Helena was also glancing over the span of the city, with such clarity made possible by her draconic vision. "No...but that doesn't make me feel better." Tucking in her wings, she stepped down from the edge of the roof. "What are we going to do if those things attack us?"

"Wipe'em out," R.D. said gruffly, "We're stronger now than we were on Khalis, so we'll be able to deal with them more easily. I'm just worried about numbers."

Thankfully, one could get on the roof from the service stairs inside the bank, so Matt and Hugo now found themselves on the roof as they opened the last door. "Hey," Matt said to Helena and R.D., walking to the middle of the roof and setting down the cooler and his backpack along with the others. "Let's get set up."

R.D. nodded and proceeded to help set their camp up for the night, and soon everyone was near the makeshift fire eating dinner as evening approached.

"You know," R.D. said inbetween bites, "This just doesn't seem the same without Alli here."

"Yeah," Matt mumbled through his bite of burger. "Our party hasn't been the same since we've lost our stock tomboy girl character."

"It was nice having another girl to talk to for a while," Helena said, somewhat withdrawn.

Hugo jabbed his pickaxe at Matt. "And Matt's not exactly a great replacement."

"I can provide emotional support!" Matt protested. "It's just strong and manly support."

"Support that makes violent truck monsters," R.D. jabbed, taking a bite out of his food. After swallowing, he continued, "I don't think that's something you'll ever live down."

"Making violent truck monsters is exactly why my support is more awesome than yours," Matt said, gesturing at R.D. with his burger. "Granted, they don't obey all the time, but you can practically sick those fuckers on anyone for the win."

"Until they get blown up," R.D. said, "And I think if you make another attacking truck, Hugo will shoot you."

"He's got a point there," Hugo remarked.

"Whatever!" Matt said, spreading his arms to clear the field. "Point is, I am incredibly awesome."

"You're all good people," Helena said. She smiled. "I'm glad I met you."

Matt smirked back. "Hey, no problem, kid. Glad to be here."

R.D. opened his mouth to say something, but instead sat up, thrust his arm out, and fired a Light Beam right past Matt's head, scorching something behind him.

"Look alive, people," he said as he stood up, trotting over to the disintegrating Inglet corpse.

X felt a little guilty about mooching off of Silvanus. So in the morning he'd written a note and set off again. The scars of war had, not healed, but had dulled and left a subconscious impairment.

He reached for his helmet and activated the damaged teleporter, praying to whatever god was listening that it would work one last time. It did, but instead of ending up at Interordi City--a place he guessed had existed (he wasn't too keen on geography)--he felt himself being swept away.

He landed some ways off of his intended destination--assuming it had even existed.

"Geez, it almost feels like some cosmic author is trying to railroad me into some kind of plot without any context whatsoever. But no one would be enough of an idiot to physically pull me here instead of my destination. What a terrible Deus Ex Machine that would be."

As he looked at his surroundings he noticed a man fire a light beam past a man's head.

"...You've gotta be kidding me." He ran towards them, hoping that he could find out what was going on, and how he could get of it and relax as soon as possible.

Edited by Mega X.exe on June 6, 2007 at 8:07:48.

"Shit!" Matt shouted, flinching visibly as the Light Beam grazed by him. "You wanna watch where you're firing that thing?!"

"Matt, look!" Helena exclaimed. She pointed at the Inglet corpse that had just toppled and began to disentigrate.

Standing up, Matt glanced at the corpse. "Fuck." Still glaring at the thing, he forced the rest of his burger into his mouth and chewed in utter seriousness.

"Well, that's just GREAT!" Hugo spat, brandishing his weapon. He quickly turned about, making sure no other dark creatures were crawling over the roof's edge. "This is gettin' REALLY old!"

A strange howling giggle filled the air, echoing in such a way it was impossible to discern where it came from.

"My, my," it spoke, "What big eyes you all have."

R.D. looked around, trying to figure out the owner of the voice his. He had his Phase Blade drawn, ready to attack any Ing that came near. Dark shapes began moving in the shadows along the surrounding rooftops, as something flit back and forth between them.

Edited by RisingDragon on June 6, 2007 at 14:42:56.

