Lee Ru Bass vs Glem A'Quae

[Dutch]

A fetid and stinking swamp, ancient, massive, and forbidden on this planet. The swampland stretches over miles, with deep, old rivers snaking through it. The air is hot and difficult to breath, a thick mist rolls among the mud and grass on the ground. Deep within this swamp is a ancient tree, its fruits supposedly capable of healing any ailment- very lucrative for those that dare the depths of the bog...

Lee vs Glem

Gungan vs Gungan

Five rounds have been requested, and five rounds there shall be.

FIGHT!

[Kella]

It was a swamp, and she was a Gungan. Her feet were broad, so as to not sink into the mud, her lungs spongy, so as to absorb as much moisture as possible from the heady air. Her skin shone with the wet, inky violet tattoos glittering in the dim light. Mists swirled around her feet, sneaking up her calves and curling about her. Light filtered through a thick layer of cloud, scattered and softened into nothing more than a dim blanket. Random currents in the air caught up the mists and sent their shadows swirling into shapes, shapes the mind could interpret as anything. The croaking and cawing of live pervaded the swamp, and the whole thing presented itself as a living organism, the rhythm of the sound the underlying heartbeat of it all. Strange plants grappled with each other for survival, a few brightly colored, most the same soothing shade of grey-green.

She could not appreciate it. Not even now, when she could still remember the wretched, dry sands of Tatooine. No, she could not appreciate it because it was too perfect, because it was too much like Naboo. It reminded her of things she did not want to be reminded of, people she could never see again...

Crooou!

Only Greek's incessant cooing could keep Glem's mind in the present, and for that, she was thankful. And, of course, Glem's thanksgiving came in the form of muttering about noisy, irritating Gizka. And then she noticed him rooting about in some strange plant.

"Greek!" She snapped at him, "Come." And dutifully the Gizka did, hopping over to bound at her feet, swallowed by the mist with every step, to jump up again, peering up at her. Glem sighed, looking down at her faithful pet. "Why is it that we always end up stuck places? Some people are doomed to nice things, like too much ale, or diseases, or broken bonds. And I just end up stuck places. You remember Tatooine? Twice! Oh yes, make deserting the Gungan great sport..."

"Greeeeee."

"No, I don't particularly care that we should have waited back at the hut. I am never delivering parcels outside the city again."

"Coou?"

"I know I said that last time. This time, I mean it."

"Kreeeta."

"Of course I know where we are. Vaguely. We're moving North, we'll hit civilization eventually. Theoretically. Most likely, we'll die here in the swamp, where the rot will take our flesh, and the mush'll bury our bones. Nobody will even know we existed. The world would mourn. One Gungan and a gizka, I'm sure we'd be so very missed. What an honorable way to go. Lost in a swamp because the shuttle driver decided fair rate wasn't enough to stand and wait for twelve minutes. Maybe they'll donate that tempting rate to some charity. Probably not. Free service, they're going to get, and Greek, I do not provide free service."

"Gree."

"If I ever get my claws on the Shutta of a shuttle-man, I am going to wring his neck."

Greek cooed, puzzled, and continued to dutifully hop along next to his master. Suddenly, the Gizka stopped, though Glem didn't notice as the mist swallowed him up. Suddenly, he appeared again, ten feet to her right, and Glem stopped. The swamp was hardly silent, but an eerie quiet hung in the air... Greek had heard something, Glem was sure of it, and now he was going to--

Now the moron of a Gizka was going to go investigate. And any meaningful sound that made it through this fog was probably sourced by some beast who could swallow Greek whole. Great, just great. Glem plowed after the Gizka, moving as fast as her sure legs could take her through the muck of the swamp. Her fingers tightened once more about her staff, the poison green of her nails glinting, body strung in a wary position...

Whatever it was, it would regret messing with her Gizka. Oh, how it would regret it...

[Ashi]

Sitting next to a small, crackling fire, Lee Ru grinned broadly, his mouthful of molars making an expression most people would describe as simply weird. He wasn't grinning at his lunch, which was really just a simple ration bar, nor was he grinning at his situation, as good as it was. No, the slaver was grinning because his keen ears heard voices. Here in the swamp, away from police and that blasted bounty hunter, Lee Ru had a chance to hide out. He had no clue what was happening with Shard and his crew of crazy folk, nor with Kojii and her repairs on the Xijulba, but suddenly they didn't matter. Only the hunt. He quickly put his fire out, a small cloud of steam escaping as the water cooled the flames.

