woken up like an animal

[ringwizard]

Date & Time: July 3rd, afternoon & evening
Location: Everywhere
Characters: Dragon & OPEN, Dragon & Kirika, Dragon & Nitoh&friends
Summary: Haruto's phantom wanders around being an asshole, then Nitoh kills and eats him. Fun times were had by no one.
Warnings: Dickbag despair monster ahoy. Certainly violence and probably just general rudeness. At least one fight scene.

{ a | OPEN }
It is strange, to be so free, but Dragon enjoys the feeling of the rain on his skin (his skin, not Haruto's, not any more) and the sights and sounds. He has no sense of smell or taste, like any Phantom, but from the looks of some places, he thinks that might be something of a blessing. He's already a little overwhelmed by his sixth sense, the sense for despair, which covers Exsilium like a fog in places. He wanders, wearing Haruto's face, following the strongest despairs and sifting through Haruto's memories for the faces and names of his friends. Occasionally he ducks into a shop, but mostly he walks down the middle of sidewalks without regard for anyone else around him.

Manners are alien to him--and if he's crossed, that's easy enough to take care of. Sometimes, he knocks into someone on purpose, if their despair is sweeter, or darker.

{ b | closed to Kirika }
Knowing now what Oriko is, what she is capable of, Dragon assumes Kirika is much the same. Oriko's words about Kirika in the conversations she's had occasionally with Haruto lead him to believe her young, cheerful friend is her partner in more ways than the tender ones.

That makes her dangerous, and that means his approach must be more careful. Dragon follows Kirika until she is alone.

"Kirika Kure," he says, from behind her. "I have been looking for you."

{ c | closed to Nitoh&the Dragon Exterminators }

For a Phantom enjoying his freedom, he's been leaving a trail. Well, that, and he left the Garuda PlaMonster behind instead of fetching it to keep with Haruto's ridiculous rings, his conduits of Dragon's powers. He catches the PlaMonster, and looks up at its companion, Kousuke Nitoh's green abomination, and crushes Garuda in his monstrous fist, the pieces falling unpowered to the ground.

He is prepared, this time, fully in command of his powers and faculties. "Come," he says, to the Gryphon. "I will wait."

Comments

[ringbeast]

Knowing it's coming helps, but not that much. Nitoh's never fought a Phantom this intent on destroying him. Mostly, they're fighting him off while they try to get past him, to the Gate.

And of course, he used to have someone else to pass the baton to when things got tough.

The lightning crawls over his suit, and his ears and skin buzz underneath it. "Hhh!" comes out of his mouth, a staccato reaction to the electric shock. He throws his gun up to block the ax and manages, just barely, to turn it aside.

He begins to wonder if he shouldn't have gone straight for Hyper, but as he twists to the opposite side of the ax thrust, arms still twitching unnaturally, he fishes out the Hyper ring and slides it onto his finger. "This time, for sure..." he murmurs, shooting Dragon in the back and hoping it'll be long enough to give him an opening.

[ringwizard]

Dragon is pleased to see and feel Nitoh take the hit from his lightning; that is one of the powers he hasn't been able to test out yet. The reaction isn't quite enough, but then Nitoh is stubborn, and doubly protected. Regular humans will certainly feel it more. He looks forward to testing it on them.

He's less pleased by Nitoh fighting off his strike, and attempts to follow after Nitoh as the weapon is shucked off to the side, but from close quarters Nitoh's weapon does more damage than he was ready for, and he staggers just a little. It hit in a sensitive plate seam, and he has to compensate for the pain as he turns, which lags him a moment or two longer than he'd like.

[ringbeast]

There's his opening, he slots in the ring and the transformation sound drowns out the surrounding noise. HYPER! GO! HY-HY-HY-HYPERRR!!! As the spirit of Chimaera whirls around him, roaring defiance, the circle moves through him and he reappears as Beast Hyper, panting lightly but with excitement.

"Hah. Yeah, you didn't see this one coming, did you Dragon?" he shouts, voice rough. The new armor seems terribly gaudy, with tassels hanging down as he points the gun at Dragon again. Instead of shooting, though, he whirls, arm out. The tassels extend and whip Dragon across his face, despite the distance between the two. It's more an insult than anything.

