As Carrick’s shifting was complete he crouched down his eyes trailed down to the clumps of tentacles covering the ground and wrapping around everything in their path. Out of curiosity he debated reaching out with his claws to prod at it but as he lifted his front claw out to the oncoming tentacles Carrick let out a loud screech again. Turning his attention from the oncoming tentacles Carrick listened to the voice of his guardian angel as she cried for him to fly.

A sudden understanding of the situation came into mind he could escape, she couldn’t or if she could it wouldn’t be by air, which he had discovered to be usually the best way to escape any situation that threatened his life. Can’t hit what you can’t reach after all. Carrick’s ears lowered back readying himself from the quick take off. The girl was light so the amount of weight she had put on his back was no heavier than others he had flown before. If he had to guess she was a third of what his dad had weighed. Giant golden brown wings flapped quickly as a round of clicks exited his beak.

One of the few drawbacks to his shifted form, although he had gained strength and speed his ability to speak any language of man was a small price to pay in his opinion usually he did just fine but in a situation such as this he had a feeling the young lady would either pull some feathers or restrict his movement somehow.

Wishing he could tell her to hold on tight but at the same time carefully Carrick craned his head forward as his legs curled up into his body to help cut down on the wind resistance. Tail flapping around behind him and occasionally changing direction right before his wings flapped and turned.

Flying towards the oncoming tentacles wasn’t the best idea but seeing as he had to get some altitude fast it was safer to see what was coming opposed to turning his back to the danger hoping it wouldn’t catch him. Wings shifting left and right Carrick shifted his legs and the rest of his body and by extension the girl on his back. Hoping she would have enough sense not to let go Carrick out maneuvered the oncoming dangers only to angle his body up into ascension.

Darting out of reach from the tentacles Carrick stretched his wings out fully into a glide as he circled the chaos below. Leaning his head back and trying to turn his eyes to his back but not being able to Carrick let out a small round of chirps to check and see if the his guardian angel could deal with his evasive maneuvers.

Koga was dragged to the bottom of the wicked being and was sickend by the lack of caring it had for anything they had done thus far. This thing was simply too big for them to handle. His katana finally came to a point in the creature where it didn't have any more clay to slice threw... he dropped, and hit the ground running, he ran away from its back and his eyes landed on his next form of attack. He sprinted away from the creature and away from the park.

He came quickly to the sidewalk, and his next weapon, He placed his hands on his knees and focus on controlling his breathing while the bus made its way to him. Apparently the sleepy bus driver didn't notice what seemingly every other driver did on the street, there were no cars other than the bus that he just noticed. Koga didn't like what he might have to do to get his next plan under way...but people were going to die, if they didn't do something. The bus pulled up to the curb and Koga hoped on the first step into the bus looking to the left he counted the passengers, three people plus the bus driver.

"Hello Ssssir, Can you do me a favor and ram your busss into that giant monssster over there?"

"Boy! it ain't Halloween, no ninja is gettin on my bus!"

Koga sighed. "actually, I'm already on your busss, and I kind of need you all to get off of it." The man didn't budge, and KOga Hated this next part...Crime, he was going to commit several crimes in the next few minutes in order to save people. He Reached to his back and pulled his wakasashi out.

"Either you drive it into the monssster, or I drive it into the monssster, Everybody out! Out the back door. Go GO GO GOOOOOOOOO!" the moment He started Yelling and at the sight of the shinning blade the old man finally seemed to move Koga from the crazy kid stack to the crazy kid with a blade stack. He got out of his seat and began to shuffle to the back of the bus. Koga waited for all four people to get off of the bus and sheathed his blade and plopped down in the drivers seat and buckled up. He didn't bother shutting the doors, He took off the emergency break and then looked for a way to approach the beast with the least maneuvering. He set his foot on the gas and went no where....He threw the bus in drive and smoke went into the air near the tires. the bus took off, and He pulled a wide Left after pulling into what would be oncoming traffic he pulled a hard right and had himself aligned with the wicked thing. HE slammed down on the gas pedal and they were off. He hit the curb with out much bother and was gaining speed. he was already at thirty miles per hour and he was pressing down hard now that he was pretty sure it was still going to be there when he got there. no one else was standing in the way, but just in case he pressed on the horn as he approached. He took a deep breath as muddy grey was the only color he had in sight.

The bus smashed into the back of the beast's right leg and for the moment crippled it, he was sure the stupid thing was going to reform since it didn't have bones. He batted at the stars that were circling his head. he wasn't dead...the safety belt held him in place, but he was definately going to have a bruis across his stomach and chest where the large safety belt lay across his chest. glass lay every where in front of him he had shards of it somewhere in his skin...he could tell.

