{When all Fails}-Ash

[{J I S A}]

The field was empty, the air pleasantly warm. Summer was taking it's own time this year, but the first edge of it brought clear skies, sunshine and bearable heat. The scent of flowers and grass filled the air all across the woodlands and forests that flanked Highwolf Field. Not that there'd be any wolves at this time of day, the sun and heat was too much for them, and that's exactly why a darkly clothed figure stood in the middle of the field, surveying her surroundings. No wolves meant that there wasn't a reason for Ash's horse side to feel threatened. If I can't stop them from hurting her, then I shall teach her how to take care of herself properly. Jisa had thought to herself rather blackly. Everything was taking a toll on her already damaged mind, so her emotions weren't exactly upbeat anymore than they had been before. The muscles in her shoulders flexed as the tall Shifter reveled in the sunshine, soaking it in though her skin. Earlier that morning she had told Ash to meet her at Highwolf Field if she wanted to, no other information was given. If the girl wanted to come then she would, but if not, then Jisa would be on her way in about an hour. No harm done. The truth was, Jisa wanted to test herself as well. She hadn't physically fought anyone since the day she met Ash, almost three months ago. The fresh air filled her lungs as she took a deep breath in, the fog lifting from her mind as she did so. Everything seemed to be painfully sharp in contrast to what it had been in the bad lighting of a human-made lamp. Tension melted away from her and into the ground, open spaces were calming- safe. Being inside was not something Jisa enjoyed very much. And so she waited.

[RacingBelle]

The sun was bright and warm on my back, wonderful for a spring day. I looked around for Jisa. She had told me, in her usual mysterious way, to meet her at Highwolf field. I had almost shuddered at the thought, I hadn't been there too much since wolves lived there and well half of me was terrified of wolves, but I knew that in the daylight not too many wolves would dare go out and attack something openly. I spotted a black figure in the field, it must have been Jisa dress as always in dark clothes. Not that I could blame her, dark clothes were better camouflage than bright clothes. I myself was in black today. Not that I was copying Jisa. Not too long ago I had another encounter with insane lady. All black would have helped me a lot. I was learning my lessons as they came, so now I approached the figure with caution. It could have been someone else for all I knew. Caution quickly faded away to curiosity as I could smell that familiar shifter scent. I didn't call out to her though. Instead I stayed quiet, wondering if I could sneak up on her. No no. Bad idea. "Hey." I said. Normal tone, nothing loud; nothing showing too much emotion. I wonder what we were really doing here though. With Jisa involved there was no telling.

[{J I S A}]

A lot of people say that having a mini-me would be cool... but truthfully it's strange. Of course, from the slight breeze heading toward Jisa, she smelled the familiar scent of a teenage girl shifter before she turned to see Ash approaching. Ash was wearing black, which threw Jisa off guard. Pushing back the urge to tilt her head inquiringly, the Shifter squared her shoulders and looked at the rapidly changing Shifter in front of her. God it was so hard just to make life seem a little more fun or at least try to make jokes and play around for once. A sudden thought jumped into Jisa's jumbled string of thoughts, pushing everything out the way. Shrugging off the smirk that was fighting to get to her face, Jisa lifted her chin and raised an eyebrow, walking toward the Shifter with measured steps. The dangerous languid movement in her stride showed the evident panther inside of her. Poking Ash in the stomach, Jisa smiled.

"What's with the black?"

Something like excitement escaped Jisa's guarded eyes- just as the Shifter sprung toward the younger girl, arm's outstretched. Maybe controlled 'violence' could be the answer sometimes. Not that Jisa was actually going to try to hurt Ash.

[RacingBelle]

"I had another run in with...um that EF cop. Camouflaged you could--" I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence. Not that I cared, it was kinda lame anyway. I could see that Jisa was kinda teasing. In her own way. I darted to the side as Jisa sprung at me arms outstretched, like the panther she really was hunting prey. What the heck?! I was puzzled. That had caught me off guard but how the heck did I dodge that quick move? I guess it was thanks to insane lady. I stared at Jisa a little confuse. Was this her idea of...well fun? I guess so! I didn't want to 'attack' first. Matter of fact, I didn't quite know how against someone with obvious experience like Jisa. I decided to just go with the flow and took what came after me. Literally. I kept my eyes trained on the other shifter, knowing that the next time I wouldn't be so lucky as to dodge her.

