RPG The Bounty II [PG-13]

[Dragon Warrior]

[center][img]http://img273.imageshack.us/img273/2474/thebounty25kp.jpg[/img]

[b]The rules are laid out. The story is in the Profiles thread. We each get four posts. Let's go.[/b][/center]

[size=1]The forest grew hotter as Dark traversed deeper into the jungle. He looked in all directions at once from the treetops to the mossy ground his boots crunched. The canopy was thick and sunlight barely seeped through, but light wasn't scarce, nevertheless. Dark wiped the sweat from his brow and studied the junglescape. Yoraav was different during the day.

He heard noises as animals slithered past, some hunting, some scared and retreating to their habitat. There was a fungus smell that loomed in the air and gagged Mr. Dark. He wanted to choke and cough, but kept his attention on the matter at hand. After seeking medical attention, he received the last bit of information on his quarry.

A bounty hunter named Quell Danjer. Dark knew of Danjer, for sure. He was one of the better hunters in this miserable galaxy. He didn't know a lot about Quell, though. Not enough to plan against his maneuvers. Normally, if he had more time, he'd study up, but this was supposed to be a quick job. Dark couldn't figure why. Quell was a more experienced hunter than that waste of space Razdul Bones. Questions clouded his head and he tried to toss them away to keep his mind on the mission. A gunshot woke him from his daze.

Standing about 150 feet away was Quell Danjer. His cloak flowed in the gentle jungle breeze and his right pistol barrel smoked from the recent shot. Dark stood and stared. That was simply a warning. Quell was a much better shot than that. If he wanted to do Dark in then and there, he would have. Dark had to concentrate. "Danjer," Dark spoke almost to himself.

Quell heard it anyways. "That's me." He shifted his eyes through his iron mask and gray cloth. "You bein' Mr. Dark, I reckon?"

"Find out for yourself."

"Yer reputation is a high one. Don't think I don't know you." Despite the dangerous situation, Quell felt safe enough to sheath his guns back into their respective niches in his cloak. "Yeah, I'm Quell Danjer. You here to kill me?"

"It's not obvious?"

"Shoot, no." Quell shifted a bit. "It's mighty obvious. I know you specialize in killin' other hun'ers. Dun play me fer stupid."

"Sorry. You speech suggests it."

Quell let out a laugh. "Hah, I like you. Too bad this'll go quick." Suddenly a pistol was back in his hand and a bullet was fired. Dark saw this coming and zipped behind a tree to evade. Despite the fact Quell was one of the quickest shooters, Dark was one of the quickest on his feet. The bullet hit the tree and went straight through. Dark was wide-eyed.

"That's some powerful guns," he muttered to himself.

"I know," Quell called from his far distance with a wry laugh.

"Gah, how does he do that?"[/size]

[Zen]

[size=1]

If there was a time that Dark felt out of his element, it was now. He was fighting a highly skilled gunmen in an unfamiliar environment. Having adopted his older style, he had to adapt to everything now. Looking down to his Tenga sword, he thought [I]I sure hope I haven?t lost my touch. Heh.[/I] With that, he withdrew a small explosive knife from his cloak and threw it several yards to his left for a distraction. The explosion was large, causing two trees to fall down. Dark then spun around from his cover and side stepped trees at high speeds, cutting the brush with his sword, he soon had Quell in his sites.

Thanks to Quell?s sharp hearing, he quickly turned to Dark?s position, but far too late. Dark slashed across his chest with his Tenga sword at Quell, slicing his right bicep with a shallow gash. Quell had dodged just in time to avoid having his arm severed as he hopped back several feet and began firing at Dark again.

Dark began dodging from side to side in a blur of speed, withdrawing a hand full of throwing knives, slinging them at Quell?s direction. Dark expected the explosion to end him, but Dark had underestimated just how accuracy. With fast trigger finger, Quell shot each of the throwing knives, causing a great explosion go off in between the two warriors. A cloud of smoke blinded them to each other, and when it cleared, both had disappeared to another are, hunting one another.

