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((No prob, I understand. smile ))


Asaph remained stationary as the girl's bullet smashed into the earth near him. From the angle of the girl's weapon he had deduced where the projectile would impact, so there was no reason for him to move. Asaph stretched out his left hand, palm down toward where the bullet was lodged. He focused and the bullet rose from the ground and shot toward his open hand. He caught it and turned it over with his thumb, the leather of his glove protecting his flesh from the silver. After a moment of calmly examining it he tossed the projectile over his shoulder and turned his attention back to his opponent.

"So," he drawled, "your name means 'chicken' and you waste your ammo on warning shots." He snorted derisively and shook his head. "Looks like I got my hopes up for nothing. Ah well, guess I'll have to drag this out a little if I'm going to have any fun tonight." Taking his hand off his handgun, Asaph muttered, "Won't be needing this."

He reached up with both hands and grasped the wire-wrapped grips of the machetes that were barely visible behind each shoulder. Asaph drew the blades with a flourish, one in each hand. The edges of the black blades shown icy silver in the moonlight. Asaph smiled, then lunged forward with such speed that he was just a blur. He held the left blade under his right arm, edge forward. Pulling his right elbow toward his chest, he held the right blade so that it was about level with his shoulder and it's edge faced forward. He aimed for Pollo's right thigh and let the momentum of his lunge provide the slashing force of the attack.

He landed in a crouch. The force of his lunge made him slide forward a few feet after touching down and his combat boots left skid marks in the dust. When he came to a stop he spun around to face his enemy, blades held at the ready.

((Apollo, huh? Cool. Keep the name - I like irony in names. ^^))

Asaph smiled as he watched the cut on Pollo's leg seal. He'd hoped that would happed; fighting an enemy without regenerative abilities would not have been any fun. He liked her attitude a little, too.

There was little time to think about his opponent, however. Asaph's reflexes took over and he leapt to the left, out of the path of the fire attack; he barely escaped being singed by the blaze. He landed and quickly rolled once over his left shoulder, ending in a crouching position and facing his opponent. Asaph blinked in mild surprise and couldn't stifle another grin. He'd never seen such an attack. This would prove to be in an interesting battle.

"A nice shot, but not quite quick enough," he commented easily and cocked an eyebrow at the vampire. My move, he thought to himself, so let's see how well your crop stands up to a slash with a titanium and silver blade.

Asaph pushed off the ground and sprang several yards into the air toward his enemy. He raised his left blade and chambered the right blade under his left arm, blade out. Using the momentum of his leap to add to his strike, he brought his left blade down at her crop. At the same time, he slashed across to his right with his chambered blade, aiming at her unguarded torso. Now knowing what her crop was capable of, he let his momentum carry him forward a bit and then pushed off the ground again. He turned in mid air and landed, crouching slightly, some feet away.

Asaph grunted at the force of the recoil as Pollo pushed the blade back at him. He had little time to recover, however, as the wall of flame sprang up around his enemy, protecting her from further attacks. He took a step back and squinted against the heat. In the back of his mind he wondered how and where this vampire had gained such a formidable power.

Eyes lighting up, Asaph smiled at his opponent's boast - and compliment. He didn't waste too much time on that, however, as he was now facing a glowing sunball that was hurtling toward him. It's light illuminated the surrounding forest, making the night seem like noonday. Asaph knew that neither blades nor bullets could withstand the tremendous heat of the incoming ball of light. Also, the capabilities of the ball were unknown; would it explode on impact? With offense and defense against the weapon out of the question, the only tactic left was evasion. There was one good thing about the situation: at least as a thrown object, the ball of light was not the fastest of missiles. All this ran through Asaph's mind in a split second - now it was time to act.

Asaph lept to his right to avoid the direct path of the sun, then let his body dissolve into a cloud of dark mist that hugged the grassy ground. He then surged forward. Because there was no telling what the ball would do, Asaph decided that the best plan of action was to get behind, or at least beside, Pollo and use her, hopefully, as a shield in case the ball exploded.

