A Look into the Void

Aella saw the pony move for her discarded polearm and lunged at her, shreiking a wordless battlecry. She flapped her wings and leaped, hurling herself at her opponent with her talons outstreched.

As she started running the griffon was coming towards her, a mixutre of flying and jumping it seemed. Before the griffon could reach her Void slumped on her side and slided away from the griffon, kicking the polearm away from both of them so that it wasn't in reach anymore. Void swore silently for she had fallen on her injured side.

Aella snarled as Void dodged her leap, skidding across the floor. She turned to face her again, vulnerable for a moment.

Unable to really feel the hurt in her shoulder she cartwheeled backwards and ended up standing on her four hooves again, facing the griffon. Void run again towards her but this time she flew up midway.

Aella let the pony come at her, trying to sidestep at the last moment. She was not fast enough, and had the wind knocked out of her as Void slammed into her.

Once again they were struggeling at the ground. This time Void raised her hoove to knock at the griffon's head...

Aella had barely a moment to comprehend the hoof rushing down at her before it smacked into her brow, splitting and bloodying her skin and forcing her head down to the cobblestone floor. Her ears were ringing from the sudden blow, but she fought through the pain and slashed at the pony with her talons.

Void was slit open, the griffon's talons got her at face and shoulder. This time the right side. The blood flowed out. Despite this Void wanted to alternate quickly the blows with her right and left hoove, so now she raised the left one while she tried to hold the griffon's beak away with her now weaker right hoove.

Aella dimly felt her talons strike flesh though the cloud of pain that filled her head. She likely had a concussion from the previous hit, and was unable to do anything to stop Void pressing her head down in preperation for another stirke.

And Void struck.

Aella felt the hoof come down, her head trapped between it and the hard cobblestone floor. Stars burst in front of her eyes and she stopped struggling, her arms flopping to the ground as she tried to stay concious.

Once Scanion was confident that Void's opponent wasn't getting up anytime soon, he made the call. "Void, enough!" He didn't need things to go too far, but he was ready to let Void loose again, just in case Aella got back up.
Scanion was grinning. "Well Captain, what do you think?"

Void stepped away from the griffon lying in front of her, watching her intently but her master's voice and order stopped her from playing it safe. She began to reconsider what happened. A fight. She got hurt, obviosuly since there was blood on both of her sides. Nothing deadly. She looked at the griffon and something spread in her. It felt good, it felt right that this griffon was defeated. It was a strange feeling for Void. It was a feeling.

Kroll's beak hung open in a look of shock at the sight of Aella on the ground. He shook his head a few times as Scanion's question interrupted his thoughts. "She is...very impressive. If she could put a griffon like Aella on the ground, any Equestrians she'd run into would be no challenge at all for sure..."

The captain rubbed his forehead a little before looking back at the barely-conscious griffoness with a sigh. "You two go on a ahead, I'll meet up with you both in a short while."

Aella rolled onto her belly, her head still ringing. She held up a talon to where Void had struck her and it came away bloody.

'I-I am sorry sir... I do not know how she beat me'

Kroll shook his head sadly. "Nor do I...I'm just as surprised as you are, frankly. But you gave it your best, and I couldn't have asked any more from you." He pauses to lean down, offering a claw to help Aella up. "But I suppose that it's something we'll just have to work on in the future..."

Aella took the proffered talon and stood shakilly.

'Yes s-sir'

Kroll nodded. "Right then. In the mean time, rest, nurse your injuries and so on. There's...something I have to do." He says the last part with a clear tone of dry disdain.

Aella murmured her thanks, grateful that Kroll had seemingly decided not to punish her for her failure. She walked slowly over into a corner and lay down, not feeling strong enough to make it back to her cell.

Kroll watched Aella lie down before heading out of the training facility, grinding his beak quietly. Though he was one to hold true to his promises, Kroll couldn't believe he lost the bet to Scanion. Before holing himself up in his office, the captain asked a passing guerrilla member to go on one of the strangest errands of his career: to find the frilliest pink dress he could find, and to bring it back to his office.

Scanion headed for Kroll's office. He seemed to doubt his own pet's capabilities as soon as that bet was made, he was Very happy that he was an idiot on that doubt. Thinking back to Kroll's statement, "any Equestrians she'd run into would be no challenge at all for sure..." If that was indeed true, then he need not worry. But his intended target, the whole reason he is in Manehattan, is supposed to be a big exception from the common crowd.
He reached Kroll'sw office. He raised his talon to give Kroll's office door a knock, but stopped to give off a visible grin. He knocked 3 times and waited for an answer. Looking at Void in the meantime, still emotionless and still very much loyal.

Kroll was staring out the window of his office, his mind trying take apart and reverse-engineer the current issue. Though Void had indeed proven herself to be more than capable combat-wise, there were a few things that needed to be ironed out before she could go out and kill whoever her master wanted her to...

The knock on the door pierced the captain's thoughts. Thinking it was the guerrilla that he had go search for a dress, Kroll was surprised at how little time it took for his request to be completed.

"Come in."