Amongst the tree tops, Dark waited, and searched for his prey and for a moment to strike....[/size]

[Dragon Warrior]

[size=1]The sounds of the jungle became more noticeable as things grew eerily quiet. Species of insects zipped by while birds of prey swooped in to get their favorite treat, a baby millow-marrow rat. Things were quiet for some time before a vine latched to Dark's leg and tugged. Dark slipped off the tree branch, but latched on by his hands. Looking back, he saw Quell at the other end of the vine. Using the plant as a rope lasso, he tried to pull his prey over. Dark was smarter than that. Using one of his knives, he cut the vine from his leg, held onto the end and swung up towards Quell, unsheathing his sword.

The blade came swinging dangerously close to Quell's head, but he ducked and side-stepped in time for Dark to miss. They were at close-range combat, Dark's specialty. Defenseless at the moment, Quell took evasive action and rocketed away, using his jetpack to fly off the branch quickly and land neatly on the soft mossy ground below. He peered up at his opponent, who sheathed his sword and eyed Quell back. It wasn't long before Dark grew impatient of Quell's contant taunting and leapt down from the high treetops to a spot on the ground a distance away from Danjer.

Little did Dark know, but Quell was prepared for that move. Upon impact, the ground collapsed under Dark's feet and he fell a good twenty feet or so to a rocky bottom. Cracks were heard as if he had broken something due to the fall. He winced a bit and heard a rather annoying cackle. "Woo, what have we got 'ere?" Then Quell showed his face from the top of the pit. Well--what you could see of his face. "Caught a tiny millow-marrow rat in my trap." Dark despised the uncanny jargon Dendwennians used. Their metaphors were horrid.

"So you made me fall," Dark muttered. "A lot of good that'll do you."

"Heh, yeah," Quell agreed while he aimed a pistol at Dark. The hole was too little to maneuver around to dodge so he really was like a trapped millow-marrow rat. "Easier than shootin' fish in a barrel." He laughed once more, then fired.[/size]

[Zen]

[size=1]

With the sounding of the gunshot, instinct caused Dark to act quickly as he deflected the bullet with his Tenga blade, causing it to ricochet but up towards Quell, who just barely dodged death as the bullet flew through a piece of his hat. This caused him to fall back onto his bottom and away from the hole where he had trapped Dark. [b] ?Pretty close there, partner...?[/b] Quell said as he got back up with his gun drawn to fire another shot into the whole. [b] ?This time I?ll be more caref-...?[/b] Quell was quitted by the confusion due to the disappearance of Dark from his little hole. [b] ?Now where did my little millow-marrow rat go to....??[/b] Quell began looking around himself, looking deep into his surroundings, seeing nothing. Suddenly, he felt a heavy object fall on top his body from above with heavy force.

It was Dark with his sword risen above his head, ready to impale the down Quell. [b] ?Say goodnight, Quell!?[/b]

[b] ?Good night Quell!?[/b] with that, Quell activated his booster pack and sent himself flying across the jungle?s floor, causing Dark to do flips over his ground and fall to the earth with a heavy thud. Quell was in a similar situation as he stopped his boosters and landed head first into a tree with a heavy thud, causing all sorts of multicolored fruit to fall onto him.

Dark quickly rose to his feet and held his Tenga blade firmly, his knives now completely depleted, his blade was his last weapon. Quell, however, still had plenty of ammunition and a dead aim now on Dark as he sat up against the tree, his body soar from the impact. [b] ?Now, say g?night, Dark.?[/b][/size]

[Dragon Warrior]

[size=1]Quell began firing his pistol, but Dark expertly deflected every bullet. The blade was too strong for the bullets to break it. Quell took to using two pistols instead of one, challenging Dark's skills a little further. Dark naturally sped up his movements and blocked both assaults of bullets. The two were at a locked match. Wherever Quell shot, Dark blocked, but Dark couldn't move unless he wanted to be pumped full of lead.

Eventually Quell stopped. "I'm not dumb enough to run myself down on ammo," he stated, then stood up and fixed the jetpack on his back to a more comfortable position. He scratched his head with his gun barrel (despite the fact he had an iron mask on) and readjusted his hat on his head. Dark stared confused.

"What're you, getting more comfortable? We're in the middle of a fight."

