She eyes the puddle of mercury. A body made of living metal, fluid as water but still alive. A departure from all sense. The small eye glances up at her, nervous. She could almost think it was cowering the way it shakes, though she can't tell if that's just its way of trying to keep its shape. It feels on the verge of melting away entirely, leaving just a golden nut behind.

"Kill it, huh?"

She doesn't see how to make it bleed. Usually, that was how things died. But she'd fought enough strange pokemon, she doesn't count it out as a possibility just because the thing is made of inorganic material.

She draws her blade, and in a flash like lightning, her sword lunges directly for the center of the nut, where the black eye peers back at her.

Kill it.

Then they could move on from this tedium.

Anything can die.[break]
Her actions show how well she understands that truth. One action leads to the next. Her actions chart a course that would lead, in the natural world, to a creature's death.[break]
They do not dwell within the natural world. Not here.[break]
Steel rises quick as a lightning bolt. Though it could not lash out, it can reshape itself quick enough to block a human blow. It begins to rise like a colossus of eld from the puddle, locking her blade within the liquid. The Melmetal's eyes fall upon her, ready to defend itself from this tigress who would take its life.[break]
"Nice try, but it's got yer sword now."[break]
Behind her, the dog paces. His own sword rests against the wall, watching the fireworks. He is only here to assess and advise. If she wishes to escape the steel giant, she must do so on her own merits. There's no take-backs and second chances in the jungle.

Aoki Hana

Eyes widen in surprise as the liquid metal contorts itself around her blade and yanks it free. She lets out a laugh of surprise. The cute little lump on the floor does nothing but holds it, but she can respect that. Not many things live when the edge of a blade is stuck into their flesh.

"Hah! Lucky I got more'n one!"

She spanks the small, metallic pokemon with the flat of her left-hand blade, grasping at the handle and trying to free her right-hand one from the depths of the metal. All the while, the little pokemon lets out a startled grunt of surprise, and a drop of grease from the golden nut on its head that seems akin to a tear.

Was it... crying?

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The little blob before her doesn't react at first. All it does is whimper, as Hana smacks it with the flat of her blade again. Then, one more time, before she plants her foot on it and wrenches her sword free.

She inspects it for damage, while more black grease leaks onto the floor in front of her. It'll probably leave a stain, but nothing worse than the blood stains she's left in her wake all her life. She looks down at it with a grin on her face.

"Damn, never seen my sword this sharp before! You do this on purpose, lil' guy?"

The question seems to take the whimpering, crying little blob off guard. Slowly, it blinks away its tears, and raises its eye to meet the sword that hangs overhead. Sure enough, the light gleaming off the blade is proof of its wicked edge. The strange little pokemon stares in wonder, as if asking itself whether it did, in fact, just do that. Little appendages search its body, as if wondering exactly how, but that doesn't seem to concern Hana any.

"Yo, Inoue... ain't this the sharpest blade you've ever laid eyes on?" She shows him, stepping to the side. Then, with a look down at the pokemon, she clicks her tongue. "... You sure we should be killing this thing? Where'd you get it, anyhow?"

"Yer..." He is at a loss for words. For once, the shoe is on the other foot. "Y-Yer...yer..." What can a dog say, when he has not been properly graced with the gift of tongues? Is this how his Senpai and all the others feel when he says silly things.[break]
"Yer...not really tryin' to kill it, Haga. It's, uh, we're, we're assessin' what yer like when you've gotta fight a god." His own sword tilts down at the Melmetal. "Yer. Alright. Alright." He slaps himself on the cheek with his free hand, looking down at the massive puddle.[break]
"Alright! Enough playin' around! Show us whatchu got, just like ya did back when General Barcode n' me caught ya! Took a whole gabble of Garchomp to take ya down back then! Show her just how sharp you can make her sword!" He prays the command will reach it, even if it seems far more prone to crying just now than fighting.

Aoki Hana

Hana gives him an ugly look. Somehow, it feels like she's offended.

"What, you expected me to just hammer at it like some berserker? That what you think of me, Inoue? I'm not some numbskull, some blood-drunk warrior without a brain. A samurai's gotta get in the right headspace to slay his foes, right? And if they're not human, especially so!"

She gestures at him with her incredibly-sharp blade. Then, tilting her head, she hefts her sword over her shoulder and gives him a reassuring smile.

"Relax. Relaaax. All in due time, my little dog. We've got all the time in the world, don't we? Not like the League are gonna attack Sootopolis tomorrow, eh?"

She laughs to herself, eyeing the quivering quicksilver foe in front of her. Somehow it seems like it's gotten bigger since a moment ago. Maybe his pep talk has gotten through to it. Maybe it had just quit cowering.

She looks up, at that big, dumb eye as it wipes away a tear.

"Alright, alright. You ready? Now, watch and learn!"

She takes a single step forward and hacks across the living metal's torso. As it passes through, droplets of mercury splash across the ceiling, walls, and floor, parting for the sake of her blade. If it were flesh and blood, it would be a clean kill. However, the lumbering mass just stands there, staring. Only a moment later does it realize anything's happened, and it reaches down to assess its wounds. Metal-flesh flows into the gap created by Hana's sword, and the pokemon rebuilds itself without even thinking.