[{J I S A}]

That was a first. Ash dodged out of the way, but Jisa righted herself so she wouldn't fly head first into the ground. Instead, she slid on her feet to the ground. Not as graceful as she would have liked but still, it was better than eating dirt. Straightening up, Jisa eyed Ash carefully, moving only slightly. It looked as if the panther would have to make the first move, or second... or third. Whichever one it was now. This time, Jisa only calmly advanced, her face tight with concentration. See it was all a big competition to her. Life always had been. No smiles now. In a liquid movement Jisa dropped and let one leg slip out from under her weight toward Ash's ankle. Hopefully, if all went right, Ash would fall forward or lose her balance in some way. Just in case of the falling forward, Jisa gathered herself and rolled out of the way. See, this was the only fun Jisa knew. The most part of it came from the bewilderment clear on Ash's face as the 'fight' had started.

[RacingBelle]

I let my face darken into concentration. Eyes now stone cold and lips tight. Alright what now? Go with it and learn. I answered my own question. It looked as if Jisa might have been a little surprised that I had dodged her first attempt, on the inside. I resisted the triumphant smile that teased my face as she prevented herself from taking a header into the dirt. I knew this was the beginning. Not the end. One fluid movement of Jisa's leg caught my ankle. Now where did I see that before? I asked myself sarcastically as I fell a little to the side but mostly forward. My first reaction was to leap up and start again. But I did something to the contrary. I rolled to one side, hoping that possibly I evaded Jisa's next move. Probably not.

[{J I S A}]

A dull thump alerted the Shifter that her move had worked, as it usually did and she shot up to her feet in one fluid motion. Ash had rolled to the side and Jisa tilted her head, striding toward her slowly. Looks like it were two opposites at work here. One all offensive and the other very defensive. While Jisa approved of not wasting energy attacking until an opponent had started to tire and make mistakes, running away and defending could only go so far. Flicking her hair out of her face, Jisa stared down at the other Shifter.

"Come on then. Attack me."

It would be easy to after all, Jisa was completely unguarded. This was a clever trick she had learned. Sometimes, keeping your guard down made people hesitate. Being too open made opponents hesitate in confusion or made them too eager. Either way it didn't always end well. Jisa relaxed as she waited expectantly.

[RacingBelle]

I jumped up, surprised. Come on then. Attack me. Um...not what I expected. You should know better though, expect the unexpected with Jisa. I looked at Jisa almost like she was crazy but alright then what ever you want. I wasn't aiming to hurt her, nor was she aiming to hurt me, this was after all only play. I think. Letting my instincts and memories take over I twisted sideways and my foot flew out, aiming for Jisa's gut. My motive: knock the air out of her. My fist had instinctively flew to my face, more for balance than defense. It was a classic round-house kick. Don't catch my foot with your hand. I thought. More than likely she would. After all that would be the smart thing to do right? Or step out of the way. Both would be very effective.

[{J I S A}]

Jisa wasn't too surprised that she always caught at least one person off guard a day. Most would say that almost everything the Panther Shifter did was unexpected, but really- nobody knew her well enough to get that everything she did was predictable. Funny how that works in her favor huh? So lost in her smug thoughts was she, that she missed Ash's shift in position. Her kick was too fast to grab and would still catch her if she dodged to the side. Instinctively her arm moved to take the brunt of the hit. The impact was staggering but Jisa only stepped back and braced herself back upright. The throbbing in her arm told her that it would hurt in the morning. Instead of just letting Ash's foot hit the ground or go back under her, Jisa shoved it back as hard as she could- which was pretty hard. It wouldn't hurt but it had the potential to unbalance a person on one leg. Tingling in her skin alerted her that she was getting too into it. It would not be a good idea to shift at the moment, so she took a deep breath and pulled her arm back to herself, getting ready for Ash's next move.

[RacingBelle]

What?! I thought, slightly shocked that my foot had hit some part of her body instead of being stopped in the air. Apparently I had caught Jisa off guard. Now that was a first. Though She shoved my foot back to me. Hard. By this time my foot was already curving back to me slightly. I hopped backwards once but in the end I fell. Umph. Immediately I sprang back onto my feet, that leg feeling a little jarred from Jisa's shove. Jisa was ready, this time I could expect something in return. I lifted my right leg in a front kick but at the last moment, I slammed it down onto the ground and jumped, sending my left leg up into the same kick that my right leg would have done if I didn't do a 'mock' kick with it. I had no particular aim, just sort of the upper body/head region. Now what would she do? I resisted the urge to cock my head. This reminded me of two warriors sparring. That what we were doing. Sparring. I had to remind myself that this wasn't a real fight just two friends 'feeling their oats'.

