Charlie the Hot Dog (Open)

Everyone saw him. Bright colors, a cheeky smile, and his large size made him impossible to miss. He was Charlie the Hot Dog, and he was standing in front of Charlie's Meat Locker, holding a sign to advertise a sale.

As far as mascot costumes went, this was still one of the better ones. It was new, so it didn't yet have a stench inside. The material was also quite comfortable. It didn't even itch.

But Charlie the Hot Dog didn't get paid much. And next week the sale would end. Hopefully they'd have some hours for Scrubby the Brush at the car wash. Brad, the manager of the meat locker, felt sorry for the guy sometimes.

But something was off today. Charlie's shift had ended 15 minutes ago. Usually, he was changed and gone by now. Had he lost track of time?

"Hey Charlie, wrap it up. We're closed."

The oversize hot dog turned and nodded, but didn't come inside. Weird. Brad finished cleaning and turned out the lights. He came outside and locked the door to find Charlie still there, sitting on a nearby bench.

"Hey, uh, if you need a ride home?"

There was a pause, and then Charlie shook his giant hot dog head.

"Well, alright. Be safe." A minute later, Brad was driving away. "He'll be alright," Brad told himself. "The kid's probably just tired. Resting his feet for a minute."

It was dark. Charlie the Hot Dog was still sitting in front of the meat locker. Alone. Not making a sound.

Charlie looked up. There was a girl in front of him. She asked if he was okay. There was an uncomfortable pause, and then he nodded, without speaking a word. The mascot costume was still smiling just as gleefully as possible, in odd contrast to the slow movement of the person inside.

Charlie the Hot Dog stood up, looking directly at Ryuu. He stayed that way for a few seconds. He was very tall.

He reached out an arm, attempting to remove the mask from her face.

The mascot started humming.

Row, row, row your boat...

With sudden swiftness, the Hot Dog man took a fighting stance and threw a punch at Ryuu's face. The punch would carry an inhuman amount of force behind it. The contrast in movement was extreme. Hot Dog was now moving with precision, focus, and purpose. It moved in order to steal each scrap of life from this masked girl with it's own two hands.

A red glow started to emerge from the happy, smiling mouth of the Hot Dog. Whatever was inside the mascot costume was certainly not human.

Charlie the Hot Dog did a huge back flip, 20 feet into the air. He landed gracefully on the roof of the meat locker. Reaching down, he grabbed a mini-gun, which had been waiting there all day for this occasion.

Body type and voice analysis had been correct, Robot Sniper thought. The masked human was, in fact, the same human from the other night: the dragon. Robot Sniper had no idea how the human could undergo such a transformation. But he did know that she was very dangerous. That made her a priority target. It was time to see if his design and programming were a match for such a worthy opponent.

The barrels of the mini-gun spun and screamed. A second later, an onslaught of bullets rained down on the white dragon.

Wall after wall of ice formed to defend against the swarm of bullets. It was unknown how long the target would be able to keep this up. But Robot Sniper was going to run out of ammunition soon. It was time for a new tactic.

Robot Sniper aimed above the dragon's head, above where the walls of ice had been forming. He was no longer technically aiming at her at all, but at the building behind her. At this angle, though, bullets were likely to ricochet, hopefully into the back of the unexpecting dragon.

Blue eye's blinks, seeing a dragon."T-Tatsu?!"......

As the bullets streak at the wall, a sudden blockade deflects the stream into the ground. Said blockade was a huge blade, 3 times as long as its weilder(and that was just the blade), who was concealed behind a wolfish mask:

Spoiler:

Blue eyes glare at the strange, food clothed person, plainly asking, even without speech, if they were an idiot.Growling slightly at having to do so, the figure speaks out awkwardly."Are...fool? Anocents near, risk safe!!" He turns to give the dragon a glare as well, though he gulped at his temerity.

Unexpected. An interloper had arrived. His physical speed was quite impressive, as were his defensive capabilities. He had moved in to defend the dragon. Perhaps Robot Sniper's understanding of the relationship between humans and dragons was flawed. Perhaps the two individuals were acquaintances.

The words spoken by the interloper had meaning, but no logistical value in their presented order, so Robot Sniper decided to simply ignore then. Instead, he was paying attention to the giant ball of ice that was flying through the air towards him.

He jumped to the side, avoiding the ice. He was, however, still on the rooftop, and the building itself shook from the frozen impact. Robot Sniper lost his balance and fell. He caught himself with his arms, but had to drop the mini-gun to do it. This was bad. He had given the dragon an opening.

Toji blinks as he's ignored, lowering the huge, curved blade to the ground with a clang.Frowning, he grumbles. He knew dragons were higher up on the spirit foodchain, but come on!!The boy was trying to see this stopped!Examining the dragon some more, he tilts his head.Huh...appeared more western then eastern....at least he wouldn't have to worry about fighting a maddened river god...Toji shivers, resisting the urge to dance around and rub his arms.But still, a lot of ice!!!!Jaw dropping as the dragon breathes a huge ball of ice at the strange person, the boy looks at her,then the building, then back, before thrusting his hand out at the damage, pointing it out.Grumbling, he flashsteps, grabbing the huge weapon, and blurs between the two, pointing his sword at the dragon."Explain!!!"

