Crossroads

[Chadwyck]

Angel drew his claymore, focusing all of his energy into his own shadow that stretched out behind him. Slowly the shadow began to recede, its length shortening with every second. Before even a moment had passed, the shadow was creeping up his legs, flowing through his arms, and painting the blade of his obsidian weapon a beautifully inky-black that made it look like a fresh stroke on a canvas. After much practice he discovered his was able to control preexisting shadows, not only pass through them and into the realm of darkness. He was surprised to learn that doing so didn't tire him out, but it caused him physical pain.

Julia and Adam were right on his heels, "I don't like this, that thing looks like it's going to tear us apart just by looking at us. Look at all the people that have been fighting it, they look insane and it's still holding its own!" Adam was frantic, as he normally reacted when there was a threat of bodily harm to himself.

"Shush, Adam, we'll be all right. Ferus Frigus!" She shouted, a small rune appeared momentarily before her before dissipating into an array of frozen spikes hurling through the air toward the creature.

They didn't have much time to join in the fray, however, because before their attacks could connect, the beast dragged them through another portal. They were hurled through realities, in a split second, which felt much like having your head smashed in with a hammer, according to Adam's opinion on the instantaneous travel. Now they were standing in a street, or rather, they were laying in a street, face down in the snow. The city was far larger than anything that Angel or Julia had ever seen, any city this size in their world had long since been destroyed by Ares.

"Well, a lot of good we did. Is it possible for a book to have a headache?" Adam asked, his voice slightly strained.

"Where are we?" Julia asked, ignoring Adam's question.

"I don't know, but I know we aren't alone." Angel said, looking at the snow swirling through the air, apparently under the control of one of the other fighters. What Julia found more impressive than the snow, however, was the tornado tearing its way toward the dragon.

"Wow," Julia breathed, watching the witch as she conjured the attack, "Will I ever be that powerful?" She asked.

"It's possible," Adam said, uninterested, "Granted we survive this long enough to get sent back to that other hopeless situation we were in before. Then we survive that, and you get back to practicing. It's very possible you will become that powerful." Julia glared at him, "But don't sell yourself short, that witch has obviously been around a long time. You are very powerful, especially at your age." He added, trying to avoid making the girl angry.

Angel repeated his last attack, taking his shadow and casting it over his sword. He began running toward the dragon. "Not alone, you don't!" Julia called after him. "Claustrum Silex!" She called, again a glyph appeared as she held her hands out before her. The ground around the creature began to crack and shift, and before long boulders of asphalt began to rise above the creature, under the control of Julia's will. They converged above it's head, forming into a mass of rock and asphalt, ready to crash down onto the creature's head. Adam looked amazed that she was managing so much on her own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chadwyck wasn't exactly sure where he was, only that he was in pain. Whatever he had been expecting to accomplish by leaping through that attack, he hadn't accomplished it. What he was doing now was a variation of 'sleeping it off', his body shut down and focused only on recovering his lost energy. Luckily it hadn't been a fatal wound, otherwise no amount of sleep could have brought back the energy he lost.

Suddenly it felt vary cold. Whatever was happening on the outside of his own consciousness couldn't have been good, he was nearly jolted awake by the sudden chill that pierced through his flesh, but then it was warm, and he could feel the power of fire beside him, feeding him. He drew in the energy, while still within himself, reaching out with his mind. Then he was awake.

The dome of fire around him swirled, rising upward in a torrent of flames, all extending from Chadwyck as he stood ready to fight, a wicked grin spread across his face. "Well, I'll be," He laughed softly to himself, "Sem and old Sorena, long time no see." He moved the swirling flames, sending them bursting through the air toward the tornado that Sorena had conjured, mixing with the swirling air. "Hope you don't mind, miss Sorena. Just thought you could use some help!" He called, confident and smug as always.

 

[Tailon]

Boulders, created directly from the streets attempting to crush the creature's skull as ice needles attempted to stab it throughout its entire body. As they approached, the creature began exuding a magical mist, exerting its will over the boulders and a large portion of the ice, molding the asphalt into a new helmet, while the ice converged, fusing into its fur to create a second line of defense.

However, it noticed too late the shadows striking from the ground and the slash across its torso. Roaring, the beast smashed its claws into a building, clawing a portal in it. Through this portal, came several creatures, each wore a helmet of bone, was about the size of a lion, and had dark purple fur. Three leapt at the most recent newcomers, two attacked the weather witch and the woman who had struck at his eye although this had been deflected by his new helmet. A new threat made itself clear, a tornado conjured by the witch, and empowered by flames from the man it had incapacitated earlier. The creature launched a roaring wave of flames from its maw, which stopped the tornado momentarily, before breaking up, striking it painfully, and melting the ice fused to its fur.

