Roleplay:Secret Discord/Part4

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Back to Part Three.

Part 4: Recombination
"Don't think that taking out Kiko means that you have half a chance against either me or Tama. Instead of thinking positive, how about you try..." Without warning, Hikari disappeared, and reappeared to the left of the group. "Thinking fast!" Immediately upon his reappearance, he fired a blast of green fire directly at Reens to punctuate his shout.

In that same moment, a blast of red fire nearly overtook Hikari's green flames. Splice's fist collided with Hikari's wrist just in time to divert the assault, and expelled a massive burst of flames that nearly resembled an explosion. While the burns wouldn't necessarily hurt him, the sheer force of the attack would definitely hurt Hikari's arm. His green fire trailed off towards Static and Melissa. "That fast enough for you, Mirror Man?" He asked with a coy smirk. "I thought you'd aim for her once I realized you weren't talking to me." Splice returned to his battle stance, standing between him and Reens. "But don't think you can get the better of us with cheap shots like that! Not on my watch!"

"I have to say, you really are catching on to our powers quickly." Hikari chuckled. "I was wondering when it would be fair for me to stop holding back." It appeared that he was powering up for something, a faint aura surrounding him.

Melissa sensed the blast heading in her direction, and quickly raised a shadowy wall to block the attack. She and a small area around her became completely monochrome from the power she was outputting to hold the shield.

Meanwhile, Tama's immediate growth in power made Smash a bit uneasy. "Who and what is this person?" He asked, taking a defensive stance.

"A nu... a nuisance who's been... exponentially growing in power and that I can't... I can't touch..." Xavis answered. He was kneeling down on one knee and panting heavily, as his attack against Tama had taken quite a lot out of him. The energy within him was increasing rapidly, though, but also unusually fluctuating, and a dark, crystal-like substance was forming on the hedgehog's hands. "Where's... Melissa? Is she okay?"

"She's fine." He said. "Let us handle this. You look like you're about to have a meltdown or something." Smash stepped in front of the two, "You with me, Platinum?"

"Let's do this!" Platinum exclaimed. "No matter who my opponent is, I'll always be ready to stand and fight. Time to stop this girl, whoever she is!"

Right on cue, Tama rushed towards the group, appearing only a few yards away from Platinum in an instant. "I'm gonna get yooooouuuuuu~" She singsonged, powering up once more.

"Here she comes!" Smash exclaimed, getting into a defensive stance. Out of nowhere, a blue streak came crashing into Tama, leaving a young-looked blue-furred hedgehog with two droopy quills and a red-furred bat to tumble. For Tama, it would feel like getting into a car crash and getting hit by an incredibly large shuriken. "...There she goes." Smash stated flatly, looking dumbfounded.

"O-Ow..." Alexia said. "T-That hurt..."

Jewel was also banged up from the crash. "Ohhh... I agree... ow..."

"Thanks for the save, Splice," Reens said with a slight grin. She readied some more orbs of water and stayed behind him just in case. "I don't know what he's powering up for, but it doesn't look good."

"Stay behind me." Splice ordered cautiously. The ice on his arm began to melt away with billows of steam rising from it, while the fire on his other arm simply died out. "Get ready for anything. I'm gonna nip it in the bud!" With that, he broke into a short sprint towards Hikari with both daggers at the ready. He made a great leap halfway there, and with a couple aerial twirls, came down with a powerful vertical slash aimed at the agent's head.

Not even bothering to look above him, Hikari chuckled. "And with this... I return your attack threefold!" He vanished as the blade was about to make contact, reappearing a few paces back. However, he seemed to be tinted... Red? Immediately after, a second Hikari appeared to his left, tinted green. A third, blue, to his right. In perfect sync, the three shot jets of fire in their respective color directly at Splice.

Knocked a few more yards back, Tama somehow managed to get back on her feet. Despite both of the blows dealt to her, she only seemed to be slightly out of breath. "That tickled... Do you want to play with me too?" Her imposing mint-green aura hadn't even faded, still burning brightly. "Hehe... This is going to be fun~"

"For a creepy child, she's tough." Smash commented, his fists tightening. "She took two people slamming into her like friggin' rockets like they were as weak as nerf guns. It'll take more than a few good punches to knock her down for the count."

"I know, right?" Max said, still in his super form with his hair and aura glowing. He dropped Clock-Watch and Transford onto the ground before smiling. "I watched the whole thing. This cupcake isn't going down." Max's grin grew even larger, and his aura even more fiery. "The Preteen Punisher here is about to change that."

Static didn't get up, but could hear Max self-made title from where he was. "Seriously?" he asked, looking at Max with a blank look.

Clock raised his hand. "Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to try and rush in, then-"

Max quickly put his arm out and created a transparent yellow blade on it, similar to the move he'd used earlier on Splice. Oh yeah, that dude exists! Max then called out to the multi-colored hedgehog, completely oblivious to the fact he was busy. "Hey, Splice! Think we could try to rush Cupcake?"

