all the while.  She wanted to rip a hole in the fountain to let more of the astoundingly palatable liquid.  She could feel her victim squirm helplessly and even push against her, as if to help her to the end she sought after.  With every moment, the fluid pouring from the wound grew in volume, sending pleasant tingles through her body.  She was entirely lost to the darkness, entranced by this euphoria coursing through her... and then she finally registered the words.  With her intense focus on what was in front of her, she was a bit slow to pick up the taunt, and even when she did, it took her a moment to understand it.  The light of her rings faded while the grip of her teeth weakened, and for just a moment, a sense of clarity returned to her.  Her morality and empathy were still nowhere to be found, but she became just sane enough to understand that she had just been challenged and insulted.

She recognized the croagunk's voice, and she knew he was calling her a coward on top of a bitch, neither of which she was willing to stand for.  Her eyes would have widened further if it were physically possible; she felt the anger return, destroying the pleasure that had been invited into her.  She now felt spite toward this fiend on a personal level for taking her away from such a short-lived burst of indescribable elation, and aside from wanting to see the both of her new friends torn apart, she wanted this one in particular to understand how wrong he was.  He had insulted her from the beginning, ignoring her pleas and even going so far as to strike her with the exact opposite of provocation.  He seemed still to think he was somehow better than her, which obviously meant he did not yet understand the situation he was in.  Her grip on her new toy tightened as she realized what she had to do.  She had to teach the vile, disgusting creature who dared insult her the truth of his new purpose in life: he was prey.

Despite her actively growing curse having ceased, her body was still empowered well beyond its normal limits, and despite how she had yet to become strong enough to tear another umbreon apart, she was still capable of throwing one.  She turned to her left, pulling the flesh in her mouth along with her and placing her right leg against the soft fur of the rag doll.  Despite how little effort the task required, she put her all into it, releasing her grip and thrusting her leg forward at the same time to put as much force into this... gesture as possible.  She could have just thrown her current victim into the ground and moved to attack the other one, but she wanted him to get a good look at what awaited him; she wanted him to understand what awaited them both.  She flung the heap of black, blue and red toward the arrogant fool who still seemed to think himself the predator in this situation, and she held nothing back in the process.  She knew she could have followed this up with an immediate attack since the croagunk would need to either catch his ally or move out of the way, but she instead stood idly by and watched.

She wanted him to have time to see.

Goro had fully intended on hauling ass right into his opponent and laying into her. He had fully intended on catching up to the wild animal and peeling her ass off of his boss, especially after she had called out to him like that. He had fully intended on breaking her goddamn jaw when she turned around to face him after his taunt. He'd intended to win the ensuing slugfest and establish his dominance over the savage dark type and, with Krikka's help, he'd put her back into her rightful place. That place, of course, being at Goro's feet like she was earlier, pleading and begging like the weakling she was. That was the best case scenario, and that was what he was striving for going into the second round of this fight. Really, things weren't even all that dire as they were. He wasn't sure why Krikka shouted with such urgency in her voice, both before and just a moment ago. Goro had held his own against the increasingly aggressive and powerful umbreon, and with Krikka's help, they'd even managed to send her to the ground, even if she bounced back from it quickly. All they needed to do was keep up the same tactics; Goro in the front, Krikka in the back, the umbreon getting her shit pushed in slowly but surely. Of course, things weren't always so simple. Almost as soon as their plan became clear, the other vixen had broken it and blasted right past him, making a beeline for Krikka.

And there wasn't much he could do about that but take off right after her and call out to her, snarling a dark taunt in hopes that she would change her mind about the target she wanted to attack. It wasn't as if he doubted Krikka's ability to go head-to-head with her kin, but like him, he wasn't sure if she could come out on top. If Goro's own super effective attacks didn't cause the dark type to budge, he wasn't sure how much luck another dark type was going to have, let alone on that favored special attacks and ranged combat. From his position behind the much faster dark type, Goro didn't even have the best view of the altercation to come; he registered the umbreon lunging at Krikka bodily, presumably snapping out with her jaws. To his confusion, though, Krikka didn't flee. There was no clever dark pulse trick, no tactical outmaneuvering, hell, she didn't even try to turn around and book it out of dodge. Did she try to fight back? Did she mistime her attack or get cold feet at the last second? Instead, he was treated to the sight of the mangy fox snapping out at Krikka, who actually stumbled before falling prey to the strike. So shocked was he that he actually halted his charge as soon as the image registered to him; the other fox lashing out with sharp fangs and snapping her filthy maw around Krikka's neck. She'd managed to get a paw up in time to at least stop their enemy from ripping her throat out, but... still. Goro himself staggered forward drunkenly as he processed this, coming to a clumsy stop and watching on helplessly as his boss and leader received at least a near-fatal injury. What the fuck had gone wrong?

If the view didn't have him shocked stupid and helplessly confused, then the goddamn sounds that Krikka made definitely did. The short-lived, instinctual panicked scream that erupted from the shiny vixen's throat sent through him a sharp lance of high panic. It trailed off into a weak whimper as the two umbreon struggled against one another; Krikka trying to get the savage off of her, and the mangy bitch trying to tear out Krikka's throat. It dimly occurred to Goro that it should be him tangling with the feral in there instead of Krikka, but the sight in front of him and the weak noises that Krikka was making had him in a stupefied shock. Where was the regal and domineering umbreon that had dismantled him in his own territory? Where was the incomprehensibly powerful and insane dark type that had lead him through hell right afterward? She had... she had no right to be wailing and whimpering like that, it just wasn't natural. The following growl didn't even make him feel any better about what he was witnessing. For all intents and purposes, his entire worldview was crashing all around him as he bore witness to the two vixens struggling against one another. Krikka was supposed to be the strongest! Followed by him, and then the rest of the world. How had this happened to her? How had he failed her? How had she failed herself? Goro stood there, perhaps ten, fifteen paces away from the two foxes, his arms hanging helplessly in front of him and a gobsmacked, absolutely shocked expression pasted on his face.

Although it felt like it took a hundred years, eventually the other umbreon's glowing grey rings died out and his taunt finally took effect. He still had no idea what it accomplished - whether or not the glowing accounted for her growing physical strength, or the speed she boasted, or the increasingly animalistic nature that was taking over her. Whatever it was, either it was going to stop altogether or it was going to stop getting worse. For all that it was apparently going to be the difference between victory or defeat, according to Krikka, he barely registered the fact. He was still coming to grips with what had just happened to his leader and superior. Was she even okay? She'd managed to put an arm between the freak's teeth and her neck, so maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked... He didn't have a lot of time to stew on that thought, as suddenly there was movement from the two again. If he thought the sight of this other umbreon dominating Krikka was shocking, then watching her getting dragged around slowly before being bodily thrown like a fucking ragdoll was a hundred times worse.

It didn't occur to Goro that Krikka was being tossed toward him like a sack of meat until she was bodily upon him, and even then it was all he could do to clumsily catch her, his arms loosely wrapping around Krikka's midsection as she crashed into him. The impact of it took them both to the ground, but as Goro was under her, he broke her fall. It'd planted him on his ass, with a bleeding umbreon hauntingly quiet on his lap while he cradled her almost fearfully. He absolutely did not want to see the product of the savage's work. Still, as if they had a mind of their own, Goro's eyes sought out Krikka's as he held her. He didn't even try to get a read on her facial expression, only taking note of how her eyes were shut in pain. His mind went thunderously blank at this; he didn't know what to think. What to feel. What to do. The symbol of his new life could have been dying in his arms for all he knew, and he didn't know what to do. After a moment, the croagunk looked back up to take in the animal who did this, meeting the other umbreon's blood-red eyes without flinching. It didn't occur to him to be afraid, or angry, or sad, or anything. It was only when the silence grew and the moment dragged on long enough for him to realize that he should be doing something that Goro moved.

Gingerly, he gently shoved Krikka off of his lap and lowered her to the ground. He stubbornly did not allow himself to look at her neck wound in detail - she'd be fine. She'd be fine, no matter what, because she had to be. Instead, he turned his thoughts toward more relevant concerns; their immediate survival. They could not flee because the umbreon was faster than them. They could not negotiate because the umbreon, at this point, was little more than a savage animal out for blood. Hell, even if they could negotiate... Goro didn't want to. As he rose from his feet and turned to the now-stoic dark type staring him down, he felt the first wave of emotion rising up in him after his shock. Curiously enough, it wasn't fear or despair. It was fury. Not the red-hot kind that he was so intimately familiar with, but a more personal, unfeeling, cold kind of fury. Within just instants, this fucking animal had damn-near torn out his leader's throat, and... for what? Had she just degenerated into savagery to the point that it was natural, or was she as bloodthirsty as she was crazy?

He found that it didn't really matter. This attack on Krikka was a personal attack on Goro; he was hers. This was more deadly an insult than anything she could have said or done to him personally. Forget the offensive manner in which she fought back against him, pushing her strength against his until his gave out. Forget the confusing personality switch or the unnaturalness of her cloak granting him immunity to his strikes. This umbreon hadn't attacked his pride, or his intelligence, or his skill or anything else. She'd attacked Krikka. His boss and his leader. His golden opportunity, his shot at a better life, his everything. The croagunk's expression hardened to stone and his fists tightened painfully as he stared hard at the dark type who had done the unforgivable.  

"I am Krikka," Unbidden, his mind flashed back to a time when another umbreon stood over him in the way she was doing now, looking down on him in a similar manner. He was staring up at a girl who had brutally dismantled him and everything he had stood for. She hadn't even had the fucking grace to look at him when she said it, going so far as to ignore him when he called out to her. He wanted so badly for those eerie yellow eyes to focus on him and acknowledge him, but it was if such a thought never occurred to her for the amount of respect she was giving him. As if she was better than him, as if she was already his superior in every way imaginable. Even if she was. He remembered the smug little smirk she was wearing, as if she knew something he didn't and found it so terribly amusing. He remembered the sinking feeling in his gut, feeling so little for the first time in years. She was the only person who had made him feel this way since he fled from his family in the dead of night.

"I'm... a visionary of sorts. I see great things in my future, and I intend to make them a reality..." He was on his ass in a cold puddle in Cattail Marsh, being circled by another umbreon who also saw his resistance toward her as nothing but amusing. He felt emasculated and small, handed his first defeat by a girl who looked down on him so obviously. She didn't even try to hide it. He wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse. He remembered the kindling suspicion in the back of his mind, the way she was framing her worse and the teasing little lilt to the tone of her voice. He remembered feeling helpless and shocked as he stared up at this girl who had him at her mercy, and he remembered how astonished he was when she reached out to him. When she picked him up from out of the filth and breathed new life into him. She gave him a home and a purpose, both of those things being her, even if she faltered later on. He remembered feeling so intimidated when he realized that she saw right through him; she knew immediately what it was that he craved. He wanted to be loyal to someone, and she offered to be that person for someone she'd never met. Who else in his life had gone to such lengths for him? "... both for myself and anyone who decides they're interested in helping."

"Come with me," she had said. He hadn't stood a chance. As hesitant and indecisive as he was about it, there was never a possibility of him denying this mystifying, domineering woman anything. He had to talk himself into it, but that had been more of a formality than anything else. It was just him coming to grips with who he was and what he was willing to do to get what he wanted. In a twisted way, she had done that for him too, because why else would he do such a thing if not for her forcing him to?

