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Post by Hellboy on Jul 23, 2009 2:43:05 GMT -6
A small dripping sound came from overhead, along with the occasional growl or squawk from further down the tunnel. The place smelled like mold and mildew. Hellboy cocked his gun and glanced around the cavern with his golden eyes, frowning. A gryphon had been terrorizing a small, old-timey eastern European village. Which was weird. Those creatures were peaceful, normally kept to themselves. Didn't hurt anyone; hunted deer, and sometimes sheep if they were desperate. So it was somewhat unnerving to be sent on a mission to capture a rogue one. Who'd ever heard of a rogue gryphon?
Red, Abe, and Liz had chased it into this... place. It was times like these the half demon wished he could see better in the dark. His frown deepened, and he began to walk further in, tail twitching in slight agitation.
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Post by Abe Sapien on Jul 23, 2009 3:19:11 GMT -6
Abe Sapien diligently followed behind his devilish looking yet innately good-natured friend as Liz safely guarded the rear of their position.
Walking up beside Hellboy with his hand outstretched, Abe commenced utilizing his telepathic power to detect the current location of the violent Griffin.
"According to my far-reaching senses," Abe elaborated. "Our objective lies little more than a mile in the eastern part of this cavern system. Let us all proceed with the utmost of caution."
This particular cavern system that the trio currently trekked through apparently possessed bio-luminescent qualities as there existed a slight enveloping glow.
In any case, finding the griffin would be made easier, especially if they had no other choice but to use their combative skills to hinder its aggressive behavior.
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Post by Liz Sherman on Jul 23, 2009 3:42:57 GMT -6
Liz followed behind Red and Abe through the dank tunnel, turning occasionally to see if anything was following them, and a light blue flame enveloping her hands, partly for light and partly because an aggressive gryphon was not a good thing, and knowing their luck it would probably be worse than they thought.
She stepped up beside Abe and watched as he did his thing, finding out where their target was hiding.
"According to my far-reaching senses, our objective lies little more than a mile in the eastern part of this cavern system. Let us all proceed with the utmost of caution."
The utmost of caution, she repeated silently to herself and glanced at Red. As much as she loved him, he'd never really been known to excersice caution, let alone the utmost of it. She allowed the blue flames to creep up her arms until they were licking comfortingly at her shoulders as she waited for the men to walk ahead of her so she was once again bringing up the rear, before stepping cautiously forwards... hopefully this didn't end too painfully, on either end.
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Post by Hellboy on Jul 23, 2009 3:58:46 GMT -6
"According to my far-reaching senses, our objective lies little more than a mile in the eastern part of this cavern system. Let us all proceed with the utmost of caution."
Hellboy nodded, not really paying attention after Abe explained where the gryphon was. "Caution; yeah, got it," he mumbled quickly. He glanced over to Liz as the flames engulfed her arms, shooting her a small smile, then continued in the direction Blue had pointed out. His tail stopped twitching after a moment, returning to its normal curl-about manner.
The squawking noises got louder, and the sound of claws scraping against stone could be heard. "Damn, what's it doing in there, tryin' to dig?" the half-demon murmured, cocking a brow. He ran a finger over the top of his gun, beginning to prepare himself.
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Post by Abe Sapien on Jul 23, 2009 18:32:05 GMT -6
Abe directed the palm of his right hand toward the origin of the volatile noises.
After some silent contemplation, the amphibious man spoke in a thoughtful tone.
"I'm detecting a grave amount of...fearful anxiety and bewilderment. In any event, I hardly believe this griffin to be a true aggressor."
Glancing to his two companions, Abe conveyed a hopeful prospect.
"Perhaps we won't have to fight this mythical beast after all?"
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Post by Liz Sherman on Jul 24, 2009 0:23:53 GMT -6
Liz felt herself relax at Abe's words, yes, not having to fight the Gryphon would certainly be a much better scenario. She didn't let the flames on her arms lessen though, as another thought occurred to her.
"But what's it afraid of?" she asked, something that could scare a Gryphon would no doubt be bad, whether it be a creature or a situation, it didn't promise to be good.
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Post by Hellboy on Jul 24, 2009 1:30:00 GMT -6
"I'm detecting a grave amount of...fearful anxiety and bewilderment. In any event, I hardly believe this griffin to be a true aggressor. Perhaps we won't have to fight this mythical beast after all?"
"But what's it afraid of?"
Hellboy barely payed attention to what they were saying. He was getting closer to the chamber the gryphon was in, and that was all that mattered at the moment. Red stepped forward, into the cavern. The gryphon was scratching at the rock at the back of the cave, making the occasional distressed screeching noise. It's lion-like anatomy looked tense, and its ears were flattened against its skull. It was distressed.
"Hey, birdy!" Hellboy called to it, giving a whistle. "What's wrong with you? Why've you been attacking people?" The gryphon turned and growled, its tail whipping about. In a split second, it jumped and launched itself at Red, front talons extended.
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Post by Abe Sapien on Jul 24, 2009 2:01:06 GMT -6
"Oh, dear...!" Abe yelped in alarm as he narrowly avoided the charge of the griffin.