He looked up at the clay that was pressed in where the windshield should be, only a couple feet away. He blinked and realized that somehow the buss was still running. Koga smiled let his head fall back and slammed down on the gas once more.

Driving through the park
In a four wheel city bus
O'er the fields we embark
making a bit of fuss
Bus on Cthulhu smash
Making things right
What fun it is to crash
in a Cthulu fight
(hahahahaha!)

~”Hey, Verdigris!”

She glanced up from the coals in time to see her green roomie sprinting across the expanse between tree and bus shelter waving before she slammed into the side of the bus shelter. Verdigris winced, but Andrea was seemingly unharmed. Fingers emerged around the plastic and metal corner, followed by a green face sporting the ever-present sunglasses. Verdigris was happy to see that the girl was unhurt, but nervous that that state could be easily changed in their current situation. She had no reason to feel responsible for the other young woman, yet as the friendship grew so did her desire to protect her. It was probably a reflex reaction from leaving her family and friends behind three years ago.

~”…but you know what I mean.”

Yes, yes she did. It was good to have a familiar face amongst the terror and imminent death raging around them. Strangely comforting to think that if something horrible did happen that at least you would have someone to talk to on the walk to the afterlife, or as you floated as incorporal beings, or whatever happened when you ceased being, if indeed anything happened at all. The green girl opened her mouth, which was either smudged with slight grass stains or reacting differently in this light giving off shimmering lighter patches. A shout from somewhere over there and the mouth popped closed. Verdigris stepped forward to see the shouter and could see the vague shape of the boy with purple hair holding the still-glowing sword he had driven, red hot into the monster.

"Should we meet up with them?"

Verdigris pondered this for a moment. A very short moment. This was the guy who figured out that heat would dry the beast out and, although it was now starting to look more and more like it was going to rain, she felt like she should trust his judgement. At the very least he could hold some direction as to something more productive she could do, for some reason the coals which were fired so eagerly from her palms seemed to do little more than dry the area they hit for a moment before it was circulated through and moistened again by the wet air and the rest of the clay surrounding it. It was really too cold and damp an evening to hope that evaporation would help them. Even if the boy with purple hair could do nothing else than call them together then at least they could figure out what they had between them.

“I think that would be a good idea, they might be able to give us some directio-”

The beast was howling, a bloodcurdling cry that made no sense as it had no voice box. Verdigris grabbed the wire handle to the brazier in an attempt to rescue the coals as the ground shook. All of a sudden the rain didn’t matter, the fact that they were merely mortals, trying to fight off a giant animated statue of a god, faded into the back of her mind. Cthulhu was reaching, tentacles were rising from the wet ground and flailing, searching for wayward limbs to seize.

Verdigris was not a fan of girls who screamed. Girls who squealed at spiders or mice or slugs or other such minor irritants were far beneath her on the evolutionary chain. This, however, was no mouse. No creepy crawly easily squashed by a shoe. This was a beast intent on killing as many of them as it possibly could. This was worth dropping all inhibitions and screaming for. She shrieked and leapt onto the small seat in the bus shelter throwing her right hand out to pull Andrea onto the safety of the slight elevation. This was the most deadly game of ‘lava’ ever. Instead of teasing and ridicule if you fell from your perch, actual death awaited in the form of writhing deadly clay.

She motioned frantically to Andrea. The small building provided next to no protection and they needed to get away from the tentacles which grabbed and squirmed searching for ankles to wrap around and drag into the clutches of the beast. Verdigris jumped from the bus seat to the trunk of a huge tree which had been tossed and discarded. The trunk ran from the bus shelter towards where the boy with purple hair had been had been gesturing as he called out. Wobbling dangerously for a moment Verdigris flung her hands out to the sides, the brazier rocking and swaying as she attempted to right herself. A coal plopped from the box to the ground where it sizzled out on the damp earth. A final wobble and the centre of gravity was located. Now to tightrope walk amid rain and flailing clay to an area where she might be safe.

A loud horn blasted and a bus came ramming up the curb and towards the clay beast. The trunk shuddered at the crash as the bus hit the giant god but stilled itself before she was bucked off, grabbing a branch which was now standing upright she carefully squeezed herself around it and continued the dangerous walk, the brazier still glowing merrily in her hand. At least now the beast’s attention was elsewhere. With her left hand clenched around the wire that held the brazier she had no way to guarantee or predict what might come out of her right palm should she try to fire at any tentacles that approached. Now was not a time for pebbles or loose change. The coals hissed and sizzled as drips of muddy water flinging through the air touched the orange embers. The ground beneath the tree trunk swirled with tentacles, she wibbled, wobbled, righted herself and continued to walk the trunk to the area specified. Nothing quite like a fight on Christmas Eve.

