Her swords hum, delighted. They've gotten their fill of blood, and more very well may be on the way. She slides them into their sheathes, clean as can be, already drunk all the blood spattered on their bodies. Only then are they calmed.

"Oh, Sheriff! Perfect timing!"

The woman looks up from the carnage with a smile. She's still coated in flecks of her victim's blood.

A necessary sacrifice, it could be said. The sheriff could've died back near the coast, and she'd have been on her way. Now these people are dead, because a lawman comes when the law is broken, and she wasn't finished with him yet.

She won't be, til he's six feet in the ground.

"And you're so eager, too! Ooh, that look you're giving me, it's getting my heart revved up! That's good!"

Her hands fall to her hips, a dangerous look in her eyes. It's something like a wild animal, a predator on the hunt. She'd felt nothing like this when slaying those men, cutting them down like cattle, but this man - he could give her a good fight. That was rare. It almost made her heart sink, imagining the pretty corpse he'd leave behind. And then what would she do?

"C'mon, then!"

She tosses out a pokeball, and a blinding flash obscures her empoleon's wave crash. It doesn't hesitate, headed straight toward the sheriff. Its movement is relentless, intent to run him straight to the ground.

Waves are extinguished with a fist. The proud penguin pokemon looks down its beak at the ape, scorn in its eyes as the menace laughs. There is nothing but hatred in its eyes.

"Hey, now, Sheriff! Where are you manners?"

The woman's voice feigns offense, watching Navy in the tree with wide smile dancing across her lips.

"Usually a man asks a woman's name before he promises to take her home!"

The empoleon raises a flipper to the skies, bringing it downward with a heavy smash. Its pointed edge is wicked sharp, a metal claw that could cleave the pokemon in two like a hunk of clay if it was unprepared. Undoubtedly, it was, though the threat remained.

"By the way, it's Hana!"

She calls out, her voice filled with exuberance as she watches the battle unfold. Surrounded by carnage, in the midst of a battle, it seems strangely carefree.

The empoleon groans under its breath, huffing in indignation. With a flourish, it kicks off the earth, surprisingly agile for its build and stature. Twirling, both blades on its flippers cut the air, sending the bird into a defiant tailspin with a drill peck. While not capable of flight, it certainly was not immobile.

"Nope!"

Hana puts her hands on her hips.

"None of them could keep up with me if they tried!"

And Arceus, did they try. It was a commendable effort, enough that she almost felt sorry for them. She had to admire the make of the one man who had pulled his own sword on her - had it been a piece from the Iron Lady Forge, she'd have been hard-pressed to break it in two. Unfortunately, it lay shattered in the dirt at her feet.

Flames scorch the ice-made blades of the penguin, sending up a wall of steam. It falters from the heat, reeling back and cawing curses under its breath while it falls, following the infernape with its eyes. They narrow, anger growing more intense all the while. As it lands, it cleaves its blades into the earth, causing it to split in two and sending tremors all around with an earthquake.

"That's all their is to this life."

Her life, anyway. It was a life she'd chosen so long ago she couldn't turn back, not even if she tried. Not that she'd ever want to.

"Just what comes natural."

Her empoleon tears its blades from the earth, sending up spikes of earth in Navy's direction. They stab up at him, threatening to cleave him apart without his infernape's intervention. Hana just looks on, with a confident smile, watching to see what he'd do.

Earth is shattered before it reaches the sheriff. Hana glares at him through the dust. Her empoleon stands upright, waiting for the infernape to make its response.

"Lived long enough. Got this far, and I ain't dyin' yet."

This battlefield isn't the one she'll die on. She's sure of that. It emboldens her, and she stabs back at his own ideals.

"What'd'you, care, Sheriff? Ain't people like me the only reason you've got a job? Sheriff, Elite Four - you fight too, don't you?"

Her hands find her swords on her hips. She's done playing around. If he's getting philosophical, has time for asking questions, then all the fun's already drained out of it. Now it's just another chore.

"Tell me, before I kill you. What's your reason for living, huh?"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ZtV9qMQe0

Hana bares her fangs as she laughs. There's a fierce look in her eye, as if that's ignited something in her. She stares down Navy intently, her breath fogging in the chill of the mountain air. She speaks to him very deliberately.

"You're just delaying the inevitable. Everyone dies. Some sooner, some later. That's just the truth. One day, you'll be gone, too. And all those people you propped up will go down with you. You really wanna shoulder that burden? That's on you."

She speaks knowingly, like she's seen it happen time and time again. Strong people, propping everything up. The fall that comes when they finally drop at the edge of her blade, it's more catastrophic than if they'd have never tried at all.

Like a dam that bursts and kills a whole town. Might've been better that that town had never been built on the riverbed to begin with, defying nature in their hubris.

"The difference between us is this: you fight in order to die, I fight in order to live. It's that simple."

Which one of them is more insane for it?

As the greatsword flies her direction, she grasps her own blades tight. They are not Kalosian or Galarian, but they do manage to meet the blade head-on, resisting the bend caused by its weight. She is pushed back, but she manages to shunt her crossed blades forward and break the stalemate, kicking the sword's shield as she pushes back.

"Still, guess I should consider myself lucky - least I get to fight a delusional guy like you!"

Her empoleon summons another wave crash, tearing through the distance between it and the infernape, slicing just as wildly as its master.

The fae light burns her eyes, but she refuses to look away. To gaze into self-delusion and blink would only be a sign of surrender. She takes the blast head-on, her swords crying out in pain as they erect an iron defense.

"HYAH!!"

She lets all the pain of her wrists buckling out through her lungs, locking eyes with Navidson now he's close. Those steel-flecked eyes cut harder than the blade in her hands, and she growls.

"'Crazy'? What else does society call people like you 'n' me, who see the truth of the world?"

He's just accepted their terms. Chose to live among them, like a wolf among wooloo. Does he think that makes him better than her?

"I just don't accept it, that's all!"

She thrusts her swords forward, letting the weight of his sword slow him as she darts to the side and delivers two iron heads at his flank.

Beaten, bruised, and burnt, her empoleon sighs in exhaustion. A mist congeals on his breath, covering himself in a veil. A beat, and then the prideful penguin emerges from the fog to slice at the ape, returning as fast as it emerges with a flip turn. A tactic to win, at all costs - surrendering even his pride.