Valley of the Dead (Open)

Flax watched with her arms crossed as the traveler began to dig at her instruction. She couldn't be sure she was actually right about her hunch - it wasn't like she was a professional treasure hunter or archeologist - but it was all she had to go off of. "Not really," Flax replied as she was asked just how deeply the Rubies may have been buried. "Not so deep that the sand is blocking out all their energy, at least." Good thing he had a shovel. No way was Flax patient enough to wait for him to just sit there digging with his hands for hours. Even still, she didn't want this to take too long.

The traveler dug up a few random small bits of red gems, though nothing quite so substantial as the supposed full Blood Ruby. But then, after a few minutes of digging, a distinct and solid clink sound emanated from down in the dirt as something very solid was struck by the shovel. Flax's long, pointed ears twitched at the sound, and she became alert. If there was only one Ruby, and both of them wanted it... Well, Flax didn't expect this would be pretty.

Still, she played coy as the traveler urged her to come and take a look, but just as she leaned in close to peek down at what had been dug up, she found a large wad of sand thrust immediately into her face! "Tch!" she grunted as she recoiled from the surprise hit and silently cursed herself for letting him get the jump on her like that. She quickly wiped the sand from her eyes and took a large step back, but it allowed the traveler enough time to get his weapon and fire. 

Flax scarcely had time enough to react, but managed to throw up a wave of dark energy that took the initial brunt of the blow and weakened its power, though she was still struck in the chest by the bolt and sent tumbling back onto the sands. Flax hastily got up to her feet and scowled down at the traveler, more offended at the idea that he'd betrayed her faster than she had him, rather than at the concept of betrayal at all. "You'll be paying for that one," she vowed. 

Now that she had a moment, which was all she needed, Flax allowed the darkness inside of her to soar in its power, skyrocketing her strength to gargantuan levels. "I'd go for the whole 'hand over the Ruby and I won't hurt you' angle, but I really want to hurt you. So, don't even bother." And with that, Flax waved out her hand and commanded a large pulse of black magic to pour out from her being and swarm the traveler, each tendril of darkness jabbing and piercing towards him like a wave of thorns. If he couldn't defend himself, he'd be just about ripped to shreds!

Flax blocks Sen's attack with a [Light] Wave of Withering, which blocks for 14,910 (20%) PL! It reduces the attack's power to 65,090, then reduces it further thanks to the Shield variant, and Flax is hit for 45,563 (61%) PL damage!
Flax than transforms into her Withering (x6) form, raising her PL to 447,288!
Finally, she attacks Sen with a [Medium] Nocturnal Pulse, striking at him for 357,830 (80%) PL! She also boosts her MP gain from this by 1 with her Raw Talent trait!

HP: 0/250 > 61/250
KP: 6/6 > 0/6
MP: 0/6 > 3/6

Flax certainly felt no small amount of satisfaction when her attack successfully struck and pierced through the defenses of the traveler. Served him right for trying to go and betray her before she could betray him! And that strike had clearly taken a lot out of him too, with him calling her a rather unkind word as her shadowy barbs dug into him. Still, she'd been called similar things and far worse before, so it hardly bothered her. What did surprise her, though, was the fact that her opponent's power level had somehow risen to nearly match hers! Such an unassuming fellow didn't look like he'd be quite so strong, but ki energy did tend to make lions out of lambs.

And instead of any sort of traditional attack, the traveler opted to lunge forward towards Flax and... Pull on her ears. "Ow!" Flax exclaimed as her pointed ears were pinched and yanked out from her skull. "Hey! Cut that out, shortie!" And then came the headbutt. The man's skull was as thick as it looked, and it hurt quite a bit when it was bashed against Flax's forehead, snapping her head back and dulling her vision a moment.

