Berserker in the Dark (Open to non-villains)

It was late in the evening. Yuri was in a part of town very much away from the lively nightlife neighborhood that flourished in these ungodly hours. A tall iron fence was her sole companion as she walked on that empty street, holding a crumpled piece of paper with her left hand. It took a while, but she eventually reached the gate that would lead into the grounds within the fence. Looking up, the big sign above it read "Jump City Zoo". The first thing she noticed was that the large metal lock on the gate had been broken and the gate itself was ajar. The second thing that caught her eye was that only the lights illuminating the fence were on. From where she stood, the interior of the zoo was as black as the night.

She clutched the note even tighter. It was a calling card. One that somehow made it to her table while she was having some evening coffee downtown. To be specific, it had her calling card enclosed with it. As far as she knew, she had only ever given her card to one person since arriving in this city. She could only conclude that her host for that evening was someone who knew her from before, likely from her hero days back in Japan. She would normally be quite glad to meet an old acquaintance but... the content of the letter was something along the lines of an invitation to a grudge match. That's right. By some unlucky coincidence, it seemed an old nemesis of hers had also arrived in Jump City. The question was who.

Multiple names popped in and out of her mind as she made her preliminary inferences concerning the situation. Unfortunately, there were still too many possibilities as to who it could be from the clues she had so far. The ability to secretly slip her a letter. And then the choosing of the city zoo to be their 'playground' for the night. There was the broken lock to consider as well. As she stood their pondering all this, she heard a loud rustling of trees from deep inside the zoo. It was as though she was being invited to enter by the unknown enemy. That was another clue. She had not seen anyone yet, but it seemed her opponent already knew she was there. Well, she would not get anywhere by just standing around thinking about it. For now, it was more important to identify the villain before she could come up with the appropriate strategy.

As they say, sometimes the best option was to just jump in and take the offensive. Quietly, she entered the gates and stepped forward on the nearly pitch black pathway

It was late. Far too late to be out, but he was anyways. It wasn't as if he had an aversion to sleep, it was simply a matter of choice; and not having a place to sleep. That may be the case as well, but some details are better left unnoticed at times.

With a dejected sigh, he continued on his way, fighting back a yawn that tried to slip from his throat. His feet had taken him high and low on the streets of Jump this past night, but had not lead him anyplace worthwhile, that is, until now.

He glanced up from the street he had been passively staring at as he walked, realizing that the street was no longer his own. His auburn eyes turned to the right of him, spotting a person at the entrance of a park of some kind.

This wouldn't be anything unheard of, spare for the gate closing the park away bore a lock on the front that had been broken. Who ever this being was had no business being there.

He found himself turning his sight onto the sign half light by the yellow glow of aged lamps. In old scroll was written neatly the word "Zoo". It was not a place where someone would necessarily cause trouble, but still, trespassing was never a good thing.

He gave a shrug. It wasn't his business. She could just be here to cause trouble in the form of vandalizing something or other. No ones life would be faulted by her actions spare for the person up to the task of cleaning it. He went to keep walking only to take pause. With begrudging understanding, he admitted that he didn't have anything better to do with his time. He could make this night at least slightly worth while. With that in mind, he turned so he was facing the entrance the person had disappeared into and decided to follow with a bit of a shrug. He was sure it'd be easy to handle.

((crimson. You have no active characters. The site restarted while you were gone.))

It was laaate and Sophie was bushed. She'd snuck into the zoo - it was a safe place, lots of enclosed spaces, confusing scents, and no people for a good distance. It wasn't a perfect place to sleep as the moon waxed gibbous, but it wasn't exactly full moon yet and the overcast gave her some additional armor against the influence of raw moonlight.