If Krikka was still in this, then she'd take care of herself. He trusted her to look after herself no matter what. If she was injured or scared too bad, she'd flee. He felt it deep in his bones. Herself and her ambition were the number one priorities, and if her injury was fatal then she'd get the fuck out and have it taken care of. He did not begrudge her for it. If anything, he was grateful. If she couldn't move, then she was just dead weight, because they couldn't run or negotiate. The only way out of this was right in front of him; this cocky fucking savage who thought herself a predator. His job was to fight her. Stall her, beat her, kill her, be killed by her, it didn't matter as long as he tried. If he was alive at the end of it, he'd take them both home. In hindsight, it was so simple. Fight the enemy. Go home.

"Alright," he whispered under his breath, a mirror of the first thing he said to her as one of her own. Goro raised his fists once more as he stood between Krikka and the enemy, his voice rising to a steady volume, eyes hard and flat. There was a cold sort of anger coursing through him, courtesy of the deadly insult this creature had aimed at him. He'd take it all out on her, for better or worse. Or he'd die trying. "I'm right here, bitch. Come n' git me. Me."

Krikka could feel her body being thrown, and even in her rather... distracted state, she was able to make an educated guess that she was aimed at Goro.  He had been approaching, so it was a smart move to use her against him; it was a tactic she would have jumped at the chance to use in her opponent's position.  Of course, that was assuming that she even had the physical power required to throw someone of her own size and weight, which she was pretty sure she did not.  Another issue was that with this particular foe, she knew she had no chance of being the one doing the manhandling.  She wished she did, and her ego was being hurt more and more by the second with every bit of ground she lost to someone of her own species, but she wasn't an idiot.  She was, however, afraid, and that hurt far more than any bite could; it bothered her more than the bleeding, and more than the idea of dying.  She wanted to be strong enough to take what she wanted from who she wanted, do whatever she pleased, and most importantly, never be hurt.  She wanted to be the one doing the hurting, above all else.

She didn't need to see to know what was happening; she felt herself collide with Goro, and to her surprise, he seemed to actually catch her.  He was knocked to the ground, presumably by the force and her weight, but he had prevented her from suffering any further injuries.  There was a moment of silence, and she found herself confused, wondering why the fighting had apparently just stopped.  She wasn't complaining by any means, but she had to wonder what was going on for everything to suddenly come to a halt... and then it dawned on her.  Put simply, this other umbreon was turning out to be much like herself, except less refined, and far more dangerous if left unchecked.  The sick fuck was making an example of her, and while it wasn't as if she could judge on a moral level, it still bothered her to no end.  The entire point of her endeavors was to prevent herself from ever feeling hurt or ending up a victim, and now, because she had decided to pick a fight with the wrong bitch, all her efforts were failing her.  She couldn't win this fight, and from what she had seen, neither could Goro; they had a chance working together, but she had gone and gotten herself mauled, and so her subordinate was on his own.

For a moment, she feared that Goro had been demoralized, mostly due to his lack of any apparent response to this turn of events.  He was just laying there with her on top of him despite being strong enough to move her, and she knew he wasn't hurt too badly to get up.  She didn't know how she looked, but was it really so bad that it was getting to someone as emotionally sturdy as him?  If that happened to be the case, she needed to get up... but she found herself unable to move.  Slight muscle twitches were all she could manage, and they did nothing but strain her body, which she knew would increase her pulse.  She needed to avoid bleeding out, which meant she couldn't push herself in some vain attempt to get up.  Fortunately, it seemed her croagunk was doing what she paid him for, or rather, what she would eventually be paying him for.  Without too much delay, he pushed her off of him and onto the ground, which she didn't mind since she knew he had to.  It was good news no matter how much she hated it.

She could hear the sounds of the croagunk against the grass as he got himself up, and despite his hushed voice, she could hear his voice.  Alright?  It almost sounded as if he thought he could win, but what if he was just accepting the inevitable and deciding to fight 'til the end?  Krikka was appreciative of the idea of him being so willing to put himself in front of her when he probably would have been able to flee and leave her as bait.  However, she didn't like having someone protect her, even though that was pretty much his entire job, and a job she had given him.  She wanted him to be there mostly to deal with things so she didn't have to, and while he was admittedly also there for the purpose of helping her when she really needed it, the issue was that she didn't want to really need it.  Ever.  He was a safety net of sorts, or at least, he was supposed to be, but that didn't mean she actually wanted to have to use him in such a way.  At that, she found herself genuinely disliking the idea of him dying here trying to protect her, all because of her own decision to pick a fight with someone she had assumed to be an easy target.

Then something occurred to her, thanks mostly to her thought that Goro would have been entirely capable of fleeing and preserving his own safety.  If she could get up... this was true for her as well, and if anything, he was probably standing in the way specifically to give her such an opportunity.  She heard him taunting the beast once more, antagonizing her and trying to emphasize that he was her one and only opponent, clearly aiming to put the attention on him and him alone.  At this point, Krikka knew: he was using himself as a decoy.  He had to have known he wasn't going to win, and there was no way he expected her to be of much help with her neck torn open, which meant that in all likelihood, he was actually trying to protect her.  She knew he had a pride similar to her own, and that was surely contributing as well, making him unwilling to concede even if it got him killed, but... he was still making sure he was the center of attention.  There was a distinct difference between not wanting to run from a fight and not wanting someone else to be targeted.

Krikka was a victim who needed protecting.  Was that really what she had been reduced to, all because of her own choices?  Was that where her life had gotten her?  In hindsight, a lot of her decisions had resulted in her getting hurt or ending up in unpleasant situations, and perhaps it was her fault.  Still, that didn't mean she had to go out like this; she had someone stalling for her, giving her time to get out of harm's way.  She could do that much.  Her eyes opened.  She threw herself upright with every bit of energy she could muster, then pushed her legs against the ground, slowly and shakily rising off the ground.  Pain rushed through her right leg at the slightest bit of pressure being put on her paw, forcing her to recoil and nearly fall; it was all she could do to stop herself from whimpering, though she couldn't help but inhale sharply through her teeth at the sensation.  Now, however, the pain was doing something very different from how it had interacted with her earlier, turning her into a pathetic, whimpering damsel.  Now, it was making her mad, because someone else was able to do this to her; worse yet, it was someone who was supposed to be her victim.

She looked over to her faithful croagunk, staring down the enemy without an ounce of apparent fear in his figure.  They hadn't known each other for too long, but already, he seemed so content with his place.  He had to have known he didn't have to do this, and yet here he was, standing tall without a single complaint.  Krikka turned away and stepped in the opposite direction, trying again to put pressure on her injured leg with the same result as the first attempt.  This resulted in a rather pathetic limp, but she stayed standing, learned her lesson and lifted her bleeding paw away from the ground.  She looked down at herself; yes, her leg was bleeding, soaking her paw in blood, and at the same time, her neck...  She could see and feel the blood trickling from the mangled bite marks, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to keep herself up for much longer.  Fortunately, she seemed to have successfully saved her carotid, or else the bleeding would have been far worse.  But, at the same time, she was still bleeding considerably, which meant her jugular had probably been punctured.

She would be fine if she could get even the slightest trace of medical attention; in fact, applying some pressure to the wound likely would have been enough.  She figured she could make it to town in time, then go around begging for someone to help her, or she could drop somewhere on the way back and do it herself.  The wound looked bad, and it was, but she would live as long as she took this opportunity she was being given.  She took another shaky step away from the two combatants...

But she stopped.  Against her better judgment, and probably against Goro's wishes as well, she turned around, her shaking weakness suddenly subsiding.  She stood tall on three legs, took a deep breath, and held her chin up.  She realized her eyes had been open wide in fear and shock, but this expression faded to a dim, unamused gaze as she spun to display her gaze to the other umbreon.  "I'm not a victim," she growled quietly to herself as her eyes narrowed and her lips curled downward.  She glowered at the other umbreon who dared to touch her; she had forgotten for a moment how unacceptable such an action was.  She was no victim and no coward, and she would not be reduced to one just because someone was able to make contact with her.  She would have no one standing in front of her, guarding her against harm like she was some kind of child in distress.  The gesture was appreciated, but she would not leave Goro to fight alone, especially when she was the one who had gotten him into it in the first place.

"Us," she spoke aloud, correcting her company's antagonistic words.

Doing her absolute best to reduce the limp in her movements, Krikka stepped up beside her loyal ally, giving a glance in his direction.  Her sullen look lessened into a mix of annoyance and confidence, as if some pest had just touched her with its grimy hands; it was not the look of someone who had just been torn into and thrown around by a wild beast far stronger than them.  "She's poisoned, but so am I, and I'm bleeding," she spoke quickly and calmly with a sense of precision betraying her panicked state up until now; she was quiet to ensure that Goro could hear her, but not the enemy.  She was still scared, but all the feeling did was motivate her to prove herself and this bitch wrong.  She felt the fear, but it just seemed so distant now, like the least important thing in the world.  The foe was still proving to have the intelligence to give them no quarter, bursting forth the second she attempted to communicate to her ally, obviously unwilling to let the two of them come up with a plan.  This time, Krikka didn't so much as flinch at the approach, and in fact, even went so far as to continue speaking in her relaxed manner.

"We're both on timers and mine's shorter," she rephrased her previous statement to clarify the point of it, her blue rings beginning to emit a rapidly intensifying glow as she did so.  She trusted Goro would know to close his eyes without having to be told to, especially since he had already felt the effects of her light before.  She couldn't spare the time to tell him regardless, as she had used it all on telling him that she wouldn't be able to keep herself on her paws too long.  Krikka's glow suddenly spiked into a blinding flash of light, throwing the barbaric abomination into a stumble as she struggled to cease her rapid movement.  She had been blinded, and she was heading straight for Goro, so the spotlight was all on him.  With her injuries, she couldn't do much to follow her own tactic up anyway.


The croagunk was... further away than expected, apparently having stopped entirely.  It was surprising that he hadn't continued forward in an attempt to rescue his partner, but he wasn't too fat away to be hit when she was thrown, so it didn't matter.  Dusk's emotionless stare returned as she watched the two fall to the ground, and for the first time in this encounter, she felt pride in her success.  Thanks to being able to indulge her lust for even a moment, some small trace of herself was returning to her.  The eerie taunting had helped draw her away from her own madness, but only by bringing about a distinct sense of anger with direction.  She was just conscious enough to think about petty things, but still too far gone to find any sense of morality.  With the lingering taste of blood in her mouth, she now wanted two things: to hurt these two, then to kill them.  They had insulted and attacked her for no reason, and so she wanted to have them under her paws, to make sure they knew the gravity of their decisions before she killed them.  They deserved it.

She waited patiently for some sign of life from either of the dead 'mon walking, mostly because she wanted them to have time to come to terms with how great a mistake they had made.  It wasn't as if she was risking her victory by standing by, either; she figured the other umbreon was down for the count, and she didn't want the croagunk to have a meat shield over him.  Plus, trying to beat on him while he was on the ground but still able to fight back seemed harder than just waiting for him to get up then knocking him back down.  Her decision to wait was the product of a multitude of reasons, though they all boiled down to her wanting to ensure she inflicted as much harm as possible.  She wasn't kept waiting long before the croagunk pushed the dead weight off of him and got back up on his feet, raring to go another round.  Good.  She wanted him to keep fighting as long as he could, to keep struggling until his last breath.  She wanted him to know that no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to save himself from the consequences of his actions.

