Just Deserts (HAHADOYOUGETIT!!?LOLZ) (solo)

Satoshi Ishikawa lay buried underneath a mound of sand, waiting without moving a muscle for the next unfortunate Hollow to come near him. Desert hunting was typically a boring affair, something that Satoshi did not much care for doing, generally, but at the moment, he was feeling rather tired, and did not feel like expending the effort involved in actually stalking around a city or perhaps the Menos Forest looking for suitable meals. Anyway, his eyes peered across the dunes of the desert, just waiting for a sign of movement.

And there it was, approaching fast- one, no, two Hollows. One was apparently chasing the other. The one fleeing was smaller, though still large-ish; it resembled a badger, and Satoshi was mildly impressed that it could move so fast on such short legs. Its pursuer was insect-like in appearance, resembling a stag beetle or something. It was shuffling along at a more or less equal pace on its six also short legs. This might prove fruitful.

Satoshi watched as the pair drew nearer; the badger one whizzed by without Satoshi doing anything. As the beetle passed, though, Satoshi heaved himself out of the sand and onto its carapace. His claws dug into the chitinous armor as he held onto the beast's back. With the added weight, the beetle could no longer keep up to his prey. Not a problem. Satoshi fired two fireballs in succession. The first landed directly ahead of the badger, sending it rearing up in panic; the second crashed into its back, hurling it face first into the flames of the first.

That being done, he focused his attention on the beetle. "You know, you have an extremely bad weak point," he informed his mount. "Your entire back is unprotected except for this stuff, and trust me, I can break through it." Satoshi then chomped down with his sabertooth fangs and broke the layer of armor, revealing hot blood and guts underneath. Delicious. Insect hollows were like walnuts- hard on the outside, but the flesh on the inside; very nutritious. Satoshi went to town on the exposed flesh, gulping it down as the movements of his ride slowly weakened and stilled.

After that meal, he headed over to the smoking flesh of his second kill. "Shameful," he said as he began his second course.

Unfortunately, today's hunt was not going nearly as well as his previous one. At the moment, Satoshi Ishikawa was being chased by another Hollow, this one was reminiscent of a lioness, and it clearly was hoping to have a feline for dinner. Satoshi's six legs pumped furiously to get away from this threat. He had to admit, she was stronger than him in many respects; her spiritual pressure was stronger, and she seemed more adept at using her claws then he was at using his own. He had only survived being ambushed by her because she had been on his front, and he had surprised her with a Hiendan from his mouth into her face.

The only thing he had going for him at the moment was that he was so far able to stay away from her, meaning they were at least of equal speed. Satoshi chanced a glance over his shoulder to see her gaining on him. His tentacles whipped back and fired a pair of fireballs into her path. Though it slowed her down, she was able to nimbly dodge out of the way. Satoshi gritted his teeth and continued to run as fast as he could. The one other thing he supposed he had going for him was that she did not appear to be conscious in the sense of intelligence. He would have to outsmart her. But how?

Satoshi had only one way of manipulating what she did, and that was his fireballs. And then, he could only manipulate her movement, not anything else. He would have to resort to tiring her out, and then striking. Satoshi hurled a fireball backward directly in front of her, and then a second aimed at the same place a split second later. As anticipated, she jumped over the first fireball, but was unable to dodge the second, which took her square in the face. She was able to shake the pain off however, and continue her pursuit.

Satoshi kept running, kept throwing fireballs back and connecting with them, slowly wearing her down. Finally, one fireball hit her in the chest, and sent her tumbling backward onto her back. Quick as a flash of lightning, Satoshi made an aboutface and leaped onto her stomach. His jaws came down and tore out her throat, ending this threat to his life. His chest heaved with exertion as he looked down at his next meal. "Good god I hope I don't have to go through that again..."