The beast then brought its tail crashing down, cracking the earth into several walls, isolating the four chosen fighters, who called themselves Talon, Sem, Rex, and Chadwyck. The creature then launched a powerful energy blast at the four, causing explosions among them.

Talon quickly created his own blast of flame, surrounding him and countering the explosions, then looked around at his three comrades, before sitting with legs crossed and beginning to mutter incantation after incantation.

OOC: You can auto these minions as they attack, they act a lot like earth predators, so just go with that, sorry this took so f***ing long.

 

[Rex]

His explosion was one of only attacks to hit the creature. Two of the attacks actually helped it instead. The creature summoned more monsters, and sent them after after many of the new comrades, leaving only himself and three others to fight it. The creature attacked them with another blast of energy. Again, the crescent on his palm glowed, creating a dome around him to stop the explosions from harming him. After the attack was finished the dome fell, the darkness that made it forming a giant spear above the creature's back. Without his command, the spear fell towards the creature, attempting to impale it.

 

[Chadwyck]

"Great, he actually used that to his advantage. Next time, why don't you just go ahead and shoot a fire ball at our allies?" Adam mocked upon seeing the rocks falling on the dragon warp into a helmet that protected the creature's head.

"Not now, Adam, you aren't helping." Julia sighed, she was deciding what to do next when Angel appeared from a shadow beside her. "Angel? What's wrong?"

Julia's question was answered by the irritated growl that the creature released, none of the attacks managed to do significant damage. The ice that was on a path to impale the beast was used as a shielding from the flaming tornado that ripped through the city. The dragon opened a portal and smaller creatures were pulled through, seemingly under the command of the dragon. They weren't monstrous in size, but Julia was certain that they weren't weak. It was apparent that Angel didn't think so either, as he felt it necessary to return to Julia's side for her protection.

Three of the beast's came toward them, they were wearing helmets of bone. They were covered in purple fur and had feline characteristics. They leapt across rooftops with ease, coming toward them with powerful legs that were ideal for running, and fangs ready to tear into their flesh.

Julia wasted no time, she held her hand up in the air and a dark purple rune began to appear in the air. "Glacialis spiculum!" She shouted. From the rune came a multitude of icicles, each of them long and rigid, ending in a point that made them resemble spears. A wall of the frozen spears raced toward the three creatures.

Angel sheathed his sword and instead took two daggers in his hands, better to go with speed than power against those things. They raced toward them, two of the feline creatures moved aside, performing powerful leaps and aerial dodges to avoid the spears. The third of them was caught off guard, taking a hit that pierced straight through it's hind legs. It roared in pain and was too slow to avoid the rest of the attack, it was pinned to the side of a building. Fresh blood ran down the wall from it's body, the other two were closing in fast.

"Might I suggest another spell?" Adam asked, "Quickly!" He added as the first of the pair reached Angel.

Angel avoided a swipe of knife-like claws aimed at his torso, countering with a quick swing of his dagger. His attack missed, and he was barely able to avoid a similar attack to his back by the second beast. He leapt up, flipping in a wide arch over the beast and throwing a dagger down at the top of its skull, it rolled aside; the dagger stuck into the concrete below. Angel landed, pulling another dagger from his belt to replace the one he'd thrown.

"Fimus subsido." Julia commanded, Adam floating before her and both her hands were extended toward the asphalt. The ground became like water, the creatures falling into the liquid-like earth below them, Julia moved her arms together in an attempt to crush them within it's grasp. The ground began to become solid again as it closed in around the beasts. The creature's found a footing and pulled themselves out, jumping out of the crushing asphalt before they were destroyed.

Angel jumped, meeting one of them in midair, directly after they had dodged the previous attack, leaving them no time to see his attack coming. He slashed with both daggers, slitting the creature's throat. The second of the feline creatures leapt off of a wall and attacked Angel, tackling him into the ground, pinning him down. A fireball launched from Julia knocked it off of him, but it quickly recovered, readying a counter attack.

The previous attack knocked Angel's daggers from his hands, the beast jumped and came down at his throat with its claws. Angel quickly sank into the creature's shadow as it passed directly over him, the beast's claws stuck into the ground and it quickly ripped the asphalt up to free itself. Julia created a flash of light, blinding the creature and presenting dozens of new shadows. Angel came out from the shadows a few meters away from the creature, flying just above the ground and plunging his blade into the creature's side. It released a subtle growl as it collapsed in a heap.

"Well, I wasn't worried for a moment." Adam sighed.

"What were those things?" Julia asked Angel, who was staring at the dragon, it had separated the fighters. It isolated a select few.

