Scene #1524: The Tortle and the Hare

Owner	Pose
Mortimer Balman	Out in the Super Solar System, there's a beaten up old space platform. It used to be part of some larger design- a space station, perhaps. Maybe an orbital defense platform, or some mighty starship. But all that's left of the ruined derelict is a huge platform. It somehow generates its own atmosphere even in the depths of void. A beacon has been set up there, to guide Razer to it. Sitting on the platform in an old wooden rocking chair is Mortimer. Beside him is a gargantuan wolf who is busy chewing on what looks like a dragon's skull, and curled up not far from them is Reder. He appears to be catching a nap while waiting. The meter-tall amphibian lets out a yawn and rubs some sleep from his eyes. "<Guy sure is slow, Sarge.>" Mort nods a bit, chewing on a pipe that he is calmly and patiently puffing on. "Little bit. I'm sure he'll show up though. You can be patient.."
Razer	There's a new red star, it seems. It grows larger, impossibly, until it becomes clear that it's no star at all - it's Razer. The Red Lantern traced the signal easy enough, slipping free from Shard and heading right for it. The star plummets to the metal wreck, slamming into the hull in an explosion of red light. Razer pulls himself to his full height, turning his electric blue eyes in the direction of Mortimer and his little group. How... eclectic. He points his finger between each member before it finally alights on Reder - who Razer pretty much towers over. "You."
Mortimer Balman	Reder flicks his tail a bit, watching as the star plummets into the platform. The platform shifts but artificial gravity generators keep everyone more or less stable. The platform spins, certainly, but there's no inertia for them to worry about. Just some shaking. The gigantic wolf whines and hides behind Mortimer- which is probably an odd sight given that the wolf is literally about the size of a /rhinocerous/- but it nonetheless seems rather nervous of Razer, and even lets out warning barks at him. "Easy boy, easy. It's okay Ulbrecht. He's not here to bother you.. Just Reder." This seems to calm the beast down, but it still hunkers down and whimpers a bit. Despite being so huge it is still just a gigantic puppy. Reder, unphased by the explosion, stands up and stretches out, bones popping loudly as he does so. "<Yes, me! And you're..>" He starts hopping around Razer curiously. "<...He's a great big red Buneary man! Bahahahahahaha!>" Yes, Reder's kind of a jerk. "<That's pretty cool. This is gonna be /fun/.>"
Razer	Razer stands stock still, seemingly /humming/ with enough tension that a tuning fork would ring if it was touched to him. His eyes track Reder as he hops around him - until Razer takes a quick step to one side and lashes out with his foot in a sharp, hard kick! "Only for me," Razer growls, the red section of his armor beginning to glow red, "Shut up and fight me!"
Mortimer Balman	Reder's earfins suddenly perk up and straighten out when Razer makes his demand and lashes out at him. He retreats into his shell immediately, going flying from the kick and sliding across the platform! "<Bahaha.. Okay, let's fight then!>" His head and arms pop back out of his shell, a vicious toothy grin on his feral face, and Reder starts bounding off at Razer. A high-power, high-pressure beam of water explodes out of the little 'tortle's mouth and aims to send Razer flying likewise in turn!
Razer	The water nails Razer squarely in the chest and launches him up and off the platform. The Red Lantern growls and flips himself in mid-air with a flash of red energy, bringing his ring hand to bear. His forefinger glows, and Razer snaps off a blast of red energy in Reder's direction for an aerial assault!
Mortimer Balman	Reder blinks. Okay, that was completely unexpected! And also pretty cool! "<Hey that's a neat trick, how do you-WAGH!>" KER-SLAMUEL! The ring smashes him down into the metal, making a tiny Reder-shaped imprint on it. "<Good shot, cranky-ass!>" He laughs another garrish, hoarse little laugh, and then opens one eye wide.. Is he giving Razer the stink eye? Well yes, only no. The eye begins to glow a bright blue, and then suddenly it fires off a beam of freezing cold ice!
