//------------------------------// // Battering Gusts // Story: Into That Wild Blue Yonder // by CptBrony //------------------------------// “Your friend is dead,” the young man announced when he stepped out of the door. Everypony in the village froze as if time had come to a screeching halt. They all stared at him in shock that he would come out, with a hint of awe at the human now in his obviously traditional human outfit. Gibbs, off to the side by a house, wore a look of horror that the young man had come out to expose himself to the aggressive bounty hunters. They, on the other hand, just stared blankly. They had known a human was in the area, they had known that unsavory characters controlled this area. But for the human to tell them that, it must have meant that he was the one who killed their guy. The very one they sent their guy to find had killed him. “Who are you?” the griffon asked. “Doesn’t matter,” the young man said. “You won’t be needing that information.” “Boss, that’s the human,” one of the ponies, pony #1 as the young man now chose to call him, said. “I know, dumb butt,” the griffon replied. “You killed him?” pony #2 asked incredulously. “How? How could YOU kill-“ “Because I’m not a pathetic pile of waste matter?” the young man responded, frustrated. What was so unthreatening about the young man? He had always had to deal with this. “Our friend was quite a fighter,” the gryphon replied. “Your friend sucked donkey balls at fighting,” the young man deadpanned. “My mother was a donkey, you little piece of-“ pony #1 started angrily. “Now, now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” the griffon said with his talons, extended fully, up in the air. A show of force, but a hope not to use it. “We don’t need to be fighting right now.” “You sure about that?” the young man replied. “Yes, I am,” the griffon replied. "He’ll smack yer sorry, money-grubbing keasters back to Griffonia!” the voice of Colm Winds echoed from an unknown place. “And how is that?” pony #2 asked. “I guess you’ll have to find out,” the young man said. He was trying to goad them into a fight. If they were allowed to leave, they would sell the information of the young man’s whereabouts to the Tong thugs, and that couldn’t be allowed. “I’d rather not,” the griffon said. “So what’s happening now?” the young man asked. “Your friend tried to force me to go back with him.” “I have no intention of doing that,” the griffon said. “I know a tough fight when I see one. You already killed one of us, we don’t need to lose another while taking you down. Three on one is still in our favor, after all.” “I suppose that’s true,” the young man admitted. Fighting three of them was likely a foolish endeavor. Truth be told, the young man wasn’t even at full strength. “So, I’ll give you an option,” the griffon said. “You can come with us, and there will be no fuss. We won’t harm you on the way out unless you make us. Or, you can stay here, and we simply sell the information of your location to the Tong.” The young man looked around. If that were to happen, this village would burn to the ground. Everyone here would die, indiscriminately. Maybe they were just ponies, but the young man didn’t want that kind of blood on his hands. At the same time, he wouldn’t go with them, and that was a give. He only had one choice. “I suppose I’ll go,” the young man said, earning more than a few gasps from the villagers. “I knew you’d make the right decision,” the griffon said. “We won’t even cuff you, you’re so reasonable.” “You’re too kind,” the young man said as he walked up to them. When he was amongst them, he looked each of them over. “So, were you originally a gang of four?” “Yes, we were,” pony #1 seethed. “What’s the matter?” the young man said. “Miss your butt buddy?” Pony #1 ran up to him and uppercutted him in the gut. It hurt a lot, what with the ivory hoof and all, but the amount of force behind it was minimal. Pony legs weren’t designed to do that, it seemed. “Maybe you’ll be my new one,” pony #1 said. The young man put his hand on the pony’s back. “I think not,” he said darkly. Without warning, he shot his hand up to grab the back of the pony’s head and placed his left hand under his jaw, then twisted with all his might to end pony #1. It all happened too fast for the others to respond, and by the time their weapons were drawn, the young man had drawn a small sword from pony #1’s sheath on his side and hopped backwards into a ready stance. “I have things to do, sorry,” the young man said. “This could have been so much easier,” the griffon said with a snarl. At least, that’s how the young man would describe it. The griffon had a beak, so it was hardly a human expression. “Really? It was three on one before,” the