{Training Solo} Into The Jungle

by **Kimi of the Lost Path** on March 27th, 2012, 2:51 am

They say that its darkest just before the dawn, but Kimi of the Lost Path didn't really care tonight. The time was far from dawn, in fact it wasn't long after dusk, the sun having just crept below the canopy of the jungle surrounding Taloba. The weather was balmy as usual, and Kimi resisted the urge to wipe away the sweat trickling under her leather armor. To do so meant unstrapping the damnable thing, and then putting it back on again, and she would probably sweat twice as much just doing that. For some reason, her body refused to get acclimated to the weather here, and she wasn't sure why.

Pushing the distracting thoughts aside, Kimi walked out of the front gate of Taloba, much as she did every night. The guards had gotten used to seeing her leave around this time, and nodded to her briefly, perhaps hoping to strike up conversation with the woman. Kimi ignored them, walking past them brusquely, strapping her claws onto her arms and checking to make sure her poisons were loaded and ready in case something happened. The two guards merely shook their heads and focused on their task at hand once more. They had been informed that the girl was a bit mentally unstable, and not to provoke her unless they went in armed. Neither of them had any intention of brandishing arms over a bit of lost respect, especially in her case with her broken mind.

Kimi carefully checked the sharpness of the blades and the condition of the oils on the weapon, and triggered the mechanism that folded it against her arm. The contraption collapsed on small hinges and laid flat on her arm, the coolness of the metal against her skin comforting. It had taken a lot of training to learn how to use the weapon that she remembered from the cave, but it had come to her easily, as if she had used it before. She wondered if it was something from her past, or if it was something someone had dropped or left behind in the cave. Either way, she was now fairly competent with the weapon, and had started using a second one to make her attacks that much more deadlier. Kimi found practice in the training grounds boring, the thought of striking a wooden pole with a fake weapon somehow unsatisfying. Her life before Taloba had been a daily struggle to survive, and now she found herself wanting that feeling of not knowing what the next moment would bring back once again. This feeling led her into the woods every night, not looking for anything in particular, knowing it would find her instead.

Arriving at the edge of a small clearing that she used often, she carefully crept through the foliage, carefully watching her steps as she crept stealthily around the area, doing her best not to disturb anything as she did. Her eyes scanned the perimeter of the small clearing, looking for any sign of a sentient presence. She used this area quite a lot, and didn't want to risk running into an ambush unprepared. Her foot stepped on a small twig by accident, and she mentally cursed as she froze, looking around slowly.

Her armor helped her blend into the darkness, and she practically held her breathe as she waited for some reaction from the darkness. Nothing came forward, and she was satisfied, slowly creeping forward into the clearing with her weapons ready to spring into action. Nothing greeted her when she stopped in the middle, crouched low to the ground, sniffing the air like an animal.

Grunting, she unstrapped her leather armor and climbed a tree nearby, carefully not to leave any marks on the tree showing her passage. Strapping it on one of the higher branches with her backpack, she half climbed, half jumped back down and checked her handiwork. The armor blended nearly perfectly in the dark canopy of the foliage, and Kimi carefully worked her muscles, stretching her limbs and ligaments before making her next move. If anyone knew what she was doing they would probably lock her up for insanity, which would be completely valid, but Kimi had enough of being trapped in caves/cages/chains for one lifetime. So what if she was a bit on the free spirited side, she wouldn't hurt anyone other than herself.

Kimi was fairly deep in the jungle at this point, and the local wildlife alone could kill even an armored warrior fairly easily, much less an unarmored one. Kimi was wearing nothing but her simple black cotton tank and black pants, and her boots. Of course her weapons were still strapped to her wrist, but folded up it looked almost like a weird bracer or something. Slinking through the forest was bit easier this way, but she lost some of her invisibility with her tanned skin exposed, making her double her attentiveness to her surroundings. Kimi could feel her nerves starting to thrum with anticipation, and the familiar feeling caused a brief flash of pleasure circulate through her body from her toes to her head and back again.