Scanion heard the acknowledgment and opened the door, motioning Void through first. Then shutting it behind him. He turned to face Kroll and gave a quick salute. "I believe we need to talk, Captain. If you have the time."

Kroll nodded. "I agree wholeheartedly l, Sergeant." he motioned to Scanion to take a seat as he sat down on his side of the desk. "Tell me. What's on your mind?"

Scanion went forward and took a seat. "Well, that little bet aside, I'd like to discuss if there's any more that you need of us before letting us off to do what we came here to."

Kroll shook his head. "You're all set and good-to-go. All I as is that you check in with me periodically. Just a simple progress report, nothing too complex. I've assured the Commander that you've got this under control, Sergeant. Don't screw this up."

Scanion nodded in response, "Yes Sir. I'll check in when I can" He got up from the chair and motioned Void to follow him to the door, he stopped after opening it and looked at Kroll. "Oh, and Captain." He cut out the sentence and grinned, "Don't worry, I'm sure a dress would look good on you" He went through the door, and closed it behind him, chuckling loudly.

Kroll closed his eyes and groaned quietly, slowly putting his head on his desk as Scanion closed the door behind him and Void. A few minutes later, another knock came to his office door.

"Come in." said the Captain, refusing to take his head off of the desk.

The guerrilla from earlier steps in, carrying a surprisingly clean, frilly pink dress, just as was requested. The griffon smiles, feeling quite proud of itself for having accomplished the arbitrary task.

Kroll pointed a talon at one of the empty seats, his head still on the desk. "Put it over there and leave."

The guerrilla hastily put the dress on the chair, making sure not to wrinkle it before excusing himself from the Captain's office, closing the door behind him. After the door closed, Kroll slowly lifted his head and stared at the dress slumped in the seat across from him, then at the clock in his office. It was almost lunch time, which meant it was time for him to come through with his end of the bet.

Aella sat in the corner of the mess hall, waiting. Normally she took her meals down to her cell, but today she was waiting for Kroll. Despite the risk of punishment resulting from her handlers embarassment, she could not resist the temptation to see him in a dress.

As Kroll walked down the corridor to the mess hall in the frilly pink dress, he couldn't help but feel as if he was walking down death row. He could hear soldiers and officers alike laughing and making wolf whistles as he passed them by. All things considered, if it wasn't happening to him, Kroll would've been laughing too.

As he pushed through the doors to the mess hall, he could feel the energy in the room come to a grinding halt; anyone who was talking or eating had their attention drawn towards the captain as he walked by them. Aside the sounds of stifled laughter and whispers, the only noise that could be heard was the sound of the dress' garter grinding up against Kroll's other leg as he made his way to the front of the mess hall. Well, at least i didn't make it lingerie... he thought to himself.
Once he reached the front, Kroll took a deep breath and did a stiff curtsy before beginning to sing tge required song, doing the motions that accompanied it.

"I'm a little teapot short and stout; here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up hear me shout: tip, me over and pour me out."

By the time he finished the song, the entire mess hall was roaring with laughter. With another stiff curtsy Kroll walked out of the mess hall, eager to take the dress off.

Aella held a talon to her beak, trying unsucessfully to stifle the uncontrollable giggling brought on by her handlers embarassment. It almost made up for nearly having her head bashed in by the strange pegasus from before.

Scanion couldn't pass up a meal, and some good entertainment. When he got to the mess hall he got some looks, but he was a stranger there after all so it made some sense to try figure out who he was.
To be honest with himself, he didn't think Kroll would actually do it. But when a figure wearing a dress appeared he was immediately proven wrong, and a huge grin appearing on his face at the same time. Hilarity ensued through the whole hall. He even felt a talon on his shoulder, trying to not fall over from laughter, making it all the more amusing to him. And it was hard to hear the singing, not like it was his favorite thing to listen to anyway.
In the end, he held his side of the bet. Which had his respect, especially from the embarrassment that would most likely haunt him for a while.

But hey, at least it boosted morale.

Kroll walked back into his office, calmly locking the door and closing the blinds before stripping himself of the awful pink dress. Once it was off his body, Kroll looked it over. As much as he loathed it and yearned to incinerate it, he would hate to destroy such a finely made piece of clothing. Perhaps he could pawn it off in the near future. In the mean time, the captain folded the dress neatly, then stowed it away in a hidden panel on the floor.

After the fight Void followed Scanion to Kroll's office and then to the mess hall, leaving here and there some blood drops on the floor which fell from her wound.
She didn't listen to what was said and she didn't see what happened. She was somewhere else, in a place, dark and black. But as Kroll sang his little song the sun light captured her eye. Or not the light. It was a move in the shadows. It was griffon who was struggeling not to laugh. In the shadow.
This word echoed in her mind. Shadow. Shad...Shadow! The picture of a mare, a filly still, flashed in front of her mental eye. Her heart began to beat faster. What was that. What was that?
Suddenly she began to think. Not much. Only this one name connected to this picture in her mind. Shadow. Shadow.
The "S" written in red ink. Shadow. Void swallowed. That wasn't all. There was missing something. Shadow...
Something was wrong. Something was completely wrong.

---END OF THIS THREAD---