Juka heard the Cafas' called out advice about heat hurting the creature and wanted to act appropriately. The problem, of course, was how to heat anvils up fast enough and hot enough to actually make a difference? The fact was that, plainly, it couldn't be done, at least by Juka. What could be done, however, was setting pieces of wood on fire and one thing that there was a lot of in Central Park was pieces of wood. Espeically after trees, or at least one tree, had all ready been hurled at the hideos monster.

Juka released 2 of his 4 anvils, letting them crash to the ground to be picked up after the battle was over. He wasn't worried about anyone trying to steal them, after all, who would steal an anvil? And for that matter, who really had the strength to steal an anvil even if they had the inclination? Floating to the shattered remains of the tree, he bubbled 2 thick brances, at the limit of the size he was able to bubble. Taking out a lighter from his pocket, he lit the two branches on fire. Now was the tricky part. He was beginning to have a better understanding of the new limits of his power but he hadn't yet gained much control over it. Hopefully he would be able to suspend the progression of the fuel burning up by the fires long enough for the branches to actually be usefull. Hopefully. Almost immediately he felt the strain of attempting the feat.

As Juka prepared for a second (and hopefully more successful) the Cthulu monster let out a horrific yell and he found himself cringing in terror. Why had he decided to come here again? Could he really do any good against something like that? Tentacles began twitching and vibrating in the ground, reaching for victims and he found himself thankful to be safely in the air and out of reach. he asked himself again why he was about to do such a foolhardy and idiotic thing as charge the beast and potentially have one of those tenticles cleave him in two. Clearly he must be insane. There was no other logical explanation.

Just as Juka had gathered up enough courage to make his heroic charge a bus came out of nowhere and smashed into the creature. He was never going to get a better chance than this. With a deep breath and yet another mental beratement at his own sanity or lack there of, Juka maneuvered his bubble deftly through the thrashing tentacles that surrounded its face, getting into range to strike at it. With all the force he could muster, the two flaming branches collided with its face simultaneously, followed, an instant later, with the two remaining anvils, resulting in two very satisfycing thwacks. He thought he saw small bits of dried claw fall off his face where the anvils had stuck but couldn't be certain as, a moment later, an unnoticed tentacle wrapped itself around Juka's leg, his bubble providing no protection. He let out a terrified high-pitched scream.

Cafas didn't like this situation, not one gosh darned bit. He heard a very high scream and looked at the monster. There was Juka, caught by a tentacle. He had met Juka, he knew Juka, and now Juka was a brother in arms so to speak. Good ol' Aussy mateship in three, two, one. He looked around and saw someone balancing along a log. No time for that he feared, there was a Juka to be saved. He yelled across to the girl amid the terrible sounds of the battle. "You, shooter girl, get to the forest and act as a rally point, get everyone to you, I'll be back." Cafas looked at the seething ground he was about to cross. He didn't think, courage came without thought. Cthulhu was hurting his comrades, and that was something that in Australia was punishable by death. Eyes faded from deep purple to black and hand clenched harder around the hilt of his sword. He had no shield, he had no back up, but someone was there who needed him. To him, that's all that mattered.

'Save Juka...'

His bellow almost matched that of the beast, it hurt his eardrums and tore at his throat. He imagined it must have been how the ANZACs felt first charging up the beach of Gallipoli, determined to save their mates and beat their enemy. His first few steps were a stumbled run, much like his previous charge, but his next were stronger, more co-ordinated. Mud sloshed under his boots as the first real drops of rain fell. They gave the beast more mud to play with, and more tentacles writhed, but this was rage, blood thirst, the tentacles did not maintain shape against the force of his propeller legs. He was at a full sprint before he hit half way, the Adrenaline rush overpowering. He came up to the beast, which rain seemed to splash off, unable to compete with the density to wash the monster away. It made it slick and hard to grip. Cafas lunged, stabbed a tentacle and held on to his sword for dear life. He was flung in the air and lost his grip, the fist wraps proving to stop him holding tight enough. He smacked down onto Cthulhu, who now had both his weapons swinging on different limbs. He stood above its face, staring right at the effeminate features of Juka, from about six metres away of course.

'four metres of run, two of jump... this had better work.'

