Morgur breathed in deeply through his nostrils, taking in the scent of his surroundings. He’d found himself in a small deserted lumber village with no pray in sight, at least for now. It seemed the former inhabitants were wise enough to leave this perilous place, so dangerously close to the ever expanding demon territory. Now all that was left behind was a bunch of empty wooden shacks and cottages, placed a moderate distance apart in a seemingly random pattern and surrounded by a five-foot-tall wooden wall.

But just when he was about to conclude that there was no prey for him here, he noticed something. The smell of a human, or at least something close to it. A crossbreed perhaps. He didn't know where exactly it was but he knew it was near. That meant there was only one thing left to do: find it and hunt it down. He unsheathed his ax from the holster on his back and began prowling his way through the seemingly empty village in search for his prey.

Rick was in a hut, searching through empty desks, under beds, and everywhere in between. He was searching for a trinket his good friend, who used to live in the village, made for his daughter. Rick didn't mind going back to this now "ghost village", he helped evacuate, he was always ready to help a friend and he had been bored lately and was looking for some action, or trouble... Just as Rick was going to leave the little hut his he sensed danger,he always paid attention too his gut which had saved him, and gotten him into some trouble, plenty of times. The shape shifter smiled, one of the blasted demons was probably close, he was going to get the action he was hoping for. Rick pulled out his gun and waited until he could hear something.

With surprising agility, Morgur climbed his way up the side of one of the wooden shacks to get a better view of the surrounding ghost village. His sense of smell was strong enough to let him know the human was near, but not exactly where he was. As he scanned around, looking for signs of movement, he let out a loud terrible shriek and loudly banged his ax against his shield, as if to challenge whoever was hiding out there.

That’s when he spotted it, the silhouette of a person visible through one of the windows of a nearby hut. He couldn't identify the creature through such a small opening, but it was all he needed to know. He inhaled strongly through his nostrils and when he exhaled, a jet of flame erupted from his jaws, aimed towards the thatched roofing of the hut. He was trying to force his prey to come out into the open. The dry straw and reed rapidly caught flame and began burning on their own, threatening to spread the fire to the rest of the all-wooden hut. Morgur once again shrieked at his target, challenging it to either fight or flee.

It took a total of 10 seconds of waiting until Rick got what he wanted, action. He heard the ferocious roar and the clattering of the ax and shield, he even saw the evil creature but, he waited. He waited so till it would come near, unfortunately for Rick the beast saw him too, and the beast could breath fire. As soon as the roof started to burn Rick shot a few rounds out of the window and ran outside continued to fire. As he was unleashing his rounds he tried to analyze the creature, it had horns, it was ugly, and it had a kick-butt weapon and shield. Rick smiled, again, he was going to have some fun.

Morgur’s challenge had been accepted. He saw the human raise its weapon as it was making its way out of the burning hut, and before he could react he felt one bullet impacting against his chest and a second against his shoulder, both chipping off shards of his rock-like skin. In response, he swiftly rose his shield to intercept the assault, immediately feeling and hearing several more bullets crashing into the solid surface of the ironwood, before diving off the hut he was on to escape the stream of bullets completely.

He landed on his feet next to the burning hut, putting the hut between him and the human. Instead of going right, which would be the shortest path to his target, he went left and quickly circled around the hut to approach the human from the other side. Once his prey came into sight, Morgur shrieked once again as he lifted his ax above his head and leapt forward to attempt a vicious downward strike at his opponent.

Rick saw the ferocious creature too late, he leapt out of the way, but not without getting a nasty cut down his calf. He rolled over in the dirt and began to fire again at the demon while he frantically racked his brains for a creature to morph into. He knew he was in a bad position and needed to shift the tides quickly or he would be a goner. He was running out of options as soon as this fight began, he was injured, on the ground in front of a burning building, and his gun was about to overheat. A list of animals came to mind, bear, stegosaurus, gorilla, and cheetah, but he still couldn't deicide.

The coppery smell of blood entered Morgur’s nostrils as he landed a small hit on his opponent, but he didn’t wait around to watch the man’s reaction. He immediately lifted up his weapon again for a successive strike, only to be interrupted by a rapid stream of bullets crashing into his torso that sent shards and splinters of his natural armor scattering into all directions and caused him to clumsily stumble backwards from the force of the impact. Only at the last moment did he manage to raise his shield, deflecting the last bunch of bullets. He growled loudly at the human from behind his shield and when he lowered his guard, he immediately opened his jaws wide and sent a thick yet of flame shooting out of his mouth towards the downed human.

Rick realized it was going to get real hot, real fast. He made a quick decision, realizing it was probably going to hurt but, he would rather be hurt than fried. Rick quickly turned into a large gorilla and half loped half charged into the flames at the demon. As soon as he was close enough he dived at the monster, smoke coming off of what was left of his charred fur and skin, his intent was to tackle the creature and pound it's head. This action was awkward for him to do so he had to be extremely close to begin his leap.