She felt her fur bristle at the sound of the ugly frog's voice; he was insulting her once more.  She knew he was trying to put her attention on himself, but it didn't matter since she was planning on going for him regardless.  He was the one still capable of fighting, and he was the one who kept demeaning her at every opportunity.  She shot a glare at him, spreading her legs apart in a legitimate attack stance as she prepared to rush him with the advantage of her speed.  He was pathetic, and he would learn soon enough just how insignificant he and his words were.  She readied herself to charge forward, but froze at a surprising sight: the other umbreon actually getting up.  With the wound she'd given her, simply being able to stand was impressive, but then continuing to walk away was even more of a shock.  Dusk didn't care, confident she would be able to defeat the immediate obstacle then chase down his crippled friend; in fact, the sight of someone who had attacked her now fleeing was... satisfying.

Then the coward turned around, her demeanor changed as if she had somehow purged herself of all her pain and fear.  Dusk cocked her head to the right and stared curiously, surprised and confused at this display.  It was a tough act, obviously, but she hadn't expected such a thing from someone so gravely injured and planning to run away beforehand.  Her victim was walking with a clear limp, then suddenly, it was gone; well, not entirely, but very nearly.  Her eyes straitened at the sight of the two facing her down so calmly despite all she had done.  Even now, after showing the two of them how competent she was, they still disrespected her.  They looked at her like they thought they could win, like they still believed she was some helpless child they could just push around.  They looked at her like bullies, somehow still convincing themselves they were the ones in control of the situation.  She had been bullied more than enough in her life already, and now, it was supposed to be her turn to win for a change.

As if she wasn't already mad enough, her temporary lucidity brought on a realization.  As she stared at the blue rings that contradicted her own, her pupils relaxed from their thinned state.  The voice and appearance of this other umbreon were familiar, and now that she had some level of self-awareness, she realized... who this was.  This pathetic thug was the annoying, infuriating bitch who had followed her through town, driving her insane to get her to buy her things, then stalking her on her trek to search for Sova.  This horrible, awful, intolerable woman had been there when she had received her life-ruining cloak, doing nothing at all to help throughout the entire trip.  Seeming like little more than a self-interested pest at the time, the girl had done very little to help the group, and if anything, she'd been nothing but a hindrance.  Linus was dead, and it was probably her fault for following them all, holding them back and doing nothing to help... and now, as it turned out, she was little more than a heartless fiend looking for someone weak to prey on.

At the first sign of communication between the two walking assault charges, Dusk took off toward them.  Her target was still the croagunk since, in her experience, he was the bigger threat, but she was going to enjoy killing both of them.  They deserved it, they had it coming, they-

A sudden flash of light silenced her thoughts.  She stumbled forward in a futile attempt to stop herself, but she moving too fast and had already gotten too close.  Her vision was blurry and her balance was practically nonexistent, leaving her completely helpless, even tripping and effectively flinging herself through the air.  She would have been thrown to the ground, but she was so close to the frog that she would hit him before anything else.

Despite his confident words and the cold anger that was burning through him, Goro didn't exactly have a plan for the upcoming fight. This umbreon was all but invulnerable to his attacks, as it had eaten almost every kind of attack he had and simply shrugged it off. Apparently, his taunt had put a stop to whatever that grey glowing signified, though, so if that had anything to do with her bulky nature then he'd stand a better chance. It wasn't as if it mattered, though; he could only fight one way. He only wanted to fight that way, as well. Even if Goro had more options than just rushing in and swinging away, he wouldn't want to do anything else, especially when he was dealing with this animal. This bitch had savaged his leader, almost torn out her throat like she was some kind of bunnelby to be hunted, and turned right around and threw her away like a sack of meat. It was an insult that deserved brutal punishment, and it was something that he was all too happy to rectify. He wanted nothing more than to stride up to this bitch and break her everything. The only thing that stopped him was the grounded form of his boss behind him, where he had left her bleeding on the ground. He wasn't sure if this girl would change targets again like she had - before, she seemed perfectly content to scrap with Goro, but as soon as she caught sight of Krikka she made a beeline for her. What was to say she wouldn't do the same thing again? No, he was starting to think that he was going to have to actually protect her. That meant staying close enough to her that the other dark type physically could not reach her; he would have to shield his leader with his own body.

He was up to the task. So far, this girl hadn't done much damage to him at all. A few shoulder tackles and she'd managed to take a bite out of his wrist, but she'd only broken the skin. There was a sharp ache in it, yes, and when the thick mist swirled up against the open wound it stung something fierce, but compared to what she managed to do to Krikka it was very trivial. All in all, it was very easy to ignore, especially given recent events. He resolved to keep his mind as blank and empty as he could - the last thing he wanted to do was overthink things or get caught spacing out against this enemy. The game plan here was clear, even if it was a bad plan. Stay close to Krikka, shield her as best as he could, and pray that this girl did not try to get past him to finish her off. If things really went his way, then his leader would be fine, and she'd get up and haul ass out of this place. If he could get a hold of the other umbreon, perhaps he could even hold her down long enough for Krikka to escape - from there, he could worry about himself. He didn't want to think too hard about his chances against her all by himself. For all that he burned for vengeance and wanted to establish his dominance over this umbreon, there were too many uncertainties in the air for him to really believe in himself. All he could do now was try. Do his job, stay loyal and do what he could to ensure Krikka's survival. That meant guarding her until she didn't need to be guarded anymore. As much as he wanted to run forward and teach this filthy creature a fatal lesson, it just... wasn't in the cards. She was too fast for him to contain, and Krikka's fate was too uncertain for him to take risks like that.

It was sharp inhalation of air behind him that changed that particular line of thought. Suddenly, all of that anger that was surging through him evaporated like mist; it took all of his willpower and focus not to turn on his heel and check on her. Was she fleeing? Was she even moving? His stomach was tying itself into nervous knots as he stared down their enemy, his chest almost bursting from all the high panic and anxiety that was swirling around inside him. He was surprised to realize that he actually wanted her to run away from this fight. He knew, of course, that such a thing would mean she was abandoning him to an enemy that was much stronger than both of them. She was maybe even stronger than both of them combined. But if Krikka were to live, then he'd serve a purpose. Because of him, she would survive to fight another day. Such a thing was worth more than his own pride of even his own survival. What was he worth, in the grand scheme of things? He was just some guy that Krikka had picked up out of the swamp. She'd breathed life into him, gave him an actual purpose and a real reason to wake up and live to see another day. He contributed to her cause in a way that was actually useful. With her, he became someone important and worth something. Without her, he was just some backwater croagunk wasting his life away. That was worth fighting for, he thought. Maybe even worth dying for. Either way, he was about to find out.

Not by himself, however. Goro's heart sunk further as he heard Krikka's voice behind him. Worryingly close behind him, and he did not like what he heard. She was absolutely not a victim, no, but that didn't mean she had to be stupid and stick around to fight a losing battle! Retreating was preferable to death, was it not? She was more sensible than that. What kind of madness was possessing her to stick around? Goro wanted to call out to her, to turn around and grab the vixen by the shoulders and shake some goddamn sense into her. We fucked up, boss. But you can let me handle it. He wanted to make her understand. Some battles you just weren't meant to win, at least not that day. There was always someone stronger than you in the world. Goro had learned that lesson some time ago; Krikka had been the one to teach him that lesson. You just worry about yourself, and you don't have to worry none about me. Let me fight for you when you need it most. It wasn't as if he didn't want to; if Krikka were to turn tail and flee, then he'd be so happy. Not only would he serve that purpose, but he'd be all alone with this girl. He'd have all the freedom in the world to fight how he wanted. He couldn't hurt her, or at least he hadn't figured out how yet, but as long as he stayed away from those fangs of hers then she couldn't do much to him either. It'd be a war of attrition, and with his drain punch, maybe he could stick it out. Find some way to deal real damage with it, turn her life force into his own and last her out. Then he'd be free to teach her the error of her ways in all the cruel ways he was imagining, and when he went back home to Krikka, he would be hailed as a fucking hero.

Let me have that, boss. At least let me try.

Of course, she wouldn't make things so easy for him. Goro's eyes widened in a mixture of panic and shock as Krikka stepped right up beside him, glancing at him with an annoyed expression. The haughty bitch didn't even look worried about her own goddamn neck wound. Us, she said. She had the fucking gall to correct him, and step right back into this fight. He supposed he should have felt upset or worried about such a proclamation... but curiously enough, all he could register was gratitude and pride. Grateful for the sentiment that he was not alone in this fight. And proud, oh so proud. Not in himself, but pride in her. She was going to fight for him, fight with him - she was just as loyal to him as he was loyal to her. Goro could feel his own chest physically swelling with a burning, fierce warrior's pride. His master was no easily cowed opponent, and she was no mean prey. Even on the verge of fatal injury, she jumped right back into the fray to fight next to her loyal soldiers. How could he have ever doubted her? Logic and reason were all well and good, but they had pride and guts. Fuck running away from their enemies; they'd fight to the bitter end if it came to that. But it wasn't going to come to that. They were going to dismantle this savage freak and they were going to win.

Suddenly all business, Krikka gave him the rundown despite everything. Somehow this girl had gotten poisoned - had his poison touch done it? Or had Krikka done it herself? He supposed it didn't really matter, but if he recalled correctly her poison was the more deadly of the two. And after everything that she'd done, Goro really would not mind putting this bitch in the ground where she belonged. As soon as Krikka started speaking, however, the other umbreon decided that it had enough of waiting. Just like last time, she did not intend on letting them have any time to strategize. While a part of him was eager to get back into it with this girl, there was another part of him that was on the verge of panicking. The last time she had rushed at them this way, she slipped right past Goro and damn near tore out Krikka's throat. The obvious solution to this was for him to stick close to his boss, but then her ranged attacks would be that much more difficult to pull off if she had to accomodate for him as well. She had displayed an impressive precision with her dark pulse technique, but even she would be hard pressed to only hit one of them with it while they were beating the hell out of one another. The poison, though, that would lend itself to their favor. But Krikka herself was also bleeding, and she even went so far to admit that she was going to go down before this other umbreon.

He did not have any time to think on the gravity of that statement because as she said so her rings began to glow fiercely bright. It was out of instinct and experience more than anything else that had him closing his eyes on reflex, and it was just in time. Even through his own closed eyelids, he could make out the sharp, spiking flash of her glow in his peripheral. The plan there was clear; she had meant to blind their rapidly approaching enemy. As soon as it died down, Goro opened his eyes once more to take in the form of their enemy, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that it had worked. The umbreon who was previously speeding at them in the way only she was able to pull off had been caught completely off guard by the intense flash of light, and had lost her own footing. If Goro had any time to really think on the image of it, he would have been reminded of the time Krikka had done the same thing to him in their battle. He had once rushed down the umbreon in the same way this savage was doing, and she'd done the same thing to him with similar results. Only, that time Krikka had been able to blast him away - now, she was hanging on by a thread. He would have to substitute for her overwhelming force, which left him quite a pair of shoes to fill. Could he do it?