Razer	Razer stares right back at Reder, a strange, vaguely perturbed look on his face as the wartortle gives him that one-eyed glare. The brief moment of perplexion is what allows Rezer to nail him with the ice beam, but Razer recovers quickly. With a shout he erupts in crimson flame for one moment, and he raises his hand. A gout of rage-light bursts forth from his hand, roaring down towards Reder, as if to slam him into the metal deck once again!
Mortimer Balman	Reder is indeed, slammed into the metal deck once more. This time he comes back up wiping blood from his nose, but he's still got that shit-eating grin on his face. Because he's having FUN. He starts running again, until he's roughly 'under' Razer who just refuses to come down. "<If you won't come to me, I'll come up to you, plank-boy!>" And suddenly LEAPS up with incredible force, twisting himself in mid-jump so that he starts to spin at a ferocious speed. Arms and legs retract into the shell, but his tail remains out of it- if Razer doesn't move out of the way fast enough, he'll find that that tail isn't quite as soft and fluffy as it looks- it's like being struck with a solid chunk of steel!
Razer	Reder comes right at him. Razer raises his hand and blasts him with another volley of energy, but it doesn't seem to dissuade him now that he's vanished back into his shell. His tail clips Razer right on the chin and sends the Lantern crashing to the ground - or seems that way, because Razer manages to arrest his descent just before impact. He punches the air, which seems kind of ridiculous - before e red fist streaks through the vacuum, right towards Reder!
Mortimer Balman	Reder again, goes flying, scraping face-first across the sheet metal and tortling angrily in pain. He does however, quickly hop back up onto his feet and shakes his head out. "<You got a good left jab there, sparky! I guess you're right- I really should be taking this more seriously, shouldn't I?!>" Still smiling, even with blood dribbling down his chin, though! With surprising speed, he dashes across the ground- so fast in fact, that it briefly looks like he's going at super speeds, but that's just an optical illusion created by the sudden bursts- trying to get in close to Razer once more, taking another flying leap into the air, and sailing head first at Razer's face.
Razer	Razer lets out a little 'hmph' at Reder's words and settles into a loose stance, hands raised, ring glowing around his finger. He takes a hop backwards just as Reder closes, takes a swing, misses, and Reder headbutts him! Razer's head snaps back, and he snarls in pain and anger. He lashes out with his ring hand from which a long red scourge crackles into life, and Razer swings that whip right for Reder's middle! "Face the power of my rage!"
Mortimer Balman	Reder is caught before he can even land on the ground by a long red whip, and is suddenly given a jolt of red lightning! "<Gygsdjghsehgheehehaaegghaa?!>" He falls to the ground, twitching a bit, before slowly rolling back up onto his feet. He's still grinning. Seriously. "<Y'know the only problem with that trick, sparky? I LIKE electricity. C'MON! Stop being such a cranky-ass and have some FUN already!>" He zips between Razer's legs- much slower this time, he's starting to feel the pain, not as young as he used to be after all- but he's still a lot faster than a tortoise has any right to be, and is quickly scrambling up Razer's body until he's right in his face. "<FUN!>" And then he works to slam his skull against Razer's face again.
Razer	Razer balls his hands into fists, his eyes narrow. He's getting mad. Red energy flares around his feet and he scowls in Reder's direction - who promptly slams his skull into his face. The forcefield the ring provides protects him, sure, but it still hurts. For a moment, Razer sees stars and he stumbles backwards, a touch of blood dribbling from his lip. But then he extends his hand, fingers extended like a gun. He levels it right at Reder and growls... "Bang."
