Neaion vs. Tearbite.

^{Big Game Hunting in the Deep Blue Sea}

'If you don't know where the enemy is once they have fled, make them come to you. Taunts, coercion, appearance of weakness- a foe is hard pressed to resist attack if you seem disadvantaged. Feign unwariness, overconfidence, even foolishness. When they show their eager hand, strike and cut it off.'

Raedia, 45th Queen of Planet Jahlia

-----

"...Where is he...come on!" The insectoid alien referred to as Rem was frantically zipping hither-thither across the small area of the rather wide expanse of ocean.

"...He's underwater. Would've figured that you'd have noticed that much," Neaion responded dryly- she was never exactly fond of water, per say, but it was a necessary evil she'd learned to live with. Still, this was more water than she'd appreciate, really.

"He THREATENED me! That can't go unpunished!" Rem cried indignantly.

"Oh, hush for a minute, will you?" Neaion sighed. 'Good help is so hard to find...'

The duo were now over what was called the Eleven Year Sea, according to her new recruit. Neaion had found that the girl made a particularly useful vat of information- apparently she'd been on the planet a while now, and knew her way around a bit. Already Neaion had learned of some rather... interesting locales she knew she'd just HAVE to visit...unfortunately this whole proceeding, which was supposed to have been a quick diversionary bit of fun at some poor fool's expense had caused more trouble than she'd expected.

'I ought to just yank her away and say forget this whole thing. Can't believe that I decided to even bother with this old joke of hers more than necessary anyway...'

-------

It hadn't been long after the agreement of the two to work together (in Rem's eyes, anyway, Neaion saw it as gaining a new soldier) that they'd decided to return to the tavern from which they'd both 'met'. This time, it seemed eyes hadn't bothered to miss their presence- there was only a smattering of eyes that raised at the two entering, which quickly lowered with a twin set of pupil-less glares.

Neaion turned to Rem, looking the taller alien dead in the eye (easy levitation was a great thing, sometimes.) "Get me a drink." It wasn't a request.

The alien gave a small start, but surprisingly didn't argue the point. "What kind?"

"...Meh. Surprise me. It's all mostly junk anyway."

What she had gotten wasn't TOO bad, in all actuality. The barkeep had called it a Bloody Mary. 'Well, at least there was blood involved somehow.'

Rem herself hadn't taken much more than a sip of the drink she'd gotten. "So tell me, Neaion-"

"Miss Neaion, you mean," the alien had corrected quickly.

"...Sorry. Miss Neaion, then." There was obvious discomfort and tension on Rem's part, what with having to speak in such a fashion, but fortunately it seemed to not distract her from her point. "Tell me, exactly what plans do have, in terms of giving me power?"

Neaion snorted. "Well, it's not going to happen to someone like you overnight, obviously. It'll take time. Even I didn't become my fantastic self in short order. It took lessons. Training. And of course,  naturally impeccable talent. In any case, I'd say that my first lesson for you would be- you have three seconds to state your business before I or my associate kill you where you stand."

That last part had come rather suddenly to the figure that approached them, albeit not entirely unexpected. "Actually, it is your associate that I wish to speak to," the stranger voiced.

"...You know her?" Neaion turned to face the intruder of their privacy fully, curiosity now sparked as to who this being was that may have had history with her charge.

It appeared to be a human, from what she could tell. Long hair, glasses, and an odd choice of dress- she wasn't exactly an human fashion expert, but it evoked thoughts of 'plain' and 'boring' to her.

All in all, she could most likely snap in half faster than she could blink. Heck, it seemed that even Rem could probably handle this one without too much trouble, if Neaion had a mind to let her.

The stranger spoke again, his face seemingly iron. "Yes...you may call me Tearbite. She and I have had an encounter before in the past. It was somewhat humiliating for me... but nonetheless, I am here for another reason."

Rem seemed rather nonchalant about the encounter. "I can't say I quite remember ever dealing with you, although you DO look somewhat familiar. But either way, you're being something of a pest, so-"

In the next second, a rather sharp, gleaming katana had been drawn- from seemingly out of nowhere, mind...and placed at Neaion's neck.

Neaion looked down at the threatening weapon with what amounted to little more than casual interest. "Pardon me, but...you seem to have placed your sword at my neck, in what SEEMS to be a threatening manner. I presume that this is a mistake?"

