Fight Against a Freeloader [Closed]

Tuesday, Week 9

Malina sat in the sofa inside of her team's RV. She had driven it out to one of less Grimm infected parts of the forever fall cliffs for a small, personal vacation. Finally finding some time alone she could actually relax, with Vega out doing research on those damn bugs of his and Muzen working with his bee farm, she finally didn't have anything to do. She opened up her scroll and flicked through pages of weapon parts and poison ingredients as Manticore lay lazily across the sofa next to her.

Aphelion had been wandering aimlessly for some time now, his horse still at the academy. His stroll finally took him to the forever fall forest, where his legs were slowly getting tired. He sniffed a bit. "Stupid cold..." he muttered to himself before rubbing his arms together. It was too far to turn back now. Seems I have to take back to the old ways... he started thinking about starting a fire before he noticed an RV parked by a cliff. Curiously, he sneaked up to it, wanting to peak inside before feeling some heat coming out from it. Heat... he thought, scrambling up to the source - warm engine - and curling up by it, letting it warm him up.

Malina flicked one last item into an online cart before she heard a muffled thump from outside of the RV. 'Grimm. God damnit.' She put down the scroll on the sofa and stood up, stretching her arms as she did so. Looking outside she saw the sky had turned a bright mixture of red and orange and was getting darker by the second. "Well, I have to go back soon anyway.." She said to herself as she retrieved Summer's Blaze from her room, loading them with propulsion dust and spun the chamber in Manticore to the paralyzing poison. 'Well let's get this over with..' She says as she opens the door and quickly turns to the front of the RV with both of her gun's barrel's pointed past her elbows and the ends just past her fist with Manticore ready to strike. "Alright, what kinda asshat is it toda-" She began to yell at the front of the RV before she saw the small form of a man huddled near the engine. "Wha..." She said as she faltered for a moment and lowered her weapons before raising them back up. "Who the hell are you!?" She yelled at the boy, guns and tail at the ready.

Aphelioon shuddered when Malina appeared, sneezing slightly, "S-Sorry... I was out on a walk and I caught a bit of a cold so... I'm just warming myself up... A-Aphelion is the name..." he stuttered out, looking up at her holding the weapons up, "Put those down... I'm not here to start fights... Just to keep warm..." he grumbled, rubbing his arms together and looking back down at the ground.

"Aphelion? Well get the hell out. I'm not giving my engine heat to some freeloader." Malina said as her tail relaxed slightly and fell out of it's striking position. Summer's Blaze, however, was still in a fighting position. "Hurry up and get out, I have to go soon and I'd rather not a vehicular manslaughter charge on my head." She said coldly, still eying the boy with her fingers ready to pull the triggers of her gun.

Aphelion narrowed his eyes and stared back at her, "May I remind you this is public property, and while I'm OUTSIDE your van I'm free to do whatever." he grumbled, huggling closer against the warmth, "Your fault for parking in a public spot, so leave me be. I have enough to deal with as is..." he said, second statement being more of a beg than an order, before adding a fever-induced grumble, "...crazy bitch."

Malina began to place her foot back into the RV and began to return to her small mobile home before he stopped short. She slowly took her foot out of the RV and closed the door. "What did you say?" She asked very calmly, as Manticore swayed behind her and her grip on her weapons tightened. "Because it sounded like you called me a bitch." She began saying as she made her way over to the boy. The light from the sun shined through the last few tree's on the horizon before setting, leaving the moon and the RV as the only sources of light. "It's not very god damn nice to call someone a bitch." Malina said again as she stopped, two feet from the boy. Manticore slithered it's way around Malina's arm and seemingly taunting him. "So...why don't you tell me exactly what you said?"

He looked at her tiredly, annoyed that she still has business with him when he's sitting by the van, "You wanna fight?" he got up and stood wearily, looking at her and shivering, "If I wasn't sick I'd kick you ass... but as I am, I can only promise to try." he got into stance, "If I win I want in your car where it's probably warm." he said before staring her down, face clearly reddened.