There was no point in absently wondering. Suddenly renewed by his leader's faith in him and her decision to fight by his side, to stick it out with him and showcase their collective pride, Goro stepped forward with new purpose. The umbreon was stumbling toward him almost out of control, but she was still mostly upright. She was moving forward with a sense of clumsiness and gracelessness, a strong parallel to the precise, almost otherworldly elegance that she had used to dodge his bullet punch and Krikka's dark pulse. While watching her come at him in such a manner, the croagunk was struck with a viciously satisfying idea. His punches weren't working her so far, true. Even if he had focused them all on her incredibly thick skull, she had tanked both of his punching moves without any issue - what about his last attack? His most powerful technique, sheer power incarnate, earthquake. If she could shake off such an attack, then he would love to see it. Before he knew it, Goro was hustling toward her, leaning forward and positioning himself in such a manner to meet her charge. He braced himself against the charging vixen, only grunting slightly when her weight crashed into his own in a manner much like her earlier tackles. Her own head flew right past his shoulder, her torso and neck crashing against his shoulder as he halted her advance. Now, he had someone important behind him, someone injured and someone who needed him to stand his ground - he could not afford to be pushed back.

The fighting type ground his feet into the soil beneath him, managing to only get pushed back slightly before he pushed right back against her weight, snaking his arms around her figure - specifically, down and around her midriff. Just like Krikka, she was a heavy ol' bitch. Still, his own strength was no inconsiderable thing. With a heavy grunt of effort, Goro stood his ground against the sloppily charging fox, wrapping his arms around her at the first instant of contact and immediately lifting. His arms surged upward and he pushed with his knees as hard as he could, hauling the mangy umbreon up into the air almost completely overhead. That lasted for only an instant, however, as he quickly reversed that momentum and plunged her weight down as hard as he possibly could. The last time he had used this technique, he had used his own hands as the catalyst. When Goro usually used earthquake, his fists crashed into the ground and the ground would give way. This would not be the case this time. This time, he had in his arms the same umbreon that had ravaged Krikka, and he would do his damnedest to drive the bitch into the ground where she belonged. The croagunk's earlier heavy groan of effort turned into a strained shout of rage as he threw his arms down as hard as he could, slamming her figure into the ground at his feet. With it, he channeled that same effort that shattered earth beneath his feet, plowing the dark type into the dirt hard enough to send it into a quivering mess. He felt it below and around him, the moist, dewy grass around his feet trembling and the soil beneath his toes quaking powerfully in tandem with his power bombing of the other umbreon.

Despite her distorted vision, Dusk could still see the blurred figure of the croagunk, though it did her little good. When she came crashing into him, she felt his weight push against her own, and despite her lingering momentum, he barely budged. The umbreon's legs were thrown forward from under her at the sudden stop, and with her own speed on top of such sudden resistance against her, she actually felt the hit; it wasn't much, but the shock against her neck and chest was still enough to elicit a cough. Considering it was the first time she had felt anything anywhere close to pain in quite a while, it surprised her a bit. She wouldn't have been able to pull herself together and react quickly even if she had been allowed to, but she was given no time in the first place. She was swiftly lifted off the ground from underneath, granted nowhere near enough time to properly react, rendered helpless in an instant. She didn't have any fear for what would happen to her in this turn events, and in fact, wasn't even mildly concerned; she only really felt annoyed, as if it were all just some minor inconvenience.

The mild inconvenience became a bit more than that when she was brought down against the ground with a startling and unexpected amount of impetus. In contrast with the small cough brought on by the previous blow, this one ripped the breath from her lungs with a very audible "Oof." This time she definitely felt it and it definitely hurt; her eyes shut reflexively from the burning sensation in her chest as she was met with the cold, hard ground. She had grown so accustomed to not feeling pain that it was... actually a bit refreshing, though still not the most pleasant thing in the world. She was relieved to know she still could, though the experience as a whole was worrying if only because it meant this croagunk had somehow actually hurt her. Unlike his ally, he had actually managed to pull of an attack strong enough to faze her, and that was a problem. If he could do it once then he could surely do it again, and thus, he needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. The only question was how to do that when she was on the ground, feeling weighed down by her own deflated lungs.

Then a thought crept into her mind: she was on the ground at someone else's feet, and after they had gone out of their way to demean and antagonize her. She had done nothing more than defend herself, only to be put down despite her best efforts. Then came the laughter; the cruel, mocking laughter of cruel children who saw her as a weak, easy target. Even her own family joined in on the joke she just couldn't seem to grasp. She remembered this event because her current position was reminding her of it; she was reliving her past, and once again, she was unable to help herself despite her best efforts. But... perhaps she deserved it this time, after making the decision to go out of her way to kill this two rather than just rough them up. Sure, maybe they deserved it, but she had already proven that she couldn't control herself, and so perhaps it was a good thing if she lost. There, in that moment, she realized there was something she wanted more than to kill them: to be killed by them. It was dark and bleak, but it was also the only way she could think for her torment to end that didn't involve her succumbing to the monster she now craved to be.

Looking back, she knew that Sova and his friends were trying to get something when she had encountered them. With how secretive they were being about their goals, it was obvious, and she had picked up on it and decided they were keeping something cool or important from her. Her thought process was that they didn't want to share with her in specific, perhaps because they thought her unworthy or too pathetic to handle whatever it was. It turned out they were right in the end, but still, that was the real reason she had gotten this damned cloak in the first place. Simply put, she did it to spite Sova for trying to shoo her away, but... she also knew that if he wanted something, it had to be worth getting, and so she wanted it too. Of course, knowing what she did now, she felt differently, but in the end... she still wanted to keep the cloak. She knew it was steering her away from the idea of giving it up, yet she genuinely didn't want to give it up. She felt as if she could protect herself with it, which was a feeling she had never been able to experience before.

Even with this item of cursed power, even with everything she had been through since leaving her home, she was no different. Even with all she had done to make herself stronger, she was still just some girl being bullied, still unable to fight back and win. Her eyes drifted open in an eerily concise motion. On second thought, she didn't want to roll over and let them kill her; she was beginning to have doubts in her ability to win, but she would succeed in her own way. Win or lose, she would make sure they regretted ever stepping foot near her, even if it cost her an arm and a leg. She had been fighting recklessly to begin with, but now, she was making the conscious decision to embrace it for the sake of hurting her oppressors as much as possible. She let out a growl that snowballed into a guttural, furious scream as she threw herself forward with every bit of energy she mustered. She barely had her paws planted on the ground before ramming straight at the legs of the croagunk in front of her. Her lungs were still struggling, but she didn't care, and it turned out that was all that was all that really mattered.


As expected, Krikka's loyal frog had grown accustomed enough to her combat capabilities to be able to work around them without needing to be directed. This was a relief, since they really needed every advantage they could get at the moment. Goro's shutting his eyes to avoid being blinded like the foe was a good first step, but they had a hard fight ahead of them still, and they needed to win at any cost. Fortunately, Goro was finally started to show why he was worth being with her, and she was pleased with what she saw. She watched as the croagunk stopped the other umbreon against his body, which she felt was a bit underwhelming since a punch or something would surely have done more. This thought of hers was quickly put to rest with what happened next. Goro wrapped his arms under the beast and lifted her off the ground, which was impressive since he had already taken quite a few hits and was no longer in perfect condition. He lifted the weight of the other umbreon quite high into the air too, and at that point, it was obvious what his plan was.

It was easy to see by his movements that he wasn't exactly throwing a punch, and it looked like he was putting an awful lot of effort into whatever he was doing. There was only one thing he could have been planning on doing, and while Krikka would normally have protested, she actually approved of it in this situation. The idea of preserving own safety was already nothing more than fantasy, and all that mattered now was putting this monster in the ground with whatever they could; apparently, Goro had decided to just shove her 6 feet under with raw power alone. Barely a moment the brawler he slammed the foe into the ground, Krikka leapt up as high as she could under the circumstances, pulling her legs in toward her in an attempt to keep herself airborne for even a second longer. As expected, the amount of pressure output by this maneuver was enough to rock the very ground, and while her harmony with her partner kept her safe, the other umbreon was nowhere near as fortunate. Dusk was not only at the epicenter of the earthquake, but used as the trigger in place of Goro's hands as well.

It was truly astounding that such a tiny frog was able to put out enough raw force to shake the ground, but it was only to be expected; after all, he was Krikka's very own personal bodyguard. She landed a bit less gracefully than she would have liked, stumbling through a combination of her mangled leg and the still-quivering earth below, but she managed not to fall. Her gaze immediately focused on the opponent, now glued to the ground and motionless. For just a second, she let herself hope that they had won, thinking there was no possible way the berserker freak was getting back up after that. There was an indentation in the ground around the form of the yellow-marked umbreon where she had actually been driven into the dirt, and even through her absurd steel-like body, that had to have hurt. After all, under that cloak was still a weakling with little more than big talk backing her up, and the countless attacks she'd already taken head-on had to have been catching up to her already. There was no reason to believe that she would be getting back up after being so violently plastered to the ground.

...But she did. Even after such a perfectly executed attack, this freak of nature was still stirring, still awake and presumably still planning on fighting. To Krikka, this earthquake had been impressive for Goro's standards, though she hadn't gotten to see him do it much. Still, no matter what, it was obviously packed with power; Solus, for instance, probably would have been out from that alone. Hell, she was willing enough to believe that even she would have had trouble shaking off such a devastating amount of force, and yet this other umbreon's infallible defense seemed to be carrying her even through that. There wasn't enough time for Krikka to react and do anything to help since the foe didn't even bother trying to stand up before attacking; the grounded beast let out an animalistic and rather disturbing noise as she lunged forward, throwing herself at Goro's legs instead of trying to stand up or roll away to put herself in a better defensive position.

The attack had clearly had some effect, which was progress, but it still wasn't anywhere near enough to finish the fight. Still, maybe enough of what Goro had just done would suffice to end this; at the very least, it would help the poison do its job. Krikka figured the freak of nature would probably start feeling it soon, as she was already feeling it on herself; granted, she was also losing blood pretty quickly, which wasn't helping. She was growing lightheaded, and it was getting worse by the second, but she kept her wits and calm demeanor. She was scared, of course she was scared! But she wouldn't show it, and she certainly wouldn't let it get to her no matter how concerning it was. It was hard to just ignore the fact that she was slowly bleeding to death; and she knew she was, on top of now being pretty sure she had also poisoned herself. She could feel the blood running down her neck and soaking into her fur, reminding her that her wound still existed and wouldn't be closing up on its own.

She was calm, but she was concerned. She needed to figure out a way to end this before she passed out, or else Goro would be left on his own to finish the fight. He probably knew that he could just stall and wait for the poison to take the enemy down, but that didn't seem like something he would be too eager to do. It was easier said than done, anyway.