"I don't know, but I think that it was just to keep us busy. They seem to have caught its attention." He said, pointing toward the fighters attacking the dragon while he collected his daggers.

~~~~~~~~~~

The beast slammed it's tail down, walls rose up around Chadwyck and three others. "Apparently we caught his attention." Chadwyck said as it launched a blast toward them, it was only himself, Sem, Talon and Rex. "And I haven't even had my coffee yet." Chadwyck smirked, despite his time incapacitated he was still as confident as ever. He created a ball of fire that he quickly converted into a wall, using it to block the blast.

He allowed the wall to dissipate before reaching for the hilt of his sword, only to find that it wasn't there. "What the...? Son of a-- My sword." He growled the three different beginnings of the separate thoughts. He sighed and was now incredibly irritated. He held his hands out before him, "Make do with what you've got, I guess." He said quietly as a sword made of fire was created in his grasp. Then he focused, and the blade grew into a double edged sword, one side made of fire and the other made of lighting, with an area in the middle of a mixture of the two energies.

Chadwyck jumped up, toward the creature's neck, attempting to slit the dragon's throat.

 

[Sem]

OOC: Been busy busy, sorry this took so long.

BIC:
"Oh, so I'm not special enough to fight you?" Sorena thought aloud at the sight of Sem and Chadwyck along with two other fighters being separated from the rest. "He's not stronger than I am!" she pointed a finger at Sem. "Well, actually, we don't know which of us is stronger..." She pondered on this for a moment, reflecting on their past skirmishes with each other. "I mean, I'm no elemental, but surely I got a hex or two that could handicap him a bit. Surely." While dwelling on these thoughts Sorena also had the feeling that somehow, somewhere, a talking book had just called her 'old'.

A feral growl broke the woman from her thoughts.

"Mm?" the witch raised her brows as she turned, coming face to face with a large quadruped that didn't seem too friendly. "Oh! A cat-dog-thing! I've not seen a cat-dog-thing in ages."

More growling.

"Well, yes, I know you're probably not a cat-dog-thing, but I don't how else to describe you!" she defended herself.

The creature bared its teeth and swiped at the sorceress with its claws. Sorena glided back, avoiding what she would consider a most anti-climactic death for someone like her. "Bad kitty! ... Or doggy! Oh, forget it," she mumbled finally, raising her sword. It swung its claws at her again. She blocked them with her blade, using her enhanced strength and magic to keep her arms and legs firm. She jumped back several feet, hovering for a bit in the air as she pointed a finger at the beast. A bolt of lightning shot out of her digit as she landed, hitting the creature dead-on and throwing it back into the wall of a building.

Sorena watched it as it stood up, shaking off the hit and roaring at her. It broke into a run, approaching her quickly. She faced the creature - her sword flashed as she drew it back. The creature lunged as the witch brought her sword up in an undercut, only it was no longer a sword, but a large mallet. The head of the weapon slammed into the creature's underside, throwing it high into the air before coming down with a hideous mix of a thump and a crack.

"Hm!" she nodded with a grin as her weapon resumed the shape of a sword once more. "Now then..." she peered out from under the brim of her hat towards the dragon and the four chosen. "Probably best not to get involved myself... though as much as I'd love to just sit and watch, I'd rather be some sort of help. Hm..." she thought to herself. "I'm not as good a support-witch as I would like, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeves."

With that she drew a circle around herself with her sword, a circle infused with spells of protection and alertness to danger. Cracking her neck and her fingers she began drawing on the air around her, creating symbol after symbol, rune after rune, each one aglow in a sapphire blue, the natural color of her raw magic. After a few moments a rune appeared on her lips: her loudspeaker spell.

"Sorena here!" she spoke as she normally would, though it sounded like she were speaking through a microphone in a stadium, her voice echoing off of every surface. "Talking to you four chosen people especially," her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Rather than be a useless twit, I've made myself useful and cast a few spells that will be activated in a moments' time. In your little care package you will find a spell of protection, which will take the form of a moderately powerful shield that will appear around you and protect you when it senses immediate danger. The shield has a limit though, so don't go thinking you can walk into Armageddon and live. Also you will find a spell of healing, which will make quick work of cuts and bruises, and take care of more severe injuries after a minute or two. This won't always save you from a fatal wound and can't bring you back to life, so do be careful. Also included are spells that will enhance your senses, up your strength, your speed, your energy, magic, reflexes, and whatever other generic videogame stat you can think of. I can't keep renewing the spells forever, so do try to slay the dragon asap. Ta!"

With that she activated the spells, which also activated for the other, less important fighters.

-------