Mortimer Balman	Razer had a pretty nasty attack right there, but he telegraphed it too much. Reder had plenty of time to react, and did so by withdrawing into his shell and flexing all the muscles in his spine- which is connected to his shell- as hard as he could. This causes the red bullet to.. Bounce right off of his shell harmlessly. And then his head pops back out. "<Man, whatever cereal box you got that thing out of, I /seriously/ want one. I'll even eat weird alien crackerjacks. Does it decode secret messages too?!>" Shit-talking is fast and furious as he starts scurrying along the ground quickly as he can, hopping through Razer's legs again and wrapping his tail around the big Lantern's leg. But instead of a skull bashing, this time he brings out his claw clenched into a fist. A brief moment before the strike actually happens, he takes a quick stock of Razer's chest.. And tries to strike the weakest part of his armor plating as hard as he damn well can.
Razer	Razer's shot hits square and true - right into Reder's shell. He scowls and, before he can fire again, the wartortle is already moving. Razer fires his ring off several times but none of his shots come close, allowing Reder to snare him by the leg. And then, through skill or luck, as Reder goes to punch him in the chest, Razer /catches/ his fist in his ring hand. "It burns the unjust - just like you!" Razer shouts, and his hand erupts in red flame, burning its way across Reder like some sort of chemical burn! Perhaps luckily, it is only for a single moment.
Mortimer Balman	Reder blinks as his fist is caught. "<Good reflexes, that-WAAAGH!>" And then it burns across him. "<Ow...>" It's not terribly effective, because.. Well, fire versus a water-type. But that doesn't mean it doesn't /hurt/. "<Just, unjust, I'm the fire extinguisher.>" He wraps his tail up around Razer's arm this time and opens his mouth wide. A veritable DELUGE of high-pressure water, far worse than the last one, blasts forth from his maw. Again, straight for Razer's face.
Razer	"What you are," Razer snaps, "Is a nui-!" And there's the deluge, right into his face. The forcefield prevents it from practically blasting his skin off and it prevents him from drowning under the sudden torrent, but it doesn't make it comfortable. It stings! It hurts! It's going to leave one hell of a mark. There's the strange sound of someone screaming under water then, before the water becomes steam and Razer lets his pure unbridled hate pour forth from his mouth like some sort of dragon, letting it wash over Reder and blast him away!
Mortimer Balman	And indeed, blasted away Reder is! "<Whaaaaaooooooooaaaaahhh!>" He smashes his limbs and face all across the ground until his shell catches an edge and sends him spinning violently across the sky. This is the one point where Mortimer actually intervenes by holding up a hand and using it to smack Reder back to the ground before he can be launched into space. He then goes back to smoking his pipe quietly, watching how pissed off Razer is getting. "You realize he's getting more pissed, right?" "<GOOD! ...Remind me to pick up those teeth, please.>" Reder realizes that his voice sounds very nasally, because his nose is very firmly broken, and takes a moment to set it with an unpleasant crunching sound. And then he starts running at Razer again. "<Alright, chucklehead, c'mon! C'MON! You can hit harder than that! C'MON!>" As if trying to taunt him into attacking even harder, Reder... Splits into two? No, it's an illusion of some sort! There's two Reders there, but which is which? The answer is: it's the one who's shooting you in the face with water yet again.
Razer	"I'll show you how hard I can hit!" Razer snaps, pointing his ring in the direction of Red- The Reders? Both of them. One of them. Which one is real, one of them has to be- And there's the water again. That blast takes Razer right in the eye, sending him to one knee with a pained shout. And the red corona of energy that hums around him begins to boil over, crackling and catching alight... Still kneeling, Razer erupts into hateful flame and when he stands, his eyes aren't blue... They're red, and his expression is twisted by a frightening level of rage. Is... is the platform shaking?
Mortimer Balman	Reder's grin turns positively /maniacal/ as Razer finally gets the idea and starts putting everything he can into his attack. So Reder does the same! Though he's not causing the ground to shake in a rage... He's gathering strength and energy, reaching out with his mind, with his will alone. The air suddenly starts coalescing around him, sucking the very moisture out of it and concentrating it. Solidifying it. He's got a nasty trick up his shell, too.. This will be the last strike both of them get out in this little struggle. The last blow. This is so much fucking FUN.