A shot rang out and suddenly a large log came crashing down and landed on Dark, trapping him against the ground. "Shut yer yap. It's none of yer cotton-pickin' business what I'm doin'." Then he removed a boot. "But if you must know, somethin's jabbin' my foot somethin' awful." After removing a small centipede like creature, Quell closed his eyes and smirked. He put back on his boot and looked over at Dark, who was missing again. "I knew that wouldn't hold him."

It sure didn't. Mr. Dark was high above again, Tenga blade drawn, ready to make some form of sneak attack. He crept softly on the moss-covered branches, but Quell's uncanny sense of hearing picked up and he chucked something upward at Dark. Dark saw it coming and readied his sword. The red blur was far too small to hit and he missed by a millimeter. It latched on and he felt a sting.

It was the red centipede. Dark pulled it off and chucked it. "Those fellers are poisonous," he heard Quell shot from below. "I have the antidote, but yer gonna have ta pry it out of my cold, metallic fingers, partner."[/size]

[Zen]

[size=1]

Excruciating pain thrived through out Dark?s body as he pondered just what higher being he had pissed off to deserve the trouble which he had with his job. It felt as though his veins were filled with burning acid as the poison spread through out. Looking down from his canopy, he saw that Quell was taking aim with his two guns. However the sudden rush of pain wouldn?t allow for quick movement.

It appeared to Dark that he would have to pray to the scornful Gods that Quell?s aim would be slightly off. Gritting his teeth, Dark allowed himself to fall from the treetops just as Quell began firing rapid shots from his pistols. Dark fell quickly, and his opponent didn?t expect his strange actions, he however, fixed his aim on the falling figure and put to bullets into Dark?s falling cloak of a body.

Dark landed with a heavy thud onto the jungle floor, a cloud of dirt and leaves resulting from the hard impact. The recent bullet wounds didn?t help him much either as he hit the ground. [b] ?Shit!?[/b] he exclaimed in heavy pain as the poison subsided to the feeling of hot lead in his left tricep and shoulder.

[b] ?Haha! Did I getcha?!?[/b] Quell laughed to himself as he slowly approached his downed opponent. He strolled with a careless stride over to Dark as if he didn?t matter. To Quell, he didn?t, for all he knew, Dark may have been dead by now. Quell was soon standing over the still figure of Dark, looking down at what he believed to be a corpse. [b] ?Heh. What-a waste. To bad ya-....?[/b] Quell?s words ended as he felt cold steel enter his rib cage.

Looking down frantically, he saw the eyes of Mr. Dark on fire with a burning rage, staring through Quell?s mask and into his soul. It was in these terrifying eyes that Quell felt himself falling into an abyss of fear. The feeling of the blade reaching slowly deeper into his body caused him to come back to reality and leap back. A second longer, and he would have been dead. The site of spurting blood let Dark know that his job was going to be easier from here on out.

Slowly standing, Dark concentrated his mind to block out the agonizing pain coursing through his body. He then looked dead on once again to Quell. Neither of them planned on dying this day....[/size]

[Dragon Warrior]

[size=1]"Well, shit," Quell chuckled. Dark was slightly surprised Quell laughed, but kept his guard up. "You got me. And right below the breast armor. How 'bout that." He stroked the wound with his gloved claw. "What're the chances?" Then he slowly rubbed some sort of glue across the wound and it quickly healed back up into a scar, as if it were weeks old. "Old Dendwennian tools," he said, holding the pistols again. "Lots of gunfights."

Dark wheezed as the bullets and poison made him feel faint. Quell seemed to blabber on, but his words were lost in Dark's dazed thoughts. But he still kept it together. After waking himself out of his trance and stabbing Quell clear through, he felt he almost overcame the poison. And in truth, his body was slowly starting to. Turned out his inner energy and strength he learned to obtain was stronger than he believed and not even the poison of the bug could hinder his striving spirit. It wasn't long before the cold sweat left Dark's brow and only the bullets made him wince.