It seemed he had held on long enough for his sword to be wrenched free though, as the blade landed almost on top of a very surprised, but mostly pissed off, Cafas, who was getting rather drenched. He picked up the blade he had thought lost and took the three steps to the edge of Cthulhu at a run. His foot met something solid, by the feel of it through his boot metal, and he pushed off. He wasn't either fast or particularly strong, so the jump nearly missed. He scrambled up, holding the still glowing, sword, which was luckily not being hit by the potentially warping water due to the intensity of the heat. Cafas' face was getting that same heat. Black eyes focused on that which was gripping and attempting to crush the bubbler. Blade raised, two hands gripped it, then fell, searing its way through the clay. Not even half way, much to Alchemists dismay, he slipped as appendage moved and his weight was supported only by the weapon in his hands. It slid down, the mass of his body enough to pull it through the clay. he tugged. Then again. then fell. It was a hell of a long way down and there was something rather solid and ground like to meet him. It appeared to be a bus. His blade fell next to him, just missing the bus, and he lay still, eyes closed, knocked out, leaving a sizable dent in the roofing of the vehicle. Did bubble boy escape? Cafas had no idea, but then again, he didn't have much idea about what was going on around him at all, given his unconscious state.

'...'

It was roaring again... so loud... no-wait... Was that laughter? Yup... It appeared that they weren't even doing enough damage for it to even take them seriously... Crap, throwing a goddam tree had been a feat for him! he had thought it was seriously BA, but apparently it was just as fail as all of the other attacks that they had tried.

Saph realized he probably looked like crap right about now... he was covered in debris from the tree he had flung, his left side had countless little scratches, and a few deeps ones, not to mention he wasn't much of a looker in the first place in his opinion. The older mutant slowly climbed to his feet, looking back as the tentacle that had barely missed him slid away slowly, and then to the others... The reptilian kid had reappeared for a moment, only to run off toward the street and out of sight... the frightening floating boy in the dress had joined the battle once more, and looked like he was going to do some real damage with some burning branches before he was snagged by a face tentacle around the same time a freaking bus came from nowhere-lizard boy's work, he realized, and slammed into the monster's leg... Saph realized as the Aussie boy, who seemed to be taking charge quite well, rushed in to save the screaming kid, that he might not be able to do it alone, which was confirmed when he cut half way through the clay binding, and then fell onto the bus.

He cursed under his breathe as he began to crank himself in the knee again with his crowbar, putting all of his accumulated force into it, amplifying it, and then repeating the process over and over again until his whole hand was buzzing... That was when he burst into action, half running, half hobbling toward the monster while batting aside any of the many smaller tentacles that he saw on the way. A few times the was nearly snagged as well, but a few thwacks of his trusty metal friend was enough to free him. Finally he was close enough to hit what he was aiming for without missing.. He reached back the hand with the crowbar in it, and flung it with a good amount of kinetic force added on to make fly through the air with unnatural speed... it smacked into the tentacle carrying Juka and then sunk deep into the monster's mouth behind it as well... He found himself frowning as he realized that he still hadn't completely severed the limb, and was now out one trusty crowbar... Maybe it would be enough, though...

there wasn't enough time to spend on that thought, though... he had to keep moving... He moved closer to the bus, deciding to use its frame as cover, but paused as he caught sight of something that might be useful; The purple haired Aussie's sword... He slid on the muddy ground, and snatched it up, burning his right index finger badly, which accidentally touched the hot, but slowly cooling blade as he fumbled to grab it in his left hand. "@#$@ ow!" He then used another burst of energy to shove off with his left foot and launch himself on top of the bus where he saw the Aussie land... He nearly slipped on the landing because of the bus's smooth roof, but was able to regain his balance and look back to Cafas, who was... very much out cold... Crap...

The older mutant swung the sword around clumsily at any of the smaller tentacles that got close as he yelled as loud as he could. "C'mon kid WAKE UP!" He sliced the tip of a probing tentacle clean off, using the last of his gathered kinetic force in the process, and stood there nearly helpless as he waited for the kid to regain consciousness.

Her eyes shot away from her Roommate as her sentence was cut short mid way through, moving over her shoulder to catch sight of the mini monstrosities as they popped out of seemingly nowhere. With a renewed terror of the great beast, Andrea found herself scrambling backwards on her hands, feet kicking at the tentacle nearest her. Her own screech of terror rose to match that of her friends, and when she was motioned to frantically, she made sure to get to her feet and move.