At any time she could be attacked by a predator of the forest, and possibly forced into a life or death situation that she would probably not walk away from. Her senses snapped into a keen edge, and every tiny crackle of leaf underfoot, every branch carelessly brushed seemed as loud as a gunshot in her ears. Kimi rode the wave of stimulation for awhile, doing her best to creep quietly to where she needed to go.

After about a mile of stalking through the woods, a tiny light flickered ahead of her through the trees, and Kimi smiled darkly. No one camped outside of Taloba walls this close for no reason, and Kimi soon figured out why as she got closer to the small camp. Two Dhani sat at the fire, drinking from large skins of what she assumed was water. She knew they were aquatic creatures, but not much more about them than that. About the only other thing she knew was that she was told to kill them on sight, as they would probably do the same to her. They looked like a common enough group, their weapons to the side, not on them, so Kimi ruled out soldiers. They had no armor on them, and their clothes were almost ragged, their voices low in the night air.

Kimi decided they weren't merchants or normal travelers either, which meant they were probably bandits of some kind. Almost too late, Kimi noticed a third set of equipment near their tents, and she slid backward as quietly as she could. Of course, a small branch happened to be right underfoot at that point, and all conversation ceased at the fire. One of the men looked in the opposite direction of Kimi into the jungle, and jerked his head lightly in her direction. A less observant person might have missed it, but Kimi realized that their third companion must be patrolling around the perimeter and be on that side.

Kimi silently threatened her feet that she would chop them off herself if they made another noise, and she slid as quietly as she could in what she assumed was not the direction the person would come from. If she wanted to take these men out, she would need the element of surprise, without it she would be a sitting duck for the three fish. With a light flick she released her weapons, the claws springing outward silently on their well oiled hinges.

The right side of the camp was closer to where she was in relation to the other guard, so she slid left in the darkness, her heart hammering in her chest as she slid up to a tree and stopped to take note of what everyone was doing. The two men had their swords closer to them now, but had yet to draw them or even get ready in case something went wrong with the patrol. They were obviously a bit too confident that it was merely a denizen of the jungle, and would pay dearly for it.

Kimi's breath jerked to a halt as one of the lizard men appeared from around the tree, practically right on top of her. She reacted without thinking, and the fish mans eyes barely had time to recognize she was there before her right hand was at his throat, her claws severing his windpipe, no sound escaping his lips. His fishy eyes blinked once, as his blood poured from the mortal wound, and once again as his body slumped towards the ground, Kimi bracing her legs and catching his dead weight with both arms. No sound disturbed the night air, and Kimi gently laid the man down on the ground, creeping back towards the fire.

Her blood was pumping furiously now, and the the fish mans blood coated her face and chest, running down her body in a quickly cooling stream. Kimi reveled in the feeling, running her hands in the thick substance, slowly licking it from her fingers as she examined the two men at the fire once more. They glanced worriedly in the direction where the stick had broken, which was a good twenty feet away from her now. The two men argued quietly for a second before the larger or the two snatched up his sword angrily, cursing at the smaller one and spitting on the ground before walking in the direction of her previous location. Kimi could tell they had been talking in Common, but she couldn't tell exactly what had been said, her understanding of Common was fairly limited. All she knew was that the smaller man was somehow a coward, and the larger one had compared him to a baby suckling milk from something.

The large fish man disappeared into the edge of the forest and Kimi stepped out of the woods towards the man in the camp, directly into the firelight, confidence oozing from her every step. It took the man near the fire a few seconds to realize that someone had just brazenly approached their camp with no warning. Kimi was nearly halfway to him as she stalked quickly in his direction, and his eyes widened alarmingly on his head as they took in her blood covered form and the blood dripping from the mechanical claws attacked to her arm. His sword forgotten, the fish man screeched like a woman as she took the last few steps towards him, a foul smelling liquid staining the front of his pants as he slid off the log he had been sitting on, falling with his back to the campfire, his hands out protectively as if to ward her off as he blubbered incoherently at Kimi.