He moved slowly away from his camp, as stealthily as he knew how. After a short while, the voices got louder. A sure sign that he was getting closer to his prey. He pulled the stun blaster from it's holster on his hip, certain he would use it soon. about thirty meters from his camp, he stopped completely. His prey had been getting louder far faster than he had expected, particularly in the depths of the swamp. dey havin to be comin towards mesa he thought, the realization hitting him suddenly. He began setting up an ambush, the best kind that could be made in the expected minute or two before he was easily spotted. In other words, he hid behind a tree.

With a loud croak, the outline of a small creature formed in the swirling mists. The voice started again, telling him that whomever it was had decided to follow this gizka, as it was now quite obviously such. A moment later the larger figure started to materialize. he waited a few seconds, letting the figure come to within three meters of his hiding place, before popping out with a loud cry intended to startle his target. And startle it surely would. For immediately after his cry, he tripped over the root of the tree he was hiding behind, landing with a soft thud in the muddy bog. His half uttered "My bein a slaver, and yousa belonin to mesa now, okeeday?" would barely be heard from the semi-incapacitated body.

With a grunt, he tossed his feet, using his abdominal muscles to haul his armored form off the ground and back onto his feet. He turned around, once more facing his prey. "Let Mesa be tryin dat again." He cleared his throat, "My bein a slaver. Yousa belongin to mesa now, okeeday?" He gestured aggressively with a stick in-hand, the hand that would normally hold his stun pistol. His pistol lay in the mud.

[Dutch]

Round 1

Kellaishleya:
Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 4/5
Bonus: 0/2
Comments: Glem has a gizka? And good start- interested to see what this char can do in combat...

Ashi:
Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 4/5
Bonus:0 /2
Comments: Oh no, not a Jar-Jar like char >< Least he's a slaver, lol. Great response there Ashi, the part at the end with the stick made me laugh.

Total:

Kell: 19

Ashi: 19

[Kella]

The last thing Glem had ever expected to see was a Gungan. Her kind were so exceedingly rare, out and about in the galaxy, that she'd seen all of three in her decade away from Naboo. That single solitary fact was enough to make Glem suspect she was hallucinating. However, she would not be so fortunate, for it seemed like whenever the chance presented itself, the fates liked to put Glem in as much misery as possible. A twinge of anger plucked in her mind, at the thought of this far-too-Naboo-ish swamp, also containing a Gungan. Whatever strange, ethereal being controlled the coincidences of this world, it and Glem did not share the same sense of humor.

Even as the Gungan, (her mind spat this title as it turned her stomach nauseous) floundered in the mud, Glem's mind began to race. He was wearing jet-black light armor... joints would be weak spots, as well as any sound thwack to an area not backed up by bone... his head was mostly exposed, perhaps she could knock him out...

But by this time, the initial shock of spying a Gungan, here, had made her hesitate long enough that the threat had time to stand.

"My bein a slaver. Yousa belongin to mesa now, okeeday?"

Slave. At prompting of that single word, Glem's memories mutinied.

Darkness choked her all around, the filth sinking deep into her pores. Glem slumped against the wall, her violet eyes lifeless and dull. Then the bars of her cell rattled like some agonized, savage beast, resisting with every whine the disturbing of their slumber, the opening of the cage. Glem stood as she knew she was supposed to; her spirit had been broken. She was nothing, nothing more than a tool, an item, and her thoughts were worth less than the feces that littered the floor-- and so she had no thoughts. She did not move fast enough, and the claws closed around her arm, dragging her forward, prodding her down the dank hall. Through the bowels of the monster. It was time to be cleaned for the master, because nothing mattered but the master...

With a start, Glem yanked herself back to reality, her chest heaving in hyperventilation. No one, NO ONE was going to take her as a slave again. She would die first. Fear shot electricity through her veins, and she channeled it into anger, anger at this... this Gungan who had so threatened her. He didn't even deserve to be called a Gungan. He was a monster.

And if Glem hoped to survive this, she would need to overcome the monster. Running would be suicide; any meaningful speed would catapult her into quicksand, or a carnivorous plant, or something equally unsavory. Here, this small area was an island, a small patch of solid ground, and here she would have to stay. Glem hated feeling trapped, and she hated it with just as strong a loathing as she now regarded this monster.