The stranger known as Tearbite raised an eyebrow in what seemed to be relative confusion, but this lasted all of a second before it melted back in his cold demeanor. "Not at all. From my observations of you prior to your reentry into the bar, your attitude indicates that you are are the most likely to perform a rather rash action in this situation, not to mention that, combined with your apparent power, this marks you as a rather big threat. Thus, I have incentive to remove you from the situation-

"Oh, HUSH." Neaion proclaimed derisively. "And put that thing away. You'll just get yourself hurt more with it out. I mean, seriously My race has children's toys more dangerous that THAT."

Suddenly Rem burst out laughing. "BAHAHAHA! NOW I remember you!"

Both the stranger and Neaion eyed Rem oddly.

Rem could barely speak between guffaws. "Srrnkk...This guy...bahaha...has a fishy form...ehaha...and I CAUGHT HIM LIKE ONE!"
...Neaion grinned. Really? "I'm sorry, what?" The stranger could only glower at the moment.

Somehow, Rem was able to spit it out again. "Psshhhtt...fishy man over there got caught like a fiiish!" And Rem cracked up again, desperately holding her sides. Even Neaion began cracking up a bit, chuckling with a wide grin on her face.

"ENOUGH!" Tearbite ROARED almost, bringing everyone in the bar who wasn't already gazing at the spectacle to see.

"I've had quite enough of you and your sick humor!" With that, the blade was whipped around, and instantly made for Rem's neck. Fortunately for the bug, however, it contacted only iron- raising her arm in one quick motion, Rem's biological stinger had absorbed the blow rather effectively.

"And you...as for that technology you mentioned-" he turned to face the other creature that had been there, only to find her not in her seat anymore, the drinking glass emptied. Before he could verbalize his wonderment, he felt a poke on his shoulder.

To his good credit, the merman had the sense to turn around sword first, slicing through the air at neck level in a smooth fashion.

To Neaion's good credit, she had the sense to see this coming (or at least had the reflexes to react in time), and quickly ducked, retaliating with a rather forceful punch to the jaw.

Said punch launched Tearbite clean through the doors of the bar, crashing to sprawl on the ground outside, his sword having flown clean out of his hand, clattering a distance away. Before he could get up, hands were around his throat- oddly smooth hands, that reminded him nearly of a snake's smooth skin. And solid gray eyes were looking into his all too closely.

"You just tried to attack one of my own. You'll die for that, I hope you know." With that, she shot off into the air, and with the man still in hand raced for the coastline, Rem bursting out of the tavern and following moments later.

It didn't take them long to hit the coastline, really. "You've made me pretty angry, I hope you know. NO one assaults ME and gets away with it cleanly. But to also make an attempt at one of my associates? Plain foolis- wha?"

Neaion had unfortunately been so caught up in her own spiel that she had failed to notice the man's shape had begun to change. Suddenly, before she could honestly register it, she was holding not a human, but something else entirely- some odd type of aquatic mammal...with a LOT of sharp teeth.

And he made quite an effort to use them too- the somewhat sedate, if angry man before had taken to snapping at her as a rabid beast would, struggling and squirming for his life. The change had taken her by surprise- to the point where she had unconsciously let go in her disgust...and let him drop clean to the ocean floor before she regained herself.

Sigh. "...OH, GREAT!" And Rem had chosen this moment to finish catching up.

"Did you deal with him?"

As Neaion was about to call the whole thing off, she spotted a mass moving rather quickly away from the scene. "...No. But I'm going to."

-------

It had taken her some doing, but she had kept her distance- high enough and far enough so that she was sure that he wouldn't be able to spot her, while still keeping an eye on the blob that she was sure indicated his movement. He moved erratically, to be sure- twisting this way and that at random...if she didn't know any better, she'd say that he was still aware of her...

Hence, the one time she had elected to just go to heck with it and dive in after the slippery thing, she learned something about herself.

While she may not have been exactly blind in water, she STILL didn't like the lack of what she saw- much of it was plain blurry. Quickly surfacing after a bit of instinctual flailing, she had hurriedly declared the idea faulty. And now she had lost sight of him...however, stretching her senses, she had been able to pick up errant fragments of thoughts, but nothing solid.

'Really, I should look into actually training more with that,' Neaion thought. 'My sister would've probably figured out his entire life, read anything of note, then convinced this guy to kill himself already and she wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.'

"Stupid fish..." Neaion muttered.

At this time, Rem was busy conversing with her insects at the moment.

"Do not worry, my children," she cooed. "There will be food soon- we will feast."

This display did not go unnoticed by Neaion. "Why are you treating them so softly?"

