Azure
Spoiler (Click to Show)
-Francis Bacon
Technology… is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand,
and stabs you in the back with the other.
-C. P. Snow
~~~~~
Leo had enjoyed his return back to the Night Creatures. It had been quite an interesting experience, seeing the place he had claimed as home after so long away. The loss of Kai had caught him a bit off guard, as did news of some large battle that had apparently taken place, but as everyone seemed in good health, he decided to dismiss his worries. After all, they’d gotten a new clan mate to replace Kai; Alphonse seemed like a nice enough fellow, even if the faint smell of blood seemed to have soaked into his skin. There would be no judgement, as that wasn’t the way to move forward.
It had been a few days since he’d met Manny after some battle against a dummy, and even less time since Manny had left to go and do… well, he hadn’t explained what he was going to be up to, but Leo knew that he would be back, just as Kizu did. She hadn’t shown even the slightest hesitance in reaffirming his beliefs. It was possible she seemed too sure of it, but he’d always had a hard time reading her. Since he didn’t have anything in particular to do in the base at the moment, however, he decided it would be a good idea to try going for a walk. It was a nice afternoon after all, and the wing was singing sweet songs with the shifting colors that dotted the trees. The red and gold of the skyline was like a painting just for him as he silently drifted along the forest bed to a clearing. In the center stood an outcropping of rocks that seemed to beg to be sat upon.
Not feeling interested in declining an offer by nature, Leo strolled up to the rocks, casually clamoring up until he found a neat little plateau to rest on. It wasn’t dreadfully large, but he could rest his bottom upon it without issue. Taking in a deep breath, he watched the sun as it oh-so-slowly drifted down past the treeline, as though it wanted to drink in the sight of him as long as it could. The thought made him smile. How long had it been since he had been happy like this? Had had such a positive view of himself? No memories sprang forth, so he could only assume this was a first. A lot of things had become firsts for him lately, such as having the confidence to have a girlfriend.
As the red and gold began to cool down in the sky, a strange smell caught itself in Leo’s nostrils. Batting at his nose a bit, he tried to identify what the scent was. It was familiar, though at the same time, it wasn’t something he often dealt with. It was like… gasoline perhaps? Yes, that was it. It was the scent of gasoline and brimstone. Glancing around, he started to focus more on his hearing. The scent hadn’t been there the whole time, it had only just arrived. That could only mean someone or something had brought it out here. His ears caught the crunch of leaves, and he turned towards it, waiting.
He had little time to wait, luckily, as the noise became louder and louder quite quickly. After a moment, a figure stepped from behind the trees; though they appeared humanoid, it was blatantly obvious this was no man. It stank of smoke and fuel. Where skin and hair and clothing would be, there instead was armor plating like old blood. Eyes glowed an unnatural blue from beneath the shell, focused on Leo. The cat monk brought his hand to his mouth, stifling a yawn, before he started scratching at his cheek with his pinky. Neither moved nor said a thing for several minutes, simply observing one another. It may have continued on longer, if not for Leo noticing an odd scent.
“Um… pardon my asking, sir, but do you have several pairs of women’s panties on you?” The question was quite a peculiar one, but it helped to break the tension that had built up. The strange metal man seemed to flinch, then straightened himself up.
“Just my luck. I hit the jackpot, and then run into somebody with a good nose. Look, if you just leave me be, then I’ll head on my way and you can leave this unharmed. No need for pointless violence, yeah?”
Leo’s golden eyes seemed to shine a little brighter, and a toothy grin slowly spread upon his face. “Is that so, eh? I honestly hadn’t cared until that last bit.” Stretching, he dropped off of the rocks and faced the pervert. “Now I suppose I have to play with you a bit and get you to return what you stole. With an apology.”
Vents opened on the metal man, seemingly in reaction to his perceived annoyance. “Remember, I tried to settle this nicely. Not a good idea to piss off a gladiator you know.” Leo’s eyes perked a bit at the mention of being a gladiator, but he kept his tongue still. “You’re not a girl, either, so I’ve no real interest in you. Just try not to die, alright?”
“Aum shanti invati,” Leo says gently, placing his palms together. He tilts his head towards the gladiator, placing his right hand over his heart for a moment, feeling the sound of creation beneath his fingertips for a moment. He focuses his eyes on his opponent. “My name is Leoncio Cardozo. Do you care to share your name?”