Morgur’s attack seemed successful for a moment as his prey did nothing to prevent being hit. But before he realized it, his opponent had sprung into action and was now right in front of him. A meaty fist struck out and pummeled him right against his thick skull, interrupting the flow of his fire breath and sending him reeling backwards in a daze. Morgur roared in anger and clumsily stumbled backwards several steps while franticly swinging his ax around, not so much to hit his opponent as to keep him at a distance.

His enemy was now shorter than before, but much burlier, with long bulky arms and covered in scorched black fur. He was probably stronger than he’d been before, but that wasn’t going to keep Morgur back. The demon raised his shield in front of him and charged headlong towards the large primate, aiming to shield bash right into the creature’s barrel chest.

Rick felt dazed as he felt his massive gorilla hand collide with the head of the beast, the feeling of burning was gone and he soon felt relief. That didn't last long as he soon began to topple over as he was slammed by the demons huge shield. As soon as he felt his back slam into the burning building he used his legs to propel himself and went to grab the monsters legs . Rick would soon feel the burning building on his legs if he didn't move soon. The fire had weakened the once-sturdy hut to the point of destruction and with the hit it took from the gorilla, it wasn't going to last much longer.

The shield bash connected as intended, but before Morgur knew it his opponent was already counterattacking. The primate dove down low and tackled for his legs, sweeping them away from below him and sending him falling forward onto the packed soil next to his opponent. The impact of the fall was caught by his shield-arm, putting his shield stuck below the weight of his body, temporarily unusable. The demon growled loudly as he raised his ax and sloppily struck out to the hairy creature right beside him, paying no heed to the flaming hut right in front of him.

Rick saw the massive blade come down towards his scorched chest and howled in pain as it cut through his skin causing a deep wound before he could stop the ax. Once he did stop the ax, grabbing it with his left hand, his latest injury sent Rick over the edge and he raged. While Rick had the demon's weapon in his massive hand he would turn onto his side towards the monster while trying to use his left arm to half throw, half lodge the monsters weapon in the ground. Rick's plan was simple, throw the monster of balance for a second get on top and bash the thing's head in.

Morgur was disarmed now, but he didn't slow down for it. He didn't bother going for the ax, instead turning his attention to the burning and crumbling hut right next to them. The fires coming from inside were growing higher by the second and the hut was all the less sturdy for it. Morgur reached out for the unstable wooden wall and with his powerful arm he tore out a large, splintered and burning plank. The flames licked at his fingers, but it would take a lot more heat to harm a demon with his own element. With an angry shriek, he violently flailed the burning weapon at his opponent, aiming for his chest and shoulders, creating trails of flame through the air. The plank was blunt and not very heavy, so he was relying on the fire to deal most of the damage.

Rick was suddenly knocked off his feet by a huge piece of wood the monster had ripped from the building, he soon noticed his arm was smoldering. He was already over the edge mentally, and this did none to help his state. He then howled an angry cry, that was not too different from the demons, he leapt to his feet, his arm charred by the demons new weapon. He then lunged to grab the monster's weapon, ignoring the pain that would soon come to his already dry and burnt fingers, he was passed that point in sanity, and with his increased strength, began pulling the towards the demon. His hands began to burn more and more as he would begin to walk closer to the monster, this would increase his anger and hatred for the thing that caused him so much pain. He didn't have a plan for what he would do if he made if to the demon, he was beyond that point, his survival instincts had kicked in and all he wanted to do was hurt the monster

When his opponent rose, Morgur did as well, pulling himself up against the unstable burning wall. The beast that was his enemy was cut, battered and charred to the point where a normal man might have lost consciousness, but not this one. With his ax no longer in hand, he stood little chance of overpowering the primate with brute force, so instead he had to think quickly. He loosened his grasp on the burning plank, letting the gorilla pull it from his hand, and used both his hands to grab onto the wall behind him and lift himself briefly off the ground. The charred wood crunched and creaked below his hands, hardly capable of holding his weight but still barely managing it. Once off the ground, he pulled his legs up and kicked forward with his now unoccupied feet, attempting to retain the distance between him and his adversary.

Rick crawled forward, towards the monster, the burning piece of hut in hand. He was getting close in the intense tug of war,but suddenly he fell backwards, a little comically, as the demon let go of the wood. As he was landed on his behind, confused at what was happening, he watching the monster climb the burning hut. His rage simmered down at this latest disappointment, a little worried at what he was about to do. Then, suddenly, the creature kicked out at him, and Rick took a chance. He hefted the burning shaft and leapt up, and swung the massive chunk of burning wood at the monster, his massive feet a few inches off the ground. He aimed at the monsters legs, to hopefully knock him down, or at least slam him against the burning building, if he could get enough reach.