Living in the City

[Chadin]

[For future reference, please be sure to identify which buck you're attacking. Trying to figure it out by who's standing where is just going to get too darn confusing. And since I'm facing the edge of the building, I'll assume that Tutley is attacking me]

My expression remained neutral, even as I saw one of my arrows strike my target. Not fatally, but wounded none the less. I could imagine that had I been closer, I would have quite the ringing in my sensitive ears from the girl's wail. My expression did change however when I saw her keep moving, eventually getting beyond my line-of-sight below the edge of the building and around the corner before I'd had a chance to reload my weapon again for a finishing shot. Blast!

Then I heard that annoying raccoon chattering away behind me. I hardly paid any mind to him as my mind was already trying to think of what next to do. Even, the light touch of Huu on my neck was paid only a moments bare notice, that is until my keen hearing picked up the same strange sound as when he had first appeared. When I turned around I was very surprised to see myself emerge from a puff of smoke standing next to me.

Quote:You take the turtle; I'll keep lookout in case he called for backup.

I Scowled at this newcomer, angry with him telling me what to do. Who said I ever wanted help to start with? I didn't even know who he was or why he was even helping me. But I chose to temper myself. After all, having a second me would certainly distract the turtle, maybe even stall them long enough for me to finish my mission.

It was only then I realized something was wrong, I glanced back to the buildings edge just in time to see the turtle launch himself above the top of the building, well above the top of the faux aqueduct. For a moment I stared dumbfounded in awe at the sight. Like a classic deer in the headlights I watched as he came crashing back down to earth. Only at the last moment did instincts kick in and I turned to dive away from the turtle's powerful hammer strike. A good thing too since the force had cracked and all but shattered the paving stones nearby that made up the roof.

I landed hard, and rather indignantly, on my chest; almost knocking the wind out of me. I was just rolling onto my back and getting to my knees when my ears and quickly afterwards my eyes told me the turtle was charging again, like some crazed berserker. Again, for a brief moment my mind halted in uncertainty. Primal instinct told me to face the charge, meet his hammer with my antlers and over power him with my own strength; to show who was dominant. But reason won out in the end. I was not my father. Had I been him, I was certain I could outmatch this turtle in raw strength. But I am not my father. I lack his strength. And I certainly lacked any skill or knowledge for fighting this turtle's apparent martial skill.

And to that end, I scrambled to my hoofed feet and ran (looping my crossbow across my back as I did so). Not out of cowardice; though to say I wasn't scared beyond reason would be a gross lie, but because rather then face my opponent his way, I would make him fight my way. I swiftly ran for the edge of the roof and making the short hop to the first parapet of the roof I used my momentum and the leap following my hooves touching the parapet to gain a purchase on the upper level of the two-tiered aqueduct. Straining with all my might and fear of having my exposed legs crushed by a rampaging turtle I pulled myself up onto the second level fully. Once there, I moved the foot and a half or so across the width of the aqueduct archway and pulled myself up onto the third and final tier of the aqueduct; now well and truly out of reach of the hammer wielding turtle a good eight feet below me. Standing atop the high-ground once more, I pulled my crossbow into my hands, pulling the bolt back as a fresh crossbow bolt slide sharply into place ready for my next move.

Down below I could only listen in horror as I heard Amy scream out in pain. My kids screamed out as well with Amy, out of their own fear. I'm sure they've never heard someone scream out in such agony before. And the obvious danger only made things worse.

"Stay down kids!!" I shouted to them, hugging them closer to my body, as if my embrace could somehow protect them completely. I should have known better under any other circumstances but nevertheless I dared risk a glance over the hood of the car my children and I were hiding behind and saw to my horror that that wretched marksmen had finally found his mark. Much to my relief, Amy didn't fall, or even falter. She screamed in agony, but still managed to make it across the street bravely. What's more after taking a moments rest, Amy started climbing the fire escape, despite her injury, to face her attacker.

Whoever said Amy was little more then a damsel in distress was a dammed fool if that's all they saw of her. I've know soldiers who would have flinched and given up the fight. I had to admire her strength and resolve. Admittedly, I think I had shared some of Slick's view of Amy prior to meeting her. But if all the training I had done along side Amy hadn't been enough to prove that Slick had been right about that inner strength he'd seen, then this certainly did. I only wished there was something more I could do. Then it dawned on me.