Kimi merely laughed at the pathetic excuse for a man, her right hand lashing out, the finely sharpened blades taking his hands off at the wrist. The man screamed, tears flowing down his face as he clutched his bloody stumps to his chest, and Kimi could hear his partner crashing through the woods towards her. He would be there momentarily, and Kimi had had enough fun with this little man. Punching quickly towards his face, her claws hit him directly in center of his face, and they punched deep into his skull. Looking over her shoulder, the firelight silhouetted her form as the other fish man burst into the clearing, his breathing ragged, rage on his face as he took in his companion's quivering death throws on the end of her claw's blades.

A dark smile lit Kimi's face and she brought up her free hand's claw blades to her mouth, her tongue running over them seductively as she lapped at the blood on it. Jerking her claw free from the dead man's skewered skull, his body fell backward into the fire, half in and half out, the fire leaping up behind Kimi from the oils in the fish man's skin. Her hair flowing wildly in the rush of air around the fire, Kimi growled at the last fish standing, her hands held out to her sides, her hips swaying like a tiger stalking its prey.

"Demon," the man said shakily, his sword clearing its scabbard in one smooth motion, the naked metal giving the large man a bit more courage. Leveling it at Kimi, she closed her eyes for a second as the thrill of the battle sent spasms of pleasure through her body. A smile lit her face and she opened her eyes, the man staring at her in disgust. A long string of words ran from the fish's mouth, but Kimi didn't bother trying to understand it, she got the general idea. The man roared and rushed her, swinging the sword like a baseball bat at her neck. Throwing her left hand out, she trapped the sword in between the blades, the metal sliding down and hitting her hand guard. The force of the blow nearly pushed through her defense, and she was forced to use her right claws as well to push it away.

She was still a novice at using both of the claws at the same time, but this was the reason she came out here every night, to get more and more used to the weapons. As the mans sword arced wide to the left, Kimi swiped at his chest with her right hand claw, pulling her left claw back towards her body in case he slashed at her again. The fish man tried to dodge the claw swipe, but was a bit too slow, the blades digging into his shirt and flesh lightly, blood blossoming on the tattered shirt. The wound wasn't fatal, but the man cried out, clutching his chest with his left arm as he backed up, his right arm quivering as he extended the tip of his sword in Kimi's direction.

His eyes were now wide with fear, and at the rate he was losing blood, his only hope for survival was to turn and run right then, and both of them realized it at the same time. The fish's sword tip dipped slightly, and Kimi lashed out with her left hand, knocking the sword to the left once more, the sword flying into the bushes from the man's grip relaxing too much. The man barely had time to scream as Kimi buried her right claws into his stomach, blood spurting from his mouth, cutting off the loud noise with a gurgle. Kimi held the man's shoulder with her left hand, staring into his eyes as she pulled the claws out and moved her grip on the weapon, letting the weapon slide off of her arm and onto the ground.

The fish man's eyes were wide with fear as blood trickled out of the side of his mouth, and Kimi laughed darkly as she slid up close to his body, her fingers held tightly together in the shape of a spear, her mouth near his ear. "Tell me if this hurts," she said in a low voice, maniacally. His eyes somehow got wider as Kimi punched her hand into the hole in his chest, coming from below his rib cage and pushing towards her goal. Her hand settled around a feebly pulsing organ, and she gripped it tightly, squeezing it a few times, the fish man's eyes rolling back into his head. With a strong jerk, Kimi tore the organ from his body, holding it up in front of his rapidly failing face. His body fell downward in a slump and Kimi took a large bite of the heart, blood running down her chin once more, mixing with the rest.

Cleaning her arm off on the ragged tatters of the dead man's shirt, she slipped her claw back on. The smell of something burning caught her nose, and Kimi turned towards the man who had fallen into the fire earlier.

"Oh man, I hate it when it gets too crispy..." she whined at the darkness.

by **Kimi of the Lost Path** on March 28th, 2012, 3:53 am

Kimi sat beside the dying campfire, carefully picking her teeth with a small fish bone, before tossing it in the fire. The yellowed piece of hardened calcium flickered briefly before it started turning black from the heat. Standing up, Kimi took a look down at herself, wanting to wipe her hands, but not seeing a suitably clean spot anywhere on her entire set of clothes. Sighing loudly, she stood up, looking around for a second to get her bearings, making sure she hadn't left anything of hers behind before she set off from the camp. Her stomach was satisfyingly full, but she was in desperate need of a bath, and her clothes could use a little cleaning before she headed back to Taloba for the night.