This clumsy, fool of a monster who was now pointing a stick at her. But Glem knew appearances to be deceiving, and she spied the glint of a blaster in the mud. Blasters were blasters, even in the hands of fools.

Glem suddenly bounded forward, her staff in a diagonal block to fend against physical attack. She kicked a spray of mud over the glint of the blaster, hoping simply to buy herself the time to drive the monster away from it, to clog what mechanisms she could. A determination flared in her eyes as she swiftly turned upon the monster. He was taller than she, and looked to be stronger, and with regret, she realized he could probably parry a blow of her staff with his forearm. Then again, there were far more ways to wield a staff, than simply with sheer power.

Glem anchored her left hand at the lower third of the staff, slipping her other hand to the opposite third. The mottled brown and white wood gleamed dully as she swung the staff, her left hand serving as the fulcrum, while her dominant right drove the stout end forward. Her aim was to strike the monster near the sternum, hoping that this armor was like many in failing to address that weak spot, that place where a well-aimed blow could send the diaphragm into spasms, leave the quarry out of breath just long enough to Glem to make another move...

And yet, Glem could not know whether her blow had the physical strength to take out a solid Gungan. Knowing her luck...

Glem continued her swing only long enough to make the follow-through proper, before leaping backwards, the mud where the blaster lay, between her and the monster. If he dove for it, if he bent down, if he so much as moved to crouch, she would be upon him with her staff and her fury...

[Ashi]

(ooc: I just realized how outmatched Lee Ru is in melee combat >.>)

By now, Lee Ru was more than used to rejection. Even having not seen the face of another gungan in almost 4 years, he knew exactly what was going on in the mind of the quirky woman a little over two meters away from him. He also knew that the best time to strike was when his prey was still processing the fact that he was a slaver. He squeezed the trigger..... He gave it a second before he looked at the blaster.

"Sith bein spitten!" he cursed, mindless of the fact that he was technically a privateer of the Sith Empire. He tossed the utterly worthless weapon to the side as he started looking for his blaster. It took him a few seconds of searching before he spotted the metallic glint. A spray of mud covered the blaster an instant before he began moving towards it. As he looked up to spot where the mud came from, the quarterstaff hit him square in the sternum.

His armor distributed the impact perfectly, not that there was a ton of force behind the blow, certainly nothing compared to the kinetic projectiles the armor was designed to stop. Lee Ru took a single step backward, the shock of the impact, far more than the impact itself, knocking him off balance. He knew where the blow had come from now, and where the mud had come from as well. He looked at the woman with a cold, calculating stare. He began calculating her skill in using the weapon she now held, her distance, the best way to cross the distance, various means of disarming and a number of other factors required in melee combat. His logical brain making up, in part, for his lack of training in melee combat.

He needed to distract her, to get her to drop her guard for a moment. hopefully it would be just long enough to get her to be mid swing when he rushed forward. He fell into a panicked combat stance, woefully pathetic even for his lack of skill. He gave a warbling war cry, guaranteed to make anybody laugh in their boots, before charging forward. A meter and a half away from her, he hit the deck, sliding towards her feet first in what would be a perfect tripping maneuver had she distracted herself by swinging her staff. Had she not, his hands were still free to maneuver, giving him the opportunity to catch one of her if she tried to dodge. Maybe that would wipe that pissy expression off her face.

[Dutch]

Round 2

Kellaishleya:
Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 4/5
Coolness: 4/5
Bonus: 0/2
Comments: What's the gizka doin? And I had no idea a merchant could fight o.o

Ashi:
Effort: 4/5
Fairness: 4/5
Detail: 4/5
Coolness: 3/5
Bonus: 0/2
Comments: Wonder how Lee Ru is gonna be able to stand up to a melee fighter? Very curious to see...

Total:

Kell: 37

Ashi: 34


Alright guys, let's get into the meat of this, I want wounds dammit!


FIGHT!

[Kella]

ooc// Dutch, you should read Glem's bio sometime. xD Unique, her tale. //

Glem's eyes flashed as the monster slid toward her. She could not resist the temptation of swinging the narrow end of her staff, aiming to catch him in the neck. But she misjudged his speed, and her staff bit only air. Too late did she guess his maneuver, and his feet set her sprawling forwards.

