Gaigax: Jubilife Arc
Chapter 16: The Huntress

While the conflict on the east side of Jubilife had resided, things were just heating up on the west side. Lady Moore had disposed of two grunts before the power device went off and rendered the remaining grunts useless.

"Now I'm all warmed up, where are you at cowboy" spoke Lady Moore confidently. She strode up the door that she was supposed to destroy. But instead of attacking the woman just turned her back to the door, and waited. Her feet were shoulder width apart, her fists were tight and her eyes were darting around. This power plant was quite close to the exit that Haven was guarding. It would only be a matter of time before he was told of the grunt beating and rushed over to defuse the situation. When that happened, Moore planned to defuse him. Suddenly glowing, black orbs were dropped above Moore's head. There were two of them that collided onto her shoulders and pushed her down slightly. Lady Moore hastily flipped away from her away. She landed now facing the tower, since her attack came from above. Sure enough there was a man in a cowboy hat posing at the top of the white building.

"The cowboy, is right here. The hunter always gets his prey. Put it up swords Moore, let us fight" Haven announced with a determined grin. Lady Moore just grinded her teeth in anger.

"You ask for a fight after you got in cheap attack, how noble of you" Lady pointed out. Haven just paid no mind to that sentence.

"That is just how the hunter hunts" he yelled after jumping off the roof. Icicles developed off the tips of Lady Moore's delicate fingers. With the extension of her arms and the flick of her wrists, these icicle spears were shot towards their target. A simple clap from Haven released a wave of fire that melted the ice like it was nothing. He followed that attack up by released two brilliant balls of fire. These wisps were a beautiful blend of purple and black with an orange coat around them. They were thrown barely behind Lady Moore, causing her to stumble forward. Due to the time of the day her shadow was mostly facing in front of her now. Her shadow was like a pool for Haven as he dropped right into it. Lady Moore knew what was about to happen, he pop up any second now and attack. Instinctively Moore sprayed two ice beams across the shadows from her wrist. As long as she remained still, her shadow was completely covered. A shadowy fist emerged and the ice shattered beneath it. The rest of Haven's body rose from the whole with his other fist covered in shadowy mist as well and ready to fire. But the shattered ice was too much of a giveaway that he was coming. Her long, right arm flowed around and smacked Haven in the side with a force palm. The impact swung Haven into the precious Gaigax building. Lady Moore followed that move up with a combination by spraying beams of ice onto Haven's forearms, imprisoning him to the white tower. "You can't cage the predator" Haven taunted followed by a deep inhale. Lady Moore was preparing more icicles on her fingers but a purple wind released from Haven's mouth slowed down her action. The misty wind was so thick that Moore couldn't even see the fingers in front of her. Still the persistent woman fired the icicles towards where Haven was before the ominous wind.

"I'm not trying to cage myself" Moore replied with a frustrated grin. Haven wasn't making any sounds and attacks. Moore decided that he couldn't break free yet and shot out another round of icicle spears. As the ghostly mist faded, a new shadowy substance manifested itself directly in Moore's face. Shadows swirled around Lady's bare shoulders and clinched to them; halting her from getting away. A sheepish grin formed now as the rest of Haven's body followed and came out of the shadows. While the aura was still there Haven's head was slammed into Lady Moore's own head. His claw grip was released and the woman was sent sliding back. The shadowy aura dispersed off his body has the cowboy adjusted his hat back into place.

"How do you like that Shadow Force, it is much more impressive than any weak Shadow Sneak you can muster" proudly bragged Haven.

"The attack takes too long to prepare, you have to do some serious set up to be able to use it in battle and the payout isn't worth it." Haven did not appreciate hearing that about his proud attack and his face grew cold. Another deep breath from him sprayed a misty wind in the air. Immediately Moore slide back her left foot and rose up her arms to shoulder height in a defensive stance. After a few moments a shadowy figure gripped its strong hands around Moore's shoulders. The hands pierced right through the shoulders and shattered her entire body. Haven's appearance was just starting to come out of the shadowy figure when this happened. His body finished coming back, coated in the shadowy aura but Haven could barely do anything when this was happening. He was vulnerable to be attacked and five icicles jabbed into his stomach proved this to be correct. A force palm was behind this icicle spear as Moore appeared out of her ice clone's shadow. Haven responded by flying back with twin shadow punches. Lady Moore prepared to defend herself with force palm but the shadow fists turned into shadow balls. Moore was too close to dodge but too far away to counter. Again here shoulders were smashed into by the murky aura, this time the attack came from the front. A strong burst of fire from a clap was Haven's way of following his attack up. Lady Moore's response was to fall forward lifeless. She slunk into her shadow to completely avoid the attack. The shadow scooted along backwards under the warm pavement before making way for Lady Moore to emerge at a safe distance.