In the aftermath of powerbombing the hell out of his enemy, Goro stood over the umbreon breathing heavily with a satisfied smirk on his face. But the croagunk wasn't tired. If anything, he was invigorated. Nothing else he had tried had done half as well as that in terms of damage; all of his bullet punches and drain punches had bounced right off of the girl's skull, but at least he had earthquake. He stared down on the figure of his enemy, watching her struggle to breathe through suddenly empty lungs and stir lightly. He had felt her exclamation of shock and pain as much as he heard it when he slammed her down into the earth, and it was nothing if not a rush to hear. At last, he'd found the ticket. Between Krikka's poison and his strength, they'd do her in yet. He stepped back from standing over her to look over his work, glancing around her and taking in the ruptured and splintered earth around the focal point of his powerbomb. It wasn't surprising, in hindsight, that this move of his had gotten the job done when his others failed. Normally, his drain punch would be the go-to weapon against darklings, but this one had that cloak which nullified the power of his strikes. Bullet punch, in comparison, was incredibly quick but that was all it really had going for it. On the other hand, earthquake was no doubt his most powerful move, and against a bulky dark type who boasted immunity to fighting moves, it only made sense for it to be his best card to play. He was just surprised it had taken him so long to think of it; to be sure, he was worried about Krikka getting hurt from the attack just by virtue of being in the same area, but in these circumstances, she would just have to endure it. He was sure she would understand.

He resisted the urge to glance over at his boss and see how she was doing, what with the earthquake and her neck wound and all, and kept his gaze steady on the umbreon below him. Looking down on her like this... it felt good. Especially after planting her into the ground like that. He understood, then and there, why Krikka was so fond of looking down on her enemies in such a manner. After so thoroughly demonstrating his power to her and using it on her, she was left laid out on the ground in an indenture of his own making, struggling to breathe while he stood over her. He wanted to lean down and pick her up again and slam her into the earth over and over and over again, but Krikka's presence threw a bit of a wrench in that plan. Not to mention that he severely doubted that this girl was just going to let him treat her like a ragdoll - she didn't sound so much pained by his attack as simply surprised and winded. Still, it was something. It was definitely the best hit that they'd gotten off on her in the fight so far, Krikka's attacks included. If he could pull it off a few more times, then perhaps the compounding damage from Krikka's poison would finish the job. Shit, even if it didn't, he felt a whole lot better about his chances against the vixen. A couple more of those would teach her the futility of fighting back against them, and they'd be free to do with her what they pleased.

"That's more like it," His voice was harried and breathy, the strain of what he just did peaking through a bit. Still, there was a heavy twinge of satisfaction in his tone that was easy for all to hear, making it very clear that he was feeling better about their chances in this bout, and feeling better about his performance so far. Finally, he was doing more than just peppering her with ineffective attacks and acting like a meatshield. However, his good mood didn't last long. After only a few moments of laying in the small cavity he'd made with her body, the umbreron started growling like the wild animal she was acting like. At this point, he had no doubts that it wasn't an act. Between her unnatural aggressiveness and inceasingly animalistic tendencies, he was sure this bitch had gone feral somehow. Maybe it was temporary, maybe she'd just gone insane, or maybe she already was crazy. The smirk that was previously on his mug dropped immediately as the vixen's guttural growl grew into a frenzied scream, and his eyes widened in shock as she planted her paws on the ground in front of her and lunged at him. He figured that she'd be down for at least a minute or so after an attack like that - what kind of freak was this girl?

While he was very wired and into this battle, he hadn't been expecting her to bounce back so quickly from that. Half out of instinct and half out of panic, the croagunk stumbled backward as she leaped at his legs, lashing out with a flashing silver fist toward the fox's face. Still, she was just as fast as his attack, and he was met with her force before he could stop her. The vixen's head rammed into his thighs with the same considerable power as before - it seemed his taunt had put a stop to her growing strength. The headbutt knocked his legs out from under him, the croagunk stumbling forward over her. It was out of reflex more than anything else that had him blindly throw his hands forward, haphazardly wrapping his arms around the vixen's midriff once more in order to break his fall. Unfortunately, that ended with him half-laying on the ground and half-leaning forward over the umbreon, awkwardly holding on to her in a weak imitation of his earlier hold when he slammed her into the earth. Except this time he had no traction or foothold with which to pick her up again; he was essentially a sitting duck.

The croagunk failed to put up any noteworthy resistance, being swept off his feet with ease and dragged down by gravity. He attempted to throw a punch as he went down, but Dusk simply ignored the fist swinging into her cheek. Her head barely even moved from the strike, and it did about as little as it appeared to do to her. This attack was pathetic even for the standard set by this fight, and certainly not enough to get a reaction out of her. The punch was followed up rather ungracefully by the croagunk falling on top of her, and she willingly caught him, lowering her neck so as to allow him to properly collapse over her. He grabbed a weak hold of her, as if trying to pick her up again, but she wasn't planning on letting him do that again even if it was his plan. She assumed, however, that he was actually just trying to grab onto something out of an instinctual desire to steady himself, which meant his guard was gone. He was helpless and quite literally right in her face... uncomfortably close, in fact.

Dusk took a step back, then thrust forward and pushed up with her front legs, flinging the croagunk's front half off of her. She made sure to put just enough force into it to get him off of her while restraining herself to avoid tossing him away. Then, immediately, she rushed into him, ramming her head against his chest and putting him into a position similar to the one he had just been in, the only difference being that she was now doing it intentionally. She pushed forward but barely took a few steps before lifting her front half into the air, picking the frog up with her. She lifted with her hind legs and managed to pull her helpless victim almost directly up over her, stopping just short of having him right above her body. This brute seemed pretty proud about being able to get his hands on her and slam her into the ground, even going so far as to vocalize his satisfaction before he had been shoved off his feet. He must have thought he was so special for being able to throw someone into the fucking ground, so tough for being able to lift an umbreon. He needed to be taught he wasn't impressive in the slightest.

Dusk was unable to keep herself up long, but it was more than enough to do what she wanted After a moment, she brought herself down, leaning forward and down so as to put as much extra force into her landing as possible. Of course, wherever she went, this froggy little bitch was coming with her, and she fully intended to bring him straight into the earth below. He wasn't the only one who could manhandle someone. Dusk threw her front paws up against the croagunk as she dragged him down, putting every ounce of energy in her body into bringing him into the ground with as much force as she could possibly manage. She thrust her head and legs against him just before impact, suddenly pushing him downward and slamming him very audibly against the grass. "You must feel real big," she growled to him as she lifted herself up, front paws stamped into her victim's chest, "Attacking scared, defenseless girls." She snapped her jaws around the croagunk's bleeding wrist, biting down with the motivation of her pent-up anger and spite, doing everything in power to break it.

Her efforts didn't last long before she yanked the disgusting, toxic vermin up by his arm, then promptly releasing him. She didn't like the taste of him, but that wasn't her reason for spitting his wrist out of her mouth. Before her target could drop back to the ground, she smacked her head into his, putting forth enough power that it actually hurt her. Still, the sudden stinging sensation in her forehead and oncoming headache were worth it if only to send a message. "How's it feel to bully someone stronger than you!?" she spat, her voice beginning to waver. She was slowly returning to lucidity, but she was by no means feeling guilty for her actions, and the plan was still to kill these two who had assaulted her. It seemed the cloak had been sated by her earlier... indulging, and while she still felt its presence, it was no longer completely overcoming her. This should have brought clarity, but actually, she still felt very out of it, tired.

She was sweating. In her rage, she had forgotten about her disorder, and her fur was now drenched in sweat. She was risking herself more and more with every second she stuck around to beat these two thugs, and she knew from experience that if she wasn't careful, she might not make it back to town when all was said and done. But she knew herself and her limits well enough to see that this wasn't just dehydration; she wasn't hallucinating, and she was actually feeling an aching pain, plus she hadn't gone too long without drinking. It was actually the fact that she was sweating that reminded her of a very important detail, one which had slipped her mind in her madness: umbreon were toxic. The bitch she'd bitten into had poisoned her, and while this meant they were both poisoned, it still didn't bode well for her. She was already lightheaded with aching muscles, and she knew nausea would soon start up from the combination of ailments imposed on her. It was only a matter of time before she slipped into a different kind of insanity... then passed out. Then, she would be as good as dead.

Alas, she had no time to consider her options before suddenly having the life smacked out of her by what felt like a giant metal rod to the head. She stumbled in the opposite direction, off of the croagunk, and shut her eyes from the sudden headache. She was dizzy. She could hear words, but she couldn't make them out. It was all she could do to stay standing and wait for the disorientation to pass.


While Goro's attack had been successful and seemed to have done more than their combined efforts up until then, it was still far from enough, and he was unable to do anything to stop the counterattack. He couldn't run due to his close proximity, he couldn't manage a proper punch with no time to prepare himself, and Krikka could do little to help without risking hitting him too. Actually, she was still struggling with her footing, her composure being more and more of a challenge to hold with every second that passed. She glanced down at the wound on her neck to see it was still actively bleeding, and she was pretty sure the poison was starting to affect her as well. On the bright side, that meant it would be hitting the other umbreon too, but she was pretty sure it was more of an immediate threat to herself. She wouldn't be able to stay in this much longer, but with how things were going, she wasn't sure Goro could manage without her. This concern seemed to be proven true as he fell on top of the foe, rendering himself helpless and at her mercy.

The other umbreon demonstrated her unnatural strength once more by tossing Goro off of her and... Krikka was speechless as she watched this psycho seemingly mimic what a well-trained brawler had just done to her, as if just to spite and belittle him by saying she could do it better. While "better" was debatable, she was most certainly able to pull her own version of the maneuver off, and it looked and sounded like it hurt. And, unlike when their roles had been reversed, she didn't stop once she had Goro on the ground. With some remark that not-so-subtly implied he was a bully and a coward, she dragged him off the ground and gave him a headbutt; Krikka could hear the collision between skulls, suggesting it didn't feel very good. As the other umbreon continued to rant in her own insecurity, Krikka bolted for her, the fur of her tail stiffening and taking on a metallic gleam much like just before she had been bit. She approached from the foe's left and slammed her tail into Dusk's mouth in an all-out counterclockwise spin, managing to get her off of Goro if nothing else.

Thanks to her injuries, Krikka spun out and collapsed to the ground with a complete lack of grace, unable to preserve her balance after such a motion. She found that even after she had stopped, it still felt as if she was spinning, causing her to collapse again when she tried to get up. Her vision was beginning to blur and her body was feeling weak; she didn't need to be told what was happening to know she wouldn't be awake much longer. At least she had bought Goro some time, but she wasn't sure what more she could do to help with the state her body was in. The more she exerted herself, the more she would bleed, the faster the poison would spread and she faster she would pass out. She shut her eyes in an attempt to focus and suppress the dizziness, but she could only do so much. She needed to do something, and maybe she would be able to get up again if she gave herself a moment to regain her focus, but she was physically incapable of helping for the moment. It was up to her guard to take it from here and win, and maybe he could, as long as he knew to take advantage of the poison.

...Actually, there was still something she could do to help him, and suddenly, she realized what that was. Without even moving herself to see what was happening, she spoke: "The throat!" Her thought process was nothing glamorous; she was simply inferring that since the foe's breath had very clearly been taken away by Goro's last attack, targeting her breathing would yield the most success. If he could keep her out of breath, it would exacerbate the effects of the poison, and the same could be said vice versa. No matter how defensively enchanted her body was, she still clearly needed oxygen, and the throat was one of the most vulnerable places in her body in the first place. The eyes and jaw were good targets as well, but the throat, if Goro managed to land a solid hit or two there, could potentially cripple her in this situation. Krikka was a bit worried about the enemy hearing her very simple plan and acting against it, of course, but she didn't have the option of whispering it this time.