Her elbows dug deep into the mud as she caught herself, just barely keeping the muck off her nose. Glem felt a sharp pain in her hip, and best she could tell, she'd fallen on a rock... She exhaled sharply, her breath spraying mud outwards as she flipped to her back, not caring about the mud that seeped into her skin. Though the monster had tripped her, his legs had gotten tangled with hers. She yanked them away, immediatly lashing out. The muscles of her legs were incredibly strong for her size, so often had they been exercised leaping from roof to roof, or running through the streets. Now they drew taught, driving her feet forward. A direct hit to the ribcage, where she'd attempted to aim, would easily have snapped a few ribs of a gungan's cartligenous skeleton. However, her aim was hasty, her main goal simply to get out of her vulnerable position, and so she could not properly judge the distance, could not be sure if she'd scored a devastating blow, or simply a glance.

And so, Glem scrambled backwards, turning to plant her staff in the soft ground and haul herself up. The mud was loath to release it again, but with a schlepp, she extracted her staff from the bog, eyeing her quarry. A quick glance at her hip revealed a quarter-sized wound, now spilling blood. But it was nothing, nothing like pain she'd endured in the past. Even as she could feel it dripping down the outside of her thigh, she knew she could not let such an injury slow her down. It would clot soon enough, she needed to focus!

They'd ended up switching places, and she now stood where the monster had moments before, the soiled blaster somewhere at her feet... Glem was tempted to reach for the blaster she kept on her own belt, which she'd managed, somehow, to keep dry, but she knew his armor would put her at a disadvantage. Melee it was then, for now...

~

Greek cooed nervously, cocking his head and regarding his master from the shadows. Several whollops to the nose had taught him that when master had her big-stick out, Greek ran and hid. Now he quivered in the undergrowth, the vestigial arms that made him so unique grasping a pair of leaves to hold in front of his eyes. However, he could not help but let one slip, and a single, green-gold eye peered from the foliage, nervously watching master and the Thing...

~

Glem angled her staff in a defensive position, eying the monster. If he stayed down more than another second, she'd be on him with a sound blow to the back of the head. If he didn't, she'd wait warily for his attack... she wouldn't be caught off-guard again...

[Ashi]

Lee Ru, while certainly not the brightest of Gungans, was smart enough to know when his plans worked exactly the way he wanted them to. At least, at first they seemed to be working that way. It certainly wasn't his plan to trip over a root, but that was just his nonchalant attitude when it came to situational awareness and no dire threats were nearby. In her concern in dealing with him, it seemed to Lee Ru that his feminine opponent had forgotten what he generally didn't care about: situational awareness.

No, Lee was no idiot, and his plan had very much accounted for the fact that he wouldn't hold up to a melee fight with this woman. His slide had taken him right next to where his blaster lay buried in the mud.He was already reaching for it when the kick came. He grunted under the impact, knowing that would leave a bruise at the very least. He reached out again, feeling the hard grip of his blaster, being very sure it was his blaster this time, and rolled over onto his back, firing twice as his opponent came into view.

Lee Ru didn't believe in fate. Nor in anything remotely similar to it, but when his third rib broke mid-roll, he was cursing every fate or predestined thing he could think of. Not just because of the pain, pain wasn't exactly that hard to deal with, but the shock of suddenly being in extreme pain while you're trying to hit a target with a blaster, that made things a great deal different. To make things worse, it looked like mud had partially jammed up his barrel. Even if he had scored a direct hit, and he saw right away that he didn't, the damned thing would've been lucky to stun that gizka she'd been following earlier.

"Feed mesa to da fishes..." he cursed quietly as he got onto his feet. On his way, he fired one more worthless bolt at the woman, hoping to slow her down a bit, before he started running back towards his camp. Despite his internal warnings, he ran slightly faster than was prudent. "Disa day just keepen gettin better." The thought of seeing that Gungan in shackles kept him going against the pain of his broken rib, against the stabbing pain that every breath seemed to bring.

It was only thirty meters back to his camp from their battle site. Thirty meters to the rifle he'd left next to his lunch. Hopefully he wouldn't break anything else on his way...

[Edit: grammar fix]

[Dutch]

Round 3

Kellaishleya:
Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 4/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 4/5
Bonus: 1/2
Comments: That bonus point is for Greek's thoughts on The Stick XD

Ashi:
Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 4/5
Bonus: 0/2
Comments: Hopefully Lee Ru gets to the camp in time D: And a broken rib? Ouch >.<

Total:

Kell: 56

Ashi: 53

Alright guys, getting real close... Let's get real dirty now, I wanna see the fish fly!