Sprawled haphazardly on the cave's floor, the blue humanoid witnessed yet another altercation in which his half-demon friend had (quite possibly willingly) initiated due to impatience.
"Honestly, I wish Hellboy possessed at least some tact..." Abe thought to himself in exasperation.
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Post by Liz Sherman on Jul 24, 2009 2:29:29 GMT -6
"Hey, birdy!"
"Oh no," Liz muttered as Hellboy, clearly not paying attention to the 'caution' warning, began to provoke the Gryphon. She rolled out of the way quickly as the Gryphon leapt at them and swore loudly.
"Red!" she called warningly, giving him a pleading look in the hope that he would try a different approach as violence certainly wasn't helping. She, personally, was less interested in defeating the poor creature and more interested in finding out what exactly was wrong with it. She got to her feet slowly and extinguished the flames on her arms to make her point. What had happened to make this normally peaceful animal so aggressive?
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Post by Hellboy on Jul 24, 2009 2:52:43 GMT -6
Hellboy grunted as he was hit by the gryphon and winced slightly with the impact. The creature's claws tore at his skin, making a couple rips in his favorite trench coat. Glaring, the demon punched it as hard as he could in the beak with his flesh-and-blood left hand. The gryphon let out a scream and jumped back, hissing and spitting. It lay down for a moment and rubbed at its now-bruised face with its front paw.
"Red!"
He turned to look at Liz. "What?" he asked, bewildered. "I got this." The half demon watched as she extinguished the flames on her arms. "...oh."
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Post by Abe Sapien on Jul 24, 2009 3:12:08 GMT -6
Abe was now fully standing when Hellboy had temporarily hindered the griffin's attack with a mere punch.
Once again reaching out with his powers, the amphibious man sensed the winged beast felt sorrow as well as anger in addition to the emotions he noted earlier.
Suddenly, the aquatic being detected a spike of negativity directed at the devil agent...
If the griffin was a harmless creature, that certainly wasn't true now.
"Hellboy!" Abe alerted. "It's about to attack you again, but don't kill it! By what I observed from its feelings, it's only confused!"
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Post by Liz Sherman on Jul 24, 2009 3:26:13 GMT -6
Liz was relieved when Hellboy seemed to get the message that she didn't think hitting the Gryphon was helpful, that was until she heard Abe's warning.
"Hellboy! It's about to attack you again, but don't kill it! By what I observed from its feelings, it's only confused!"
She was torn. She did know that punching the Gryphon in the face hadn't been the best idea and retaliation was inevitable, but she didn't want to see Red get hurt... of course, there was very little she could do to a determined mythical beast without making the situation worse so she stood back and waited for things to unfold... she trusted that Red was strong enough to deal with the Gryphon and she hoped he'd be able to avoid killing it. The poor thing...
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Post by Hellboy on Jul 24, 2009 3:59:11 GMT -6
"Hellboy! It's about to attack you again, but don't kill it! By what I observed from its feelings, it's only confused!"
"...what?" Hellboy looked agitated again for a moment, annoyed that he was about to be attacked again. He didn't really have a chance to brace himself for the flurry of feathers and claws that came at him. The half demon had just enough warning to roll somewhat out of the way, getting a nasty scrape across his chest as the gryphon skidded when it landed. He looked down at the cut, and when he looked up, he was angry.
He was ready for it, this time, when it came at him once more. He punched it square in the chest, but not with his normal hand. With his right one, his stone one. The gryphon shrieked, flying at the opposite wall. It slammed hard into the rock, then fell to the floor, crumpling. For a moment, it stood, weakly, then fell back down. It was still breathing, still alive. The adrenaline beginning to wear down in his system, Red took a cigar out of his pocket, lit it with a wooden match, then took a puff.
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Post by Abe Sapien on Jul 24, 2009 4:36:26 GMT -6
Abe approached the defeated griffin, inspecting its form and mind. When finding nothing gravely wrong with the majestic creature, the blue one walked next to Hellboy and issued a congratulatory compliment.
"Impressive as usual, Red! At first I feared the loss of either you or this noble being, but considering your ability to survive through astronomical odds and attain a miraculous rate of success, I'm not surprised in the least."
Looking down at the cave's floor, an interesting thought suddenly occurred to Abe. The bluish creature then placed one of his hands on his chin and voiced the strange revelation he experienced.
"Now that I think about it, it's fairly...unique how the three of us remain somehow unscathed in dire situations and always manage to overcome our enemies..."
To emphasize the odd realization, a bewildered expression played across Abe's visage.
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Post by Liz Sherman on Jul 24, 2009 22:46:54 GMT -6
Liz watched as Red took out the Gryphon and once it was down she went up for a closer look. It was a truly beautiful creature.
"Now that I think about it, it's fairly...unique how the three of us remain somehow unscathed in dire situations and always manage to overcome our enemies..."
Liz turned and smiled to her blue team mate. "Don't think about it too much, Abe," she warned jokingly. "You'll jinx it." She turned back to the Gryphon and frowned. "So... what exactly do we do now?
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