If she remembered her maps right, there should be a way to accomplish both nearby, and she quietly headed northwest of the camp. Kimi was a bit more aware of the twigs on the ground this time, wary of the forest's denizens once more now that she was away from the fire. Most of the animals tended to give fires a wide berth, preferring their meals more on the surprised side. The only exception was possibly a Myrian Tiger, but finding one of them in the wild randomly was a pretty rare occurrence. Kimi was more worried about the other predators, like the normal tigers, snakes, and especially the black panther. The panther would be hard to spot in this darkness, and it was a natural in the jungle that it called home. If she wasn't careful, she could walk right into one and not even notice it until it was too late.

Ahead of her, a low rumbling sound began to reach her ears, getting louder the closer she got to her destination. The balmy air started becoming even more damp than it already was, and the temperature dropped slightly. The vegetation started getting much more dense, and Kimi would have had to struggle through it a bit if it wasn't for a small animal trail popping up on her right. The trail was both a good and a bad thing, while it afforded an easy way through the vegetation, it also marked where animals frequently walked through.

Stopping, Kimi turned her head slightly and looked up and down the trail, sniffing the air for any signs of animals. Kimi caught a whiff of her own smell for the first time now that she was focusing on it, and the smell of dead fish assaulted her nostrils. She briefly wondered why she had bothered sneaking here, her smell would have repelled any predators for miles. Her hearing was useless, as the low rumbling was now a constant roar in her ear, but Kimi decided to just go for the easier path. She had her weapons if it came down to it, and most of the predators would shy away from her blood soaked form.

Heading down the path, Kimi jogged lightly toward the loud rumbling sound, the end of the path ahead of her, breaking into an open area. Kimi's face lit with a smile and she burst into a full sprint, breaking free of the jungle foliage, an expansive, open area extending out from where she stood. Kimi didn't stop running as she approached a small cliff ahead of her, knowing where it would lead. She had been here many times over the last few months, and it was almost a second home to her now. With a loud cry of joy, she leaped from the cliff with a deep spring, vaulting outward, spreading her arms to her sides and streamlining her body, then bringing them to a point over her head as she fell downward.

Kimi's hands broke through the surface of the water first, and she plunged deep into the cool water below, clothes and all. Startled fish stared at her for a split second before exploding into action, zipping away from her erratically, thinking she was some predator out to make them her next meal. The blood and other matter from her clothes slowly trailed behind her, scenting the water and scaring any fish away for a few hundred yards, sending them all downstream of the large area. Reaching the bottom of the stream, Kimi kicked off of it with all of her might, propelling her body to the surface once more, head first. She broke the surface with enough force to come out up to her waist, and she flipped her hair back out of her eyes, running one hand over her head and shaking the strands lightly as she settled back into the water. Treading the water lightly, she paddled her way towards the source of the incredible noise and mist in the area, a large waterfall.

The waterfall was easily twenty feet tall, and the sound of the water hitting the rocks below was fairly loud as you got up close to it. The closer Kimi got, the shallower the water was, and after a minute or two her feet were able to reach the bottom, and she walk-paddled her way forward until the water was only up to her waist, and she looked down at her clothes. They were fairly clean from the motions of swimming through the water, so she stripped off her shirt , and as the water reached her knees, she stripped her pants off with little hopping motions in the water. Walking to the bank, she wringed out her light shirt and pants and laid them over the rocky edge of the stream, the stone still warm from the sun's assault during the day. They were fairly lightweight, and she didn't think it would take them long to dry, even in this moist environment. If they were still a little damp later, it wasn't exactly cold here, she doubted she would freeze to death.

Walking to the waterfall wearing nothing but her undergarments and her claws, she climbed up on one of the rocks at its base and walked directly under the falling water, feeling the weight of it instantly, her legs straining for a second as the full force of the water struck her all at once. Bracing herself, she stood under it for a second before she grabbed some of the sand behind the water fall, scrubbing at her skin until it tingled. This was one of the few things she enjoyed doing lately, letting the warm water run over her as she scrubbed herself clean. She didn't know why, but this way of washing felt a lot better than just splashing water on herself in the lake. Her skin felt re-energized, and she repeated the process carefully with her hair, until the water running away from her was no longer discolored.