"You're so lucky you didn't break my sword," Lysis hissed after appearing a safe distance from the dragon. She caressed her blade, showing more concern and affection for it than she would to any living creature. A strange new mind entered her telepathic vision, causing her to turn and face her new adversary. "And what are you supposed to be?" she sneered. "A mutant Cubone?"

It snarled at her in reply.

"Hnn," she grinned. "Didn't think so." Miss Fox vanished, reappearing several meters back. The creature dashed forward, large feet thumping against the asphalt as it ran. Lysis drew both her Strata as she walked towards the creature guns blazing. Bullets embedded themselves into the bone and its hide, causing it to shriek in pain as it jumped at an off angle. It swiped at its adversary as it flew past, sliding across the ground and panting once it came to a stop.

The creature turned and faced Lysis, snarling at her again, only to find her glaring back. The look in her eyes was deadly, and it could smell the sheer amount of anger in her body. It could also smell blood, her blood. It flowed down her left arm, and through the tears in the sleeve of her coat.

"You did not just ruin my coat," she stared incredulously at her foe, anger boiling in her veins, showing no concern for the wound she had just received.. "It'll be the last thing you do, I assure you."

The creature lunged at her again, only to find that she had vanished. She reappeared only a few steps from she had been, delivering a powerful punch to the side of the creature's head. The punch had been aided, her muscles reinforced by her telekinesis. The hit had, as a result, been exceedingly powerful, since the young woman had put even more force into it because of her rage.

The creature stumbled back and felt its vision blur. In its mind it could feel a quickly rising sense of fear. In only seconds fear was the only thing in its mind: it was unnatural.

"Don't care if you're a smart beast or have a brain the size of a pea - you will fear me," Lysis told the thing, walking powerfully towards it. She felt satisfaction in watching it flinch away from her and try to run away. She swung her leg around, delivering a powerful kick to its ribcage before it could even retreat a safe distance from her. A loud crack filled the air and a howl of pain pierced the sky. Grabbing one of its hind legs before it could even fall over completely, she swung it around, again reinforcing her muscles with psychic energy. The creature flew into a wall with another sickening crack.

She took her time following after it, shooting at its limbs to ensure it would not be going anywhere. Walking up to it she drew her sword and quickly spun with a gun in her other hand. The blade swiped across the beast's neck and a bullet flew into its head, locking its eyes in the wide-eyed panic it was experiencing before death.

The ex-Rocket walked away, sheathing the weapon. Looking around she saw that four fighters had been cut off from the rest, who were left to deal with more of whatever it was she had just killed. The witch's voice boomed only seconds later. Lysis felt the healing spell start to work after the woman had finished speaking, stitching up the claw marks on her arm and making it look as if she had never even been touched.

Falling back to the days in which she ran missions with her team, she analyzed the situation. The dragon had chosen those it wanted to fight, getting involved would be unwise, as it would no doubt summon more creatures for the rest of the warriors. Best option would be to conserve their strength and stick close. Strength in numbers. Sorena appeared to be immobile at the moment, focusing as much as she could on the layer of spells she had crafted to protect them all. Thus, it would be in their best interest to protect her.

She replaced the magazines of her pistols with a mechanical swiftness. Teleporting, she appeared not far from the other two fighters, a man and a woman who appeared to be some sort of magician herself.

"The witch is protecting us," she started flatly, not in the mood for any of her usual mannerisms. "It would be a good idea for us to converge around her and make sure she doesn't get killed," she spoke in a way that successfully conveyed that protecting Sorena served their best interest: she was useful to them. Protecting Sorena for Sorena's sake was the last thing on the young woman's mind, despite a slowly rising sense of comradeship. Selfless wasn't a word one would use to describe Lysis. "The name is Lysis, darlings, in case you were wondering." She teleported again after that, reappearing beside the witch.

-------

"Of course it didn't work," Sem mumbled as he watched the icicles become useful to the dragon instead of harmful. He realized he might have to resort to drastic means in order to help bring down the monster. The aquamor soon found himself separated from Sorena, the dragon had probably thought Sem was the bigger threat. "Which is debatable," Sem thought wryly.

Given a moment of concentration Sem accessed more of his power, sinking further into his elemental energy. With a just simple thought all water and ice in the immediate area swirled around the otterfish, coming together and condensing into an orb made of layers of condensed ice and water. The sphere successfully protected him from the explosions, allowing him to counter back quickly. The sphere broke apart instantly, and in only moments melted and boiled into an enormous cloud of steam. The cloud was large enough and hot enough to act like a miniature sun, providing a noticeable rise in temperature to the area.

Sem condensed the cloud as well into a column and shot it at the dragon.