She'd spent a couple bucks on a day ticket earlier, and managed to hoodwink her way past security tonight, to hide until everything was closed. She had a favorite bench near the otters - and it was there she sat, silver hair gleaming and violet eyes glowing just faintly as she watched the creatures in the water. They were still sleepily active, and just acclimated to her presence enough to accept her existence without hiding constantly. Her effect on animals was perhaps one of the more distressing parts of being a Lune. She was a predator - possessed of a hunter vitality and unnatural vibe that chafed most creatures. She couldn't sleep on the bench near the Lions for example - they did not approve of her in the least and made their displeasure audibly known.

Otters though? Sure, they gibbered at her and hid the first couple times, but now they just occasionally stared and tilted their heads as if trying to understand her motives. One did so now, its tiny paws clutching a clam it had been saving, eating it on the edge nearest her as it studied the young Lune. Sophie for her part met its stare as she munched on the powerbar she'd brought with her.

And so it stood like that, until the otter finished its meal and sat on its hind legs to examine her more closely. Sophie glanced from it to her bar, then shrugged and tossed a chunk into the creature's pen. Rather than go for it, the playful creature simply fled, ignoring the offering in its startled effort to bug out.

Sophie sighed, and flopped over onto the bench, one leg propped up, the other left to dangle-dangle off the side of the bench. Maybe her luck would decay and it would rain all over her.

There was a guard house but no guard. Not wanting to walk in the dark, she searched inside and was able to find a flashlight, deciding to borrow it. It wasn't much but she could at least now see around 10 meters in front of her. There was no indication of where she should start looking so she figured she ought to just follow the main path. It would at least take all around the zoo, even if it was the long way.

It was quiet save for her footsteps and the wind rustling the trees. She occasionally flashed her light at the animal shelters as she passed by. But, more often than not, she didn't catch a glimpse of the animal supposedly residing within them. Maybe they were sleeping somewhere in the back? In any case, she didn't have the time to take a better look. The villain was around here somewhere and it was her priority to find him.

She eventually reached the waterpark part of the zoo where aquatic animals were kept. It was mostly quiet too until she heard a splash from one of the pens. She pointed her flashlight in that direction and could just barely make out a figure on one of the benches. Was that her foe for this evening? She wasn't sure, but she felt it was best to keep her distance. The light had already given away her location so there was no point hiding.

"Who's there?"

Crimson paused in his silent walk, staying back a ways. He had heard the woman speak, but he wasn't quite sure if she was addressing him or not. He himself had heard the out of place splash in the silence. She wasn't looking towards him, or even seemed aware that she was being trailed in the first place. Either way, he ducked behind a row of decorative brush to hide himself.

It was out of habit really that he even did so. He didn't feel it necessary to try to make himself scarce. This woman did not seem to be any threat, but he learned long go never to under estimate anyone. He peered between a gap in the leaves, his sharp eyes observing her. He had followed her on a whim, but he wasn't going to let a whim decide his next move.

She was tense. It did not seem it was out of fear though. He narrowed his gaze at this. She looked ready for something, as if she were expecting a battle to overtake the area she stood in. That was something worth taking note of. The way she held herself become more clear in revealing that she was not just an average person sneaking about. She had a set of skills and held herself as such.

Crimson pressed his lips into a thin line of wary contemplation. He was no longer so sure of his previous assumption that this Woman was here for cheep fun. For now, he would weight on the side of cation. He would wait and watch.

((Last warning crimson. You can't post until you're approved.))

Sophie was just about to drift off when her ears pricked. Stupid ears... The park was abandoned - she was so, so tired and everything felt heavy. She should just get to sleep... Nobody was here. She almost managed to drift off again, but then a light shone over her position on the bench, and someone called out if someone was there!

Sophie squeaked and locked up, eyes wide - her dangling leg froze, and she sat up slowly - no sense hiding from whoever it was. It was probably some guard or something.

"Umm... Yes, yes I'm here..." she said softly, and glanced over her shoulder towards the light. Her visible eye glinted like a cat's, shining purple amid her shock-white wild hair.

"Are you... A guard...?" she asked, her voice low, cautious, and just slightly tense. Her whole body was hardened to do something - whether it was fight or flee remained to be seen.