young man said. “Now it’s only two.” “Still enough for you!” pony #2 shouted. The griffon and pony split up and tried to attack the young man from opposite sides. The young man knew this tactic, though, and responded by running forward to where they had just been, then spun around to go after the pony one on one very quickly. The pony could barely respond as the young man swung the small sword toward him faster than any being he had ever seen yet in his life. He just managed to get his own blade in the way and prevent the sword from being buried in his rump, but the young man was on him again when he ran forward and wrapped his arms around the pony’s torso. With a massive surge of power, the young man threw the pony over himself and onto the ground between himself and the griffon. The pony felt his ribs scream at him with the impact, but managed to ignore it and roll away to recover while his boss hopped over him with his talons bared and attacked the young man. The griffon tried to stab his talons at the young man, but he stuff the attempted stab by shoving the blade vertically into the space between two of the griffon’s talons. The griffon squawked in pain and jumped to the side to look at the wound. It wasn’t too deep, really only minor, but it hurt like a monster where it was between his talons. While he was busy looking at the wound, the young man was on the assault of his pony friend once again. The pony had just gotten up and was already walking backwards on his hind legs to avoid being cut to ribbons by the young man with the blade. The pony tried to jump up and give him a good aerial buck to crack the young man’s ribs and incapacitate him, but he poorly judged how long it would take, and the young man was already between his hind legs when he went for the buck. The young man reached up and grabbed him by the throat, then threw him straight to the ground. The pony felt the strike against his larynx and coughed furiously, but the young man put pressure on his neck and he couldn’t breath. His saving grace was his boss tackling the young man off of him, and the two of them rolled away. The young man dropped the blade and rolled back to his feet to face the griffon without a weapon. Although, from how he moved, pony #2 could tell he didn’t really need a weapon. The griffon went for a slash with his talons, but the young man rushed him and stuff the attack with his left hand and struck him with his right fist in the belly. He then put his right arm down to block an attempted counter from the griffon’s other set of talons and jumped up, sending his knee straight into the griffon’s head and knocking him back. The griffon fell back hard and slumped to the ground in a daze. The young man turned his attention back to pony #2, who had just gotten back up and had his sword ready. “All I ask is that you let me bust your jaw,” the young man said. “You can’t tell anyone where I am that way.” “What if we promise not to tell?” pony #2 asked. “Not good enough,” the young man replied. “I need assurance that you won’t talk, at least not before I leave.” “I need my jaw to eat,” pony #2 said. “Liquid diet,” the young man explained briefly. “Drink your food.” “Screw that!” pony #2 said. He roared as he sprinted forward and went for a slash. The young man stuck his hand out and caught the pony’s hoof before it could come down, then held it tightly in place as he stared the pony in the eyes. Pony #2 stared back, first with unbridled rage, but it turned quickly to unbridled fear as he knew what was to come. “I don’t want to die,” he said. “It’s just a jaw,” the young man said. “It won’t-“ Behind the young man, the griffon had gotten up and, with blurred vision and primal rage, bellowed his fury and rushed the young man. The young man heard him coming from a mile away, though, and spun around to place pony #2 in between himself and the griffon. The griffon was rushing forward with his talons out for blood. He stabbed them forward blindly, expecting to find a human target, but instead found his own teammate, and dug them deep into his body, eliciting a horrified gasp from pony #2. The young man blinked in shock and opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. Second slater, the pony in his grip was dead, and the unsupported weight fell to the ground, dragging the griffon with it. The crowd of villagers gasped and cried out from the horrific sight as the griffon pulled his talons out of his friend. For a moment, he just looked at them, catatonic form the blood he was looking at. None of it belonged to the human, and the human had not drawn a single drop of it. “Oh, no,” the griffon said, tears welling up in his eyes. “I didn’t want this to happen,” the young man said, still in