Only a moment, though. Flax narrowed her eyes and fell back into a proper fighting stance once she'd gotten her bearings. At that point, she took notice of the man's sniper rifle. Hardly the weapon of any common thug. Only a trained marksman carried such a weapon. Flax snorted. "You a military man?" she asked. No one ever said you couldn't still make small talk during a fight. "Or used to be? I'm ex, myself." After that brief interlude, Flax took off back towards her opponent, wielding the shadows like a whip as she lashed out with them for a quick strike mostly meant to keep the man on his toes while she gathered some energy back.

HP: 61/250
KP: 0/6 > 2/6
MP: 3/6 > 4/6

A captain? Well, how about that. Flax may have only been a volunteer enlist in the reserves, but she'd gotten her fair share of proper training. So, she did take some offense to the man entirely doubting her previous status. "Earth?" she asked with a frown. She then blew a raspberry and rolled her eyes. "I'm from Konats. You don't see ears like these on Earthlings," she added while pointing up at her long, pointy appendages with both pointer fingers at once. "And from that, I have to assume you aren't from Earth, either. So... Not Namek, since you're not green. Not Hera, since you're not blue." That just left...

"Ah, Plant? But no monkey tail, so... Aha, you're one of those war-crime loving Tuffles, aren't ya? I've heard about you. You gonna gas me?" Flax was just having fun teasing him at this point. But this was still a fight, and while the man didn't seem to have any of the deadly gas on him, he did have a stun gun that he fired quite suddenly up at Flax. She reacted quickly, with her shadows forming a quick, makeshift armor over her that blocked and then swiftly knocked away the electric prongs, all without Flax lifting a finger.

"Sad." That was all Flax said before she launched back into melee range - it was clear that the biggest thing to worry about with this guy was that sniper rifle of his. But he couldn't use that if she was up close and personal with him! 

Black claws grew from out of Flax's knuckles, and she swung them at the man in quick and furious swipes. None of them overflowing with power, but each slash of the shadowy claws would sting deeply if it pierced his flesh. She was going to wear him down, one way or another.

Flax uses her Battle Armor item to block Sen's attack for 89,457 (20%) PL, cancelling it out!

HP: 61/250
KP: 2/6 > 4/6
MP: 4/6 > 5/6

"Ha! Shows what you know," Flax scoffed as her opponent confidently stated mistruths about a planet he'd likely never even been to. Sure, Konats' government wasn't... Stable, but there was at least some military that existed. Perhaps militia may have been a slightly more accurate word for its current state, though. And, from what Flax had heard, things had only gotten worse since she'd left the planet behind. Still, she wouldn't dare rescind her insult. He deserved to be insulted.

"A Tuffle without any gas canisters on him? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were a Saiyan instead," Flax taunted, well aware that, if this guy was as hyper-militaristic as he seemed, comparing him to his sworn monkey enemies would be the best way to really get under his skin. "And if it's a test subject you're looking for, you may want to look elsewhere. Truthfully, I'm not sure what you'd find if you cut me open at this point." Nothing very useful for other Konatsians, that much was certain.

Flax managed to catch the traveler over the eye, prompting a grin of delight from her, though he responded quite quickly by drawing his blaster and firing it directly up into her chin. Flax's head was snapped back and her chin began to smolder from the sudden, up-close blast. Ow. "Argh, that's it!" she exclaimed in frustration.

Sure, he could trade his weak little blows with what technology he had on him, but how well could he actually stand up to the full force of Flax's shadows?

Flax unleashed a weak but forceful wave of energy to knock her opponent away from herself as, out of sheer spite, she allowed the shadows to consume part of her own being in order to further empower her next attack. "Choke on this," she instructed him as a large shadow stretched itself across the ground from where her feet were planted in the sand. A moment passed, and then, from that very shadow, a monstrous, serpent-like beast made of pure darkness arose, and whipped its head around before zeroing in on Sen. It dove in at the man and, in a flash, attempted to sink its teeth into the man's body, all in an attempt to drain his life force while simultaneously contaminating his bloodstream with black magic!

Flax takes the hit from Sen's Arm Blaster and suffers 18% damage!
She then attacks Sen with [Medium] Serpentine Suffering, empowered by both a Power Boost and Beast Within for a 402,559 (90%) PL attack that will inflict Bleed if it deals at least 20% damage!