The reply was soft and hesitant. As Yuri approached slowly, she saw that it was a girl, no older than she was. More importantly, Yuri didn't recognize her at all as anyone she knew. And she was quite confident of her memory. But it was no reason to let her guard down. While she was still largely the same Yuri who had left home, there was no telling if her acquaintances there remained the same as well. The girl could easily be someone in disguise or someone's minion.

"I'm not a guard, no. I'm Glint, a new hero in this city. I have reason to believe that a villain has entered and taken refuge in this zoo. Who might you be? And what are you doing here at this time of the night?"

Yuri had stopped 5 meters away from the girl on the bench. At that distance, she would be well within the range of Yuri's hair, should she try anything. She half hoped that the girl was just an innocent bystander. That way, she would let her go and she could resume looking for the villain. If the girl was the villain though or was in league with him, Yuri would proceed to take her down as quickly as possible. It all depended on how she would reply.

Before she could get a reply though, there was a loud noise in the distance as though something thick was getting snapped or crunched. Moments later, a tree was sent flying from somewhere up ahead, heading straight for Yuri. She quickly untied her hair as it sprang to life, changing its form to two large hands. She caught the incoming tree easily enough and put it down gently on the ground.

It looked like she was getting closer to her quarry. She wondered why he chose to attack now though. She had been making steady progress earlier with no incident. Was it because she stopped to question the girl? Then that would mean that she was either a planned distraction or someone the villain didn't expect and he was getting impatient. In any case, she could reasonably assume that all of her movements since she arrived were being closely monitored. The question was how and from where.

As she was thinking about this, she heard more crunching noises. A couple more trees were sent flying in their direction, one at Yuri and the other at the girl. Well, that cleared things up. It seemed she wasn't in league with the villain.

"Get out of there!" She shouted as she prepared to catch the tree heading her way. If the girl didn't move, Yuri would swing the tree she caught to knock away the other tree aimed at the girl.

Sophie tilted her head at Glint, and gave her a slow, steady blink. A heroine? A real one? Its not like she hadn't met one before. This one was self-introduced as a new one, and Galvora could empathize with her.

"I'm... Sophie. I'm... I'm like you, I think" she hazarded, tilting her head a little the other way, turning towards Glint more and standing, clutching her knapsack.

"I'm new here too... I was just... Trying to get a little sleep - I like it---" she began, and her eyes widened. She was already looking around, her fine, wild hair whipping around in the cool evening sea breeze. Her eyes literally glowed as she turned away from the light of her flashlight, blinking as she trailed off.

"... Here.." she began. There was something... Wrong going on here - her instincts were screaming at her that there was a predator out there, that they were being watched.

The loud crack made her head jerk in the direction it came from, and she was already jerking out of the way before Glint's... hair moved!!! Holy crap! Sophie stared, owlish, at the spectacle of the hair-fists setting the tree down. "Wow. I mean... wow."

There was no time to continue that thought though - two more trees were coming at them! One for Glint, one for her! It made her feel special... In a very special kind of way.

But she didn't get out of the way - she charged. The girl blurred a bit, leapt, and threw her body at the tree furiously. Girl and tree met midway, and who do you think won? Girl - that's who. She cried out in pain as the log shattered and there was a crack of bone, but she landed on her feet as the two splintered log halves bounced past Glint on either side.

Sophie stood straight then. She lurched strangely, and winced at Glint, but her eyes were focused... As her collarbone snapped back into shape with a crackle, she nodded. In a handful of seconds it was like nothing happened. She teased her hair from her face.

"Call me Galvora - I'm... A heroine, too." she said, and smiled sheepishly. Then, she was stripping out of her coat, her shirt, and her trousers, but little skin was shown - it was interrupted by fur. She became... Something like a tiger crossed with an armadillo made out f a lizard, covered in white fur and scales, but her eyes remained unchanged - though they glowed fiercely in the dull light. Galvora roared in challenge, and faced the direction of their enemy, muscle rippling under her stony hide.