"Oh, if your weren't sick you'd kick my ass? Well that sounds like a great excuse. Don't come crying to me when I leave you in the forest you get bitten by an Ursa." Malina pointed her weapons to the ground in front of her and pulled the triggers, sending her back through the air to the edge of the cliff. "Oh, and I could have easily killed you just know. Quick jab to the chest and your dead." Malina says with a smirk before flipping her weapons around into the position they were in before. She stood still for a short moment, looking at his stance. 'Alright, center of gravity. Let's hit hard.' She pointed her weapons behind her, at the ground, and to the left before pulling the triggers and sending her flying toward one of the trees off to Aphelion's right. As she neared the tree, she kicked her legs out in front of her to cushion the 'landing'. The tree began to give way from the speed of the kick but before it could topple she fired off two more rounds, sending he flying toward the boy from the right, with her weapons ready to land a smashing hit.

Aphelion narrowed his eyes further. He stared at her and followed her with his eyes as she propelled herself around him. Stupid. Giving me time to follow her. he thought as he watched her fly towards him. Aura already fluctuating, he raised his bodylock armor, not flinching a bit as her weapons struck him with no noticeable effect. I'm standing my ground. I may be sad but I'm not dying from a mere cold. he thought.

As the weapon slammed into the boy, it acted as a counter weight and sent Malina spinning past him to the opposite. She planted her feet on the ground and came to a stop with her weapons readied once more. 'Blunt attacks don't work huh? More fun for me...' Malina emptied her left weapons ammunition and reloaded in explosive dust rounds. She reverted to her stance again before firing off a round from her right weapon, sending her flying toward Aphelion. At the last second she pulled the trigger again and propelled herself behind him. Once behind him she lifter her left weapon and fired an explosive round at the small of his back.

Aphelion followed her with his eyes to the best of his ability. Darn, she moves fast. he thought, keeping the armor up. Sure enough, it paid off as something exploded at the back of his neck, thought strongly enough that he felt it. Gah! he panicked slightly, but not enough to lose the grip on the fight. He saw a large shadow appear on the ground, his own. Flash. Ah. he thought to himself, instantly dropping the bodylock and falling to a much lower stance. Betting on his opponent being unprepared for instant retaliation, he quickly turned in one swoop and launched himself, going for a palm strike to where he expected her stomach to be.

The kick connected with Malina's stomach, sending her off course and past a tree. She fired one propulsion round behind her to counter act her others fired and jerks to a stop shortly after. "Hmm, Surprising reaction time, I'll give you that..." Malina says to the boy as she reloads her right weapon. "But it looks like you aren't very adapt at ranged attacks. How unfortunate." She points her right weapon down behind her as she flicks her left wrist and loosens the grip on her left weapon, spinning it into a standard firearm position. "Seems unlucky I have guns, don't it?" She says before firing off a round from her right weapon and sending her into an arc high above Aphelion. As she flew over him she fired off the six explosive shots from her left weapon before flicking it back into it's tonfa position.

Aphelion observed carefully when she dashed around, judging movements from the flashes of explosions. Ugh, she's smart... Aphelion listened to her brag about her guns, sighing mentally. People really like overestimating how good guns are, don't they. With that, he activated his Fiery Dance, his limbs feeling a lot better suddenly. When she flew into an arc and he saw her aim at him, he jumped back, fast enough to dodge the bullets but not the explosions, hitting him in the stomach and sending him a distance back. That hurt, but didn't stop him from taking advantage of her arcing movement, bending his legs while aura gathered in them and leaping into the air, spinning into a kick straight to her head.