Cupcake? Reens thought, slightly amused. She focused more, the orbs of water solidifying. They weren't orbs of ice, since she was unable to do that, but they were getting stronger. "He's a little busy at the moment!" she yelled to Max, shaking her head. "Just stay there for now, okay?"

Clock spoke up once more. "That really would be the best course of action-"

"What a bore! You really expect me to do that? I have better things to do!" Max said, groaning before smiling. "Why do I need him, anyway? I'll save the world from this pushover freak by myself! It's time to show you what the Irvaron can do!" Not waiting for Splice, Max blasted forward in a rush of speed, disappearing when he was a meter away from her. If Tama looked up around her area, she'd find yellow Super Chaos Spears and green Super Chaos Arrows (Chaos Spears but more powerful) surrounding her. Then, she'd see Max in the air, levitating with his legs crossed. "Impressive, am I right? Now, should I have them all explode or should they all close in on you? Decisions, decisions!"

Static continued to stare at Max. "Seriously??" he asked again, this time a little louder as though to emphasize his disbelief.

Platinum simply stared at the scene unfolding in front of her. After a moment, she turned to Smash. "Am I the only one who thinks that this is going to end incredibly badly for all of us, or am I just crazy?"

Smash however, was grimacing in annoyance. His eye twitched involuntarily as he listened to him run his mouth and try to steal the show before it even began. "Trust me, it's not just you." He responded without even glancing in Platinum's direction. Smash wasn't too thrilled to see Max again, but this kid's hyperactive overconfidence was grating on his nerves real fast. "I have so many questions right now that all begin with "why the hell". But on the other hand, this is an opportunity to learn our opponent. Let's leave Max in the spotlight for a while longer...and see if he doesn't get stage fright."

"As long as you're not expecting him to watch where he's aiming, I think he'll do OK." Transford said as he took a spot between Platinum and Smash. He twirled his guns around for a moment, ready to unload a storm of bullets at either Tama or Hikari at a moments notice.

Tama stared at Max. "I don't like the rules of this game." In a flash, she flew directly towards Max, willingly flying into the energy blasts to move towards him. Her arm clenched, she would throw a punch charged with her strange energy as soon as she got close enough to him. "Let's use my rules instead~"

Max started laughing as he tried to catch Tama's fist with his arm-sword, which would stab through her arms. "You act like a kid! Well, I guess if you are... I'm like the recess aid, telling you that you're not allowed to play tag because of stupid safety reasons." Max growled, "Elementary school..." before speaking again. "Anyway, how's life going with you? Proud that you're working for a boatload of idiots? Cool. My name's Max Irvaron, B T dubs. I bet you'll remember it after you're locked up."

The sword cut straight through her arm, but the strange misty energy leaking from her quickly appeared to patch her arm back up. Tama didn't even appear to be in pain. She was giggling. "You have a stupid-sounding name." With her other arm, she fired a blast of her mint-green energy directly at Max's chest. "You'll go to time-out if you keep being so violent~"

Max was hit, being blasted downwards to a tree. When he hit it, there was an explosion, but when all of the smoke was gone, a bright, yellow light flashed. With a hole through his shirt but his skin unscathed, Max rose into the air and laughed. "Lame! Using 'play-time' quotes to scare me? Like, kid, do you even know who you're up against?" Max kept laughing before looking at Tama and smiling. "You look you have a decent healing factor. I guess that's the government's problem to deal with."

Max created a red lance out of Chaos Energy before twirling it around and pointing at everyone with it. "I hope you guys have some decent acrobatics, 'cuz this is about to get crazy! Disco Dome!" Max threw three yellow orbs into the air, and they fired three types of lasers - red fast but weak ones, silver normal ones, and blue slow but powerful ones - in all directions. Then, Max flew around to dodge the lasers before trying to stab Tama into the leg. If he succeeded, he'd flip over while in the air and try to hit her back down with it.

The mist blocked the lance before it could make contact. Something about the collision between the two energies seemed unnatural, and it seemed like they were negating each other on contact. Tama grinned madly, attempting to punch Max in the gut with a fist charged with energy. "Your Chaos doesn't scare me. I have something just as strong~" If the attack connected, she would follow up with an axe kick to send him crashing back into the ground.

As soon as Max's hit missed, he flew backwards, causing Tama's punch to miss, also. Then, Max flew around, trying to dodge more lasers shooting around everywhere. Three lasers - one red, one blue, and one silver - were shot at Tama, and to add insult to injury, Max threw three red discs of Chaos Energy at Tama. "Eat this, kid!" Max's eyes widened before shrinking back and he spoke again. "What is a weird kid like you doing here, anyway? Did you get bullied so much you went evil?"

With jet streams of fire pushing him from three different sides, Splice held up his arms to guard his face after hitting the ground. The pressure was uncomfortable, but strangely he felt alright. '' ' There's...there's nothing special about this fire after all? Geez, was I worried over nothing? ' '' He thought to himself as he began to stand in the flames. "Now, Reens! Give us a big ol' splash!" He shouted.