GO!

[Kella]

((ooc// I sense a semi-blah post coming on... *pokes post with pointy stick* :/ ))

Glem yelped as the blaster bolts arced toward her. She had no protection whatsoever against the plasma, save what deflection her staff could bring. She felt one flash of red melt over her arm, but her pain was a murmer compared to the scream she'd been expecting. For the first time that day, Glem was pleasantly surprised as she surveyed what should have been a burn site, and realized her skin had only singed a slightly darker purple. She was actually lucky, for once, that accursed blaster had gummed up a bit...

Glem hated being lucky. It distracted her from important things. Like her impending doom. She realized this with a start as the Monster took off in another direction. Perhaps a more optimistic fellow would have rejoiced at the enemy's retreat. Glem didn't even consider it. Wherever that thing was going, it wasn't good... She could take the opportunity and hide... but her greatest defense lay in her ability to keep moving. So now she was running toward the monster with the weapons and the blasters... real smart.

But as she ran, something triggered in her brain, and Glem began to see the swamp a new way... that depression in the ground was a solid place, a tree vine hanging down could be swung... there was a path between two ferns, a stone from which she could leap... these things seemed to almost flash white in her mind, calling for her, beckoning her to race across them...

And so she did. Shortcuts were, after all, her specialty. She planted her feet on a low boulder and launched herself into the air, cushioning her fall with a slide across a rotted long. She bounded between two ferns, knowing their groping leaves were sharp, but not deadly. A rivulet stood between her, and the direction the monster was going. She leapt across the languid waters, feet barely contacting the other side. Even as she slipped backwards, her left hand grabbed firmly the vine she'd spied, hauling her gracelessly, but solidly, up on the other side. Here a sort of island afforded her safe ground, and she could see wisps of smoke rising, which had previously been veiled by the drifting fog. A camp.

Then the plan clicked together in her mind, for her path had run parallel to the monster's. She leapt sideways, counting only on the fact that her shortcut had been faster than his, if only by a moment, a second... Then the horizontal strike she'd just swung would hit him in the gut, playing off his momentum... and maybe, just maybe knocking the wind out of him...

In the event that it did, she'd draw her blaster, steady it, and shoot him through the skull.

In the event that it didn't, she'd draw her blaster, steady it, and attempt to shoot him through the skull. As he ran to get something. From his camp. Probably a bigger gun.

Neither plan had a high rate of success.

But it's worth a shot, she thought to herself, wincing at the pun...

~

Though the Gungans viewed the landscape as a trecharous place, with bogs to be avoided, strategies to be planned, the Gizka viewed it in far different light.

In fact, he saw it as only two things. First, a hiding place. And secondly, the only thing between him and FOOD.

It was uncanny, that Gizka's sense of smell. Though he seemed deaf when Glem called him and he didn't want to come, and his easily frazzled eyesight meant any bright lights had him running into things, the only sense that never faltered was his sense of smell. Invariably, the little creature seemed to be able to smell food from miles off. And so, it was only a matter of time before the tantazing aroma of stale foodstuffs made its way through the muggy swamp air, and into the nose of one Greek the Gizka.

Even as master swing the big-stick, and got tangled with the Thing, his momentary terror melted away. FOOD. Greek was hungry... come to think of it, Greek was always hungry, but the Gizka didn't exactly do a lot of thinking. His little leaps and bounds brought him swiftly through the swamp, as he rocketed toward the camp. Nothing could make that Gizka move faster than the promise of a snack...

And even as master and the Thing approached, Greek didn't notice, for his nose was currently buried in a pack by the fire, as he gnawed through survival packs, and helped himself to the contents...

Croooouuuuu....

[Ashi]

OOC: As if Lee Ru didn't have enough cause for hating me....

IC: There it was. The camp. He had assumed that his female opponent would be too enraged to even consider not following him. If she was, his plan was to grab the rifle, spin around as best as he was able, and shoot her on her approach, but he was too focused on his goal to pay attention to anything but his end goal: the blaster. It was little wonder why he was caught completely by surprise by the staff. He was jumping over a root, smaller than many but still almost a foot high, when the staff ricocheted off his cod piece and slammed into his thigh.