“Steam,” is the reply. “I’d say it was nice meeting you, Leo, but I’m a terrible liar.” Reaching to his side, he pulls out a strange gun and begins to fire. Having watched the movement, Leo was already on the move. There was little chance he’d be able to dodge so many bullets as he was, and even if he pushed himself, he doubted he’d have come out unscathed. The distance between them was too great for him to do anything effective. As he thought from behind the rocks that were currently defending him, it occurred to him that Steam was still firing around him, into the rocks and the ground. How many shots did that gun have, and why was he firing if he knew he couldn’t hit him?
A moment later, the shooting stopped. Leo listened carefully; there was no sound of movement. Moving back a bit, he turned to move up and check over the rocks, only to see Steam standing above him, gun holstered as he crouched and looked down upon Leo.
“Boom,” the machine says loudly. Before he has a chance to react, Leo found himself consumed all around by explosions of steam and heat. The heated air burned his skin, burned his lungs, and Steam simply laughed from his perch, unaffected. “Cool bullets, huh? Or, I guess hot is more accurate. Shouldn’t be enough to kill you, but it’ll probably knock you out-”
Steam quickly moved to the right, though the claws still ripped at his shoulder. His left eye briefly glowed red, but he gave himself a quick punch, the eye reverting. He glared towards the cat boy who stood calmly in the dispersing steam, arm still before him from throwing his claws out. “Sorry, but I’m a bit resilient. Definitely uncomfortable, but not nearly enough.” Leo slowly shifted his feet around, giving himself a firm foundation. “You definitely caught me off guard though. What kinds of bullets are those?”
Steam pulls his gun out, displaying it a bit. “Custom double-barrelled steam pressure pistol, semi-automatic, modeled after the AF2011-A1, except practical.” He points it at Leo. “And I’ve had a lot of practice with it.”
Leo calmly stands where he is, bringing his hands up. “Interesting that you say that.” As Steam fires the shots, the bullets miss Leo by a good deal, lodging themselves in a tree in the distance. Steam looks back, shocked.
“What the- what the hell did you do?” He fires several more times until the gun clicks. It was empty. Leo snickers a bit.
“Well, you wasted your own ammo. What I did was throw off your aim a bit.” He tapped his shoulder, mirroring where his claws had eaten into Steam. The mechanoid looked at himself, disbelief apparent through his demeanor. “Most people can’t suddenly adjust their aim when they’ve injured themselves; even if you don’t feel pain like I might, your body is still humanoid. While I hoped to take off your whole arm, throwing off your aim was a good consolation prize.”
Steam threw down his gun, jumping from the rocks and landing on the ground with a solid crash! Steam jetted from his vents once more, and his forearms slid open, revealing two wicked crescent-moon blades, short shotels that seemed to radiate a wicked aura. With a casual flick of his wrist, Steam sliced through the rocks behind him with one of the swords. The upper halves slid to the ground with loud thumps following them. “This is your last warning, Leoncio. Just walk away, and this will end. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to show you what Hell is like.”
Leo simply smirked, tilting his head. “Sorry, but I’m Hindu.” Taking up the stance of the Wild Paws Way, he let his chi condense about his nails to form his feral claws. Glowing with a faint golden light, their strength seemed to roll off in waves; his training had really focused his spirit. Now it seemed to scream to come forth, burned to be properly realized in battle. Now was a good time to get back into a proper rhythm.
Steam, sensing his determination, lowered his head. “Release restraint,” he said.
“Time limit?” asked a strangely mechanical and monotone voice. Leoncio blinked, curious about what was developing. Still, it would be rude to attack somebody who wasn’t prepared for battle. He decided to wait, to see how this played out.
“Until Leoncio is no longer a problem,” Steam replied, his voice slowly shifting. Steam erupted from him in a massive cloud, and Leo backed off while the sound of crazed laughter began filling the air. As the thick steam filled the air, the sun finally gave its last glimpses of the day, the sky darkening at its departure. Leo was now in the dark, and in a misty setting. It wasn’t a very good place to be, and Steam seemed to be moving about behind that laughter of his.
Leo stepped back past the treeline. He needed to get to a place with better visibility first. As he moved, he heard something moving through the air. He ducked, and the trees beside him were instantly felled. They crashed to the ground painfully, scratching and scraping at trees around them and the dirt as they did so. A pair of searing red eyes burned a hole in the mist as laughter continued to penetrate it.
“Ooo, such an agile toy you’ve given me. Let’s see if he can keep up though.” Before he could react, an X formed across Leo’s chest. He looked down at himself, not feeling the wound. It was shallow, thankfully. A gleam of metal moved for his neck, and he batted it aside with his claws. Taking a leap back, he freed himself of the cloud, whatever lurked within watching him gleefully. “Seems the kitty isn’t as fast as he’d hoped. If you’re not careful little one, you’ll be turned to cat food.”
