NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2411036" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 246: Knight Takes QueenThe hatch irised open silently, revealing the entire area of the clearing to Shadow. Hermes had known well enough to set down at one edge, and even though it didn’t prevent anything from jumping at her from behind, it would limit the likelihood because of his size, even if he was small for a Kanyak. Shadow’s eyes surveyed the lightly grass-covered ground. There were patches of dirt here and there, kicked up by time more than anything else from the look of it, but this clearing was obviously not completely natural. At least a few of the spots looked like trees had been pulled out, roots and all. The general feeling of the area didn’t help this case, either.    All of her senses alert and ready, Shadow slowly stepped out onto the hard ground. When nothing jumped out or showed any signs of jumping out at her, she moved forward a few cautious steps. Nine was watching. She could feel it...no, not just Nine. The Empire was watching. The faint and still recovering Network revealed this, also proving to be at least a slight distraction.After only a few steps away from Hermes, Shadow caught sight of movement directly in front of her. The vegetation shifted and moved before Nine stepped out, smiling that maniacal smile that was seemingly glued onto her face. Shadow remained emotionless, but keenly alert and her muscles ready for anything sudden as Nine continued forward.    Nine finally stopped her casual walk about two and a half meters in front of Shadow. Tilting her head, the clone said in a somewhat unnerving voice, “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”    Shadow only narrowed her eyes. There was something wrong with this. Nine was acting like Ket...putting on a show. This wasn’t like her. She wasn’t the kind to just stand around and...wait. Not in a situation like this, and especially not when she’d had the upper hand and could have easily slain Shadow before stepping out of Hermes. It confirmed that the Empire was watching, yes, but that still worried Shadow. Nine didn’t play games...yet she was.    When Shadow failed to respond, Nine shrugged and stretched for a moment, her tail flicking back behind her in a gesture of at least slight annoyance. So she didn’t like putting on this little show. Good. That was at least one thing going for Shadow at the moment. There was silence for a long moment before they both came to an unsaid agreement. The talking was useless and wasting time. They were both there to finish things, even if both had different outcomes planned.    This time, with a sudden flash of movement, Nine was back to what Shadow expected of her. He clone darted to Shadow’s left at lightning speed, slashing at Shadow’s lower torso with sharp claws. Shadow spun back, grabbing Nine’s wrist in the process and attempting to use the momentum to fling her around and onto the ground. But Nine didn’t allow this to happen, instead reaching over with her free hand and raking her other claws along Shadow’s arm.    There was no sound of pain beyond the gritting of teeth from Shadow as she relinquished her grip on Nine and dropped back a few steps. Nine did not, of course, stop moving. Regaining her footing, she charged forward again, this time kicking up some of the loose dirt on the ground as a distraction. Shadow saw through it, quickly ducking under a high slash to her face before rolling to Nine’s side and lashing out with her own claws. She caught no skin, though, as Nine somehow managed to bend her torso out of the way of the claws.    Through all of this, Shadow had already remorphed he long claw marks across her arm, a minor inconvenience more than anything. When Nine attempted a third quick attack, this time moving low again and feinting to the right, Shadow was ready, thanks to the Force and her own natural instincts. She gave Nine a slight surprise by moving into the feint, and as Nine dove to where Shadow had been, a heavy kick met her instead. Shadow’s foot hit Nine hard across the side of the face, but somehow the kick that should have broken the clone nose(among other things), didn’t even phase her.    With an amazing reaction speed through what had to be an intense pain, Nine’s arms shot up and grabbed Shadow’s ankle before it could be pulled away. Nine roughly twisted the leg around, getting a snap from a joint before Shadow was thrown hard into the dirt. She hit hard, nearly landing on her tail, but before Nine could take advantage of the situation anymore, Shadow lashed out with a hard snap-kick from her still free right leg. This kick also caught Nine across the face, though on the other side this time.    The force of the kick caused Nine to stumble back a half step and loosen her grip on Shadow’s leg. It was enough. In another second, Shadow was back on her feet and Nine was attempting yet another charge forward. There was a growl in her throat this time as she forewent the use of her claws, instead her fist arced in at Shadow. She caught the attack, twisting Nine’s wrist around for a half second before Nine’s other fist hit her hard in the face. Before Shadow could stumble back, Nine’s leg swept her feet out from under her, and in another second, Shadow was on her back again.    Nine dove down this time, striking with a hard punch that only impacted with the ground as Shadow rolled to the side and then up onto her feet. Now, though, Shadow didn’t give Nine the chance to attack first. Instead, Shadow took advantage of the situation and darted around towards Nine’s back, striking out with a clawed hand towards the back of the clone’s neck.    Instead of ducking out of the way, however, Nine’s arm wrapped around and caught Shadow’s in the wrist before any damage could be done. Nine’s body then followed, as did a fist that dug hard into Shadow’s gut. This was ignored fairly easily, and Shadow returned the favor by grabbing the wrist with one and raking her claws across Nine’s face with the other.    That got a reaction.    Nine yelped suddenly, a sound more of anger and surprise than any kind of pain. When she tried to fall back and open her eyes again(which were still in the process of remorphing from a claw that had gashed through one), Nine was pulled back by Shadow’s grip on her other arm. Yanked back, Nine was met with a knee to the stomach, but even with the pain and her repairing vision, she wasn’t down.    With her free arm, Nine struck Shadow with all of her strength in the side of the head. The impact caused Shadow’s vision to blur and her head to spin...a side effect of this being she let go of Nine’s hand and nearly hit the ground from the sudden dizziness. Nine, as usual, used her opponent’s weakness to her advantage. Like a blaster bolt, she shot around Shadow, an arm suddenly wrapping around Shadow’s neck from behind and a clawed arm digging deep into her spine.    As Nine held her tightly, slowly depriving her of air, Shadow somehow managed to catch sight of a familiar figure. Taller than her(and Nine, for that matter), and about four or so meters in front of them. Though her vision was blurry, Shadow picked up on the emerald coloured hair and knew immediately it was Kyren.    This was only confirmed with Shadow heard Nine snap loudly, “Kill her now!”    So that was the plan. A Knight to kill the Empress. And in her impaired vision, Shadow sill managed to catch sight of the long blade in Kyren’s hand. Slowly, he was walking towards her, and Shadow could only fight unconsciousness as she tried to figure out what to do.</blockquote>

Verification