Job Deets. wrote:Clicky.
TWC: 1364
She hadn't even had time to go home yet. Though the boat pass she had got her there and back, it seemed that she was needed for something else. This time, the message came on her iLac while she was sitting in a cafe enjoying a morning cup of tea and a few slices of buttered toast. Tea wasn't something that she normally drank, but once the local village found out that she had been the reason that the gargoyle would no longer bother them, they had insisted that she stay for a little while. Of course, free food and free room and board were nothing to sneeze at. As long as she kept in contact with Makoto via her iLac, she could stand to be away for a bit. A vacation from doing nothing to do nothing elsewhere, who could resist?
The only downside was the lack of parfait here. And the lack of really anything else to do. She had found that the locals were very interested in how she had taken out the creature, and so now she was spending her days giving instruction and martial arts lessons to those willing. As it turned out, 'those willing' included nearly all of the working farmers in the area, some of the retired little old ladies and a surprising amount of children. But the ability to pass on knowledge of self defense was always a thrill to her.
Which was why it was a bit of a let-down to receive another challenge from her mysterious benefactor. Benefactor may not have been the right word. Mysterious challenger? This person had sent her a missive the first time and now had seemingly discovered her iLac contact information. The challenge this time came in the form of an escaped ogre which was terrorizing a forest on another island close to here. The message included a digital code for a pass on a ferry that would take her there and bring her back. It seemed this would still be the point from which she disembarked back to her home.
She looked outside at the common folk doing their chores and such. She didn't look down on them at all, she actually quite envied them. Although she had chosen the life of a wandering… mage, for all intents and purposes, she wondered what it would be like to have a regular home to return to. Finishing her tea and the last bites of the toast that had come with it, she stood up and hefted her rucksack over her shoulder. She said her goodbyes to the village elders and promised a return provided she didn't die horribly on this job. They did not like that joke.
The ferry ride took an entire afternoon, during which she found a place of privacy to lay down with her rucksack as a makeshift pillow and read. This was a book on the theory of the soul as a manufactured concept of the expansiveness of the mind. It argued that those that by increasing one's intelligence, it could invariably increase the strength of one's soul. Kotomi liked the idea and thus had picked up the book.
She managed to get about halfway through it when the ferry arrived. It didn't take much time after she had left the port before she could see that whatever she would be fighting would take more effort than the gargoyle. Something had torn down parts of the forest with seemingly brute strength. Torn from their roots or trunks ripped from their base, leaving jagged remains.
Thankfully she didn't have to search for it for very long. As she examined the trees for evidence of movement, there was a screeching roar behind her. She turned around just in time to see a massive tree trunk being swung at her with amazing force. She knew it was amazing force because she hadn't had time to move and was temporarily squished between the two large pieces of wood. She slumped down to the ground and groaned in pain.
The creature let out a triumphant roar. She took a second to look it over. Ogre was pretty accurate for what it looked like. About twice her height and muscular, but not an even muscularity, like whatever created it had stuck pieces of silly putty to its body then decided that would be muscles. Half of its face was larger than the other half, complete with a bulging bloodshot eye. "Okay, like… I get that you're mad," She said as she stood up and dusted herself off, "I just don't get why."
It responded with a snorting grunt and tried to charge at her, lowering its head to her level so that it would head-butt her back into the tree. "This isn't effective conflict resolution!" She said as she pulled one fist back and charged it with energy. A hard punch met with the creature's head with incredible force, causing it to stumble backwards, grabbing its noggin as it let out a pained grunt.
"See, we can just talk about our feelings. For example, I'm very upset that you keep attacking me. Now you go," She took a deep breath and an aura began to surround her, winds whipping about as it seemed that she took control of them. In reality, the winds were being produced by her exuding energy, slicing about like daggers around her.
The creature didn't seem capable of speech. Instead it stomped the ground and swung its Christmas ham of a fist in her direction. She slid backwards, the punch missing her physical body but getting caught within her aura. The result was that ham getting sliced up like it was ready to be served. The creature howled and swung at her again and again. She sidestepped and moved around the tree trunk instead of getting backed into it. "Alright, listen, if all you're going to do is go on the offensive, I'm just gonna call it a day. We can reschedule for another day if you like, but this is not conducive to improvement,"
Seemingly tired of the sounds coming from the small creature's mouth, the reached forward and grabbed her in its chunky, sliced up hands. The suddenness and force caused her aura to dissipate as she lost focus. The creature lifted her up and squeezed hard, causing Kotomi to grit her teeth and prevent a cry of pain. "That's it," She said, "I suggest you see another professional,"
She pushed back against the creature, at a clear disadvantage since she was unable to get proper leverage while in the air. Her ranged attacks were severely limited but she had one trick up her sleeve. She focused on the pain instead of casting it away and her aura flared up again, this time a strange reddish color. It flashed only for a moment, but long enough for the creature to let her go. Those hams were sliced up and burnt now, giving her the opportunity to go on the actual offensive.
She started with a punch to the creature's gut, then as it bent over she used the chubbiness to walk up its body and shoved her knee into its nose. The sickening crunch followed by the creature falling backwards told her that it was at least stunned. Kicking off of it and leaping into the air, the wind aura surrounded her again. This time she gathered up that air energy and, rather than using it as blades, she shot it forward as a concussive blast straight into the ogre's skull. It didn't seem to be moving around after that.
Landing hard on the ground, she allowed herself to breathe heavily. The creature had been quite the challenge, but nothing she really couldn't handle. She snapped a picture of it and sent it to the mysterious challenger. Meanwhile she was already heading back to catch the next ferry. She wondered if there was a buffet somewhere on this island in the meantime.
Little did she know, unfortunately, that the ogre was already being scheduled to be collected before it could come to. Even if it was dead, it would still be extremely useful to him.