[ringwizard]

"Your tricks mean nothing," Dragon snaps, but the aura streaming off of Nitoh is infuriatingly heavy with the scent of Chimaera himself. Somehow, Nitoh has parodied his own gifts to Haruto, with none of the worry, as Chimaera was a leashed dog.

He takes the tassels to the face, but his follow-up is to summon up land magic in his right claw and dig it toward the ground, splitting the soil to throw rocks at Nitoh. He breathes another fireball. He's not fast enough to keep up with Nitoh, but if he can lure him close, he can freeze him to the ground, and then he'll be child's play.

[ringbeast]

Nitoh dodges aside, firing at the rocks that are still coming towards him. He hits them, and they explode in a rain of gravel that showers over him. "It ain't a trick, Dragon, this is the real deal!" The eyes of the lion's face on his chest flash and the mouth's gaping looks more like a wild smile than a roar for a moment.

He gauges the timing and jumps over the fireball, flying at Dragon with a kick. He figures he has the maneuverability on him after their various fights, and close quarters might give him an edge. After he lands, he shoves the Mirage Magnum right up against Dragon's plating and fires over and over. Shooting him from so close is cathartic, but it'll never be enough.

[ringwizard]

Dragon's eyes narrow at Chimaera's seeming taunt, and while he attempts to get his ax between them in a fit of irritation, Nitoh is too fast. He staggers against Nitoh as he fires the Magnum, but rather than try to stumble back, he reaches desperately for his water magic, and swings a spectral blue tail to freeze Nitoh to the floor. They would see who lasted at close range.

[ringbeast]

Nitoh blanches beneath the mask at the freezing sensation over his legs. He manages to dodge with one foot, but the other is suddenly frozen fast to the ground. But he's still close enough to Dragon to twist his hips and lash him with the tassels again.

"I'm about ready to be done with you," he growls, and kicks his free leg with all his strength, pushing Dragon away and flicking his Hyper ring open. He jams it into the Magnum, and then aims it with both hands at Dragon. "And Chimaera is too." The humming and singing of the magic rises around him.

He pulls the trigger, and Chimaera EXPLODES out of the barrel, with a roar that almost sounds like a laugh.

[ringwizard]

Dragon shifts to swing his ax at Nitoh in near-tandem with the freezing magic, but instead takes Nitoh's kick to his injured midsection. He chokes out a curse, pressing his claw to the wound scoring his stomach, and looks up in time to see Chimaera bearing down on him. The attack nearly destroys him outright, damaging his armored skin down to the very core of him. It begins to crack, and so he shifts forms, to Haruto's unblemished body.

He eyes Nitoh within his suit, pressing his human hand to his human body. "You killed him after all, Kousuke Nitoh," he says, and collapses to one knee as Chimaera's attack overwhelms the limits of this body. He's been bested by a caged animal, released to devour the first thing it saw. It rankles.

Then he dies, blackness rushing up--or perhaps that was just the explosion.

[ringbeast]

Dragon's last words cut him as much to the core as his attack did to Dragon. He battles the urge to run forward, though with his foot still frozen to the ground, he couldn't have done so anyway. Whether he would have gone to cradle Dragon or finish him off, even he's not sure. But it's moot, because Dragon explodes a moment later.

He's usually not so close when the Phantoms blow up, and he has to throw his hand up to shield himself. The explosion helps free him from the ice, and he stumbles back. He's both darkly pleased and depressed to see the circle rise from the wreckage of Dragon's body.

It flies into his driver and he hears Chimaera swallow it. He can't pose victoriously, though. That'll have to wait til Haruto is actually back. Still, the feeling of mana rushing through his body is a welcome one, and Chimaera nests with uncommon pleasure in his chest. He dismisses his transformation, standing unsteadily on his feet in the middle of the city. He's cleared every trace of Haruto from this town, now. Even though he has faith that he'll return, it still doesn't feel right. Right now, nothing feels right.

He turns and starts to walk, not meeting the eyes of the people who'd come to help him. He can't comprehend his own emotions right now, and he's not sure he wouldn't embarrass himself if someone tried to talk to him. Gryphon accompanies him, and drops something into his hand. It's Garuda's ring. He closes his hand around it. One last thing of Haruto's for him to hold onto for him, whether it's broken or not, til he comes back.