Summoning his untouchable speed, which he happily regained back after recovering from the poison, he flew towards Quell who was still talking. With his Tenga blade in hand, he took a daring swing. Quell saw this and fired his gun, but unfortunately lost the hand to the blade. Dark chopped it clear off and it fell to the ground limp. Luck wasn't on Dark's side either, though. Flying backward and crashing to the ground, he saw that a bullet had shot right through his chest. Being so close range, Quell's gunfire was even more powerful, like a shotgun. It was a deadly hit, which Dark luckily survived. "That's the second time I've got shot in the chest on this goddamn planet," he mumbled.

"What you complainin' 'bout?" Quell shouted. "I lost a god-fersakin' hand over here!" It was true. The two were both now handicapped. Quell wasn't able to pull off his two-pistol shots anymore and Dark had a decent sized hole through his chest. Blood loss was a problem. They were at a stalemate.[/size]

[Zen]

[size=1]

Dark heaved and struggled to breath as he felt the burning sensation of the high caliber bullet lodged in his chest once again. This was becoming a habit he wished to break quickly. He looked on to the carefree Quell who had only lost a mechanical hand, no true loss on his part. No pain. Just in need of tune up. Dark had to make this last attack count. He needed to end it here and now. With that, Dark widened his eyes for a moment and looked onwards to the slouching, seemingly tired Quell, who held his gun firmly in his other mechanical fist. He concentrated hard on his opponent, looking dead on towards him. He looked into the steel mask, and looked into a glint that appeared to be the eyes of Quell. He mentally stalked his prey.... and then he struck.

Concentrating all his spiritual energies and mental power, Dark propelled his body across the jungle floor at an unmatchable speed, his sword poised at his side to thrust into Quell?s throat. However he was stopped by Quell gun against his jaw. And so they were at a draw once again. For a moment, they just stood there, no moving a inch, looking into one another?s eyes with a passionate hatred.

[b] ?It would seem we are fairly matched, Danjer....?[/b] Dark growled as he continued holding his blade firmly against Quell?s body.

[b] ?It sure would, Mister.... So... I have a proposal for ya.?[/b] Quell said with his signature happy-go-lucky tone.

[b] ?I haven?t the time for this!?[/b] Dark motioned slightly to kill Quell.

[b] ?Uh-uh-uh!?[/b] Quell replied by bringing his finger down onto the trigger of his gun slightly. [b] ?No listen here. I?ll let you report me dead to Ajax, right? You take this money, and then on your next job, you split your reward with me if I help you get the job done.... Sound a?right??[/b]

Dark pondered this for a moment. It would make his job much easier, seeing as how the next job would involve two targets. [b] ?What says I shouldn?t just kill you here??[/b] Dark replied.

[b] ?The face that you?d be dead too... I already have the command to fire in my arm, all I gotta do is unlock it, and even if I?m dead, my hand will still shoot. So it?s either, we both die... or we both get paid. How?s that sound??[/b]

[b] ?... Fine.?[/b] Dark said, slowly moving his sword away from Quell?s throat as Quell removed his gun back to it?s holster. Sticking out his hand, Quell awaited Dark to shake his hand. Dark slowly complied, with an ironic smirk on his face.

[b] ?Haha. It would appear, sir. That we royally screwed one another up... Take some of this.?[/b] Quell said, handing Dark the jar of strange glue he had used on himself earlier in the battle. Dark eyed it strangely for a moment, but trusted it would be safe, as he saw it?s affects earlier on. Taking a swipe of it in his hands, he applied it to the several gun shots wounds on his body, ignoring the intense stinging sensation resulting from the application as his wounds quickly healed up.

[b] ?Thanks...?[/b] Dark replied, withdrawing a small communicator from his cloak, he opened it up and placed it on his ear. [b] ?Boss Ajax....?[/b]

[b] ?Yes, Mr. Dark??[/b] came the deep, ominous voice over the phone.

[b] ?Quell?s dead. I?m off to the other job now...?[/b]

[b] ?Very good Dark. You?ll be paid in full upon return. Best of luck, friend.?[/b]

[b] ?Yeah. Good bye.?[/b] with that, Dark hung up the communicator and winked to Quell. [b] ?Try to keep a low-profile for me, eh??[/b]

[b] ?I?ll try my best, partner. Haha.?[/b]

With that, the newly formed duo left the jungle, both limping from exhaustion and injury....[/size]