She spared only a momentary second glance at the wriggling, searching clay appendages before joining her friend in the attempt to shimmy their way across the fallen tree. With one leg up on the log already, she thrust herself forward to catch up with Verdi, but was jolted to a stop as slick, heavy tentacle latched onto her left leg. Surprise, followed swiftly by terror, washed over her. Before she had the chance to look back and kick at her attacker, it tugged and she was pulled back. She lost her grip on the tree trunk, her right leg slipped from it perch and she smacked face first into the bark before being hauled away from the tree completely.

After the pain dulled, she swiveled as much as she could and aimed a kick at the thing. Sadly, as Andrea noticed, it did little to nothing to force the clay to let her go. She glanced around quickly, before latching onto one of the branches still attached to the tree truck she had been pulled from, using her grip on it to tug herself back towards her escape route. The clay arm tugged as well, and the result of the Tug-o-War between them was Andrea's foot slipping from her shoe with a wet Sssshluck![/b]

Within seconds of being freed, she crawled to her feet, watching as the tentacle wriggled about with her shoe, and climbed back up onto the log. Her feet padded quickly over the rough bark, managing to only slip slightly once or twice and before she knew it she was caught up with her friend- Dirty, wet, and with one shoe, but there all the same. It was then that she heard yet another cry, this time one directed at Verdigris.

Her eyes moved back to her roommate as they continued to run/walk/balance on the tree. "Looks like your in command now, Aye captain?" Now if they only had some paper napkin hats and stick swords...

Sir Gawain returned in glory.

Well, more like in a hurry, with a hard an very much not glorious quest behind him where he had to a) find a gas station, b) convince the owner there was an ancient god trashing Central Park, c) convince the owner he was trying to save the day, d) string three shopping carts together and load them with cans of gasoline, e) fasten the little train to Guingalet and steer it back to Central Park as fast as possible.
The less glorious parts of a quest were more than a bit mundane and not easy at all. Thank god for TV and Breaking News. Made convincing hell of a lot easier. He still had to pull the X-men card.
That worked miracles.

On his way back to the park, Gawain's mind worked so hard he swore the clicks and rattle could be heard from outside. He was really glad Guingalet seemed to know what to do on his own. He was really an exceptionally smart horse. That raised the question: either the Mansion had badass mutant war horses bred for combat purposes, or... he was riding a Mansion student.
Double damn.

When the fight scene opened up in front of them, Sir Gawain went into a string of curses from various cultures and historical eras.
There was a bus.
Good. Bus is good. Bus can make neat fireworks. Apparently other people on the team had the same idea about fire as he did.
There were also people on top of the bus.
Not good. Not good at all. We don't want casualties. Beside blowing the f**ing ancient god into next week, that is.
There was the weird-but-no-doubt-heroic drag queen hanging up around Chtulhu's mouth.
Now that was just f***ing bad.

Steering the horse (although he was not sure who was steering whom in that situation) towards the bus, Gawain found himself praying his plan would work. For Chtulhu's attention to stay distracted for a few minutes more. When he was close enough to yell... he did.

"Okay fellas GET OFF THE BUS NOW now so we can fry this motherf***!"
The front of the bus was covered in clay, but the giant leg had already moved back to regain balance. Swinging off the horse Gawain banged on the window of the bus "YOU TOO!"
Whoever ya are. Ya're friggin' crazy, pal. Nice job, by the way.
All right, top priority: detach the horse from the carts. So we can move on to phase 2. Also, so he can get away in case... we can't.

Really, what was the point? If she was meant to do something epic or heroic she’d be able to, right? Her powers weren’t epic or heroic and OHMYGODAGIANTTREEISFLYINGATME. Twyla didn’t have time to react. Luckily, she didn’t have to. Henrietta pulled her out of the way. Rapunzel, the damsel from the story, had saved the...whatever Twyla was. Proving all of Twyla’s previously defeated thoughts wrong. Hello, earth to Wisconsinite, you have a backpack full of explodey-splodes and a friend who's obviously capable of having your back. What else did one need to attack a giant wad of clay?

“Cover would be good...” After she let Henri pull her up Twyla’s brown eyes scanned the park. A bus, a horse and some shopping carts were too far away to get to. Twyla didn’t understand the image but pushed it in the back of her mind–cover first, confusion later. A bench near enough to sprint to would do as a base of operations, considering the fact that evil beastie was currently distracted by...something hanging from its mouth. This was another vaguely blurry and confusing image that the girl did not concern herself with.