Yuri was too focused on the danger at hand to hear what exactly the girl said. But when she saw her crash herself into the tree instead of avoiding it, she easily got Yuri's full attention. The girl was definitely hurt after that, but the fact that she was still alive and even standing proved she wasn't normal. To make matters slightly creepier, her battered body fixed itself up in just a few moments. A useful ability, but not one Yuri would want to have if it meant going through that kind of pain every single time. The girl identified herself as Galvora, another heroine.

Truthfully, Yuri was still wary about her. She had not quite earned her trust yet. But before she could do any further questioning, Galvora revealed more of her bag of tricks. Stripping off her clothes, she then transformed into the most unusual creature Yuri had ever seen. There was fur, shell and scales. It looked like mixture of many different animals. The beast girl let out a deafening roar in the direction of the attacks. She was definitely one of the more peculiar allies Yuri has had the chance of working with. And Yuri would play along doing so until she gave the blonde hero a reason to think otherwise.

There was no immediate response to Galvora's roar of challenge. In fact, things actually grew quiet, except for the nearby otter pen whose inhabitants started getting all jittery. Yuri supposed the aura of Galvora's form was more effectively felt by the beasts. It was only slight but she herself felt very light tugs at her sense of primal fear. As much as she wanted to believe Galvora was an ally, there was still that sense of danger around her that Yuri could not place her finger on.

Though slightly delayed, the villain's response soon made itself apparent. Crashing through the trees, a large bull elephant was charging right at them. Its eyes were shining red in the moonlight as it trampled everything it its way. Its face was also unnaturally gaunt despite the rest of its body looking extremely healthy.

Red eyes and gaunt facial features? Yuri came to a sudden realization, finally piecing together the puzzle. It took a while because he had thrown a couple of red herrings her way. But there was no mistaking the effects of his powers being used on the large animal. Yuri now knew who the villain in the shadows was. But... considering the kind of partner she had this time, it was quite possibly the worst opponent they could have.

She wasn't sure if Galvora could understand Yuri in her current form, but she had to try talking.

"Don't hurt him. He's being controlled. If you can just stop his movements, that would be helpful. I can then knock him out.

Galvora glared back at Yuri and BLINKED, then returned her gaze to the furious, rampaging elephant. Don't hurt it! Stop its movements! Good grief! But there... WAS something wrong with the otherwise gentle creature. Everything she'd learned about elephants as a child told her two things - first, that an elephant this pissed off was a force of freaking nature. Two, that they were by nature gentle, social creatures. This behavior was aberrant - it sure as shooting wasn't normal for elephants to roar and charge with glowing red eyes, mayhem in mind!

Well buckle up, right? The creature that Sophie had become nodded to Yuri, and rushed at the charging beastie, snarling her defiance. If this creature was being controlled, it wouldn't do to wound the beast - it wouldn't be the 'hero' thing to do. So, what were her options? She'd changed into a form well suited for fighting people-shaped things, but she was about the size of a pickup truck - about a ton in weight, just a bit smaller than the elephant. The elephant was likely to be stronger... but she was likely to be more agile - strength hadn't been her sole focus in taking this shape since a big brutish form would easily be overwhelmed by an agile man-thing. She could probably bring down the elephant without wounding it... worth a shot, yes?

So, just before tusks could gore her and feet could stamp on her, she jinked to the side, claws seizing one of the elephants heavy ivory tusks, using it to swing her way up onto the beast's back. Just that alone was enough to jerk the Elephant's head and turn him in a gentle curve away from the direction he really wanted to go - to trample Glint like a pancake! Galvora hung on for dear life, her claws closing over the ivory and yanking harder. She couldn't outmuscle the beast - it would sort things out in short order, but Galvora was ready when it did.