Kimi lost track of time for a few minutes as she let her mind wander, letting the water drum her head and shoulders, massaging the muscles, seemingly pushing the stress out of her body through her feet and downstream. She wasn't sure if she had nodded off for a second or just let her mind wander too much, but suddenly she could feel a sharp killing intent pierce her, and she froze in the water. Glancing to the left and turning her head slightly, she slowly took a step out of the water and saw a large pair of twin glowing orange eyes peering at her from the the jungle. Fear exploded in the center of her being and she reacted without even thinking, knowing that if she saw whatever was behind those eyes, she would probably die tonight. Sprinting for the opposite bank, which was luckily where her clothes were drying, she snatched them up and leaped on several rocks, every muscle in her body pushing her towards the treeline. An ear-splitting roar shook her brain, but Kimi didn't turn around.

Exploding into the foliage, Kimi headed for where she had left her armor, not stopping until her lungs were screaming for air, her side cramping. Stopping and turning around, she put her hands behind her head and took a few deep breaths, trying to control her breathing, listening for any sounds of pursuit. The jungle was quiet after her reckless run, and nothing but the sound of her own labored breathing sounded in the night air for a few minutes, until the natural wildlife returned to its natural cacophony. Sighing and feeling her labored breathing return to normal, Kimi pulled her pants on and shirt over her head, flipping her hair out from inside the collar, its dampness soaking the back of her shirt. Slowly she walked back in the direction of her clearing where she had left her armor, suddenly feeling like just crawling into her bunk and falling asleep.

Kimi approached her clearing once again and slowed as she got there, her tense nerves shooting a warning at her. Stopping, Kimi glanced around, but there was no pursuit behind her. That left one of two things, either she was being paranoid, or there was something ahead of her. Erring on the side of caution, Kimi slowly crept through the underbrush, crouched low to the ground, careful to avoid any branches or leaves that lay strewn on the ground. A slight crunch ahead of her made her freeze in place, mid step. A branch cracked on the other side of the clearing, followed by the sound of a slap and a soft curse in some foreign language.

Kimi wanted to curse herself, wondering what else could go wrong tonight. Slowly she put her foot down and crept lightly around the edge of the small area, wondering why someone or something would be sitting out here in the middle of the woods for no reason, and the closer she got to the thing's location, she realized she had committed a grave error earlier that night. She hadn't covered her tracks when she left the clearing to hunt for prey, and something had come across them and followed them here. The person was waiting near where she had left the clearing to go after the fish people, and Kimi hoped it was only one person waiting out there.

Kimi slowly unfolded her claws on her arm, careful not to let any light hit them and warn the other person of her whereabouts just yet. Creeping up to him, she saw that it was yet another one of the fish man bandits, although this one's clothes seemed in a bit better condition. He was twirling around a small blade in each hand as he watched the clearing. Kimi crept up right behind him, and drew back to stab him, one his blades flickering in the air. Moonlight caught the blade and she saw her own reflection briefly in the metal, and unfortunately so did the bandit. With a loud curse he threw himself forward, Kimi's right hand claw slashing deep furrows in the tree he had been sitting on.

The man rolled as he struck the ground, coming into the clearing with both blades held before him, pointing at her. An angry look sat on his face, and his eyes were drawn to her claws. A string of Common flowed from his mouth but Kimi was only able to understand a few words, something about a meeting, friends, and revenge. Kimi shrugged at the man and walked nonchalantly into the clearing, her claws at her sides, waiting to see what he would do. The man licked his lips and followed her with his eyes, his fishy eyes blinking at her rapidly. After another string of common that Kimi had a hard time trying to figure out, he seemed to be waiting for something, maybe some kind of answer. Kimi was tired of playing games, and she made a show of patting her belly and making a rude gesture at the man with both hands.