Goro had managed a quick slug into the umbreon's cheek, feeling her head only barely budge from the weight of his blow before he fell atop her. Absentmindedly, his arms snaked around her as if to lift her up once more, but consciously knew he didn't have the positioning or the traction necessary to try that again. Doing so right now would just leave him wide open to whatever counterattack she had planned, and he liked his throat where it was, being in his neck, thank you very much. It was more just to steady himself and keep himself from eating shit right in front of her, as that would be almost as bad as the previous scenario. Not as if this was a much better position, laying atop her awkwardly as he grasped onto her middle. It didn't accomplish anything other than giving him some breathing room, and he knew that in the next few instants she was going to make some kind of move, but there was nothing he could do. If he threw himself off of her and tried to create some distance, like he would in any other kind of fight, he would leave Krikka wide open to this savage, again. That wasn't in the cards. As much as it warmed him to have her fight by his side, she needed the protection, as much as he knew she hated it. Neck wounds like that can't be good for ya, and she had admitted to operating on a timer even shorter than their mutual enemy. So, instead of getting the hell out of dodge and metaphorically resetting the situation, Goro lay atop the umbreon and braced himself for what was about to happen. It was as much of an awkward situation for her as it was him, however, so he tried to take solace in the fact that the violence to come wasn't going to be her most fluid attack, so to speak.

Then again, this umbreon had an infuriating penchant for proving him wrong. He felt her take a step back, only to thrust forward immediately and push up against his weight. That act sent him backward and upward, suddenly on his own two feet and not at all leaning on her or holding her down. Once again, he found himself surprised by the strength she boasted. But he wasn't surprised for long; he was too occupied with the sudden headbutt dealt to his chest, causing him to wheeze in shock and pain. How was it that she was able to see such a clear path out of these situations and managed to find the quickest path to violence possible? Not just violence, but efficient violence? Their foe must have been much more experienced than he assumed, because every time he came out of an interaction with her, he felt like he was coming away from it with the short end of the stick on multiple levels. She very persistently stayed on him, as well, pressing her weight up against him. An instant later and he felt his feet physically lift off of the ground, the pressure against him suddenly pushing upward rather than forward. What the fuck was she doing? He could see what was happening, his eyes perceiving the fact that he was on top of the umbreon and she was raising them both into the air, but it didn't dawn on him what was really going on. Not until he felt her paws snake up his torso and press right back down on him in some fucked up imitation of his earlier maneuver; the best that a quadruped could do, really, but she was doing it well. It dawned on him, the significance of her copying him in such a way, only one weightless moment before he felt himself crash into the muddy soil beneath him, sending the breath wheezing from his lungs.

In the aftermath of the attack, he was stunned into motionlessness by a mixture of dumbfoundedness and pain; every time this umbreon did something like this, he found himself shocked by the amount of force behind her blows. Like it didn't dawn on him how powerful she actually was until he found himself being thrown around by her. Dimly, he heard her voice from above him, talking down to him in a manner not unlike him a moment ago. The words she was saying bounced right off of him, in truth; he didn't feel too bad about bullying this "helpless, scared" little girl. As if she wasn't anything but helpless or scared. But it was the mere principle of her talking down to him that ignited that all too familiar rage inside him. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do about it, as he attacks had left him feeling... rather weak. Like her slamming him down brought to the forefront all of the damage he had been steadfastly ignoring up until this moment, and he had a very hard time justifying to himself getting up and jumping into the fray once more. Never before had getting bodyslammed felt so... good. He wanted to lay there and close his eyes, let himself sink into a deep, restful slumber and forget about this crazy bitch in front of him. But, once again, she had other plans for him. As he felt a pair of sharp fangs sink into his wrist once more, pulling insistently with a supernatural strength, he had to wonder; what was it with umbreon, in general, and pushing him around like this? By all rights, he had advantages over them, but with his track record, it was starting to look like the opposite.

All of the sudden, Goro found himself pulled to his feet by his wrist and the umbreon whose jaws were attached to it. The sharp, aching pain felt like his wrist was on fucking fire, but it was hard to be more concerned about that than the umbreon who suddenly let go of him. Anytime she did such a thing, it spelled bad news for him. He watched with a visible sense of grogginess as her head seemed to grow larger and larger in his vision before his world lit up in a cacophony of bright lights and sharp pain. It didn't dawn on him that he dropped like a sack of potatoes after the blow, falling flat on his back and bringing one blood-soaked arm to hand his face out of instinct. The only clue he really had to his fate was the sensation of dirt brushing up against his back once more - a sensation he was rapidly becoming familiar with. Once again, he heard her voice snarling at him in the distance, but now it was... foggy. Unclear, spotty, difficult to perceive. It wasn't hard to guess that she was probably just snarling more taunts at him, and he found that fact surprisingly easy to ignore. If not for the throbbing aching in his face, the burning, stinging sensation radiating from his wrist, the weakness of his limbs and soreness coating his everything, he'd have likely surged to his feet with a vengeance and jumped back into the fight, but now... Now it was easy to forget about it. He deserved some rest, didn't he? This fight was hard, and he was doing most of the legwork, here. Shit, this was probably the hardest fight of his life, even counting his struggle against Krikka. He had spent most of that fight running around dodging dark pulses, only to be put down with two mercifully powerful attacks. But this battle was... long, desperate, physical and bloody. It was a struggle against an opponent who was proving that she could do everything he could do but better. An uphill battle against his superior, all the while it was on him to guard his grievously injured leader. If it weren't for that little tidbit, he might have felt different about this, but thinking about it, he had quite the handicap. How the fuck did he justify this, again? What on earth made him think he stood a chance in a desperate fight like this?

... Krikka. Right. Krikka made him think that. The girl who had lifted him up and breathed into him purpose and new life, who had led him through hell and stood by his side in their lowest moment. The same girl who was dealt a life-threatening injury and made the conscious decision not to abandon him, even if he wanted her to. She was... she was behind him, wasn't she? He had to get up, had to protect her. Even if it was just one more time. Get up one more time, try one more time, and maybe Krikka would take mercy on him and see the error of this fight. She'd split, and he could lay down and have himself a nice, good rest. He was already pushing himself up off the ground, his weakness leaving him, replaced by raw desperation and purpose. The crushing weight that was pressing down on him felt like nothing more than a gnat's weak protesting. He had a job to do. One more time. Get up and try one more, time, dumbass. Then, no matter what the outcome was, the next time he hit the ground he could let himself go. That same weight that was holding him down left in a sudden rush, and he took the opportunity to surge to his feet. He didn't register Krikka crashing and burning next to him, falling to the ground after being unable to handle the momentum of her own strike. He wasn't even aware of her strike at all - he had eyes only for the enemy in front of him, who was stumbling backward looking very pained and stunned. How did he proceed? Forward. Go forward and hit her. Before he even knew what he was going to hit her with, Goro was stepping forward as his enemy stumbled backward, closing her eyes in pain and confusion. His fists raised themselves, of their own volition, hovering dangerously at his hips ready to fly forward at any given instant.

It was Krikka's voice that prompted them into action. The throat. Her words penetrated the foggy haze in his mind, tearing a clear path to the core of his being and resonating deep within him, spreading throughout his body. The throat. Throat. Hit her throat. It was a good spot; a vital point, and she was already having trouble breathing. Why hadn't he thought of that? Before he knew it, Goro was throwing himself forward in a desperate lunge for the dark type in front of him, an enraged, purposeful snarl erupting from his gullet. It was absent of any conscious feeling, being just a primal a thing as the umbreon's own savagery. He came to a stop directly in front of the umbreon, grinding his feet deep into the dirt, his left hand shooting out for something to fucking grab. His hand seized for one of the umbreon's obnoxiously large, vulnerable ears, something to hold onto and keep her in place for the coming storm. There would be no running from this. He grabbed at the base of her ear, clutching it tightly, subconsciously trying to crush it for all he was worth. But it was only a means with which to keep her in place, as he rotated quickly, purposefully. His body spun in place as his right fist shot out in a straight punch aimed at the vixen's all-too-exposed throat, boasting a precision and force born from Krikka's order. He didn't intend to stop there, however. As soon as he felt the sensation of his fist slamming into her throat, he intended to pull it right back and punch again, all the while holding onto the mangy bitch by the ear and doing it as many times as he could get away with. If she happened to fall or try and run, he'd keep her right in place, and he'd carry out the order given to him.

The sounds of the world grew distant, replaced with a slew of disorientation as Dusk stumbled away from her victim.  The odd light was still impacting her, and the resulting dizziness seemed only to grow worse with her eyes closed once more, which was more than enough to make things difficult for her on its own.  Then there was the addition of a splitting pain in her head, a rare experience since her acquisition of the cloak; she wasn't bleeding, but she supposed the inside of her body was a bit more vulnerable than the outside.  Another addition was the very real threat of dehydration from the extreme exertion she was putting on her body, and she had enough past experience to know that it was beginning to affect her.  Still, there was something more, something creeping subtly through her body under all the adrenaline and varying sensations...  Pain?  It was as if she was in far more dire need of water than she actually was, to the point that it was beginning to physically pain her.  It was subtle but...

Poison.  Given she was an umbreon, she knew the species could secrete poison from their bodies; then there was the croagunk, a very obviously toxic creature in nature; and she had bitten right into both of them and taken plenty of hits of her own.  On the bright side this meant she had no reason to restrain herself from biting them again, but the fact that she was poisoned on top of everything else did not bode well for her.  She had no way to fix it herself and couldn't be trusted to exhibit the level of restraint required to seek aid without assaulting whoever was generous enough to help.  Additionally, she had to wonder if she would even be able to make it to a town to find the aid she would need before passing out.  This situation was starting to seem vaguely familiar, but she didn't want to think about the reason why.  She just barely managed to catch herself from falling, then struggled to keep herself standing.  She shook her head on instinct only to find immediate regret in managing to worsen her dizziness, which further provoked her headache and left her barely able to think.  She could practically feel the sensation of power slipping away from her, having been driven off of her opponent by a firm swat to the head.

Then she felt something clasp around one of her ears; on instinct she pulled back only to be met with quite the resistance.  Her eyes opened as slits to see the blurry world in front of her, but they snapped shut once more as a force met her throat.  She gagged at the sudden trauma afflicting her throat, then struggled to inhale only to have the action repeated against her.  She coughed.  Her lungs were still recovering from the earlier attack, another example of how her internal organs weren't quite as steeled as the rest of her body.  She was already out of breath and it was now getting worse very quickly; again and again she felt the beating force against her throat, effectively closing it up and threatening to asphyxiate her.  Her body was ready to give out after only a few hits, but as her front legs gave out, she felt the hand on her ear pull her up, preventing her from falling over.  She struggled to recover her footing with an increasing lack of cooperation from her weakening limbs, leaving her helpless against the assault.