Leo lowered his head, giving a sigh. “You’re not quite as interesting as I’d hoped. If that’s the extent of your abilities, then this is going to be over rather quickly.” He could hear whatever Steam had become move towards him, moving rapidly about the trees to try and obstruct his senses. It was more than enough time. Focusing his mind, he let his consciousness slowly slip away. Deep, deep, deeper still, he put himself into a relaxed state. The pain from his chest was insignificant; his flesh was but a vessel to contain his spirit, and his spirit sought release and revelation. Letting trepidation fade away, his mind and body awakened, and his beasthood was achieved.
As his heart beat faster, his body shifted to match his wild spirit. His muscles reassembled, focusing in his arms and calves, adjusting themselves for efficiency. Hair sprang forth, a sleek brown that matched his ears and tail. His hands elongated slightly, his natural claws growing and retracting whilst his feet became thinner, more built for speed. He opened his eyes, their golden glow like dull spotlights in the growing darkness. His skin tingled, feeling the air crawl along it, and his tail swished slowly back and forth. He could taste the blood and metal in the air, and his nose could trace his own scent on Steam’s weapons. His feral claws pulsed as they formed, and spinning around, they clashed against Steam’s blades. His shell had been peeled back, revealing a black skull with red eyes that seemed to gleam with a twisted delight.
“Good, good! That’s the spirit! Play with me some more, kitty cat!” Steam began swinging his blades around, faster and faster, his swords singing cruel arias calling for blood and gore and pain. Almost playfully, Leo batted them away, forming a counter-melody of benign comfort and genuine enjoyment. The clashing of their weapons caused sparks to fly out. The exchange continued on and on, neither combatant seeming to run out of energy, each drawing forth from reserves in their very cores.
But there was something Steam hadn’t realized about Leo: his claws were stronger than Steam’s blades. Finally growing tired of playing around, Leo threw his claws in an upward arc, slicing clean through the two blades and causing three tears to appear in Steam’s shell. Taking advantage of his opponent’s sudden lack of weaponry, Leo focused his claws in his palm, an orb forming. He willed it larger, larger, and once it was large enough, he smashed it against the red and black pervert that had been giving him such a fun time.
No sooner had the two come in contact did the Feral Ripper activate. Claws raced all across Steam, rending his armor to shreds and tatters as they ate into him. Though it lasted but seconds, the effects were great: he’d now been rendered next to defenseless, his inner skeleton mostly exposed and his weapons destroyed. Leo smiled as he grabbed the back of Steam’s head. With reckless abandon, he slammed it to the ground and began to run. He ran and ran, dragging the skull through the dirt and stones of the forest floor, losing track of the distance until at last he felt the strain of his body grow to be too much. He let his changes revert to normal, panting happily as he checked on Steam.
The metal man’s eyes had returned to normal, and he appeared to be in a daze. “Huh. Didn’t think metal people could get dazed. Then again, didn’t think metal people could be perverts, either. I appear to have had quite a few biases. Thanks for helping me clear those up. So, since I won, I guess you’re gonna go and apologize now, right?”
He got a weak nod in response. Leo’s grin was like the sun in the darkness of the forest.
~~~~~
After the apologies and returning of panties (of which Steam was still quite sore over), Leo sat the machine down for a chat. “So, you’re a gladiator, huh? How long have you been registered?”
“Well,” Steam scratches his cheek. “I’ve only been a gladiator a short time now.”
Leo nods, taking a sip from his bottle of water. “You might’ve guessed it by now, but I’m a gladiator myself. I’ve had quite a few wins, too. One loss. Thing about being a gladiator is, it doesn’t put you above anyone, ya know? It’s just another job.”
“Well, girls do like gladiators.”
“Some girls, maybe. But I gotta say, no gal likes a thief. Especially a thief who steals their stuff. Try to cut down on snatching panties, alright? You’ll just end up getting in more trouble.” He stretches. “Hey, wanna join my clan? It has some pretty interesting people.”
“No thanks, I’m already in a clan. We go by SkyFire.”
“That is a really lame name,” Leoncio says with a snicker. “Tell ya what though. How’s about we ally up? Just give the idea to you leader. You seem like fun, when you’re not all murder-happy.”
“That was the Metal Demon. I tend to keep him sealed up.”
“Unless you want to get away with panty theft, obviously.”
“Shut up.”
“Will do, Pervbot. Will do.”
[/SPOILER]
Piston1937
Spoiler (Click to Show)
“I want a rematch and this time I