"No matter how much you run, you can't evade the hunter. You were losing during our first fight; do you think you can change things overnight?" Both fighters were pretty equally exhausted it appeared. Though Lady Moore was slightly more beat up, she was trying to hide which she did quite well.

"There is this little thing called learning. Last time you were able to stay back and defuse all of my attacks with your Heat Wave. Notice how that hasn't happened yet, I've adjusted my timing of when to throw ice attacks. I've changed. It's the beauty of combat, but the way you fight is ugly." Lady Moore pushed off her back left foot and charged into the fray. Haven flicked his hat and let it soar through the air. With nothing to slow him down the cowboy charged towards his opponent with his fists glowing. His fingers shot away from the fist formation and brought the aura with them. The shadowy aura now resembled a knife off of Haven's hands.

"I don't need to change, I'm at my peak." The two combatants were locked in close range now. Haven slashed upwards and extended his legs to throw in more power. Shadowy blades tore through Lady Moore's stomach like it was ice. Which it actually was ice. "Tricks don't work twice." The shadow ball slash had diminished now and Haven got to work preparing another attack. Two shadow balls were loaded and aimed at Lady Moore's shadow. Before he could attack though he received a cold blast of water straight to the face. The water attack was lobbed in an orb and it exploded once it came in contact with Haven. The attack itself didn't do much besides push Haven back a step and soak him. The attack did not generate form the shadows but instead from Lady Moore's own hands right from where she was standing. Haven was a bit shocked at this large misprediction by himself. Slash marks still remained on Moore's chest as an armor of ice with the slash marks in them slide off her chest.

"It was a new trick, dummy." The woman's hands clasps together before being shot out to the sides and allowed a cold wind to spin around Haven. While the gust didn't do any damage the wind wouldn't allow Haven to move at all as well as sliding him back even further. The tower once again was the cowboy's cushion. His energy was getting so low that the cold actually affected him, turning his skin red and flowing with goosebumbs. He was pissed that she was playing with him now, two attacks that didn't do any damage were not cool. Haven was not a man that wanted to be taken lightly; he was a winner. He prepared to fire shadow balls yet again but it took more work to move his arms up to fire them due the cold. The nice and warm Moore had places both palms forward and released two ice beams that soared through the air like victorious eagles. The water helped amplify the attack and Haven saw his torso get frozen. His shoulders were included in this freezing, limiting his arm movements. Though the cold already took out the possibility of Haven moving. His skin was already starting to go from red to blue. The sound of his teeth chattering filled the air. Lady Moore could no longer hide in her pain though as she was panting heavily. But the match was over for Haven, he was taken out of commission. Well he should've been at least, but a large step forward proved otherwise. The ice covered his chest began to crack as Haven pulled and wiggled at it with his chest and shoulder muscles.

"The hunter does not rest, until his prey is caught" Haven boldly announced. He continued to drudge forward with heavy step after heavy step. Lady Moore just sighed at this pathetic showing. A single icicle spear was generated in her palm and effortlessly flicked at Haven's forehead. Haven was lifelessly sent backwards, unconscious.

"I don't even have any sort of reply to that" Lady Moore mumbled to herself. She victoriously returned to the door that was blocking her true target. At least the target that the plan requires her to destroy, Moore just really wanted to fight Haven again.

The final conflict located in the middle of the city, at the biggest tower in town. Zan and Sky marched together towards the thick door that was blocking their way. The guards had learned to steer clear now that they were no match. The duo looked confident and pissed, the perfect combination. Sky marched like she owned the place, because she was about to fight to get it back. Their bodies immersed in fire and lighting in preparation to knock the door down like it was nothing. But before their attacks were released, the door opened, inviting them inside.

With all of the security guards out of the way, all the remains are the top two agents of Gaigax themselves. But because Moore and Wes succeeded does not mean the allies have won. The main tower is the most important of them all and will only be rendered useless from inside. Zan and Sky must succeed and they plan to. But their opponents are as pissed as they are. Vraska's fury is unleashed all on the next Iron Fist: Demons