"Stupid!" I cursed to myself. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cellphone. Despite being unable to do anything myself, the least I could do was call in the cavalry; and an ambulance. (Specifically for that sniper once Amy got through with him knowing her temper.)

I dialed 911 but for some reason all I could get was static. I checked the reception and much to my surprise, despite being in one of the most built up cities on the planet, I had absolutely no bars showing. And nothing I did seemed to make any difference to the matter. "Ugh... nothing ever works when you need it to!!!"

"Mommy, look!" I was about to scold Josh for risking poking his head over the edge of our cover when I noticed what the boy meant. Up on the roof's artistic aqueduct, on the second tier, a figure emerged. Despite the danger of now dangling over the edge of the building, risking falling to a certain death, the unknown figure (whom I could only imagine as our mystery attacker) braved the perilous heights in order to pull himself up onto the top of the aqueduct and now drew his weapon.
My heart raced in fear as I recognized the familiar movement of a weapon being loaded. And I feared for whoever might end up in that marksman's sights. "Oh lord..."

[Jack-the-Hedgie]

The time had come to spring into action. Jack forced out the air inside him, straining his diaphragm slightly from the effort. In a matter of seconds, the round, floating hedgehog shrunk back to his slim, lanky self. Gravity again took hold and yanked him to the roof below. As he crashed to the roof, Jacks momentum threw him off his feet. Natural hedgehog instincts again came in handy here as Jack tucked and rolled to avoid injury. As soon as his feet met the ground again, Jack planted them in place and quickly stood back up. Jack could see his target moving as he dashed across the roof. At least, one of his targets. It seemed there was a second person. A second buck, also armed with a crossbow. There were two people out to get Amy now? What did they want from her...? It didn't matter now. Jack was going to make sure both of these medieval thugs were going to get the beating of a lifetime.

"Hey! Didn't your mother ever tell you it was dangerous to play with weapons?"

Jack called to get the attention of the "deer" in front of him. He could see his twin run of, but Tutley could handle him, and Amy was on the way. In the meantime, he may as well tip the odds even further into their favor. The hedgehog reared back, a gloved hand clenching into a fist. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks, and threw his punch. His arm let out an odd, rubbery sound as it stretched across the several feet of distance that remained between the hedgehog and the "deer". The momentum he had gained from running had gone into his fist, creating an attack that was both strong, and had a lot of range, and was speeding its way to the mysterious snipers midsection.

[Huu B.]

((Okay, let's go over this again. Tutley is attacking the original buck, and Jack is attacking me? Yeah, let's go with that.))

Huu remained perfectly calm. As Chadin ran off, Huu kept his attention on the familiar arriving hedgehog. There wasn't enough time to dodge the "stretch-punch", but he had another idea. He dropped to his knees and ducked his head down, tilting it to the left slightly so his antlers would be in just the right spot. All the while he kept his crossbow in his hands, just in case.

Jack's fist was probably traveling too fast for him to change its trajectory in time, and even if he did manage to snap it back, the transfer of momentum would probably knock him off his feet and leave him vulnerable for a moment.

Ever get your knuckles punctured by a deer's sharp pointy antlers? Yeah, it's no picnic.

[Tutley Sakamoto]

Tutley's charge was halted as Chadin turned tail and ran, heading stright for higher ground. Intending to keep the pressure on the archer, the turtle regained his balance, and gave chase after him. "It's not nice to shoot harmless girls and boxes of pudding you know!", he angrily shouted out at the buck. By the time Chadin was prepareing the next bolt, the turtle's hammer lit up, as his jet boots launched him into the air, roughly 6 feet. He careened dead towards the wall of the aquaduct ahead of him. Although the deer had the higher ground now...he now had very little room to manuver himself! Tutley slammed his hammer into the wall, as the it released a multitude of multicolored stars pointed upwards towatds the deer.