Matt felt put off by the threat's strange laughter. "...the hell is that?" he asked, as Helena scrambled to her feet. Drawing his own energy blade, he held it at an angle, the flat part of the blade to his face.

"Dunno," Hugo remarked, "but he's about to have a bad day."

X was getting a little angry. X was being ignored. In fact, X distinctly remembered them having ignored him the last time he encountered them.

X was going to resolve his anger by beating the crap out of them, at least, he hoped he would. Activating his buster, X started firing. Though the target was not specified in the narrative, it is irrelevant; there was no target. X was just firing wildly in any direction hoping to hit something.

One way or another, he was going to make his presence known.

(OOC: They're up on the roof, Mega X.)

The being continued to flit between shadows, entering and exiting at random. Its voice mocked the two teen boys as they drew their weapons, its laughter making their skin crawl. Each shot that was fired at it missed, the being was way too fast. R.D. noted the shots were coming from the street, but he was much too concerned about the being to respond.

"My, what big teeth you have, too."

"Show yourself!" R.D. shouted, getting more and more nervous. He did not like this one bit. "C'mon, you coward!"

The entity responded to R.D.'s demand, and something shot out from the shadows, streaking high over the group and landing behind them. It padded around and sat down on its haunches... like a wolf. Only this wolf was unlike anything R.D. had ever seen.

It seemed to be a creature of shadow magic, its body made up completely of black, jagged energy that flailed around it. It was shaped vaguely like a wolf, only larger than one. Its mouth seemed strung together by the energy, yet elastic for when it moved. A eerie white light glowed from within, and only one of its eyes could be seen, a white sphere that glowed just as brightly. Its muzzle stretched back in a wide, insane grin.

"Why so hostile, little children?" it spoke, its voice simultaneously high- and low-pitched, making it an uncomfortable, rumbling whine much like a shriek and a growl.

Edited by RisingDragon on June 6, 2007 at 15:43:29.

X was also not used to a Z-axis, so he felt quite embarrassed when he realized that between the ground he was on and the roof they were on was a mass of...mass.

Secretly hoping that no one had noticed his little outburst, X darted inside the building and made his way to the roof. When he arrived, he casually made conversation.

"Hey guys. Crazy gunman, down there, eh? Don't worry, I got rid of 'im." Then he noticed the "wolf". "Um...is this a bad time? 'Cause I can always come back..."

"What the fuck do you think?" Hugo snapped.

Matt remained focused on the wolflike creature, his sword still at the ready. Sure, it looked like some funky bastard...but after dealing with Malvettix, he was getting better at confronting what made him afraid. Despite the slight tremble to his form, his voice remained confident. "What the hell are you supposed to be?" he asked the wolf.

R.D. spared a brief glance at X, raising his eyebrow at the newcomer's appearance. "I seriously hope you're here to help us," he muttered just loud enough for X to hear.

"Haaaaaaaah," the creature let out like a sigh, looking back and forth between the group and X almost leisurely and addressed them all. "You haven't forgotten, have you? Silly child. Don't you remember me?"

R.D. was frowning and fell into a ready stance as the beast stepped forward. As it moved, it seemed to grow larger--or perhaps everything else was shrinking. He blinked. Was the creature distorting everything around it? He blinked again and stared--around the building, on the seperate rooftops, it seemed smaller versions of this monster were gathering in mass, all of them staring with an insane gaze as they swarmed around.

"Hahahahahaha," it giggled in a throaty rasp, "I'm the Big Bad Wulfe."

Edited by RisingDragon on June 6, 2007 at 16:29:57.

"Actually, I'm just confused as Hell." He replied honestly. Still, he had a policy about shooting spectral things.

He liked to do it as often as he possible could. He readied his buster and aimed it at the wolf. All goofiness fled from his face, leaving a calm and composed demeanor.

"The exposition can wait, but after we deal with our friend, can someone tell me what's up?"

"You are incredibly gay, aren't you?" Matt remarked of the Big Bad Wulfe. It was all bravado-truth was, he knew what was going down and he didn't like it.

"Matt..." Helena warned, standing ever closer to him. "He's not alone."

"I know," Matt muttered back. "Get ready to rock and roll."