A shrug, and it delivers a punch to Hana's gut that sends her reeling backward. She winces, letting out a breathless grunt. All the air knocked out of her.

"... F... fuck!"

Faltering, the Melmetal reaches out as if to help. Then, quickly, it remembers its assignment and bows its head. Its sad, watery eye would've surely accompanied a frown, had it the proper anatomy.

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She rounds on him almost immediately, a spark of anger in her eyes as he calls her names. Her Doublade bristle as well, newly-sharp edges calling for his blood. She resists their pull, but she stares a hole through him in that moment. Sooner she'd drive a sword through him, but she stops herself.

And then she laughs.

"Hah! Dog loves to bark, don't it?"

He may have seniority over her, but he wasn't a higher rank. Even if he was, she doubt she'd care. She'd made it on her own long enough to know when it was worth cutting out the tongue of those who would disrespect you. This one's insults ran off her like a spring rain.

"These're pokemon, aren't they?" She lifts her blades to show them off. The Melmetal nods along, agreeing with her. "Besides... If I'm gonna kill somethin', I wanna do it with my own hand!"

The nodding Melmetal is stabbed through the gut, and it lets out a squeak of pain. She rips open its gut, and liquid mercury falls to the floor as if it were disemboweled. Without a moment's hesitation, Hana rips both swords free and turns on her heel, aiming for the neck.

She almost succeeds, a hand reaching out and grabbing both swords before they connect. They cut through metallic flesh and are embedded in the creature's hand, before it halts their momentum and stares at her. Its eye remains wet, and it whimpers slightly before it puts all its weight into a mega punch that sends Hana flying across the room and into the wall.

She slumps forward, then falls to her knees, blood running down the side of her cheek.

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Blood hits the tatami at Inoue's feet.

Hana raises herself up, wiping her chin on the back of her sleeve and eyeing the metallic creature seriously for the first time.

"Fuck... your doc. I ain't finished... yet."

She struggles to stand, but she brushes Hitoshi away with her sword. One hand lets go of her sword and goes to her hip. The Doublade remains floating at her side long enough for her to find the ball, and toss it.

The blinding flash of light obscures the shape inside long enough for it to begin spinning, obscuring its true shape. Nevertheless, it's clear what this pokemon is by the angry squeak ishe makes, and the sharp blades that protrude from her swirling drill run, burying herself deep into mercury flesh.

"... Dig out its heart!" Hana snarls, cheering the mole on.

The Melmetal stumbles backward, trying and failing to grasp the Excadrill as she burrows in its chest. Its hands were made for punching, not grasping, and that weakness becomes clearly evident the more the mole digs, sending liquid metal flying about the room.

Finally, with a sharp metallic clang that sounds like a cry of pain, the Melmetal's eye turns from sad to angry. Its temperament quickly grows aggressive, smashing its own chest with its gigantic iron fists, once, then twice -- a double iron bash -- and the drill is stopped in her tracks.

Lost momentum, the Excadrill leaps back and stumbles. Her claws, dug into the tatami, keep her upright. She's dizzy, but the bent barbs of her drill are the only real harm, shielding iher from the Melmetal's angry strike. She glares at her foe, the hole in the Melmetal's chest gradually filling itself as they stare each other down.

"... There... that's more like it, huh...?"

Hana growls, breathlessly, addressing Hitoshi but keeping her eyes trained on the now-hostile legendary pokemon. Her Excadrill regains her balance, and immediately leaps for it again.

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Beads of mercury on the tatami floor begin to quiver and reform themselves, but each slash seems to pare more away than the legendary pokemon can regain at once.

Panting, Hana and her Excadrill hack away at the Melmetal, who grows more gaunt in appearance as it goes on, but grows no less fierce. Enraged, still leaking grease from the eye in the nut on its head, it fights back against its bullies, but to little avail. Each punch grows slower, and the two of them seem to grow faster as their blood begins to boil.

"What do I fight for!?"

Hana asks Inoue with a roar, slashing against the bracers on the metal giant's wrists so that it cannot block a metal claw coming from behind. Her swords scatter sparks across the room, and she's pushed back several paces.

"A sharpedo swims... a staraptor soars... a lycanroc hunts...!"

She crosses the room again, to contest the Melmetal's tantrum. It seems to quiver in quiet sobs as she meets it again and again, not relenting in spite of the pokemon's obvious fear.

"Might as well ask why I breathe!!"

She feints beneath a heavy arm, one that could nearly knock her head off if she misjudged it. She digs her blades in deep, her Exacadrill doing the same from behind, and all at once the living metal seems to stop moving. It looks down at its body, tiny and emaciated, splattered across the room, painting the floor, the ceiling, the walls, and Hana and her Excadrill besides.

Then, Hana pulls her swords free and slips them into their scabbard, the nut atop the legendary pokemon's head slipping to the floor with a violent clang. It blinks up at her, questioningly. She kneels down, and smiles.