[Stardust Explosion]

He was intendng to knock the archer off balance, and then let the spray attack hit full blast. He hoped it would work, for his sake, as well as Amy's.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Down below, a certain chao was pushing itself out a pile of rubble. Aparently, the turtle had sped off without noticing it was in the path of his turbulance. It looked around, and shook the mild dizzyness it had off. It heard an ear piercing shriek, which was odviouslty Amy's. It flew across the street intent on getting to Amy's side to assist her.

[Amy Rose]

I had climbed halfway up the fire escape before I had forced myself to take a rest. The arrowhead embedded inside my arm tore at the constant fluctuation of my muscles, try as I did to minimize their movement. I didn't want to think about how much it would hurt when it had to be removed later on. Part of me knew I would be a sniffling, near terrified mess. I'd prefer lasers from Robotnik's drones over this any day. At least they didn't stick in you.

I heard the fluttering of soft wings suddenly and turned my head to see none other than a chao. I hadn't really paid it much attention, so I almost forgot Tutley had one along with him.

"I'm fine. Don't worry."

It was half a lie, but I didn't want the poor thing concerned over me. I started further up the stairs. Almost there. Just one more flight and I'd hit the roof. So much for enjoying the break from fighting troublemakers. I hoped in the back of my mind that the stuff I'd got for Tifa and M wouldn't be ruined. But as far as things went, that was the least of my concerns. How were Tutley and Jack handling things, top-side? I guess I'd soon find out.

[Chadin]

As I saw the turtle's hammer light up I may not have had any idea exactly what it was going to do, but gut instinct told me I didn't want to be anywhere near him. I already had started running along the top of the aqueduct when the hammer struck the wall, causing the ground beneath my hooves to shake violently. Unfortunately I lost my balance and fell flat on my face, still atop the aqueduct. However, my quick running burst had put me about 4 feet to the side before I'd tripped. As the burst of stars exploded past the edge of the aqueduct the vast majority of it missed because the blast was going vertical while I was lying flat. Had the turtle been on the aqueduct with me and used the move it would have easily hit me fully.

Instead, only my right arm (since it stuck out past the edge of the aqueduct) took any portion of the impact. I yelped in pain as I clutched my arm. There was no physical damage (no cuts or anything) but it felt like my arm had just been punched by a heavy weight boxer. In fact, at first I couldn't even feel my arm because it had gone numb from the blow.

My survival instincts screamed at me to not dwell on the feeling. I got back to my hooves in response and started running down the aqueduct again to put some distance between me and the turtle.

As I got to the corner of the building I could feel the numbness fading. It still hurt like heck, but at least now it was usable. And I knew just what I wanted to do with it. I spun around, facing Tutley, as I raised my crossbow. My eyes narrowed angrily and my ears folded back against my skull. I took in a deep, deliberate breathe; focusing the pain in my arm into anger. I could feel a steady gust of wind blowing across my right cheek; my Surge Shot was ready. I pulled the trigger, and I felt a surge of wind rush past my face as it chased the arrow. I then immediately groaned as the butt of my crossbow kicked back into my sore shoulder; aggravating it more.

It did nothing however to change the fact that now Tutley had an accelerated arrow speeding right towards him. I doubted even the turtle's hard shell would be strong enough to repel such a powerful attack. And even if it missed, so long as it passed within a foot or so, Tutley would still get hit by the Surge's powerful wind blast. It only had about the same amount of force as a strong punch, but still. It might be enough to force him to change tactics.

And right now that's all I could hope for. I didn't even care if I killed this turtle, or the other hedgehog. All I was after was the pink one. I only hope my target hasn't decided to flee while these two were keeping me busy.

[Jack-the-Hedgie]

((I hope I did this right. I never quite knew how to do a good grapple-based move in an RP))

Jack grit his teeth as his fist smashed, full force, into the antlers of the deer. While this attack didn't horribly injure his hand, due to him managing to avoid impaling it on the sharper ends of the antlers, it was shredded and bashed up pretty good. The gloves he wore took a little bit of the punishment, but it didn't stop him from ending up with quite the bruised and bloodied paw.