At the moment, it would be too much effort to attempt to attack Pollo, but Asaph guessed that she couldn't hold the fire wall up forever; a shield that size would take a good amount of energy to maintain. In the mean time, he had a moment or two to plan his next move. He was in no way overconfident about his own powers and he knew full well that he didn't have the firepower to take down this vamp. This meant he'd have to use smarts and powers more than brawn in this battle. Even more fun! Then he smirked inwardly as a plan came to mind.

The heat of the rising flames forced Asaph's mist form to rise, but, because he was mist, his altitude was limited. This didn't particularly bother him, however; he still had plenty of tricks up his sleeves. Asaph concentrated, picturing in his mind what he wanted to happen. Obediently, the gliding wings and broad chest of his beast form coalesced from the mist, the rest of his body - in human form - following suit. Asaph's broad wings billowed out as the powerful updrafts from the fire hit them. The updrafts made hovering on his gliding wings quite easy. He grinned when he saw Pollo's position; she would yet fall.

"Not smart," he grunted. He reached into his trench coat and wrapped his right hand around the grip of the Skriker. Whipping it out in the blink of an eye, he took aim at Pollo's upraised hand (which held the sun) and her and her horse's general vicinity, then squeezed off a storm of armor-piercing silver bullets, making it impossible for her to fully avoid all of the projectiles.

While she was occupied with his attack, he gave his wings a mighty flap, caught another updraft, and sailed high, out of the fire trap. Asaph came in for a landing on a patch of not-burning ground - which was soon to be burning, by the looks of things. Before touching down, he quickly withdrew a machete and slashed open his own left wrist. He spread the fingers of his left hand and used his telepathy to draw the blood from his veins faster. The blood collected in a shifting sphere in the palm of Asaph's left hand. When his feet touched down on the ground, he dropped the blood and it splashed into a pool in the dirt. Then he stepped into the pool and vanished. The blood's surface shifted. The pool quickly shrank, the liquid draining toward the center of the pool. Soon the last of the blood was gone. Pollo would be in for a surprise.

((Yep. ^^))

((Indeed!))

Asaph caught the last lines of her speech just before he disappeared. He snorted inwardly. Why would I come through the shield? he thought absently. Did she really expect him to try to barge his way to her with brute strength? She definitely had a lot to learn about fighting against his kind.

At the moment, Asaph was in the limbo of transit. So far his plan was proceeding fairly well. Even so, he almost half-hoped that she would turn out to be a more formidable foe than he had guessed. But now it was time to test his theories about Pollo's abilities and powers. Yet even if this attack didn't work, there still might be a small chance of re-trying it - maybe. Holding a picture of his destination in his mind, he concentrated. Asaph knew full well that Pollo carried two handguns - he had seen them glint from behind her trench coat in the light of the fires. Therefore, the mental image he had was of one of the sidearms.

The exposed, shining surface of one of Pollo's .45s (which, if laid flat, really had a good amount of surface area) rippled almost unnoticeably. Suddenly, black fog about the consistency of smoke billowed from the two-foot wide black hole, which had expanded from the rippling surface, and formed a disorienting cover. From the middle of the fog, two arms materialized. In the hand of the right arm was the Skriker and in the left arm's hand was the Jager. The right arm held the Skriker to Pollo's skull and the left arm aimed the Jager at the back of the horse's head. The arms' trigger fingers squeezed the weapons' triggers at the same time, releasing a storm of silver rounds. Then there was a sucking sound and the arms and fog were withdrawn into the black hole just as rapidly as they had come. The hole then shrank and disappeared.

((OHHHHHHH, the gun was at her head? Well that changes everything, i should be done sweatdrop yeah, me finished *tear*..... you wins. Nice match though))

((Yeah. sweatdrop I knew there was no other way to beat your char! ^^ Dang, that was an excellent battle! One of the best I've had in, well, forever! And I love your character's powers and abilities. Very creative. I mean, I've fought fire demons before, but nothing like Pollo.))


Asaph smiled absently as he watched the flames die out.

"Indeed," he addressed the air, "And I hope to meet again sometime."

He turned and vanished back into the darkness.

((That was fun. Thanks! ^^; You aren't too shabby yourself! Yeah, a rematch sometime would be cool. Yep, good game.))