“C’mon Henri, New Years just came early.” She clasped the other girl’s hand as sprinted with her across a few paths to the meager cover the park bench provided. “Sorry, it looked bigger when we weren’t behind it.” An apologetic grimace graced her features as she pulled her backpack off of her shoulder. “So, can you read Chinese?” The large, colorful rocket shaped cones had a detailed set of instructions on them. At least, Twyla assumed they were detailed considering the amount of space dedicated to them. She honestly had no idea what they said. Whoops, giant hole in the plan formulated on the bus. “Maybe we should just...wing it?” The blonde didn’t like the sound of her own words, but what else was there to do?

Without knowing exactly what was going on, Twyla grabbed onto Henrietta's hand and ran. They took cover behind a bench. Twyla appologized when she noticed that it wasn't as big as she had hoped. Henri wasn't mad and was just happy to be behind something instead of being in the open. She smiled at Twyla. "It's fine. I just like having something infront of me."

"Do I read Chinese?" For some reason, the sentence struck her as funny. Henrietta smirked slightly and then frowned when she looked at the fireworks writing. "Sorry, no. I don't." After sitting and thinking, she said, "I like your winging it idea." Pulling out a lighter she set it next to her. "I'll be back really quick." She crept infront of the bench with the firework in her hand. Rapunzel didn't feel like making this anymore unsafe than it already was.

When she got to a position that she thought was okay, she set the explosive device at an angle and aimed it toward the giant muddy beast. Running back to their cover, she grabbed the lighter and grinned at Twyla. "Wish me luck." Without thinking about what exactly could happen, she dashed back out and flicked the lighter so a flame came out. She held it to the tail end so it would light. Once she was sure it was actually lit, she ran like heck back behind the bench.

A big "BOOM' noise went off and a bright light. Henri had her head covered like it was some sort of huge bomb. Realizing that it probably couldn't hurt her from the distance they were positioned, Henri poked her head around the bench in time to see it hit the creature's leg. Instead of intense damage like they had hoped, it made a pathetic dent. She sighed with frusteration and yelled, "Really?!"

Juka continued shrieking as the tenticle closed tighter around his ankle. Terror consumed him and he coudln't think straight. Images of Aura nad his fight with the pink aura'd teenager flashed through is mind, images of her pink aura blade plunging itself deep into his shoulder. He remembered the pain of it, pain that he could gain no reprieve from, either through the oblivion of sleep or the panacea of drugs. And this pain, caused by this horrible, monstrous, clay creature that was so different from Aura herself, was so alike to the pain he had felt before. Sometime during the moments that he was held captive by the monster, tenticle squeezing and trying to break his ankle, his flaming torches went out. He didn't even notice. As his vision flickered in and out of reality, the past and present converging and mixing within his own mind, he maintained his desperate grip upon his 2 anvils and 2 branches. It was the only way he could survive, the only way he could defend himself. he couldn't let her blade hit him or his insides would be shredded. He couldn't let another tenticle touch him or his bones would be shattered.

And then Juka found himself on the ground, or rather floating just above the ground, as the tentacle that had been crushing his leg suddenly let go and he fell. He wasn't sure what had happened to cause it to do so, only that the pain in his ankle had dissipated to a dull ache to accompany the ache that remained within his chest and shoulder. But the threat wasn't over was it? She was still out there, she was still stalking him. If he didn't act now she would try to kill him again and once again he would be consumed by the pain and the terror of near death. He couldn't let that happen, wouldn't let that happen. She had won last time and he was forced to flee, well this time woudl be different. She had to be stopped and there was no one to stop her but him.

Juka hovered into the air another few feet, looking around, trying to spot his enemy, his eyes temporarily blind to the giant tentacled cthulu monster. His vision remained trapped in the past and the overwhelming urge to defeat Aura at all costs came over him. The first person he spotted was Cafas, a friend and not Aura. In fact, he was unconscious and, in his shattered mind, it was Aura who had caused his fate and Aura who must pay the price. The second person he spotted was a stranger on a horse and that stranger became Aura and that horse became yet another victim, a creature she had curely enslaved against its will. Clearly her evils would never end, not unless he was there to stop them.

"Its time you suffered like you made me suffer," Juka yelled at the Aura of his mind. "Its time you learned that you can't just kill people for no reason. Humans are people too and I have to stop you." He charged the man, anvils and branches rotating around his head as he did so. He had no thought of the safety of others, especially not the poor horse and no conception that who he was attacking was Mirror and not Aura. The trauma of the pain that the Cthulu monster had caused him had triggered a relapse into the past and once again he was fighting with the one who had almost killed him.

BOOM.

The 'boom' was early. It was also too small to be their own planned 'boom', but as 'booms' usually went, is was far too close for comfort.

"What the..."