It's hard to describe the pain a man feels when his cod piece is hit with any kind of solid impact, but the results are obvious enough. Even this glancing blow was enough to send convolutions down his legs, gripping the still-vibrating staff with a death-grip a construction droid would be proud of, and also completely screwing up his landing. His right leg got caught in a vine, dangling from a tree, and his forward momentum sent him continually flying. Three meters past where he had originally intended to land, his left shoulder made contact with a rock. Several more grinding sounds from repositioning bones in his chest weren't enough punishment for the slaver; he bounced. The next time he landed was a meter and a half further on, this time he did a face plant in the mud, continuing to roll and slide towards the boxes that made up his camp. He came to rest face upwards about three meters from the remains of his fire.

Pain. Endless, eternal pain. For a very, very long two seconds, pain was the only thing that existed. Over the course of the next few seconds, his mind barely clung to consciousness and he slowly let out the breathe he'd been holding. His barely opened eyes didn't see much, but his reeling mind took note of a few random tidbits of information A Gizka? How cute... He inhaled. Never had he known such pain. Rather than the aching and throbbing of the many bruises so far, somebody had just stuck a spear into his lung. The penetrating, stabbing pain jarred his consciousness, releasing a whole new torrent of the Gungan's adrenaline equivalent into his ailing body. A rage filled his mind as the realization of what was happening renewed his focus.

Fighting his own body for control, he slowly sat up. He looked at his right hand, and spotted the blaster. His thumb flicked the selector switch, changing it's setting from heavy stun to lethal levels. He sighted in with his blaster, his shaking arm making aiming a great deal more difficult than usual, but he accounted for it and predicted his shots. The first shot to leave his blaster was slightly underpowered, but the strength of the blast cleared what remained of the obstruction. It impacted in the mud about five cm from the runt of a creature snacking on his lunch. The next two shots were more accurate without the barrel obstructions changing where the bolts would land.

He climbed to his feet with agonizing slowness, staggering slightly as he tried to adjust for what wounds he had incurred. His pain was all but forgotten between the rage filling his mind and the adrenaline analogue pumping thru his veins. "Gizka!" he cried, barely loud enough to hear himself, but increasing in volume as he continued. "That's MESA LUNCH!" He began firing wildly, with dirt and mud spraying with each missed blast. He didn't care whether the creature was dead already or not, he simply kept firing, tracking movement as best he could. He was even shooting at nothing but the dirt his own shots had kicked up. Lee Ru had lost it.

EDIT: gunganese falacy

[Dutch]

Round 4

Kellaishleya:
Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 4/5
Bonus: /2
Comments: I love Greek XDDDD and no worries, you're post was excellent. As always.

Ashi:
Effort: 5/5
Fairness: 5/5
Detail: 5/5
Coolness: 4/5
Bonus: 1/2
Comments: Bonus for the freaking the F**K out XDDDDD

Total:

Kell: 75

Ashi: 73

Ashi's starting to close in, this is getting heated!

[Kella]

Glem was so close to taking advantage of the monster's moment of weakness, so close to just being rid of him...

But the swamp wouldn't have it. Of course not.

A looping vine snagged around her ankle, and even as her step followed through her strike, sharp thorns were digging into her palms as she fell. Moist ground wetted her knees as she shoved herself to her feet, just in time to hear the shriek of blaster fire and dive to the ground again.

And yet, one thing had her on her feet in a moment. Another shriek, but this one -- this one belonged to Greek.

~

Bright! The red light, the red light! Greek hated the red light. The red light bit him, the red light hurt. Even as he leaped frantically away, he tangled his feet in the strap of the bag, falling into the mush. The red light hit is leg! Greek shrieked helplessly, whining pitifully as he struggled to shuffle away, each hop dragging the bag another few inches, yet moving him not nearly far enough...

~

What Glem did next was not motivated by heroics. It was not some noble sacrifice. It was selfish, selfish at its very base because Glem knew she could not live without Greek. He was her one redemption, the only thing that stopped her from putting a blaster to her head in sheer guilt. If he died, if she let him die... then not being able to live with herself would be no exaggeration. She needed him alive.

That singular motive deprived her next actions of any strength of character.

"No!" she yelled, as the blaster bolts continued to hail around her beloved pet. Acting on impulse, she dove, the wet ground sliding her until she cradled Greek against her stomach, holding him close even as he continued to struggle, her body now his shield.

Not the smartest of plans, she realized, as fire burrowed deep into her side. Dammit, she'd just put herself in the direct line of fi--

Her calf! Glem bit her tongue to hold the scream at bay, the taste of blood thick in her mouth. Quickly, she freed Greek's tangled feet, and the oh-so-appreciative Gizka raced off, leaving Glem to fend for herself against a mad-man... Curses on that Gizka, he was a simple creature.