When the beast tried to wrench Galvora off its back by her own grip, Galvora simply switched tusks, and yanked that one, using her claws gently to hold onto the stony hide of the great elephant's back and grip the moving thing. All the television she'd seen never could possibly have communicated the sheer... stink of the beast, the heat of its body, the feeling of its breathing in its breast! What a creature! She couldn't help but admire it even as it slowed to more ably focus on the girlmonster on its back and wrenched its tusk loose of her grip again. Elephants were smart critters - rather than let her get a grip again, it went for her head with its nose - and very nearly got her, too! Galvora made a very feline squeak of surprise, and kicked off the beast, knocking it forward to stumble in the wake of her weight with a surprised trumpeting.

The Furious Galvora charged again while the beast was subdued, casting a glance to keep track of her ally in this, the backup that might let her get out of this without being pancaked or having to hurt the gentle critter. Then, she gave the off-balance elephant a full-speed hip check, throwing her body weight against the elephant's body, sending it savagely onto its back, crushing a food stand utterly in the process. The beast was down! Now it was K-O time!

In hindsight, it was probably a better idea for Yuri to have done the subduing of the elephant all by herself. Her abilities were well-suited for it. Perhaps she wanted to see what Galvora could do, or maybe because the beast girl was positioned ahead of her, she wanted to make sure the girl didn't hurt the poor animal too much. In the end, a small food stand was an acceptable casualty in the effort. Now it was Yuri's turn.

She had been careful to stay out of the way while Galvora did her thing. Once the large animal was down, Yuri quickly approached, the volume of her hair rapidly expanding. It only took a few seconds before the elephant was completely wrapped up. A charging elephant would have been tricky to stop but one lying on the ground was easy enough. She started with the joints to seal its movements before proceeding with the rest of its body. One weakness of the villain's ability was that knocking out the animal under his control broke the connection and it would remain broken unless reapplied. Slowly but surely, Yuri began to deprive the elephant of air until it eventually passed out. One she was certain the beast was asleep, she undid the wrapping and her hair returned to normal length. It now smelled of elephant though.

Knowing the villain behind the attacks, this was just a test. He was the type who liked to personally take care of business. By personally, that meant defeating them in his presence. If her guess was right, there shouldn't be any further attacks until they found him for as long as they kept moving. She took one more look at the poor creature. You wouldn't have thought it was just rampaging moments ago. Further proof of its unnaturalness.

"Let's go. I have a feeling we'll find our villain at the end of this path. It would be very like him. I'll fill you in while we walk."

She proceeded to lead the way, just following the main path.

"The villain behind this is an old nemesis of mine named Petshoppe. As you might have already guessed, his power is to mentally subjugate animals to his will. That sort of worries me, considering your nature and ability. I might have to ask you to stay away when we finally see him."

"He only needs to be in range to apply his control once. Five meters to be exact. After that, the poor creatures can move autonomously according to his orders. From what I know, he can control reptiles, fish, birds and mammals. And yes, I'm afraid that does include humans. The limitation though is that he must be in contact with them and the human in question possesses an average to weak will. Human level intelligence can break his control with some willpower. Creatures below that are at his mercy."

"As far as I know, bugs, mollusks and other invertebrates are outside his control. But I have no idea if that's reliable. His powers may have grown since I last saw him. I guess you can now comprehend the dangers of having to face him in a setting like this."

"Thankfully he does have limitations. He can only control so many animals. Ten to twenty is his limit for most creatures. The smaller they are however, the more he can control. For things like rodents, small birds, small fish, and small reptiles, he can possess up to a hundred. I must stress again though that this is from my last encounters of him. There's no telling if he has improved, but it's better to assume he has. Any questions?"

Yuri was a bit doubtful if Galvora's beast form only changed her shape and did not affect her mind. Did she understand all of that? They were getting closer and closer to the last area. They had passed by a zone map a few minutes ago where Yuri confirmed their position.

