Chaos Within

[Espio]

"Curses!", the ninja shouted out as the winged beast hid above the skyline. He took this moment to take his two remaining bombs out of his back pack, tucking them into his leg bracers as he keeps his gaze skyward. He then heard a loud thud, turning to see Mammoth working on the downed creature. He seemed to have things in check; though this wasn't the best turn of events. He was going to aim a full speed whirl dash through the creature to snag a share, but he saw Ji falling out the sky. His teeth grit as he breaks into a sprint away from the ground dragon to catch her, letting a aimed shuriken fly to unseat her cushion no telling what those things could do under direct contact.

[Alpha Omega]

Omega turned back around to face his enemies, stumbling back a step as Chadin's arrow slammed into one of them, before he realized what the projectile was, and where it came from. As the blobs began to merge together, he took a few steps back, thinking his dash wouldn't work quite so well on a large blob. Instead, he grabbed a piece of rubble from the ground, and slammed it into the growing blob as hard as he could.

[Gail Strafer]

After Chadin took his shot, a huge wailing sound echoed through the black skies over his head. The creature sounded like it was getting ready for another pass. If he looked up, he'd see the faint silhouette of the dragon/bat-like creature, headed straight for him. It extended sharp talons, as if to grab him or rake them across his flesh.

---

Alpha's makeshift club solidly connected with the reformed blob. Several large droplets scattered about and dissolved into mist. However, like gelatin, the blob's main form wavered and undulated from the impact but otherwise absorbed the hit like one trying to hit a pillow. The blob's body began to swallow up the rubble club, as it worked its way up to Alpha's hand.

---

The land monster's head split along a horizontal line where its eyes were, temporarily blinding it and making its muzzle sag towards the ground. It wouldn't be able to see for a moment.

Mammoth finally got what he wished for, as another shard popped out of the land beast's body and twinkled on the ground. Within a moment, he had it in his grasp.

However, while currently headless, the land beast was not helpless. It stomped forward, attempting to run over where it had last seen Mammoth before losing its head.

---

It was a lucky thing Espio was looking out for Jii. The blob on the back of her head was trying to wrap itself around her skull completely. However, the shuriken removed enough of its mass to where it scattered to the wind.

---

"I'm so worthless...so freakin' worthless. It's always me who screws up and gets bloodied. Thought I was somethin' better than this. I just feel like somebody out there's got it out for me to keep me from doin' better."

He kept ranting on and on and on as Anu brought him down the fire escape.

[Mammoth Mogul]

Mogul grinned as his firm grip fastened around the shard. He could feel his power growing already. Emboldened by his growing power, Mogul would not retreat or side step. He lashed out with his Chaos Slash mercilessly. Now he smelled blood, and like a shark, he would destroy this foe utterly and the precious emerald shards would be his.

[Chadin]

I looked up as the flying creature wailed and just barely was able to make out the approaching creature's silhouette. My ears shot up in alarm. I was on a fire escape. I didn't have any place to run and no time to grab the rocket launcher. There were no windows on this side of the building so I couldn't even jump inside the building.

So, I did the only thing I could do. I raised up my crossbow and I fired rapidly into the silhouette in the hope I might get lucky and drive the thing off.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji wasn't even sure what had happened, but she hit the ground harder than she expected. Feeling behind herself as she got up, she discovered that the creature that'd gotten her was now gone.

What in the...?

Anu froze as Chadin suddenly raised his crossbow and fired.

[Espio]

Espio was about to catch Ji....and then she hit the ground with a thud. He had a rather awkward look on his face as he froze. "Odd...was she heavier than I anticipated?", he pondered. He shook the thought from his head. Mammoth seemed to have taken the upper hand over the grounded beast, and the prize likely to be taken. He gritted his teeth, but then heard the sound of metal swinging. He turned his head to see Alpha surrounded! What's more he saw the stray shard that fell from.earlier too. He had only planned to sneak away with one or two, so he turned to help Alpha, aiming a destructive whirl dash to circle around the creatures, and take the emerald shard in one fluid movement.

[Alpha Omega]

Omega quickly relinquished the club, not wanting to touch the creature. He started backing away, looking for something to attack it with again, when Espio broke through it. "Whoa! Thanks, Espio!"

[Gail Strafer]

The batlike creature shrieked as Chadin fired upon it. Luckily for the deer, it jinked to the side to avoid his crossbow fire, saving him from a head-on attack. The flyer crashed into the steel wall beside the fire escape, leaving a huge dent in the shape of its body. Its claws briefly raked across the metal, trying to gain purchase, before the talons managed to pierce through the material. As it clung to the vertical wall with one claw, it began lashing out with the other, attempting to rip Chadin's flesh from his body.

---

Mammoth's attacks sliced more neat cuts across the land beast's body while it tried to run him over. The creature shrieked in agony, as more cuts neatly sliced through its shadowy form. Another shard twinkled as it fell to the ground.

The creature seemed to sense Mammoth's new power. Instead of continuing the attack, several pieces broke off from the main form and molded back into the bird-like forms seen earlier. These birds would then attempt to flee before they too were cut down.

---

Espio's whirlwind attack blew away the blob, sending the club inside it flying. Espio's whirlwind also successfully returned the shard, as he liked. It was now one shard for Mammoth, and one for the Freedom Fighters.

---

While the good guys had a brief reprive from the attacks, they needed to hurry up and get to the shards before Mammoth could get any more. It was looking like he was getting ready to cancel their temporary alliance.

[Mammoth Mogul]

[I'm pretty sure, Mogul is on his second or third shard by now, but I'll double check through the past posts to confirm]

"ARGH!! You shall not take away my prize!!!" Mogul commanded, extending his invisible reach to try and pull the airborne creatures to the ground where he could still reach them.