Under this pressure she grew distant from reality, once more blanketed by a lack of consciousness much like the rage the cloak had dragged her into.  This time, however, was... different.  She remembered being degraded and beaten down by her bullies, then fleeing and nearly dehydrating to death.  That was what this situation was beginning to remind her of, and most of all, she felt the same helplessness as back then.  Perhaps it was partly due to the lack of oxygen that she found herself in such deep thought, disconnected from herself, but even the memories were beginning to fade away.  All the power in the world couldn't negate her need to breathe, and she knew she could only go so long before passing out.  At this point it was just torture, or it would have been if not for the onset of numbness in her body.  She could feel her heart beating, struggling, pleading...  When she passed out, would she be killed, or would they simply leave her to die?  She didn't want to rely on the goodwill of shallow-hearted thugs to save her after this, and she didn't like how her odds were starting to look.  Despite all of this, she was feeling so tired...  She wanted to sleep.

Maybe, if she was lucky, she wouldn't wake up?  Then she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

The thought comforted her for a moment before bringing her to a realization: she wasn't okay with that.  Not only would it mean being killed, but she would die a victim, a defenseless child just as she had always been.  This was obvious; it wasn't as if it had just dawned on her that she had lived a pathetic life and was about to give in and let herself die just as pathetic.  The realization was of just how much she dreaded, loathed the idea of her life and struggles all being for naught.  She hated the very thought so much that she found herself preferring living with what she was.  In fact, if this cloak meant no one could ever bully her again... she preferred a life with its influence to a life without it.  She blamed her neglect to rid herself of the artifact on its influence, but really, how hard had she fought it in the first place?  She didn't want the thoughts and desires it was putting on her, but the power...  Every muscle in her body tensed; her legs tensed and paws touched down on the ground; another blow struck her throat, but her gagging and coughing had stopped.

She'd lost count of how many times she had been hit, but it was well over five and more than enough to force every bit of oxygen out of her lungs.  At first she tried to inhale between strikes on pure instinct, then began gagging and choking as her condition worsened, but now... she was silent.  Her eyes opened; the croagunk's fist slammed into her throat again, but this time there was no response.  She was unmoved and visibly unfazed as if she had somehow been granted a full breath of air, but in reality she wasn't even trying to breathe.  She was running on adrenaline and willpower, and that could only take her so far, but it was far enough.  Time slowed down around the umbreon, and her front paws suddenly threw themselves up over her head as the croagunk reeled his fist back again.  In a blindingly fast and forceful motion, she slammed her legs down over the arm extended toward her ear, breaking the frog's hold on her and catching his other arm as he threw it toward her.  This counter did little more than knock his hands down, but while it didn't do much in the way of inflicting harm, he didn't exactly have a third arm to block with.

Without delay, Dusk rammed into the croagunk with her right sounder out in front of her.  Her gaze was torn away from him for only a moment by this motion, but before she could look back up and see the effect of her attack, a shock wave slammed into her.  The blast itself didn't exactly hurt, but with it came a dark, cloudy embrace over her spirit; she had felt it with every dark pulse, but her mind was weary and unprepared this time, letting the sensation in to consume her attention for just a moment.  In this moment another pulse was thrown into her, and with her completely lowered guard, she couldn't help but stumble back.


Krikka was left helpless on the ground, but she was still awake and able to hear the subtle sounds of Goro getting his ass up.  As long as the both of them were still conscious, they would fight, and eventually they'd win.  Actually, it seemed likely that the fight would be closing out very soon, so all they had to do was hold out a little longer.  The poison had to be doing work if nothing else, and then there was the factor of Goro and his remaining ability to fight.  Krikka lifted her head after a moment, her first instinct being to look down at the wound on her neck and check on her status.  She was still bleeding with little sign of letting up; she knew it could be stopped with pressure, but there would be no time for such action until they finished this.  She turned her attention to Goro to see him up and rearing to go, capitalizing on the foe's incapacitation; apparently, her tail swat had gone a long way.  She watched the croagunk grab onto the ear of the other umbreon and immediately start hammering away at her throat, and couldn't help but feel... satisfied.

More than just being nice to see the beast get hit, it was a relief to see an actual reaction of... struggle if not pain.  The tactic seemed to be working as intended, which meant the battle was as good as over and they had already won.  Krikka allowed her head to fall back to the ground as relief washed over her, but she kept her eyes on the scene.  At this point, she watched to sate her own spite and sadistic interest more than anything else, having confidence that Goro would be able to handle it from here without any further assistance.  This was fortunate since she was unsure how much she actually had left to provide in the way of contribution to the fight.  She could still think as long as she was still conscious, and she was by no means bad with strategy, but she felt incapable of giving any physical assistance at this point.  She was exhausted, poisoned and steadily bleeding out, and while she was doing a good job of keeping herself calm, that didn't make the effects of her condition magically disappear.

Again and again Goro hit the creature that could barely be recognized as an umbreon.  Krikka felt multiple levels of insult at Dusk sharing her species; for one, she had just been overpowered by one of her own kind, but aside from that... such a primitive beast had no place bearing the same blood as herself.  She surely would have been able to assert her dominance through cunning alone if not for whatever the strange cloak was doing.  Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten much chance, but there was a silver lining: she would still get to watch the little monster go down to Goro.  She could hear the sounds of the foe's struggle to breathe devolving into... just struggle; she could see the suffocating vixen's body losing its animation, growing limp in increasing severity between punches and only showing momentary jolts of life in the instant of every strike.  Cruel and sadistic as ever, Krikka took in every subtle detail of the scene, branding all of it into her mind.  It was perhaps fortunate that she had such a morbid interest in the torment of others, heightened further by her desire to see the thing that had taken a bit out of her suffer, because it was thanks to this state of mind that she noticed...

The change in the other umbreon's body was immediately apparent to Krikka, even before it had any impact.  She could see the sudden signs of life in what had previously been the picture of defeat, and her elated mood vanished.  She made a liar of herself by springing up when she had previously been content believing she was too weak to do so.  The beast had seemingly become immune to oxygen deprivation all of a sudden; with the sounds she had been making, it was clear that her lungs had been afforded no air, yet she somehow suddenly looked rejuvenated... and, of course, mad.  Krikka struggled to summon the energy for a dark pulse, but her body and aura were in bad shape, making it difficult.  For a moment she felt as if she had not an ounce of energy to spare... then she watched as the foe broke out of Goro's grip and retaliated, and suddenly, her body flared to life with a black hue.  Oddly enough, she now found the sight of her guard being touched to be incredibly infuriating, as if something had changed since the beginning of the battle.  More importantly, her aura was reacting to this emotional disturbance, fueled by her newfound negativity.

Releasing as much energy as she could muster, she practically launched her inner self straight into the enemy.  She could feel the world weigh her down with the sudden depletion of so much of her strength, but it seemed worth it, making the target flinch if nothing else.  Dusk seemed to have grown dark in their time apart, but Krikka, clearly, was still superior in at least this one aspect.  A simple psychopath couldn't handle the darkness of a true villain.  In desperation, Krikka pressed herself even further and sent another wave of negativity out at the dead girl walking... and then she collapsed.  The radiation around her flickered out, spent beyond its normal limit, and she was left able to do little more than stare.  Now she truly was unable to get up.  With every beat of her heart, more blood rushed to her wound to leak out of her body and waste away her life force.  But she could still do more.  Her fading mind raced and raced against the timer she was on to find the most efficient way to finally end this, and with great effort, she finally saw a way to truly hurt the brick wall of an umbreon.

"Knock her down the hill!" she shouted.  The slope of the hillside wasn't exactly steep, but if someone got pushed down it with enough force, they would still find themself tumbling down through the trees.  The target was dazed for the moment and had to have been worn down by now, so it was perhaps the only opportunity they would get for such a move.  If the wicked creature just got back up after something like that, then... Krikka, for one, would want one of those cloaks.

Goro felt savage satisfaction as his hand seized at and clutched the umbreon's ear. She tugged away from him immediately, instinctively even, but he did not intend for her to get away. Not before she learned. Not before he taught her the error of her ways, not before he paid her back for the deadly insult she had aimed at him. His feet dug into moist, loose soil as he planted himself, preparing to rain his vengeance upon her. His torso rotated purposefully, his right fist swinging with it, tearing a path for Krikka's desired target - the animal's neck. The croagunk was treated to the sight of his enemy just barely opening her eyes to take stock of her situation, only to clench them shut tightly in pain as he connected. Oh, how he connected. As Goro's right hand sunk into her throat, he marveled at the sensation and the effect of it. For the first time in this fight, he could feel her hurting. Before, his attacks bounced right off of her damn skull, but there was no mistaking this sensation. His fist dug into the vixen's neck, crashing into it tightly, straining against her flesh in a gloriously painful fashion. Immediately, he brought his hand back to repeat the action, and he took savage satisfaction in interrupting her pathetic gagging with another strike to the throat.

Now that he'd finally found his groove, finally found a chink in the bitch's armor, he did not intend on letting up. With his left hand holding her in place by her ear, Goro hammered away at the animal's only vulnerability over and over and over again. With every hit, he could feel her resistance slipping away more and more - the tugging against his grip grew weaker, her breathing stopped entirely, and he refused to give her even an instant to recover. After the shit show that was this entire battle, he was all too eager to take this opportunity and turn it into victory - with every successful hit, he grew more adrenalized and eager, striking harder and clutching her tighter. He wasn't keeping count - his mind was blissfully empty, registering only the completion of one punch and the execution of another. He did notice, though, when the girl's front legs actually gave out, and Goro had to physically keep her in place so as to continue his assault. Had he looked her over instead of throwing himself into his assault, he might have enjoyed the way she struggled to place her forelegs on the ground again, but as he was, it was not so.

It was, however, hard not to notice when she magically became invulnerable to his attacks. As his fist crashed into her throat once more, Goro's hairless brow furrowed only slightly in confusion as the umbreon utterly failed to react. Every time she had struggled slightly - they had grown weaker, of course, but even if she was unconscious there should have been something. He made the mistake of reeling back for one more attack, though, and it was then that he realized that her lack of reaction was the sign of another counterattack. Where she got the strength or the energy for one, he didn't know, as she was currently battling both poison, lack of oxygen, and hopefully pain and exhaustion. As laser-focused on hammering away at her only weak spot as he was, he didn't react at all when the umbreon raised her legs up in a sudden show of speed and power, bringing them down on top of his arms, breaking his hold on her ear and intercepting his next strike. She'd knocked both of his arms out of the way, and he didn't realize it until she had done so.  

He only had the time to register that fact; there was no time to react or dodge. All of the sudden, she was crashing into him once more, her heavy force slamming into his torso and digging into him. He'd been caught completely flat on his feet, too focused on his offense and not at all expecting her miraculous counterattack - for all intents and purposes, he figured it was over. With a pained gasp, Goro was pushed backward violently once again by her shoulder ram, bringing his left hand to hover over his suddenly tight, pained chest. Even now, riding adrenaline and fury, he felt the sharp aching of his body, the deep bruises, and creaking bones. She was strong. He didn't quite fall, though, stumbling backward drunkenly. It was only the realization that if he hit the ground once more he knew he wouldn't be able to rise that kept him up. Until she bodily put him down once more, he'd do all that was in his power to stay on his own two feet, and he managed it once more. But he was shaky, unbalanced and visibly hurting - no doubt there was more to come.

