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Drowned Beef

The bull appeared five minutes after Chion had prepared and readied the Pier for the final stand. The lights coming from the various buildings in the distance as well as the parking lot lights close by made it very easy to spot, It's body reflecting every light that hit its surface.

Chion didn't say anything as he made his way forward, neon blue hues locking eyes with the bronze bovines glowing ones. The mechanical menace looked angrier than before, steam erupting from its snout as it shook its enormous horns, stamping the pavement. A small chunk of ice remained on its head, an odd look considering that the bulls skin radiated enough heat to cause first degree burn on contact. The youth paid it little attention, however, as the two closed the distance betwixt each other. It was as if the bull knew this was their last encounter since the mammal didn't immediately charge into the fray.

Either that or it was suspicious as to why Chion was standing his ground instead of running.

"This will be the last time me and you meet, you metallic piece of hamburger meat," the white-haired adolescent declared, lowering the tip of his clothed arrow to a spot behind a trash can. "Your rampage ends here."

The bull stomped its front hoof against the bricked pavement repeatedly in response, shattering it. More steam escaped its nose, the beast lowering its head, horns pointing towards Chion. Pawing the ground, it was ready to charge forth. The line had officially been crossed with no way to back out now, for either of them. Chion was going to make sure of that.

Kicking the jar near his feet, the same one he had hid just out of sight from his mechanical friend, the white-haired youth sent the jar of burning green towards the outer region of the Pier. After that one movement, it was as if everything happened in slow motion. The bulls eyes as it noticed the jar jumping across the concrete, dangerously close to breaking, Chion raising his bow towards the beast which now had its tip lit ablaze with green, and the jar shattering against the pavement mere seconds later.

FWOOM!!

A green flame erupted into being, sparking a blaze similar to a small scale wall, only this wall was spreading rapidly. Down the length of the Pier and around the back of the now surprised behemoth, cutting both Chion and the bull from any sort of retreat. Letting out a sigh, the youth pulled back his arrow, aiming it up into the air, judging the distance and proper angle of the shot. After that, he let it fly.

The bull was shaken up, looking back and forth from the wall of flames to the white-haired youth whom was standing there watching. Unable to retreat, it was left with only one possible route. Forward.

Bang!!

The Flaming arrow slammed down from the sky a few yards behind the bovine, not close enough to hit it but certainly enough to startle it.

With a snort, the bull immediately charged forward in desperation, eyes focusing on the figure just ahead of it. Chion immediately turned around and began to run from it, sprinting as fast as he could in the same direction the bull was headed, dropping his bow and backpack as he went. The beast, taking this as a promising sign and an indication of its victims' fear and basic surrender, sped up in the process, attempting the flatten Chion as best it could.

(("Not yet,")) Chion muttered in his head, listening and feeling the increasing vibrations with his feet.

BOOM!! BOOM!

Every step taken was like an earthquake, the excited and angry monster increasing its speed without any sort of caution, looming over the white-haired youth with its metallic horns.

(("Not yet,")) The youth took a deep breath as the world seemed to come to a standstill. (("A bit further."))

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BOOM!!

(("THERE!!"))

Without a word, Chion whipped around, a previously concealed item falling into his hand. Just before jumping over the guard rail to his left, the young amnesiac hurled the Greek Fire jar straight into the head of the charging bull. With the speed the bovine was moving at, it couldn't stop even if it wanted to, the glass canister breaking apart the moment it made contact with the bulls head, exploding. From there, with its line of sight removed and it's nose covered with pure green flames, it didn't even notice when Chion dived off the edge of the Pier, narrowly avoiding the point of its horn. Unable to stop itself in time, and unable to see, the only thing the bronze bull could do was accept its fate, crashing into the cold waters of the Jamaica Bay.

Thrashing wildly, the bull didn't immediately go down without a fight, struggling in the water as it sank rapidly, dragged down by its weight. The fire still burned even when it was doused in the bays water, though admittedly looking more dulled.

As Chion climbed out of the water, he was careful to avoid any interaction with the sinking bull.

In terms of the battle between the amnesiac and the Bronze Bull, Chion Pagos was the one who had emerged victorious.

With a huff of relief, the youth fell onto his ass, heart beating rapidly.

He had been scared to all hell, just on the verge of panicking. In truth, he had wanted nothing more than to keep on running and battle the beast some other day, but it wasn't a choice he could afford. There were also so many things that could have gone wrong during the execution that it wasn't even funny. If even one thing had failed or been missing when everything started, the outcome would have been quite different. Luckily, his gamble had paid off, and his plan had gone off without any hiccups.