HP: 61/250 > 79/250
KP: 4/6 > 0/6
MP: 5/6 > 3/6

The fatigue from how much of her own energy had been consumed in order to fully empower that attack hit Flax like a truck shortly after the serpent had sunk its fangs into the traveler, but the damage had been dealt. And, in her opinion, it was worth it. Sweat clung to her brow and dripped down her face as her complexion slightly paled, but she forced herself to keep it together this time. No way was she going to show any weakness against this guy. Was nice to see him a bit humbled, though, as the shadow magic had worked its way inside of him and begun doing what it did best: consuming.

"Hm, perhaps this isn't dissimilar to how the victims of that gas your people are renowned around the galaxy for felt. A taste of your own medicine, I'd say - just in a different flavor," Flax boasted as she stood above the badly injured man. "Even on Konats, I had heard tales of the horrors you wreaked. Though, don't take this as me enacting some sort of justice on the part of the Saiyans. I don't care for those barbarians either."

Flax paused, briefly, then snorted. "Arrogant arseholes like you just really piss me off. And you sure seemed like you could use a humbling." The poison would take some time to run its course through his body, but Flax hadn't dealt him a lethal dosage. Not yet, anyway. She did briefly ponder over killing him here and now... But she was, admittedly, a bit too drained at the moment to finish things.

So, she'd ask him.

"Are you done, then?" she asked after a moment, her arms crossed in front of her as she looked down at the pathetic little man. "Or am I going to have to continue to beat you into submission? That dainty Tuffle technology of yours can hardly scratch me."

HP: 79/250
KP: 0/6 > 2/6
MP: 3/6 > 4/6

Hmm. Was Destron truly that bad? Flax had never tasted its sting, but she also had to consider how prideful this redheaded dwarf was. There was no way that his brilliant concoction could ever be inferior to hers. Not that Flax had done anything to earn these abilities - they were more a curse that had been forced upon her, if anything. That being said, she couldn't deny that she relished how they gave her the ability to put guys like these in their place. She'd be half as strong without these shadows, if even that.

"You and your organ harvesting," Flax replied with a roll of her eyes. "I'm literally a shadow demon and yet, somehow, you're the creepy one, here. Are all Tuffles like you?" Despite his confidence, though, it was clear he wasn't taking well to the havoc the shadow curse was wreaking inside his body. His wound was turning black, and his breaths clearly labored ones. One more dose of that, and he'd be down for good. 

"And if you think threatening Konats means anything to me, you're barking up the wrong tree. I don't give a damn about that planet anymore." They were the ones who had done this to her, after all. If this Tuffle decided to go and make them suffer for it, Flax would almost be obligated to thank him for it. 

The fighting wasn't over yet, though - the Tuffle still had a spare round in his blaster, which he promptly drew and then shot at Flax's face. The sheer gall of him to fire at her face in the middle of their conversation was enough to catch Flax off guard enough to work. The bolt smacked into her face and knocked her back, causing her to stumble back and clutch her now bright red cheek. "Gah!" she exclaimed, though she recovered quickly. However, the man had taken that brief moment to hurriedly prepare another of his weapons - one which he was clearly about to fire.

"As I've said, your flimsy Tuffle weapons won't do a damn thing to me!" Flax exclaimed, though she, oddly enough, drew her own pistol once she'd spoken. The standard-issue Konatsian military pistol she'd stashed away during her escape. Why'd she held onto it all this time? Sentiment, maybe. But it was also good for a quick moment of self-defense that needn't rely on any shadow magic. Flax quickly raised it and pulled the trigger, firing a bolt right back at her opponent's head as he loaded his weapon.

Flax takes Sen's attack and suffers 18% more damage!
She also fires her Arm Blaster item at him for 89,458 (20%) PL damage!

HP: 79/250 > 97/250
KP: 2/6 > 4/6
MP: 4/6 > 5/6