Wulfe's grin widened more as he looked between each person. He was sizing them up, and made his decision. He twitched, then struck. His body moved like fluid, shooting forward and slamming into R.D.'s chest with one lightning-fast movement. The amnesiac teen was lifted from his feet and thrown, and both R.D. and Wulfe plummeted to the street. The asphault fractured as Wulfe smashed him into it, causing him to cry out as the shadow monster leapt away.

Up atop the bank, the smaller shadow creatures swarmed forward at the group, moving like serpents through the air with claws flashing as they converged on them.

Switching his buster to machine-gun mode, X cleared away as many of the shadow creatures as he could, scanning for the big Wulfe whenever he had a spare moment.

Catching a glimpse of the creature fleeing, X attempted to pursue it.

"R.D.!" Matt shouted. He bounded foward and leapt off the bank roof, falling the full three stories before smashing into the pavement, leaving deep marks where he had landed. In the same motion, he took another big leap toward Wulfe, intending to close the gap.

"Damn it, Matt!" Hugo shouted. Narrowing his eyes, he pointed his pickaxe at the approaching shadow creatures. "Looks like it's just you and me, Helena!"

"Okay!" Before the fear could consume her, Helena released the mental locks on the beast, and immediately unrenowned courage and lust for violence filled her heart as claws slid out of her fingers and toes and her limbs grew in strength. I'll come help you in a bit, Matt, she promised, forced to bare her fangs as they came in. First I have to take care of some business.

R.D. quickly pulled himself out of the rubble and leapt back as Wulfe's claws shredded the air, nearly tearing him apart. The being was no longer standing like a wolf, but like a werewolf. Wulfe smoothly rolled backwards, avoiding Matt's leap, then shot forward at R.D., slashing repeatedly at his face. The amnesiac weaved and bobbed through each attack, only narrowly avoiding them. His Phase Blade flashed out and parried one of the strikes, and he pressed himself on the offensive. Only his blade seemed to cut through air, as Wulfe's fluid movements allowed him to avoid it with ease. The monster's claw backhanded the teen in the face, sending him sprawling onto the street.

The swarm shot forward at Helena and Hugo, seeming to grow in strength despite how many of them were killed by X's barrage of buster fire. Like a single, multi-eyed and multi-mouthed entity, they rushed forward--and past the two of them, curving over the edge of the building and spilling into the street, diverging into two groups that chased after Matt and X.

Smashing into the road again, Matt leapt back up. Entering a outlandish pose in the air, he shot toward Wulfe with a flying kick reminiscent of a martial arts movie. "Wa-TAAAAAA!"

"What the hell are these things?" Hugo demanded as the shadow mass rushed around him.

Helena looked out toward the ruined street, lowering her head a bit with her growl. "I don't know, but we've got to help Matt and R.D.!"

"Dammit, they're on my tail!" X glanced to Matt. "Keep going!" He shouted, "I'll keep them busy!"

X smiled, and turned to face the onslaught. He focused, and activated a second buster. Tuning it to machine-gun he aimed at the two lines and began to fire.

Wulfe spun around and stopped Matt's kick with a claw, before his body suddenly dispersed in several different directions, as if shattering. He reformed behind the Core host and giggled his creepy laugh, stepped forward twice, then struck. His body shot past Matt at lightning-quick speeds, attacking from several different directions in rapid succession, claws flashing. After his final pass, he leapt a short ways into the air above Matt and conjured up a ball of shadow energy, which fired several curving rays of dark energy in a rough sphere himself and Matt.

The shadow creatures made snarls and howling noises as X unloaded on them, being killed in droves. The ones that had attacked Matt ended up missing when his kick was blocked by their master, and they swarmed around in a circle, going high into the air, and streaked down at X's back.

Landing on solid ground, Matt kept his senses alert-as his opponent rematerialzed and attempted to strike him with a series of rapid attacks, Matt shifted out of the way with his own quick movements. He shifted foward again, afterimages trailing behind him, to avoid the dark energy rays that homed in on him. "Let's see how you like THIS!" Matt remarked, leaping upward and swinging with his energy blade at Wulfe.

X waited until the last possible second, and switched his buster to charge cannon mode. Leaping up, he hoped the creatures would collide with each other to buy him some time. Aiming both busters down, he charged them and released to potent shots at the apex of his jump.