For a little while, Hoax felt tremors wash themselves throughout the ground he was standing on. At first, they were rather subtle and entirely dismissable. However, they grew more obvious as time passed. They never became anything earthquake-like, of course, but the presence of another was made all-too apparent with the shake and soundings of their footsteps alone. Hoax placed the last of the herbs he had just taken into the sachet and turned around.

A Giras, large and draconic - he was casually walking nearer the small being with a troubling assertiveness, already chuckling in a manner all-but-too belittling, chafing. Hoax’s brows rose slightly as he made note of the Giras general disposition. “Hah, well will you look at that! That’s what I’ve been tasked to do! You sure know your plants, tiny koala man.”

“Hello there,” Hoax replied, dismissing the majority of the ill-chosen words cast his way. For a moment, Hoax looked away from the Giras. He looked in the direction of an approaching power, familiar and if yet to be suppressed, titanic; but then he returned his attention to the large, draconic stranger. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“As a matter a fact, there is! Give me that bag of leaves you’ve been gatherin’ up! That’s all I want!” There was no immediate response. Hoax stood there and did little but tuck his hands into his pockets.

“Hm. Usually, I would just hand them over, but these clothes I’m wearing are very heavy. So, it was with a lot of effort that I collected these healing herbs.”

“Your clothes are too heavy, you said?!” He asked before bursting out in a fit of rather disingenuous laughter. “Then just give up, already! You don’t think I can’t just take them from you when you can’t even handle your clothes?”

“But, how would you know how taxing clothes can be?

You’re not even wearing any…”

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319/523 words Marku

A growl, a grumble - that was the Giras’ response to Hoax’s quip. It bled into the arrival of Marku, to which Hoax greeted, albeit concisely. “Master Marku,” he said as the teacher cracked his knuckles. His mention of partaking in some exercise and fighting him instead of the smaller being, to the aggressor - well, he just witnessed the human fly in. He was slightly taken aback, but then a thought occurred to the brute.

‘Pft, what can something wussy like that do against something like this?!’ The thought accompanied his drawing and brandishing of a large sword. He swept it to his front in a large arc, standing at the ready as an unexplained gale swept him and the immediate surroundings over. He stood his ground still, squinted at the forefront of the conjured winds.

“Fine! I’ll cut you in half first!” His lunge broke the soils apart beneath his foot as he sprung off of it. It was a decisive, heavy footfall and his forward movement was not about to be without the diagonal swinging of his large sword.

Meanwhile, Hoax had yet to move. It did not seem as if he was within harm’s way just yet. He took the hood down around his shoulders, revealed his large pink ears and brought that bestial visage of his into the light of day.

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224/747 words Marku

Why did the human he strove so hard to split in two have such fantastical powers? Even more bothersome, why was he unable to strike true with his large sword regardless of what strike he employed? Perspiration grew ever-the-more apparent as he continued his onslaught. The tail at his backside whipped to and fro with each heavy, brutish step. His eyes widened at Marku’s most recent statement.

“No, yooooooou!” he replied as he stopped to kick dirt at the human. It was a fairly sudden act, but not one entirely surprising. Perhaps forecasting the inevitable when to a dirty trick was what would result in Marku’s preparation, or not, for the desperate assault.

“Better get those herbs ready!” He hollered. Those words were clearly directed towards Hoax, who was still just standing there. The Giras, however, was plummeting towards Marku with his sword held high after having lept into the air. He brought it down in one big, vertical slash.

Hoax was thinking about calling it a day. He had been out long enough and gathering enough materials to create useful solutions to speed recovery while training outside. He actually was not sold on the idea of giving any aid. He felt the being did not warrant anything more than physical blows; at least not yet.

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216/963 words Marku

“Yes. Come to think of it, he is doing quite a number on the surrounding area.” Hoax’s words were cast towards himself mostly, being but a low utterance led by an eye only upon the carnage being wrought. “That’s in poor taste." It did disturb him that a few leaves could have resulted in the preservation of the immediate area, but he still did not agree with the aggressor attempting to strong-arm them away from him.

