Sirya vs. Long Shin II - Arena Battle

[CaptainL]

Sirya hardly knew what was getting into. She just knew she didn't like it.

Sure, a few days ago she had run into some weird shapeshifting tiger man who showed up in her neck of the woods out of nowhere, and for that matter managed to pick a fight with him and win against all odds. Since then, though, things had gone back to normal. She slept in her tree, prowled around for small birds and the occasional tabuk, and got along just fine by herself. As far as she was aware, nothing was unusual; she could probably have passed off the experience as some sort of weird dream if she wasn't still a bit sore from it from time to time.

But a few days later, everything had changed. When Sirya woke from her slumber, it was dark, and she could hardly breathe. She tried to raise her voice, only to find herself gagged; she tried to get up and look for something, but found her arms and legs bound. It didn't take long for her to figure out she had been shoved into a sack and was being carried somewhere, but to where, she hardly knew. All she knew was that she hated it. Despite her animalistic mannerisms, Sirya found it a great show of disrespect to be shoved around like a common animal. No one did that on her watch. And she just wanted to give whoever was behind this a piece of her mind, but that was difficult right now.

She would try, of course. She tried to twist herself, bucking and kicking as hard as she could to loosen her binds, and raising her voice against the rag tied around her mouth in a muffled shout. Maybe, she thought, she could get herself out if she just tried hard enough. But all that got her was the faint sound of a frustrated shout from outside, before something landed against her head with a thud, and she was out cold.

When she awoke, Sirya found herself in a different setting altogether. Though it was dim, after the pitch blackness of the bag her eyes had to adjust to the flickering torchlight that showed she was in a cold stone corridor, laid out on a bench against one wall as a grate of iron bars faced out at her. Her cloak was missing, as was her spear and arrows; in desperation, Sirya tried to reach for the knife she kept in her boot, but it seemed that her captors had even thought of that. They were clever - and she hated enemies that were clever.

Pushing herself up, Sirya went over to the bars, grabbing a hold of them and shaking them as her shouts echoed down the hall. "Hey!! Whoever's out there, you're gonna be sorry!!"

Spoiler

[Mkmd13]

It would be some time before Long began to stir from underneath the tree that he rested upon from his encounter with Sirya. His wounds were slowly healing and he didn't want to impede that process by having to move around and try to find his way out of the woods. When the day turned into night and the creatures of the forest started to become more active, he knew that he needed to find some shelter and fast. Unlike Sirya, Long knows little to nothing about this area, let alone living off of the land. "Hopefully this was enough time to rest these injuries." He would say to himself as he slowly got up, using the tree as a crutch.

Long winced in pain a bit, but was able to stand and move around with little problem. Taking a couple of deep breathes, he calmed himself and grabbed his bag. His stomach rumbling now and he really wished he had that food that Sirya stole from him. "Need to find a town before it gets any darker and some food while I'm at it." Long placed a hand over his growling stomach to try and calm it down while making a brisk walk on the forest path.

Thirty minutes into his walk, something just wasn't sitting right with Long. His instincts were kicking in and they are usually on point when something was about to go down. The rustling that was coming from the bushes and trees were making him uneasy and Long decided to pick up his pace a bit more, but then, he felt nothing beneath him. A sense of weightlessness came over his body and a gasp of air would stir into his lungs as he found himself falling! Long landed hard on a patch of brown dirt below with leaves and twigs surrounding his body. It was a trap... Someone created this hole in the ground and covered it up. Sensing danger now, Long transformed into his beast form and clawed at the walls to try and climb up and out!

As he reached the top of the hole, two men were standing there. They both seemed to be carrying some sort of weapon, but Long couldn't make it out. All he cared about was getting out of this damn hole! But those two men had other plans in mind as one of them lifted up their weapon and slammed it down hard upon his skull. The impact shook his whole existence and he could taste the color purple before falling right back down to the bottom of the pit. All that he could remember after that were the two men lowering down a rope ladder and then darkness.

When he awoke, Long was still in the dark, but faint shapes could be made out for him to see. A slab of rock, a bucket, iron bars in front of him, and a faint light of a torch in the distance. He realized exactly where he was once he saw those iron bars... Someone captured him and placed him in this cell. Long couldn't tell how long he has been out for, but a sudden cry of another person quickly snapped him out of that thought. It sounded just like that girl he met in the forest! Long moved closer to the bars and looked out towards the direction of the yelling. " Hey, can you hear me? Are you locked in here too?" Long would say. He wished he knew the name of that girl, but she never told him during the last meeting.