Malina, seeing the boy kicking at her in the air, brought up her weapons in front of her face. As the kick connected with her tonfas she was sent flying back and over the cliff. As she sailed over the edge of cliff she lowered her right weapon perpendicular to her and fired two shots, sending her flying back towards and above the boy. As she passed over him Manticore unraveled from her waist and wrapped the smooth of of the tail around his arm. Malina then fired one more propulsion upward, sending her toward the ground. As she approached the ground Manticore pulled forward, flinging Aphelion toward it and adding to his previous momentum before Malina fired off her last propulsion round shot parallel to ground, sending her into a roll away from Aphelion. "Had enough yet?" She yelled at the clearing dirt that had been launched into the air from the hit as she stood up and reloaded her weapons.

Aphelion got slightly dizzy from the altitude change, and so when Malina grabbed him he found himself in a situation to late to properly react to. All he could do was raise his bodylock, but even then he couldn't think of it - his head felt heavy and clouded. He gave off a painful shriek when he hit the ground, his hands dropping to his sides.

Had enough yet?

"Have you!?"

Aphelion accumulated aura across his body, closing his eyes and giving up the last shreds of reality he was holding onto. The force erupted from his body in the form of a giant bear which stood up and looked at Malina before roaring and swiping his paw in a wide arc towards her.

Malina watched as the giant bear burst around the boy. It looked her in the eye and began to bring it's paw down toward her head. "What the he-" Before the paw side swiped her and sent her into the forest before slamming into the ground. "What the hell was that..." She said to herself as she picked herself up from the ground and readjusted her weapons in her hands. The trees blocked visual of where she came from and the treetops obscured the sky. She assumed a fighting stance before she began sweeping the area with her eyes, waiting for the bear to make another appearance.

The bear, on the other hand, didn't care much for Malina at that point. She left the area, leaving the nice warm vehicle for him to enjoy. It cuddled up to the RV like a child would to a mother and let the Panda dissolve until only Aph was left, unconscious and hurting, but warm.

After several Minutes of waiting Malina lowered her weapons and looked around. Through the trees she spotted a brief glimpse of the RV she had ridden in on. She readjusted her weapons her weapons again as she walked to the edge of the forest and at the edge, faltered slightly. There the boy the boy was again, eyes closed and cuddled up to the RV. Withing a moment the same boy found a gun barrel placed against his head. "With whatever that was gone and you obviously in pain it looks like I won."

Aphelion didn't respond. Didn't really notice either. In fact, his mind was as detached from the outside world as it could've been without dying. Freshly out of Ascension, he just lay there limply, his body taking in the heat but not noticing or craving it. He just... was there. Physically. Not mentally. Malina won.

Malina looked down at the unmoving boy. "Oi, get up." She said as she removed the barrel from his head and proceeded to kick him in the gut. After getting no response she holstered her weapons and walked back to the RV door. "Fine. I guess you're freezing to death here. Not my problem." She said before entering the RV and closing the door.

Aphelion's body instinctively curled itself up around his gut, but other than that there was still no response. He continued to lay there, shivering from the cold on one side while pleasantly not shivering from the heat on the other.

Malina sat down in the drivers seat with a sigh. "Great...now I'm gonna be late..." She said to herself as she turned the key, letting the engine rev as Manticore rested in the hold she had made in the seat. "#&^$ing kid...." She put her her foot down on the peddle as the RV slowly made its way forward, back onto a path in the woods.

The loud noise of the revving engine managed to somehow wake Aph up, albeit barely. Oooooh, heeeat... Slowly, however, the heat started to escape him. No, bad heat! Stay! Aphelion found an adequate part of the RV and held onto it, or rather clinged to it, hugging the warmth source as close as he could while being driven away.

Malina's tail coiled itself inside of the hole in the seat as the RV moved through the forest. "Five weeks 'til new year...eleven years since the boat." Malina sighed to herself and turned on the radio. Some man started talking about a dome and a robber in industrial Vale. As she drove along she absentmindedly looked into one of her side mirrors to see the boy from earlier clinging onto the door. "What the...oh..what the hell!?" She said to herself before slamming on the breaks just outside of the red forest and bringing the RV to a screeching halt.