“All of this over some herbs.” Hoax shook his head back and forth as Marku broke the large sword’s blade. A metallic snap crackle throughout the area. A dull thump ensued as the fractured husk fell to the waiting soils below. The Giras was surprised at the strike dealing such damage to a weapon of such durability - at least by his standards. He audibly unveiled his surprise, asking ‘what?!’ out into the open air with none willing to supply an answer.

An elbow to the lower portion of his midsection brought him to his knees. “W-who sent me?” he panted in response to Marku. Hoax grew closer out of curiosity. “It was just my turn to gather herbs in the village! This is a prime area to do that and the pink one had already done it for me.” He released a few pained chortles. “Maybe they’ll come lookin’ for me. I’ve been gone awhile, you know…”

Hoax head fell upon a subtle tilt as he considered the individual’s words. “Hm. I wonder if that’s a bluff.” Hoax only received an encore of low, quiet, disingenuous laughter.

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263/1226 words Marku

An inquisitive, “hm,” escaped Hoax as he noted the gradual appearance of more large, imposing figures. “I guess it really wasn’t a bluff, after all.” This meant that it was the opportune time to discard some of that heavy clothing. So, his top came off with a heavy thump as he let it plummet to the ground. Weights were next. He was asked to step in at that point and Hoax was left with just a pair of pants on. A visual display of the results of his training ensued as he idled there in an unnerving presentation of ostensibly unending composure.

Marku began a brilliant assault against a multitude of Giras. However, it appeared all eyes were on Marku. One attempted to grab an axe before running towards Marku with it, aiming to land a devastating attack. The Giras back was to Hoax and with an annoyed, “tsk…” the Giras lit up with an orange light.

“Dodonpa!” The technique’s name was hollered with a certain degree of ire. The smell of cooking flesh took to the air as a beam of fervid orange plowed into its back, pulsed with power as it tore forth from a single extended index finger. It carried him with its inherent force and left him smouldering on the ground. Wispy white exploded all around the pink being before in a smear of motion, one Giras found the alien’s knee embedding itself into his face.

“I’m here too, you know…”

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245/1471 words Marku

They sported tough hides. The knee he plunged into its snout did not find as much of a purpose as he had hoped. Instead of allowing surprise to consume him, he simply dropped to the ground and readied himself for a counter attack. It began with a smirk and a chortle, spoiling any means of overwhelming Hoax with speed with the small sliver of an opening Hoax had provided. Hoax quirked a brow in response, just when the Giras turned upon a sharp pivot, whipping its tail towards him.

It was a rather intelligent strike. The short creature was far more vulnerable to attacks fashioned to sweep across the ground, but an acute eye and respectable reflexes, coupled with martial arts training, meant that leaping above it was no difficult feat. The power of the beam attack he expelled prior would simply be directed into simple physical blows instead. Hoax landed without a counter attack and waited until the Giras faced him again.

The beginning of its laughter immediately found interruption. Hoax’s plunged his fist into its stomach. A quiver traversed the ground they stood upon as a result. Hoax’s gaze was cold, but his lips could not help but curl into a subtle simper. The prowess over his inner energies that his race is so often born with allowed simple blows of his to harbour much greater force than onlookers would expect from something so short. His attacker lurched forward and fell to the ground as he coughed and attempted to catch lost breath.

Those left either were attacking Marku or made their way towards Hoax. While the pink alien stood firm and unmoving, thin lines of thread, tempered fur produced via biokinetic abilities and maneuvered through telekinetic influence, streaked from his exposed, furry body. Nigh invisible to the naked eye, they lashed ostensibly randomly about until the threads were pulled tight, tethered seemingly to the air itself. The Giras became sprawled out in the air, limbs pulled tight by Hoax’s strange binding attack.

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335/1806 words Marku