Berserker in the Dark (Open to non-villains)

Sophie looked more confused than anything else when they at last reached their quarry, beast and girl hesitating then halting just after Glint said she aught to. She looked back at the older heroine, then to Petshoppe uncertainly. This ragged man... was a threat? She couldn't make it stick in her head no matter what she did. She just didn't see the problem - neither her nor her beast could.

And that was when something hit her - right between the eyes, striking her like a brick thrown from a moving vehicle. Think of her powers like... a little girl holding onto a big dog's leash. Well, suddenly the dog jerked out of her hands as Petshoppe's mental whammy washed over her, an oppressive, unpleasant sensation. Her human self was left in the annals of the mindscape, alone...

...as the Beast gained control of her body. But its eyes did not turn red as with the other creatures. Her body began to steam, her eyes lost their human edges, the irises and pupil glazing into the whites, and all of it turning violet with the intensity of the glow that now emanated, with the barest core of brilliant crimson inside. The mind that reached back towards Petshoppe was... well, it was alien. It wasn't at all under his control... but it wasn't human, either. It was something out of a collective human nightmare. And suddenly, Glint was forgotten. All there was in the whole world... was Petshoppe.

Galvora advanced, all human hesitations gone, her heavy club tail thick and swaying slowly, like the cat she resembled, a hideous, bubbling growl emanating from her. The predator sensation that had been around her before was a hundredfold stronger now - the girl was missing, replaced by a primeval horror of horrors. Throughout the entire park, animals started to scream, howl, cry out in their terror.

Petshoppe hadn't dominated her. He'd pulled the break lines out.

As quickly as it came, the oppressive feeling stopped, but not before Galvora seemed to have been affected somehow. The air around her was different. Yuri didn't have an animal's senses to figure out exactly what happened, but the reactions from the animals around her were enough to tell her that something did change. Petshoppe withdrawing his mental pressure seemed to indicate this as well. The villain was arrogant, but was also cautious when he hasn't lost his cool. Meanwhile, Galvora began to advance.

"Wait!" Yuri called out to her but her words were ignored. The beast girl didn't even pause or slow down. The blonde hero didn't dare attempt to use force to restrain her lest she end up fighting a battle on two fronts. It didn't look like she was under Petshoppe's control but from the aura she was giving off, Yuri couldn't call her 100% an ally either.

"What an interesting and dangerous specimen. It really feels like I'm getting hunted. What kind of creatures have you been associating yourself with, Glint? Buddying with monsters now? Well it doesn't matter..."

There was movement in the trees in the left, in the right, and somewhere on the opposite side of the ragged-looking man. Two rhinos charged from the left and the right in an attempt to pin Galvora between them. Suddenly, a gorilla had also appeared, and took position between the ragged man and Galvora like a bodyguard of sorts. Yuri would have questioned why Petshoppe used a more physically inferior creature, considering he had access to rhinos and elephants, but the gorilla in question was about as big as an elephant.

No time to ponder how that happened though. The animals were in danger. Yuri's hair grabbed on to a nearby lamppost and then she launched herself forward, quickly getting behind the rhino approaching from the left. Part of her hair tangled its legs while the rest dug into the ground to anchor down the raging animal. There was no time for her to stop the other rhino. Galvora would have to deal with it, and Yuri prayed she would do so "gently", not knowing there was probably little chance of that happening.

The Beast ignored Glint, and the tiny part of her that was pleading for her to stop, to heed the heroine's words. The moonlight streaked down over her, painting her literally steaming form in stark contrast as headlight-brilliant violet eyes trained on Petshoppe.

She'd felt something from him, felt his stern glare, heard the psychic rattle of chains, and though it hadn't been enough for him to even begin to control her she instinctively hated him with ferocious intensity, as only a monster could possibly hate it. She already had a stupid othervoice for that, and she wanted no part of those restrictive bindings to seal her, to bend her to the law of another. In short, everything in her blood and bone told her to kill this thing before he ever got strong enough.

The big dog was off her leash, and she was chasing down the damn rabbit. Three bellows broke the air, an despite any feeling of hesitation or fear they had, two rhinos and a gigantic Gorilla came to stop her from getting at their master.

The tiny voice came as a sharp sensation of clarity, and the Beast blinked, pausing in its stalk. Don't... Hurt them? Why the hell shouldn't she! Because they... Weren't his to control, to dominate? Stupid, they would kill her if she just ignored them!

But they're not quarry either - the man is. It'd take more time to kill them - time her prey would use!

Galvora snarled. The snake! He would, too! Suddenly, the Beast felt a small pang of - dare I say it? - pity for the beasts.

Free them! the tiny voice urged her, and for once in her existence the Beast agreed. That was why instead of clawing open the Rhino's skull and gouging out its eyes, she spun her whole form, turned her entire momentum into force, and struck the Rhino with the broad, blunt edge of her tail. All her strength, all her weight, all her will went into the blow upside the great beast's head and the charging Rhino was swatted like a deer glanced by a semi truck, accompanied by a BOOM very much like the sound of a cannon, instantly knocking the beast senselessly spinning to the ground - unconscious.