"They are my children," Rem responded without missing a beat. "I care for them."

"You use them in battle. You send them out to risk death," Neaion pointed out. "And you can still care for them like that?"

Rem, to her surprise, nodded. "Of course. As long as they serve me well- and they always do-, then I care for them. They are my children and I'll never say anything less of them."

"..."

-------

A loud resounding *crack*, and she had been sent flying. The young, implike creature's bones rattled at the impact against the far wall. Neaion didn't dare raise her head, not yet.

"Do you know why that happened, my child?" The voice was strong. A powerful voice, one capable of care and rage, yet seemingly always exuded an air of class and regality.

Her mother was always hard to read. "No, mother. And yet I deserved it. I failed you."

An unseen force picked her up, head still hanging. It was a long way across the throne room, the largest, ornate building made with only the finest and most sturdy materials on Jahlia- no simple thief would be able to make their way in what was essentially both a fortress and a mansion. Right now, however, it was more akin to a torture chamber. As it occasionally was.

"You did, child. And failing to understand when and where a city, a person, a planet... is most vulnerable, will earn you such pain, every time. And more than that, even. But this is what I'm here for. I hurt you now so that you will not hurt yourself later. You WILL learn. And you will succeed. Now face the board again, and identify the movements PROPERLY this time. Fail again and you pain will be more than the last." The queen's long, thick tail slammed down hard on the floor, the tile-like material quickly shattering on impact.

It'd be replaced. Everything that didn't meet the queen's satisfaction was replaced eventually.

Everything.

-------

"...Not me." Neaion hadn't even noticed that she had spoken out loud.

Rem blinked. "What did you say? Not you what?"

Neaion jolted herself out of her memories. "Nothing. Nothing..." Neaion sighed. "How can we fish this stupid thing out?"

It took her a second to realize that she had answered her own question. "...Wait here." With that, she promptly dunked herself in the water again, making a resounding splash as she did so. Rem could only stare. "Didn't she just try that?"

Indeed she had. But whereas she'd merely attempted to tackle him and pound him into mush, this time was different. Eyes open only slightly, she made a grand struggle; propelling herself through the water, she made a frantic look, head quickly swiveling, turning herself up, down all around- truly she didn't have much of any experience in underwater affairs.

And this was what Tearbite was hoping for. He had been waiting, wondering what would follow next. 'If I could get one good bite on her, she wouldn't be much of a threat anymore- but then again...she DID mention technology. That could be interesting.' He had indeed noticed her last dive in, and it was easy to see she had little underwater experience once he got a good look- but would she really try it again? He had honestly thought not, but apparently she thought higher of herself. 'Well. Guess I may get my information after all. Hm. They say overconfidence is the greatest enemy. Shame she doesn't know that,' he thought as he approached, mouth open.

'A shame YOU don't know that, you idiot!'

Tearbite had practically no time to react to the voice in his head as the body in front of him lunged for his mouth, left hand gripping hardily onto his lower jaw.  It was all Tearbite could do to struggle as Neaion quickly rounded the creature, wrapping her legs around his lower torso and firmly clamping her right hand onto Tearbite's skull.

'Open WIDE!'

Before he had time to process that statement, Neaion pulled, forcing his mouth open...and with a grunt of rage audible even underwater, sharply pulled her hands in opposite directions, effectively breaking Tearbite's jaw open with a loud CRACK. Fortunately, Tearbite didn't have long to endure the pain. A sharp elbow to the heard quickly sent his vision to nothing but black.

-------

"Aaagghhh..." Groggly awakening, Tearbite was surprised he was mostly in one piece. He had been sure that he was done with upon passing out- his body used as food or something just as bad. His jaw was still in incredible pain...but it wasn't as his scaled form remembered it. Instead, it seemed to be his human form. 'I must've changed back when I was unconscious...but where am I...it's so hot here... and dry...wait...NO!'

With a start, he threw himself upright, hoping to see something OTHER than what he saw.

"No...no no no no no..."

Nothing. Absolutely nothing but red terrain and rocks as far as he could see. They hadn't been merciful enough to simply kill him. No; they wanted him to suffer out of his element, in a barren land. In his frantic looking, he couldn't help but notice a note stuck to his chest. In haste he ripped it off, hoping for something, ANYTHING in it that might help him. There was only one line.

'They say that 'Those who fail and live have learned; But those who fail and die have taught.'

Raedia, 45th Queen of Planet Jahlia.