Primary weapon had been destroyed. A new tactic was required. Incoming attack: immobilization blast covering wide distance. Current action: evade.

With astonishing speed and grace, the human hot dog leaped to his feet and ran to the far side of the rooftop, where he jumped. He landed with a very loud thump, before the back door was torn from its hinges. The lights were all off inside the building, and the night was getting darker with every passing minute.

Robot Sniper was hiding. And if the dragon wanted to find him, it would need to come inside the small, cramped restaurant. Such a thing space was very comfortable for a dragon, but far too cramped for a dragon to move freely.

And there were surprises in place.

Toji blinks as she crushes the weapon. Whatever, things were at least a little better,now that that huge, dangerous gun was out of the way. He didn't like the way it sent out so many bullets.Blinking as she glares down at him, he gulps slightly, before looking back, though he,pressing a hidden button,deactivated the blade, making it flow like water back into the hilt, which now looked like a metal walking stick.Seeing her strive to lessen the damage, the boy sighs,blurring into the building. Maybe once he pacifyed the strange man?woman?....whatever, they could all sit down and discuss things.

The dragon turned back into a human. Now she was vulnerable. Robot Sniper was watching them in complete darkness, hidden from sight. The red lights of his eyes had been deactivated to avoid detection. He was about to reactivate his primary vision, when the short human disappeared.

Wait. Where did he go?

Sound. Breathing. The short one was standing right next to Robot Sniper.

Red eyes reactivated. The short human could only upset the mission further. Robot Sniper aimed his sniper rifle at Toji. He had shed his hot dog costume, which was currently in a heap by the back sink. Toji would see the robot in it's true form for the first time.

The sniper rifle was a long-ranged weapon, and was not ideal for close quarters like this. But the barrel was practically touching Toji. It could hardly miss.

A gunshot rang out.

Toji carefully walked in, stick held up to knock out the hotdog person.He spots a figure, and sneaks up....only to get a nasty surprise.A robot!?!?!He was so surprised, he almost didn't see the gun being raised. However, he begins reacting as the trigger is pulled, and twists his upper body barely in time. Instead of the heart peircer, the bullet ripped across the boy's chest, throwing out bright blue,glowing blood, and eliciting a pained, shocked, and somewhat angered scream.As he staggers into the wall, cracking it, he instinctively swings his weapon at the rifle, hopefully rendering of useless. Toji shakes his head as his vision begins to swim, and glares at SR with black and gold eyes, trying to get his footing.

Toji tried to slash at Robot Sniper's rifle, but the robot pulled his gun back, avoiding the attack. As a counter attack, he brought his foot up in a kick aimed at Toji's masked face. The small human appeared to be temporarily uncoordinated because of his wound, so the assassin expected the kick to land.

What Robot Sniper didn't expect was for a half human, half dragon to slam into him from behind. With her size in full dragon form, it seemed impossible for Ryuu to accelerate so quickly. The possibility that she had a hybrid form had not occurred to him. Clearly, he had much to learn about this opponent.

He would do that learning later. Right now, he was pulling his head out of a hole in the wall. Robot Sniper had dropped his rifle, and he turned around just in time to see Ryuu break it into pieces. Secondary weapon had been destroyed. Robot Sniper's combat effectiveness had been severely decreased. What now? Should he retreat? No. Toji's speed would quickly overtake him. It was best to deal with the situation at hand.

Robot Sniper jumped, aiming a two-foot kick at Ryuu's chest.

Toji gets a metal foot in the face, crying out again as the mechanically powered limb destroys a portion of his mask, and gets another wound, this one a heavily bruised and somewhat bleeding check.Slamming against the wall again, he slumps slightly, rather dazed. Struggling to focus, the boy glares at the robot as it jumps, raising his hand and letting a lightning bolt rip at SR.

Focusing on 2 opponents was a difficult task. With both of them temporarily stunned, Robot Sniper took the chance to grab a weapon. He grabbed a knife from a nearby counter top. He turned to focus on Ryuu. A swift stab of the knife would be the end of her. She was moving back and forth, and he had to focus intently on her. At the last second, he saw something from the side. Something bright. What was Toji doing?

He tried to dodge the lightning, but his metal body attracted it. An instant later, electricity was dancing all over him. Systems were malfunctioning. Smoke was rising off of him. Severe damage had been suffered to the torso.

And then Ryuu slammed into him, again. Of course, Robot Sniper was still covered in electricity, and that would pass on to her as well. They both went crashing out a window, and Robot Sniper landed hard on concrete beneath the dragon girl.

The lightning dissipated and vanished. Levels of damage were unacceptable. He had dropped the knife inside the building. Still, Robot Sniper had combat abilities left. He wrapped his arms around Ryuu and squeezed. This wasn't a hug meant to show affection. The action was meant to constrict her, and then to crush her ribs with his inhuman strength.

Toji snorts as the bolt hits, though he winces as Ryuu tackles the still lightning coated robot. Ouch....and oops...As they crash out Toji's head tilts, finally noticing the sirens, but he disregards them, staggering over to the window with his stick as support. Not...feeling up to jumping out...Sighing,the boy tilts forward....slamming into the ground with a pained yelp.Trying his best to further ignore the pain, he crawls over, punching at the bots head while his other hand grabs one of SR's arms,nattempting to stop the hug.