shock. “I just wanted to break your jaws, keep you from talking…” “Let me guess; liquid diet?” the griffon said, tears fully streaming down his face and looking resentfully at the clearly stronger human. “That’s it, huh? Make us suffer?” The young man frowned. “You were going to do the same for me, and don’t bother arguing,” the young man said. “You can still walk away. With a busted jaw.” “No,” the griffon said. He stood up and stepped backwards. “I’m leaving right now, and you and this little village are gonna burn in Tartarus!” The young man couldn’t catch the griffon before he leapt at the nearest house to get a good point to take off from, so he did the next best thing; he went for pony #2’s weapons on his person. The young man grabbed two small swords, then turned his attention back to the griffon. He was just landing on the rooftop, recovering by rubbing his head for a moment, before he was to take off. The young man knew he really only had one shot at this, so he took every moment he could. Judging how far the griffon was and how high he was, the young man felt for the wind and found nothing. The griffon looked down at him and grimaced, but then smiled spitefully, knowing that this information could kill him and the ponies who saved him. As the griffon turned away to take flight, he stood up and flared his wings only to be forced forward as something struck him in the back. Whatever it was, it felt like it had cut him a little, too, and he totally lost his balance and went tumbling off of the roof toward the ground. The griffon struck the ground with a cringe-inducing thud, and several inaudible cracks as he landed on his open wings. A horrible, sharp pain surged through his body from his wings, drawing a long, pained scream from the griffon. When he tried to move, he found out his left leg was also busted, and he wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon. Moments later, the young man came running from the other side of the house. When he saw the griffon in a crumpled heap on the ground, he stopped and simply looked at it, pity in his eyes, yet, with a sense of satisfaction. Slowly, h made his way over to the griffon and knelt by his side. “This could have been less painful,” the young man said. “Right,” the griffon replied, dripping with sarcasm. “A broken beak for me, drinking my food until I get a prosthetic? Way less painful.” “Than a broken body and bloody back, and two more dead teammates? One from your own talons? I’d say so,” the young man said. “Just kill me,” the griffon said. “End my misery now.” “I won’t do that,” the young man said. “It’s that, or starve from lack of work and lack of an ability to go home,” the griffon said. “End my suffering.” The young man stood. “Alright. You wanna die so bad?” he asked with frustration and pity. He dropped a sword next to the griffon. “Your arms still work. Do it yourself.” The griffon looked at the sword that the young man dropped before him. It disgusted him; it had been his teammate’s sword before the griffon killed him by accident in a blind fury. He couldn’t even touch it. “I can’t,” the griffon said. “Then you don’t want to die,” the young man said. “Gibbs!” “Yes?” Gibbs replied, coming around the corner of the house. “Where’s a town that you can bring this guy to a doctor?” the young man asked. “To the east of here, about a day and a half of travel,” Gibbs replied. “When someone has time, take him there to get him fixed up,” the young man said, stepping away from the griffon. “No!” the griffon shouted. “Kill me! Do it!” The young man ignored him. “He can’t give two or three ponies much trouble. And I’ll be long gone by the time he encounters anyone to talk to. Also, break that beak on the way just in case. He’ll get a prosthetic someday.” “Um, a-alright,” Gibbs said, unsure of the merciful brutality. “NO!” the griffon shouted. “GET BACK HERE AND KILL ME, YOU COWARD! I AM YAFID! I WILL COME FOR YOU!” “Bust that beak now, and his screaming will stop,” the young man suggested as he disappeared from view. Yafid couldn’t resist what the villagers dished out to him, silencing his screams for the time being and knocking him out. They carried him back to one of the houses where they would hold him until the next day, when they would begin the long journey of the start of his recovery. The young man spared his life, but the villagers universally agreed, this Yafid character was probably going to be back someday. And for the young man, that day would be quite the reckoning. The young man was making some questionable decisions, the kind that would certainly come back down the road. But once he was gone, the villagers would lose mind of him, and life would be normal again. That was all they really wanted.