That just left Mr. Monkey. Galvora lifted her upper body, spread her stance a bit, and rose to two legs, her club tail sore... but flattening a park bench in its amused flick. A stray glance saw Glint holding her other would-be attacker. There was a sense of animal pride in that sight. Maybe Glint truly was a worthy hunting partner... Maybe she would join in when the Beast had her prey cornered?

In much the same way as the elephant from earlier, Yuri incapacitated her target by cutting off its air supply. As the defeated animal struggled in her grip, Yuri could only watch as Galvora applied a little more force than she would have liked on the other rhino. Thankfully though, it stopped there as that one blow was enough to knock the animal out. She prayed it didn't get too severely injured. It took a few seconds more before the rhino wrapped in her hair went down as well.

The tension was broken by loud clapping coming from the ragged man. "Good show. Good show. You haven't lost your touch at all and your new friend is as impressive as she is intimidating. But I'm afraid that's the last of the small victories you'll be having tonight. Perhaps for good even."

There it was. The familiar gloating of a villain who believed his secret weapon was unbeatable and would easily turn the tide in his favor. Petshoppe was no different. While she normally would have ignored such taunts, this was a good opportunity to demoralize him and get him to do something reckless. And if that didn't work, at the very least she could get him to tell them more about his new toy.

"Are you sure you're not being too overconfident Petshoppe? You know how strong my hair is. No creature in the animal kingdom possesses the strength to physically overpower it let alone break it. I don't know where you found that overgrown gorilla of yours but that size won't help you. You might as well give up now."

There was some basis to that statement. Eyeballing the beast's form, even if she mathematically scaled up its strength from that of a regular gorilla, it wouldn't be that much stronger than an elephant. Petshoppe of course thought otherwise.

"Hihihihihihihi. You're the only one being confident here. This fine specimen is my latest masterpiece. You've already seen it in action. Surely you didn't think an elephant had the strength or dexterity to toss those trees at you earlier did you? And this guy was doing it from such a great distance too."

"Thanks to a special serum, this gorilla is not only bigger but also many times stronger. Combined with my mental persuasion, you have a fearless beast with all of its mental restrictions lifted. Though truthfully a tad more difficult to keep in check."

With agility quite surprising for his age, the ragged man leapt back a bit further.

"But don't take my word for it. Why don't you play a little?"

The ape roared before smashing both its fists on the ground. The tremor almost made Yuri lose her balance. Meanwhile, the beast was already lifting a large slab of the ground forcefully pried out from the road, tossing it in the direction of Galvora. Did the gorilla perceive the beast girl to be the bigger threat? It was hard to say for sure but Yuri remembered the animals' reactions earlier so that might have been the case. Perhaps they could use that somehow. With Galvora drawing its attention, Yuri could try to think of a way to bring it down.

Galvora jinked hard to the side, her claws extending as she ran, scoring the concrete like it was mud as she went. Her paws left the ground, and up the scaled metal fence surrounding the lions she went, scrambling across it as the slab of earth impacted where she'd been not two seconds before on the ground, narrowly missing her back.

Galvora loosed a leonine battle-roar and charged the great beast midair, leaping with grace and strength something her size had no business having. She flew, fourty, fifty feet through the air at the thing, all four sets of claws out, body already swinging in the motion of bringing her tail to bear.

The leap attack was a feint though. She would land her forepaws just out of reach of the gorilla, spinning her hard... And bring her tail to bear, swinging it like a gigantic scything hammer blow aimed at the creature's legs. She wasn't keen on it getting ahold of her. Or playing fair.

"Nice reflexes. Truly an excellent specimen. But after getting a taste of my power earlier, I don't see why you're confident about coming this close."

Petshoppe was right. It's not as though he was a non-factor in this whole thing. The danger of Galvora falling to his influence was very real. And this time, the range was well within what Yuri knew he was capable of. Before her tail swing could connect with the ape's legs, the full might of Petshoppe's mental pressure was brought upon her, this time with the intent to bring her under his control. The gorilla would take advantage of any pauses caused by the mental invasion to punch her away with a full swing of its right arm.

"Not on my watch!"

In the commotion, Yuri had gotten closer as well. Her hair latched on to the gorilla's arm and then on the ground, similar to how she stopped the rhino from earlier. To her surprise, instead of being stopped dead in its tracks, her anchors got dragged a bit before it came to a full stop. The ape's full attention was on her now. With its other arm, it tugged forcefully at her hair, breaking away the anchors from the ground and taking Yuri off her feet.

It looked like it was planning to swing her over its head like a ball on a string. Before the speed could pick up though, Yuri detached herself and she was sent flying into the sky. Her hair quickly regrew and reshaped into propellers, controlling her flight and keeping her from being sent far. She hovered high above the ground, getting a bird's eye view of the villains below. She wondered if Galvora was able to shake away Petshoppe's control. The gorilla was smashing its fists on the ground again in a frenzy.