Jack kicked himself in the back of his mind. He got too angry and acted without thinking. That kind of attitude would only get him killed, or worse... Amy was still a target, and Tutley was risking his life as well. It was time to play smart, rather then tough. This other person was armed, so an up-front attack would be dangerous. Instead, he would have to focus on getting his target off his feet. Anything to keep him from firing an arrow with a straight mind.

Before the hedgehogs rubber band of an arm could retract, Jack grabbed hold of the deers antlers. His hand trembled painfully as his grip tightened, the blood from his cuts and scrapes trickling onto the deers head. Jack threw his other hand out to grab hold of his wrist for added strength. With that complete, the cocoa colored hedgie took a step to the right to brace himself. With all his strength, he gave his target a strong yank to the right. His goal, to pull the deer off his feet, and slam him into the nearby wall like a mace.

[Huu B.]

((Um. Is there any graceful way to defend against a move like that?))

Huu could do nothing to avoid getting yanked off his feet. In the precious few seconds he had, he skimmed over the abilities of the deer he'd copied, hoping there was something useful there... and realized that he commanded wind magic.

At the last second, Huu managed to use a "cushion" of wind to soften his impact against the wall, leaving him with minor if any injuries. It also left him still enough to squeeze the trigger of his crossbow while aiming it in Jack's general direction (albeit with relatively lousy accuracy), and because the hedgehog had grabbed him by the antlers, Huu had been facing him the entire time.

((Note: Since Chadin's crossbow was in semi-automatic mode when Huu copied him, his is on the same setting.))

[Tutley Sakamoto]

"YEAH!", cried the turtle as the blow partially hit home, face lit up with an excited grin.....which meted into pure horror as Chadin turned faceing him. Knowing he was about to fire, Tutley did what any turtle would do. He tucked himself inside his shell, as he rolled to the right with a spinning motion. The arrow missed, but to Tut's surprise, he was sent airborne by the sheer speed of the arrow. He was sent careening one level down and crashed back first into a wall. Needless to say, the impact more than shook up the turtle, as he came out his shell. He took a moment to get his bearings, world spinning, and took cover behind one of the arches. "Note to self.....don't try that again...", he muttered to himself. Aparently, his enemy was just as dangerous at point blank range as he was far away.

Takeing a look at the situation, he noticed Jack was now on the level below him, and in need of a hand. He took aim at the preoccupied buck grappleing with Jack, and pointed at the deer he was grappleing. The water vapor in front of Tutley condensed, and formed into a spray of bubbles in a mere moment or two. The bubbles shot off, aiming at the buck.

[Bubble Barrage]

As the his own spell fired, he also saw his target fireing. Hopefully, a few stray bubbles would knock the arrow off target.

----------------------------------------------------------
The chao turned a inquizitive head, and looked at the wound. She surely didn' look fine....

It's palms lit up, and touched Amy's wounds.
Refresh

Sure, it wouldn't heal her, but it would provide a fair adreniline rush to her system. It figured the best thing it could do since Tutley wasn't nearby, was assist her. It tagged her lightly on the back, takeing a sample of her DNA. T.J. turned pink, and sprouted a few pink spines behind its head.

[Conversion]

The chao nodded to Amy, and pointed up to the top of the ladder, cheering her on as it flew beside her.

[Amy Rose]

A few more strides and my feet finally planted on the top step of the fire escape. I braced myself on the railing a moment, gathering my wits with each shaky breath. Whatever the chao had done, my arm was feeling better if only at the moment. As I stepped up onto the roof, my hammer shimmered into existence. Already had the fight been well on its way, I observed.

My thoughts didn't catch long to this thought though. A buck hung around the corner of the aqueduct. It took me only a moment to realize that he was probably my attacker. I mean just how many regulars found themselves hanging out on the roof, watching others peg people with medieval weapons? And latter said evidence was nestled right in his arms and ready to-

I ran at him as fast as I could, keeping balance on the narrow ledge. It wasn't an easy feat by far. My injured arm had flared once more, screaming to give. It caused me to stumble momentarily, but my feet found themselves back in the fluid beat of steps in seconds. At the last moment, I let my hammer rip.

[Tornado Hammer]

Even if it missed him, a small tornado picked up to cause the deer some chaos. Well, that's what he got for messing with me and my friends!