Razer	Razer channels his rage, his breathing coming in harsh, ragged gasps that press through his clenched fangs. His fists are clenched so hard that it's likely he'd cause his palms to bleed if he wasn't wearing his ring. The platform responds to his anger, his hatred, and breaks around his feet. Just a few moments more... He's not even really aware of what Reder is doing, because all Razer can see is Ilana, dead in his arms. All he can feel is the sheer antipathy towards everyone else for not saving her, for not protecting their world, for not... ...listening to her, like he should have. And that's it. Razer touches that spark of self-hatred, ignites the coalesced whole of his rage, and blasts it from the very core of his being towards the wartotle across the platform from him. The platform is sundered by the blast, metal peeling up and melting into spheroid fragments, as Razer screams out of rage with all the coherency of a supernova.
Mortimer Balman	And just as Razer is letting off his furious assault, so is Reder! The collected water starts slowly moving upwards, like a funnel, aiming itself at Razer.. But it doesn't spray out at him like he might expect. Focusing every ounce of his concentration into it, the water all suddenly vaporizes, evaporating into its component molecules. And what is water made up of? Hydrogen. And oxygen. Two extremely flammable substances when they aren't connected to make a stable chemical chain. This sudden atomic collapse generates a colossal amount of raw energy which Reder lifts up, pushing not only with his mind but his own two paws- singing them horribly- and screaming as he sends all of that collected energy straight at Razer. It's not easy generating such a thing- usually that is the purview of dragons. But with the right ancestry and training, non-dragons can pull that trick off too.. The beam of raw, unfocused plasma seems to take on the shape of some immense watery dragon's face, screaming across the emptiness of the void as it tears straight for Razer.
Razer	Razer's blast tears across the platform and, luckily, seems to burn away some of the plasma that Reder opened fire with. But it still hits up and it still burns over him, and while there's no visible damage to the Red Lantern's armor, he doesn't seem to be intent on continuing the fight. Yet. He might need a second to catch his breath after an attack like that. "Are you done?!" he shouts out.
Mortimer Balman	Mortimer finally gets up off his butt- somehow untouched by all of this, mostly because he'd created a wall of very thick ice with his mind to protect himself and the giant wolf from the blasts, which shattered but mercifully did its job. Yay for Protect! Ahem. He walks over to the hole in the platform which is where Reder is buried, and pulls the now very punch drunk and well-beaten wartortle out of it. "He is." Reder warblingly tortles out, "<But->" "Done." And then a defeated, "<..Aye, Sarge.>" Mort carefully puts Reder up on his shoulder, and then looks at Razer. "I daresay you're both done. An excellent fight." Reder laughs, even as another tooth drops out of his mouth. And then another. He's missing about seven of them now. But Mort has been collecting them carefully. "<Haha.. That was a good scrap, buneary man! You wanna come on back with us and get a beer?>" Reder does not appear to harbor the slightest bit of resentment or ill-will despite fighting what was most likely a losing battle. He seems quite pleased with the outcome, clearly uncaring if he is the victor or the loser.
Razer	Razer crosses his arms over his abdomen and just stares at Mortimer and Reder. His face is neutral, betraying only the slightest bit of contempt for, well, everyone, really. The seconds after Reder's question stretch out into an eternity. "No," Razer replies, and takes off into the void. Too much to hope for, perhaps.
Mortimer Balman	Reder blinks. "<Hey. Hey wait a minute, stop! Get back here! You don't just walk away all pissed off! The hell is wrong with you!>" The much shorter wartortle tries to hop after Razer. "<You come back here and have a beer with us right now you rabbity fuck! Hey! HEY!>" But Razer is already well on his way, and Reder is now crankily pouting. "<What a dick!>"