Sophie held the Elephant down, biting at its face and harassing it with nips and ferocious snarls as Glint got into position and began her part of the subdual. Oddly, the beast didn't mind the lack of being allowed to hurt the creature. It was hunting in a pack - this came naturally. Sure her packmate was a bit odd as far as these things go, but she could only approve as Glint handily choked out the great creature - Sophie could not have done so without harming the beast. So, all to the good - alloys were stronger.

Pushing away from the beast, Sophie sat patiently - the force was still out there somewhere... but it wouldn't sneak up on Sophie. Her instincts would warn her long before a beast like this one even got close with that... that madness soaking into it. Galvora watched Glint as she strangulated the last ounce of consciousness out of the Elephant, then padded over to loom over the creature, eyeing it in case it was still awake, and just faking to catch the girl off guard. She nudged it with a paw the size of Glint's torso, but it didn't move. Satisfied, Sophie turned to follow the fellow heroine. She seemed to have an agenda - the best thing she could do right now was let it play out.

It was interesting how well Glint knew this man... this... Petshoppe. Sophie glanced about as she was given exposition, but snorted when she was told she might be asked to stay back. Like hell that was going to happen - she wasn't some beast to be controlled, nor driven away with a gentle word. She'd be blown if she would let this arrogant, tiny little----

Sophie sighed. It was getting close to the full moon, and the beast was a bit strong. She shook off, catlike, and almost affectionately nudged Glint's, giving her a sabre-toothed grin of reassurance and a nod of compliance, her brief flash of irritation defeated. She wouldn't let the girl face the threat, no way in hell, but she obviously had superior understanding - her human side pleaded with the Beast to listen to her, and, begrudgingly, she agreed. She was a whelp - this was a predator they were after, not some beast to be preyed upon like that Elephant had been, and she had someone to teach her how to hunt this particular prey.

And so, the lithe human and the silver beast advanced to their uncertain fate - into a trial by fire.

Yuri had briefly forgotten that her ally in her current form was not the talkative type. She hoped that the nod meant that everything she said was understood, especially the part implying that the beast girl maybe susceptible to Petshoppe's control. It was easy enough to subdue animals as anything you needed to know about them could be found in a book or the internet. But in the worst case scenario that her unlikely ally was made to turn against her, it would be a battle with too many uncertain factors to her liking.

"Come to think of it, I haven't mentioned any weaknesses. As impressive as his power is, his stamina leaves much to be desired. The numbers I mentioned earlier were also his daily limits. We're not going to see ten elephants charging us later. He would be down to nine. He's not the type to put all his eggs in one basket though. There will most definitely be a variety of creatures waiting for us."

"He will try to intimidate you with a mad scientist front. The reality is that he has a massive inferiority complex. Gain a little advantage over him or even just make him feel that he's losing and he will quite quickly lose his cool. By that I mean that he'll come at us with brute force instead making more strategic use of his creatures' natural abilities. Well, either scenario has its pros and cons but the former makes it more likely that we would have to hurt the poor animals."

It was around then that she spotted a light in the distance. Did they finally reach the end? It looked like it, based on the map. As they approached, the light source was a lone lamp illuminating a single bench in the middle of a circular path. The bench was occupied by a middle-aged man in ragged clothes. About ten meters away from him, Yuri felt the air get heavy and instinctively stepped back. She signaled for her companion to halt.

Sniff, sniff. The man held his nose high. "Hihihihihihi ahhhh it's really you isn't it, Glint? Long time... long time..." Sniff, sniff. "And you brought a friend." Sniff, sniff. "Wait. Was it really the right idea to bring along this sort of ally, knowing what I can do? That's not very like you."

And there it was. That oppressive mental pressure that one felt when Petshoppe's powers were in use was upon them. But there was something different. Something very different. They were still well beyond the range she knew his powers had. It was at least twice the distance in fact. She turned her attention to Galvora, hoping the worst had not happened. The beast girl may have been caught off guard too since they were nowhere near five meters away from him.