The mists swirled around Glem as she struggled against the fire in her belly, fought to regain her wits. Mostly obscured, she was, which hardly made any difference against the monster's chaotic shots. Another grazed her arm, and Glem grunted lowly. Torture she'd withstood, and withstand again, she would now. If she died, the Galaxy would be short one insignificant Gungan, and Greek's shallow memory would bid him quickly move on. He might even be happy here, in these swamps. Maybe he'd even find himself a wild lady Gizka. A nice, happy ending.

Happy for everyone but Glem. But that was okay. Glem hated happy endings.

She rolled to the side, accepting another graze to the thigh, making it to the edge of the monster's firing range. Suddenly, she realized she'd dropped her staff... Looking suddenly around, Glem made a hasty step forward, crying out as something sharp dug into the flesh of her foot... Glem leapt back, looking down at the sharp spire of rock in the mud. Hastily, she snatched up the palm-sized shale, sharply broken in some ancient tussle, and smoothed the mud against her thigh. This wasn't going to end pretty.

A sharp determination in her eye, Glem raced forward. zig-zagging ever so slightly, but still agonizingly exposed. There's something about the universe. It looks out for the fools of the world. More fire in her side, a graze to her shoulder, but still Glem raced forward. Pain was her only obstacle -- blaster wounds didn't bleed. And now, there was so much adrenaline roaring through her blood, Glem could not feel the pain.

A low roll bought her the last few feet she needed, and Glem dug her shoulder into the monster's side, hopefully making him stagger back... The rock in her hand -- she brought it after him again and again, at his exposed neck. It was primitive. Brutal. But Effective. Glem might mourn her violence later, but now... now only hatred drove her hand. Perhaps bolts dug into her gut. Perhaps her chest, maybe even her skull -- she couldn't tell. Maybe she was dead now, maybe dreaming, she didn't care. All she cared about was driving into a pulp the one thing that had threatened to make her an object again. All she could care about was lashing out with the sharp edge of that stone, again and again, until that evil was gone, or she was dead. A hiss sprayed blood from between clenched teeth, her tongue still throbbing. Glem A'Quae made her morbid last stand.

[Ashi]

OOC: Damn. Just.... Damn... Not only does this seem to be the practical reversal of the roles we've seemed to have so far (me the clutz and you the pissed off angry lady), it seems we're coming to the end of our duel. I almost wish we'd gone another round, just to see how you'd react to my final, desperate move

IC: Lee Ru may have lost it, but he still noticed the lady wielding a large rock. It was rather difficult to not pay attention to someone who runs into you head-on while running as fast as they can, and who then starts beating you with a large, blunt object. Up until that point, he hadn't taken particular notice of her at all. Some, small part of his consciousness recognized the beating for what it was, an attempt to kill him. But most of his mind was rather blank to the fact. At least until the rock smashed his right eye stalk to small strips of hyper-sensitive nerve endings, flesh, and a bit of a jelly-like substance from within the eye itself.

It isn't particularly easy to describe the pain that Lee Ru felt as he was suddenly blinded in one eye. But it was, surprisingly, enough to suppress the rest of his mind long enough for that one remaining shred of intelligent thought to return to the surface. Such logic as he was able of summoning dictated that unless a medical facility was readily available, he was done for, but he might as well make his end worthwhile. He pulled a pair of blaster power packs from his belt with the only hand that was worth anything, the other long since worthless due to a shattered collar bone, and jammed them together to create the deadly feed-back loop (unfortunately, this isn't evidenced on the wookiee that I managed to find. It is legit, however, as luke used it to escape some random pirate trap that pumped all the air out of the room.). That was the hard part, with only one functioning hand. Now all he had to do was slip the makeshift frag grenade into her pouch undetected.

If she weren't in such a frenzy, that might have been very, very hard. But just as his second collar bone shattered under her persistent blows, he managed to slide it in. By now, his face was nothing more than an unrecognizable mass of blood and abused flesh and cartilaginous bone. He didn't have long to live, but he had just long enough to celebrate his victory before the next hit with the gore-covered rock punctured his brain mass, destroying what was left of his consciousness. Between thirty seconds and a minute later, the crazy woman would die. Hopefully, she'd take that damned gizka who had announced this whole affair with her.