The man roared and sprang at her, his knives flashing at Kimi's face. Kimi watched as he led with both knives at once, and she ducked under them, feeling them whiff the air over her head. Dancing backwards, she dodged a slice with his left arm as he tried to change directions. Holding up her arms in front of her almost like a boxer, she moved in cautiously punching her claws at the man a few times with each arm, testing to see what he would do. Rising to the challenge, he slashed at her arm when she punched with her right, but she was ready for it. He barely managed to veer his arm aside as she sliced down with her left, nicking his forearm. A light bead of red appeared on his arm, and Kimi smiled darkly at her opponent, knowing how important first blood was.

The man snarled at her, spitting curses in her direction, unleashing a flurry of blows with both daggers at once, and Kimi was actually pushed back a bit. She wasn't used to fighting with both weapons just yet, and just parrying the weapons took all of her concentration. In frustration she kicked out at the man, catching him in the knee, and he stumbled backwards, Kimi pressing in after him, imitating his deadly blade dance with her own weapons. While it was a bit more clumsy than his, her weapons were more suited to close range combat than single bladed daggers, and it wasn't long before the mans hands were covered in cuts and nicks from her multiple blades. Desperation started to creep into the man's eyes, and Kimi hardened her resolve, not letting herself feel like she had won already.

Pushing the pattern of swinging her weapons faster and smoother, she started getting used to the flow of the weapons a bit better, and eventually, one of her blades nicked the mans arm, her other striking his stomach lightly in the hole in his defenses. He howled, dropping his dagger in that arms hand, his other hand grasping at his stomach, and Kimi wasted no time. Stepping forward, she punched in an uppercut with both hands hard enough to lift the man in the air briefly, her blades exploding from his back as they tore through his insides. Kicking forward, she shoved the man backwards into the clearing, not wanting to get blood all over her again. His body slid off of her blades, his face looking surprised as he hit the jungle floor, dead before he landed.

Walking forward, Kimi nudged his dead body with one boot, making sure he was actually dead. From the mess she had created of his chest, she doubted he would be, but weirder things could happen. Squatting down, she examined his face for a second before wiping her claws off on his clothing. Climbing her tree, she retrieved her pack and her armor, pulling a length of rope from the pack. Tying it around the dead fish mans feet, she lashed them together and fastened her armor on. Putting the familiar weight of the backpack on, she picked up the rope, throwing it over one shoulder and heading back towards town, hauling the fish man's body behind her.

A short while later, she was back at the gates of Taloba, and she noticed that the same guards were still at the gate. They had their weapons lowered as Kimi walked up, but she held her hands up, waiting for them to acknowledge her. The last thing she wanted was to be skewered by a tired guard in the middle of the night because they had mistaken her for an attacker. The rope in her hands fell across her shoulder as she lifted her hands, and one of the guards noticed her, saying something in low tones to the other guard. They both raised their weapons and relaxed their stances, their eyebrows upturned as they tried to see what Kimi had been dragging.

"What do you have there, Lost Path?" one of them said cautiously, wondering what the crazy woman could have been doing all this time in the woods. Hopefully it wasn't something that couldn't be allowed in the gates, then she would have to wake her commander up and have him deal with the woman. Her commander tended to be rather annoyed this late at night, but it wouldn't be the first time. The bundle behind her was elongated and vaguely human shaped, but was still half in the foliage, so the guard couldn't be sure.

Lowering her hands, Kimi grabbed the rope and hauled the fish man's body into the torchlight, then reaching down and untying her rope, stuffing it back into her bag to be dealt with later. "Went fishing," she said shortly, "Got extra." The guards merely stared open mouthed at the corpse for a second before turning a scrutinizing glance to Kimi. Kimi merely shrugged and walked past them into the gate, leaving the corpse there for them. She had no need of it, and disposing of it would be a pain. She would rather they deal with it however they wanted, it was no concern to her.

The streets of the city were quiet as she headed back to her room, undressing from the damp clothes, stripping down completely this time. Hanging the clothes on a small line, she unhooked her claws and slid them under her pillow. Laying down, she pulled up the covers to her chin, and smiled softly, pleased with how the night had gone. In moments, she was lightly asleep, but staying alert like she always did, even in the middle of the city as she was. Some habits never died.