"I'm out of clothes, though." Chion laughed softly in relief. "They were put to good use at least."

The initial plan that the youth had come up with, the one he had made up on the fly, had relied mainly on chance, angering the bull into charging and ushering him into the Bay. After some careful thought, though, Chion came up with a better one.

Using the sets of clothing the mysterious jogger had provided in the grey backpack as well as a sharp arrowhead snapped off one of the arrows, the white-haired youth had torn up the cloth into thick strips. Tying them loosely together, Chion had then wrapped them in an extremely long oval along the pier, leaving enough room for the bull to build up speed but also close enough for Chion to properly flee towards the water. After it was all set up, all the youth had to do was light it up, cutting off the Bulls escape with some high flames. The only reason this plan had formulated in Chions head was because of a brief expirement he had tried with a bit of the Greek Fire and a clothed arrow.

He hadn't realized until after the expirement just how abnormally powerful the Greek Fire was, especially an entire jars worth of it. With it, he could stifle any means of the bulls' escape at the admitted cost of his own.

After causing the beast to panick, all the youth had to do was abuse that insecurity and incite and attack of desperation, hence the launching of the arrow. Once the attack was underway, he merely had to reaffirm the bulls judgment by fleeing in "terror" and toss away his only visible weapons. As a second measure, just to make sure there were no outliers, Chion had hid away a second jar of Greek Fire in his hoodie pocket and used it to cut off the navigational senses. On the off chance the bull had managed to stop, it would have eventually launched itself into the Bay due to being unable to see where it was going.

The moment the Bull had charged, the match had already been decided.

ARRRG!! ARRRG!! ARRRG!!!

"Shut up. Give me some quiet." Chion glanced up at the flock of birds. "I'll freeze you solid."

(("Not that I know how,")) The youth muttered internally.

Rising up from his feet, Chion made his way back towards his bag, picking up his bow along the way. Even though he had succeeded in getting rid of the metallic ground beef, he still had other matters to attend to, such as locating a place to sleep. He didn't think it wise to sleep in the open with so many bloodthirsty pidgeons around.

{{"Chi....Chion"}}

Just as the youth was picking up his bag, a voice reached his.....ears? Head? It was difficult to tell as the individual immediately slung his bag over his shoulder, bow at the ready. Blue hues flicking around, the young teen tried to identify who had been speaking to him. But no one was around save for the newly drowned bull.

"Hello?" Chion knocked an arrow. "Anyone there?"

{{"Chion!!! CHIONN!!}}

ARRRG!! ARRRG!!

A bird flew directly past the boys' line of sight for the briefest of moments, blocking his view. When it passed, Chion was no longer at the Pier, but instead, he was in a forest of some kind at the bottom of a hill.

At the very top of the hill was a large pine tree.

Utterly lost and confused, Chion immediately accepted the newest development and waited. In a day filled with crazy impossibility and strange occurrences, he was pretty much numb to whatever else happened to him.

{{"Please!! Help me!!"}}

For a split second, the white-haired youth swore the tree itself was speaking to him, but then the scene changed after another bird flew past his vision.

{{"Hey. Brain freeze, how lazy are you gonna be? You have responsibilities."}}

{{"Go easy on him, Annabeth. He only just got here."}}

A girl only slightly younger than him with curly honey blonde hair stared at Chio with stormy grey eyes, brows furrowed in frustration. Just behind her, carrying some crates, was an older fellow who looked around maybe 17 or 18 with short sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. The two looked to be close, but it was hard to tell based on an initial impression. Regardless, though, it was the scenery that mainly drew Chions attention. He wasn't able to get a good look at it since the scenery changed after a few seconds, but he absorbed enough.

An archery field, some cabins, an enormous lake, and wandering individuals of almost all ages. It was a beautiful sight, to say the least. Chion just didn't get time to enjoy it all.

Before he knew it, he was met with another scene.

An arcade room full of games, sounds and lights everywhere. It was almost blinding as Chion tried to adjust himself to the new environment. Surprisingly, other than one other individual, a young kid with pitch black hair, there wasn't anyone else around. Chion tried to understand what he was looking at in hopes of understanding why he was being shown this but he wasn't quick enough. Within seconds, the vision disappeared entirely, leaving him standing back where he was, in the middle of the Pier with a bow and a backpack.