[{J I S A}]

Well that worked. Jisa realized just how bad at this she was getting. It was like a wild wolf being tamed, it just sucked the power out of it and once released it realized how out of it it was. If that made any sense. As Ash's right leg lifted, Jisa shifted her weight to put more force on her right side and dodged out of the way slightly. Only enough to let the leg go past her. But get this, that leg never did. Instead the left one came straight toward her. Thankfully, Jisa never relaxed. Doing the one thing she knew to do, Jisa turned to the side and leaned back so that Ash's foot went just in front of her upper chest. Instead of going with a pause like all of the prior fight, Jisa didn't wait. Her side on position made it harder to do so but Jisa tensed her muscles and sprung at Ash, her arms slightly bent for impact and positioned for Ash's shoulders. The close proximity made this move slightly more easy, the small amount of power inflicted would be optimum.

[RacingBelle]

That kick missed but only slightly because Jisa had turned. Though I could see that before I launched the kick, Jisa was expecting the right one to lash out at her. She only just dodged that just in time and then, once again, leaped at me. This time I had no time to dodge, because my foot was just returning to my body, as her outstretched arms hit my shoulders. We both hit the dirt. Or I did, that's for sure. I wasn't sure what I should do now. I writhed, trying to loosen the grip on my shoulders. I was reminded of a bucking horse as I did so. Fighting to get the person off of your back. In my case I was just trying to get someone off me. Ignore everything, except your opponent. Unless your running away and then-- Stop it! Your thinking too much. I scolded. That's how your caught off guard. My focus returned to the matter at hand. I wonder where our sparring was going. Probably sore muscles and bruises. Yup that was it.

[{J I S A}]

Both Jisa and Ash tumbled to the ground, though Jisa suspected that Ash got the worst of it. Ash writhed and fought against Jisa's ever-tightening grip. The panther shifter felt the familiar increase in heart rate and faraway feeling set upon her. Quickly realizing that she would changed in a moment, she suddenly released Ash and got to her feet. She fought the change with all of her willpower. A headache started up as Jisa shut her eyes and walked away from Ash. It could be the fact that Ash was prey. At least to her panther side. Her body heat continued to pick up. What the hell? Jisa screamed at herself. Usually just fighting it away worked. Her headache grew until she could barely open her eyes. A string of curses flowed through her splitting skull, but Jisa minded that she didn't end up yelling them out loud. She clutched at her head, trying to drown out... whatever it was causing her headache. Jisa had been holding her breath, and noticing this she let out a sigh- and changed with it. Suddenly her perspective was lowered drastically and she was growling furiously. Her tail lashed back and forth as she faced the girl. The instinct was to attack, but Jisa pulled her human mind forward and controlled herself.

[RacingBelle]

My nails dug into my hands as I fought that iron like grip. Slight panic was starting to set in because I was prey and she was well..a predator. I didn't like to be pinned down anyhow. Then suddenly the grip was gone. I sprang up taking advantage of the momentary respite. I saw Jisa walking away. I took a step forward. What was going on? I saw a black animal in the grass where Jisa had stood before. Wolf! I almost cried. I sprung back, startled. Prey instincts, not for the first time, took over my imagination. It's gonna eat me! Was the thought that screamed through my body. I resisted the urge to shift and run away. No. No. No. This wasn't a wolf. This is Jisa. It was the first time that I had clearly seen her shift and it surprised me. The black panther's tail lashed and once more those darned instincts of mine where telling me twenty different things. To run, to fight, anything but stand here. Jisa really did look like she was going to eat me. Wouldn't that be like...human eating human? What was that word? I was trying to distract myself. I knew what the word was perfectly well. I started babbling nonsense under my breath, similar what a horse owner does to their frightened horse. Well that was what I was. A half frightened shifter. "Jisa? Um...nice panther? Nice kitty?" I asked tentatively. I was babbling again, just trying to reasure myself that this was Jisa my friend and she wasn't going to eat me. As I asked myself before, where was this leading us to?

[{J I S A}]

Ash came back to her feet and seemed to be fighting her animal instincts. Jisa tried to tone down the aggression and seem less threatening. Her claws sunk into the ground and retracted again. Swallowing, the panther dropped to her belly and tried to stifle the constant growls coming from her muzzle. Suddenly she was very tired from fighting her shift and sighed, her sides shrinking. Ash was talking in a crooning sort of voice. Not that Jisa could really make sense of the words. Her tail slowed to only twitching. Curling her tail around her paws, Jisa concentrated her blue mixed amber eyes on Ash's own brown ones.