Gawain spun around, having just cut Guingalet loose from the carts, and looked towards the source of the sound. Somewhere above them something hit Chtulhu, making moderate damage.
Was that the girls behind that bench?...
Dammit, I told her to get out of here!
On second thought...
Did they just shoot fireworks over a wrecked bus and three cartloads of gasoline?...
Holy...

It was impossible to yell over the battle chaos and Chtulhu's occasional roar, but it was worth - heck, it needed - a try. Putting finger and thumb into his mouth, Gawain whistled.

"TWYLA! WAIT..."
...before ya blow us all up together with the monster.

>>"Its time you suffered like you made me suffer. Its time you learned that you can't just kill people for no reason. Humans are people too and I have to stop you."

Somebody else was yelling too. Behind him. Gawain spun around once again, and saw the drag queen with two anvils and two branches spinning around him, his face distorted in anger, in full attack mode.
What was wrong with this picture again?
Oh, right. Juka was attacking him.

"Bloody hell."

What was wrong with this... guy? Seconds ago he was in the mouth of the monster, and now... did he just flip? Attacking teammates? Comrades?...
Damn damn damn

One thought emerged above all the rest: Gawain had no way of defending himself.

... damn.

She watched as Andrea leapt and joined her on the relative safety of the tree trunk. She wobbled a little, but seemed able to keep her balance without the assistance or encouragement of Verdigris. Verdy turned her attention to holding the brazier at an angle which didn’t allow the coals to jerk out onto the wet ground. Hearing a sucking, slurping noise she turned in time to see Andrea pulling herself away from a tentacle which was holding her shoe triumphantly.

Andrea approached, wobbling and slipping on mud-covered feet, one now shoeless. She was dripping mud and water but seemed mainly unharmed. Verdigris opened her mouth to ask if she was ok but stopped as another shout rang out.

~~"You, shooter girl, get to the forest and act as a rally point, get everyone to you, I'll be back."

She stared at the boy as he ran towards the giant beast. The drawling accent took a few moments to sink into her brain. Did he just pass command of gathering the troops onto her? So it would seem. His glowing sword made her brazier feel very ineffective so she snatched at a piece of dead wood on a branch nearby. Shoving it into the coals she turned as the boy started screaming. Great. She was taking instruction from someone insanely running towards the giant beast that was trying to kill them all. Just brilliant. She wobbled along the trunk throwing occasional glances towards the purple haired boy as he flailed his way through the rain and clay that tried to strangle his pumping legs.

Verdigris stopped as her way was again blocked by an inconvenient branch. She glanced at the giant beast that now possessed a glowing sword and an axe, swinging them from separate face tentacles sporadically. She watched the glowing shape of sword fling from tentacle to where the purple haired boy perched on top of the giant beast. This was not good. With a flying leap that would put a long jumper to shame the boy was hacking. The boy was cutting. The boy was falling.

“Sh******************t!”

He hit the bus. Hard. Verdigris felt bile rise in the back of her throat at the force of the impact. That would have really, really hurt. He would be right back? Doubtful. Very doubtful.

~~"Looks like your in command now, Aye captain?"

“Aye. That it does.”

Being captain to a ship of dreams and imagination, crewed by herself and her green-skinned roommate was one thing. Grouping together a bunch of frightened mutant children and teenagers was a whole other kettle of fish, so to speak. But that was the final order of the, she searched for a word more powerful than captain for a moment, commodore and she would adhere to his wishes as best she could. She wobbled once before spreading her legs slightly into a more commanding stance, befitting a captain that demanded respect. She took a huge breath and paused as the horse and rider returned to the scene, then again as a firework zoomed past her to explode against the monsters leg. Finally she spied someone who might listen. The bubbler who the commodore had risked, and possibly sacrificed, his life for. Bubbles looked mad, and hurt. He seemed to be intent on doing the rider from the horse some great damage.

“HEY! Bubbles!”

The scream was as loud as she could muster, perhaps she could gain the attention of the rider near him. Even the horse would be welcome. She glanced at the girls by a park bench and upwards in an attempt to see the bird-boy that had flown away from the bus shelter with a younger girl on his back. Her elevation on the horizontal tree trunk meant her voice would probably carry further, and she held the now flaming stick aloft in her right hand, it would work as a beacon in the dim light and falling rain.

“We need to work together, meet up by that tree. If we work as a team we can do it.”