[CaptainL]

Sirya tried calling out into the darkness, but all that came in response was an echo from down the corridor - and that made her even more frustrated, as her fingers gripped tighter around the bars in rage. She grit her teeth, doing her best to shake them, to no avail given her smaller stature. The thought of trying to bite through the bars came briefly to her mind, but even Sirya knew better than that. She wouldn't have survived for as long as she had if she didn't know that hard objects were generally not conducive to biting.

Just as the girl was starting to draw back with a huff, however, she heard another voice coming from down the hall, one that seemed...oddly familiar. Hearing it was enough to make her groan. Just her luck. Not only had she been taken prisoner somewhere the Priest-Kings of the Sardar only knew, she just had to be practically right next to that weird guy who had accosted her in the woods. She couldn't see him from where she was, but she could recognize his voice all right, and there was something instinctual that told her just what was happening. She didn't know what the odds of this could possibly be.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm locked in here alright. What's yer problem?" Her arms crossed, Sirya slumped back against the wall, shivering a bit as her bare skin touched the cold stone. "Can't ya just leave me alone?" Sure, Long Shin didn't exactly have the choice in that, but Sirya didn't care.

[Mkmd13]

There was no mistaking it! That tone she took up with him all but proved that the girl that he encountered in the woods was none other than the same girl now locked in this dungeon with him. To be quite honest, he was relieved to hear a familiar voice in this dark place, even though it sounded like she wanted nothing to do with him. "Oh, no problem at all. It just caught me off guard to hear your voice down here as well." Her second set of words cut him a bit, but he just thought that she was just as scared and confused as he was.

"I wish I could, but I don't think I will be going anywhere anytime soon. Do you know what this place is or who put us in here? The last thing I remember was falling into a pit and someone hitting me over the head with a weapon. The next thing I know I'm now locked up in this cell" Long was hoping that she could fill in the gaps to this mystery, but had a nagging suspicion that she was in the same boat as him. "Also, what is your name? I don't recall you ever telling me when I introduced myself to you before."

[CaptainL]

Yep, he definitely recognized her. With Sirya's suspicions all but confirmed, the wild girl huffed, curling up tighter against the wall as she clenched her teeth in frustration. Of all the people she could have chosen to be stuck with...

Still, at least he wasn't outwardly hostile - a fact that surprised Sirya somewhat. She was used to treating everyone she didn't know as a potential enemy, the older members of the band that raised her having taught her they would do the same, but it was evident that this guy wasn't from around here - certainly not if he could turn into a tiger! With some hesitation in her voice, Sirya decided there was no harm in answering him.

"I mean, I just woke up to find that they had tied me up an' stuffed me in a bag, like they were carrying me somewhere..." Just recalling the humiliation of being treated like a common animal was frustrating to Sirya, who spat at the corner of the room with a glare. "I tried to get out, but some bastard clubbed me over the head so I passed out, the cowards..." With a sigh, Sirya glanced back up. She also had to concede that she never had bothered to exchange names with this man - but that tended to happen when people were at one anothers' throats. "Sounds like they got you too. Name's Sirya, by the way."

Before their conversation could continue much longer, though, the sound of footsteps came echoing from down the hall - and they seemed to be growing closer by the moment.

[Mkmd13]

Long listened patiently to her story and let her finish. From what he could gather, she was kidnapped as well. Long didn't know if he was put inside of a bag, but if it were the same two guys that got her, it could of been very possible. "That's horrible, why would these people do such a thing?" He asked out loud. He knew that Sirya didn't have the answer, Long just liked to think out loud. His mystery opponent from before finally told him her name, Sirya. "Sirya huh, that's a beautiful name." He would compliment her.

As he was about to say something else to her, footsteps started to emerge from far away and his voice fell silent. Was it their captures coming to torment them even further? Long's heart started to pound in his chest from the anticipation on what was about to happen. He's prepared to fight at all cost and no matter how much they would strip him down, they could never take away his power to transform!