... Except there wasn't. The croagunk lifted his head weakly to take in the sight of Dusk taking a dark pulse head-on, being sent stumbling backward by Krikka's force. As much as he wanted to, he didn't dare turn his head to look at his leader - he had to stay in this, stay in between them, keep his eyes on her and put her down as soon as possible. And now was the perfect time for it; the umbreon was groggily stepping backward, visibly weak. He tried, desperately, urging his body to surge forward once more and attack, but nothing was happening. The image in front of him screamed opportunity, but he felt heavy. Goro's legs wouldn't move. His arms wouldn't rise, and it took all of his strength to simply keep himself up on two feet. He grit his teeth together, his expression tightening in hopeless frustration at his sudden weakness. At least until Krikka's voice cut through his thoughts entirely, commanding him once more. There was no hesitation in her voice, no indecision in her tone. Before he knew it, he was moving once more, dashing at their enemy desperately, a harrowed and pained groan escaping from his gullet. He didn't have much strength left to give - over and over again he had thrown himself against this bitch, and even when he finally came out of an exchange on top, she managed to give him what for.

Goro hoped this wasn't all the strength he had left. Even more than that, he hoped he didn't have to find out. The fighter was upon her in only a moment, crossing the distance between them with an urgency and speed born from a direct order of his leader. Knock her down the hill. They were both approaching the slope, and if he could manage to send the bitch tumbling, then that might just do it. At least, they would be granted a moment of reprieve while gravity did a little bit of their work for them. It wasn't a bad idea - he just needed to get her off her feet. And right now, in this instance, nothing less than his absolute best would be able to pull that off. She'd taken more than one perfect shot from him, but that was when she was fresh, as opposed to now when she was reeling in shock and battling poison and exhaustion. Once more, Goro threw himself forward and launched his fist at the Umbreon's face once more. His left fist, covered in grime and blood and dirt and throbbing painfully at this point, soared through the air in an overhead fashion toward the darkling's cheek. It carried with it everything he had, all of his weight and power. But in the instant that he made contact, he felt wrong. Instead of that dark, malicious satisfaction that came with a good hit on his opponent, Goro only felt indescribably sharp pain and high panic as an audible CRACK sounded out through the air, at exactly the same moment he struck his foe. The croagunk didn't have the focus of mind to keep his gaze on his opponent, this time. With a muffled, pained, shout, he fell to one knee and brought his right hand to clutch at his left forearm, staring at his suddenly misshapen left fist. His broken fist.

Still no air.  The plan had been to fix that after getting the croagunk away, but Dusk found her body to be unresponsive in the midst of the dark feeling creeping over her.  It made her feel cold and... bad, which she was used to, but this felt unnatural and left her mind blank.  Even through this daze she was aware that it was from the dark pulses; she had used this same attack for a time in the past, and while she had never been as skilled with it as her adversary, she still knew the basics of how it worked.  She almost felt bad knowing how the other umbreon must have felt to be able to conjure up something so... uncomfortable.  The attack used one's own negativity, and she believed herself to have plenty of that, but she could feel the spite in every pulse from her foe.  It was stronger than hers ever was, no doubt, but it also seemed more hateful in nature; it was enough to overcome her even in her darkest hour, after all.  She would have genuinely felt bad if not for the circumstances presenting so many reasons not to.

Part of her wanted to feel bad, but the rest of her just wanted to hurt the ones who were hurting her.  She wanted to hurt everyone, and she wasn't even fighting it at this point, yet the other umbreon's darkness was still enough to overwhelm her.  Was it just a difference in strength?  Through all her empowerment, was her enemy that much stronger than her?  Or was she truly the brighter of the two, dwarfed by the negativity of her opposition?  It was probably both; this other umbreon was evil and naturally stronger and more skilled than her... but that didn't mean she couldn't win.  She had her cloak and her curse, and with those, she was stronger than her attackers combined.  The crushing weight of the darkness swirling around her soul was momentary and before long, she found her determination once more.  She just needed to get one of them down, then the other would be easy in a 1-on-1.  Her eyes opened as her rings began to glow once more, her lingering adrenaline quickly burning away.  She didn't have much time left in her, but it would be enough to-

The first thing she saw was a black mass and an orange streak, and before she knew it, her eyes were shut once more.  Weak and totally unprepared, her head was knocked back to the side, followed by the rest of her body.  The force dragged her backward and threw her off her paws despite her best efforts to catch herself.  She could feel herself hit the ground, and for a moment there was a sense of relief... but she slid and began to roll.  The slope of the hill and the force with which she was thrown back were just enough to send her tumbling downward, and in her weakened state she was unable to to do anything to stop herself.  At first it just made her dizzy, but the unpleasant positions her body was forced into by the motions began to hurt before long.  Her mind swirled in itself under the spinning sensation, exacerbating the feeling of exhaustion in her body.  She couldn't even try to stop it; her body was too weak from her ordeal to save itself, and so she was left hoping for the spinning to stop.

And that it did.  She felt her left shoulder slam hard against something, sending a surge of pain through her; one of the first she had felt in quite some time.  She made no sound due to a lack of breath to waste on it, but she felt the pain even through her enhanced body.  Fortunately, the object at least stopped her, though simply tumbling the rest of the way down probably would have hurt less.  She instinctively gasped and began taking in and releasing violent, shaky, rapid breaths now that she was finally afforded the opportunity.  The world was whirling around her, and as she tried to prop herself up against the thing behind her and stand, she was hit with a feeling of nausea.  Her legs quivered and buckled, dropping her back to the ground.  She was finally feeling just how weak and hurt she was.  She opened her eyes ever so slightly to take in the double-vision of the hillside scenery and suddenly gagged.  Her eyes clamped shut once more and she leaned her head against the object she lay against, able to do nothing more than wait the horrible feeling out and hope it would go away.  After waiting impatiently for the twirling sensation to die down, she slowly and cautiously opened her eyes.

The first thing she did was look up to see a mesh of leaves and branches above her, leading down to the trunk of the tree she was laying against.  For a moment she was confused, having forgotten where she even was and that there were trees here.  Perhaps she should have been thankful that there was something to catch her, but for some reason she wasn't in a very thankful mood.  She slowly lowered her head and gazed upon her figure to take in the damage, but... there was none.  She was hurt, no doubt, but she didn't have a scratch on her body.  Only a few instances of overwhelming force had actually hurt her at all, and aside from that, most of her debilitated state was caused by a mixture of ailing factors: poison, exhaustion and dehydration.  Even after being "hurt" so badly, she still looked no worse for wear... but unfortunately she was in bad shape.  She didn't want to flee, but at this rate it was looking like the only alternative was to lose.  In fact, she doubted she was even capable of making the climb back up the hill with the state she was in.

Once more Dusk dragged herself up off the ground with her side against the tree.  She was too stubborn to just lay down and pass out, no matter how much her weary body pleaded.  But, fortunately, she had been shocked back to a sane state of mind.  She had enacted her lust long enough to actually feel content now that she was finally free from the immediate influence of the cloak.  She no longer felt such an extreme impulse to maim... but it was replaced with... sadness.  She had lost, after all; she knew she stood no chance at this point if she tried to continue.  Her rings weren't glowing, meaning her attempt to further curse herself had failed; at that, the influence of the move was probably wearing off.  But she was capable of standing if nothing else, and so she stood tall as she could manage and looked straight up the hill toward the croagunk.  With the distance between them she couldn't see if he was looking back at her, but if he was, she wanted him to know that she wasn't afraid of him.  Even now, she wasn't afraid.

Actually, maybe he was afraid of her?  He was on the ground like he was pretty exhausted, probably hurting; not exactly collapsed, but close enough.  Dusk looked up at him for a moment before turning, stepping around the tree and walking away.  She took slow steps, partly to look confident... and partly because she didn't have it in her to go any faster.  It was taking everything she had just to suppress a limp in her shoulder.  It was all so fresh in her memory and yet so far away at the same time.  She was pretty sure she had put up a good fight, though, and surely left her attackers unsatisfied.  She'd bitten into the other umbreon, and she remembered well enough to know it had done some damage.  That was one of the few things that she could truly still see, feel... taste...  She recalled the bite clearly, along with every other injury she had inflicted.  She also recalled a snapping sound at the last blow she'd received from the croagunk, like something breaking.  She looked down at herself as if to check if she had broken something, but she was pretty sure that was not among her list of injuries.  The frog had also made a noise that didn't exactly scream "comfortable" at about the same time.

Then... was it him?

The knowledge of how badly she had hurt the two made her feel... better.


Krikka was finding the act of standing to be difficult, and so attacking was practically infeasible, but simply watching was not something she would deprive herself up.  She kept her eyes open and followed Goro with her gaze, waiting anxiously for him to recover.  Fortunately, he was proving to be worth his payment... of nothing...  She would pay him eventually.  When she had money.  He was certainly earning his share, pushing through whatever was thrown at him like a trooper, getting up every time he was knocked down.  He got moving fairly quickly, before the ravenous psycho could pull herself back into the game.  Krikka could tell just from the motions how much effort he was putting into this punch, and she knew before it even made contact that the fight was over.  The enemy was in no position to block, counter or even brace, so this punch would be more than enough to send her straight down the hill.  Magical cloak be damned, there was no way she would be fit to fight with that on top of everything else they'd thrown at her.

The croagunk's fist connected as expected, but the second it did, there was something immediately wrong.  It took a moment for Krikka to realize it as she was too absorbed in watching the opposing umbreon finally getting the fuck knocked out of her.  The moment was unfortunately short-lived since the target went tumbling down the hill, as was the plan, but Krikka enjoyed it while it lasted.  It took her a solid few seconds even after her source of entertainment was gone to realize something was seriously wrong.  Focusing was proving increasingly difficult with every moment her predicament was allowed to worsen.  When she finally noticed Goro still on the ground and registered the sounds leading up to this, however, it didn't her long to piece it together.  She was silent and speechless for a long moment after, at a total loss for words.  "Did you just... break your fucking hand?" she finally broke the silence and got straight to the point, though she didn't need an answer.  It was obvious enough that yes, Goro had thrown his punch so hard it actually broke something in himself.

Not even bothering to give him a chance to respond, the vixen abruptly started up laughing.  Her voice was weak, almost restrained, stemming from her critical condition; she was beginning to grow delirious and couldn't help but laugh at the idea of Goro hitting something so hard as to break his hand.  She rolled onto her good side to make sure not to get her wound too dirty, then forced her laughter down to a giggle... then silence.  She knew she needed to be still and conserve energy.  "I'm bleeding out," she stated in a very matter-of-fact manner with a sudden deadpan tone, not bothering to change the topic more subtly or acknowledge the shift in her behavior.  She still wasn't too worried, but that didn't make it any less urgent for her to stop the bleeding.  At the very least, she wanted to make sure Goro knew what to do before she passed out, but she hoped she could keep herself awake through it.  "Gonna nee'jyou to stop the bleeding for me," she continued, though she was beginning to slur her words.

She couldn't help but let her head fall to the ground, and from there she could only hope Goro was listening and coming to her aid.  By now she had little faith in her ability to mend herself, so she would need him to do it for her.  "Jus' get some cloth... outta my bag...  Cover the bite...  Press..." she tried her best to speak loud and clear, succeeding at neither.  She was weak and beginning to have trouble keeping herself awake.  She just needed to know this big oaf had her covered...