Not one of her more motivational speech, but hopefully anyone who heard her would make for the large oak tree out of the range where Cthulhu’s tentacle-minions squirmed up from the ground. Then perhaps if they pooled their resources, both mutation wise and apparently gunpowder wise, then they had a better chance of doing the beast some damage, without injuring or killing anyone. Else. She glanced to the top of the bus, there seemed to be a man there attempting to rescue the Commodore, so maybe everything would be alright and he would come back and take over the group. He promised he’d be back. She motioned to Andrea.

“C’mon, we have to try and get everyone to that tree so we can figure out what to do.”

Shoving her way past the inconvenient branch she half ran- half scuttled her way to the oak tree, flaming branch still held aloft as a guidance to any who heard her call and would join her to rally up and figure out a plan. She never was the greatest at plans. She shuddered as a drip sploshed on her neck, it sent chills down her spine.

A blurry figure appeared in Cafas' vision, holding his weapon it would seem. His head hurt like nothing else and he was fairly sure he was laying in a dent shaped from his own body, but they were minor inconveniences next to the Cthulhu statue. He put his right hand against the roof and regretted it instantaneously. Apparently falling a long way onto ones hands tended to be a bad idea. He considered himself lucky to remain fully mobile. But the guy with his sword was swinging like a mad man at the blurry tentacles, so he had to do something. He tried the left, and with far more success stood. He stumbled toward the guy who had yelled at him at a pace reminiscent of one with a nasty ankle injury, mostly due to the fall, less so the rolled ankle, which all in all wasn't a serious injury. C.J. gave the guy a good shove out of the way of a tentacle with his good hand. His fist wrap snagged the gilt of his blade and Alchemist saw his still nicely glowing sword fall off the edge of the bus. Wait, was that a horse next to it? and what was in the shopping trolleys his blade was resting in? No time for complex questions, there were booms afoot.

'Did a missile just narrowly miss my face? I believe it did.'

He turned toward the projectile's origin point and waved violently with his good arm to gain their attention. "Oy, stop firing those things at it, we're danger close!" Danger close was a term he had heard an army ranger use in a video-game, so he assumed Americans understood it. Cafas, as much as he thought the guy he had shoved needed some technique with a sword, he was still helping Cafas, so he would try and be helpful in return. "Get to the far side of this clearing, there's a girl with a bucket of fire or something, get to her pronto, take anyone who'll listen with you." Cafas was off the edge of the bus ASAP. There was no way he was staying near Cthulhu now, not without a wrist brace. The current configuration of his fist wraps just wasn't working out. C.J. fell between what seemed to be a disgruntled Juka and some other guy with a horse. He crumpled under the awkward landing. His ankles seared in pain again. He was rather glad of it though when an anvil rushed past his face, just above. Apparently Juka's bubble had greater pull than the clay he had previously sunk his anvils into.

'I gotta get out of here.'

Scuttle scuttle roll scuttle. His commando crawling got him about three feet away from the Juka Vs Miscellaneous battle, not far enough in Alchemist's opinion, but there was work to be done. He left his sword where it was in favour of his life and stormed the bus, which was revving. The crazy lizard guy at the wheel was really just driving further and further into the clay monstrosity. Cafas smelled petrol. Perhaps the bus had a leak? No, bus ran on diesel. Oh well, possibly he was imagining it, they all smelled remarkably similar anyway. He collapsed into the seat behind the driver's seat and observed some more rain coming down outside. "This thing go to Xavier mansion?" He joked to the driver ninja. Cos he was hardcore. Cafas pulled the fist wrap as best he could from the left hand and wrapped the entire length into a supportive holding mechanism for his injured right wrist. He had forgotten he wasn't invulnerable for a minute there. Served him right.

'What's in those trolleys?'

It was refreshing, in a way, to watch as her roommate took command so quickly, and with such authority. It was also a sight that made Andrea herself want to do more, to help out as much as she possibly could. She paused behind her friend long enough to adjust the med pack she had slung over her shoulder, her hands dropping down to tinker with the marble she had strung around her neck. She was happy, no, much more than just happy. She was grateful that her roommate had turned out to be Verdigris. Someone she could goof off with and actually be herself- someone who was neither afraid of her appearance, or what she could physically do to people. It was-

“C’mon, we have to try and get everyone to that tree so we can figure out what to do.”

She locked eyes with Verdi from behind her glasses, her eyebrows rising as all of her previous thoughts melted away. There was a task at hand, she must not forget that!

"Right behind you."

She followed quickly, her arms stuck straight out at her side as she fumbled here and there- waving them frantically only a few times when she needed help to regain her balance.

"When we get there, let me know what you want me to do. I brought a First Aid kit with me, so i might be able to play doctor and patch up anyone who needs it."

Unless that person was missing an arm, of course.