[CaptainL]

All Sirya had to do was cross her arms and pout at that. "Hell if I know!" she shouted in frustration. Did Long really think she knew any better than he did, if they were both caught up in this mess? If anything, Sirya, who had scarcely ever been in a building before, was even more baffled. But what baffled her more was how...oblivious Long seemed. Even if he was from away, she would still have figured he would know what to expect from strangers. "People are cruel. Ya gotta be ready for anyone you don't trust to cut your throat if ya look the wrong way..." she continued, reciting a bit of wisdom that had been taught to her by one of the elder panthers in her band.

Then, though...he had to bring up the point about her name. In that moment Sirya stopped and looked up at the wall, even acknowledging that they couldn't see each other. A faint blush was coming to her cheeks and she didn't know if she liked it. What was he trying to pull?

That wasn't a question that would get answered, however, as she heard the footsteps, causing her to freeze and watch the bars in front of her with a tense stare. A light came closer from down the corridor, and soon they would be greeted by torchlight illuminating the walls before them, coming from the flickering flames held by two large, stern-looking men. They flanked another man, smaller but still broad-shouldered and imposing, who looked at the two with his arms folded.

"I see you're both awake. I suppose I owe you an explanation..."

[Mkmd13]

The way Sirya was sounding definitely showed that she isn't lying. She was just as much in the dark about things as he was and neither of them liked this situation one bit. Though, with what she said next struck him as a bit odd. Humanity is known to be a cruel species, but not everyone is evil, at least not where he came from. Are people on this planet really that mean and evil that you couldn't trust a single human being? Not have any friends or acquaintances? As Long was pondering this, the footsteps grew closer and the light became brighter.

There were three men before and it looks as though the ringleader of the group is the smaller of the three. He spoke and his voice was just filled with ill intent. "Of course you owe us an explanation! Why did you kidnap us and throw us in these cells? We have committed no crimes to be in this kind of situation!" Long is usually known to be very cool and collected, but this has gone too far. He wasn't standing for this and he wanted out of this cell, right now!

[CaptainL]

Even if the leader might have been smaller than his two bodyguards, that seemed to bother him little, as he was undeterred by the anger in Long's voice. The tiger's shouts were only met by one of the larger men shooting a glare his way, and in the light of the torches, closer examination would show that they were both wearing tunics colored with blue and yellow stripes. Sirya could've sworn she'd remembered one of her elders saying something about that too, and she tilted her head curiously to look closer. She was really wishing she'd paid more attention now...

"I am a dealer in...exotic things," the man said. "And what draws my attention is strong warriors. My men have gathered quite a collection of the strongest men and women they could find, and brought them here to form, well...a bit of an underground fight club, you could call it. Many of those in the know come to see their duels. After all, with such a selection as I have, there's far more variety to be had than with any mere contest of fighting-slaves."

"You're WHAT?!" Sirya angrily spat at the man at this, grabbing the bars tighter as she pressed her snarling face as close as she could against them. Sirya might not have been the most attuned to social norms, but it still stirred something deep within her. It felt so unsettling to her to be treated like a mere curiosity, caged like an animal. Even if she might have acted like one, Sirya was no animal!

The man, however, was unmoved, continuing on his way. "The young panther should be an interesting one indeed. She has a spirit beyond her size. And you..." he continued, turning his attention to Long, "If the stories my men told of you being a shapeshifter are true...then you may just be the rarest yet of my findings."

[Mkmd13]

The thought of tearing open these bars ran through his head, but even in his tiger form, that just wouldn't be a possibility. Instead, after venting his frustrations, he had no choice but to listen to what the man had to say. The first rhetoric that this man spouted out was how he is focused on finding and collecting the strongest warriors around and make them fight against each other in front of an audience. Sirya's outburst was just, why in the world would he want to go through all this effort just to put on a show for people? Long could hear her cell rattle when she pounced on the bars after hearing that. Then, the man continued his explanation.

The next part would have him size up the both of them. He complimented on Sirya's spirit and her willingness to fight no matter what the size of her opponent may be. He then complimented Long about how he can shape-shift into a tiger judging by the words of his men. Long would clench his teeth even harder against each other and then say, "So, we are just collector's items to you!? Why go through all the trouble of collecting strong fighters only to make them fight each other? Hell, why would we EVEN fight for you?" There are so many questions on his mind that he was just spouting them all off one after another.