"You got it, Splice!" Reens yelled in return, combining her water orbs and adding more water, but struggling slightly. "Tidal Wave!" The wave crashed down over the flames, dousing as much of them as she could. She panted and wiped her forehead free of sweat. "Whew, that was close!"

The water doused the flames, and the three Hikaris moved farther apart from each other, waiting for their opponent's next move. The water that remained very quickly froze over, and spread across the ground towards their feet. Splice had slammed his palms against the ground just after the wave splashed over, more than ready to turn it to ice.

Alexia, meanwhile, left Jewel to approach the battle between Splice, Reens and Hikari. Desperate to help, she froze Hikari in place with another layer of ice keeping his legs to the ground, so that when they made an attack, the chances of it landing were higher.

It seemed to work, but the Blue Hikari managed to avoid the attack by jumping in the air. Quickly, he shot flames down at his partners, to melt the ice holding them down.

"Notta chance!" Splice stood up and blasted his own stream of flames back up towards the Blue Hikari's, causing a clash in mid-air. "I'll hold this one off! The rest are all yours!"

Splice's counter caused Blue Hikari to scowl. When he landed back on the ground, he dashed towards Splice, orbs of blue light growing in each of his hands.

Jewel stumbled off the snowflake, very disoriented. As she stumbled around, she asked, "Anyone... g-g-got the number... o-of that elephant we hit?" Then she flopped onto the ground unconscious.

"S-Sorry, ma'am.... I was a fool to crash like th-that...." Alexia said, berating herself even though she knew Jewel couldn't hear her.

Jewel let out a groan. "... feels like I got hit by a... flying... ice cream truck..." She sank back into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, Xavis had snuck away from the battles to Melissa, who laid on the ground, exhausted from the shield she had created earlier. "Melissa?" The hedgehog asked.

"Xa... Xavis?" she asked between breaths.

"Melissa, are you okay?" He helped prop her up to a sitting position.

"I... I can't... I can't see..." she answered. Reality seem5d t₤_cr°ck ar÷und the hedgehog for a second. "H... he blinded me..."

He gently lowered her to the ground and stood up. The air was getting warm.

"Xavis? I know what you're feeling... please don't."

He closed his eyes. The dark crystals forming on his hands raised up to his elbows. He was visibly shaking. The air started getting hot.

"Xavis?"

He opened his eyes, now a vibrant, blood red, and turned to Hikari. He let out a war scream and rushed towards the cat with his arms ablaze, and was going to punch him hard with a flaming, crystallized fist, unaware of the others' plan.

Caught completely off guard, the Red Hikari only had enough time to throw his hands up in defense. Even then, the punch sent him careening backwards, tearing through the ice that binded him. After flying a few yards, he managed to grab the ground to stop himself, and quickly got up. It was clear that the blow hurt greatly, though.

Static got back up off the ground, finally feeling some strength back from resting. "Well, he's angry now," Static said to Melissa, watching Xavis charge towards Hikari. "I'm sorry, your highness, if I may call you that. If I had been faster and more aware of what was going on, this wouldn't have happened to you."

"No, no, it's fine," Melissa replied, "You did your best... that's what matters."

Reens looked over at Alexia and Jewel, trying to ease her nerves despite her fatigue. "Hey, are you guys alright? I'm kinda busy right now but I'll heal you if you need it! You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. Just keep doing what you're doing and I'll handle the rest, okay?"

When Alexia heard that, she smiled for a second, sighed, and plopped onto her stomach. Seeing Xavis attacking Hikari (and wincing at the expression on his face), Alexia have a look of slight confidence to Reens. "Miss Cy-Cyborg, I believe those t-t-two are more than enough in order to handle the GUN agent. I-I-I just hope I'm n-not being a bother...."

The Green Hikari had melted his own ice at this point, and began shooting green beams of energy at Alexia, Reens, and Jewel. "Don't think that numbers and tricks will let you beat us this easily!"

"Aw, g-g-gumdrops!" Alexia yelled, quickly created a snowflake to reflect to lasers back at the Green Hikari. Then, Alexia created a hollow ice dome around the trio, trying to make sure tehy were protected. "Th-That was close...."

One of the lasers grazed his arm, but Hikari managed to dodge the rest, and started running towards the three.

Meanwhile, Tama was moving through Max's barrage, swatting the lasers out of the way and swiftly dodging the discs. "Less questions, more fighting~" She fired a barrage of misty orbs at Max. If he was hit by one, he would feel it conflict with his own Chaos energy.

"Touchy subject, eh?" Max said with a cocky smile as he fired Super Chaos Arrows at the orbs. The orbs won the clash with Max's projectiles, but as it took some time, Max was able to fly away while dodging more lasers. Conjuring two more red lances, Max threw them at Tama before firing a storm of Chaos Spears at her, though it was mainly for a distraction. Finally, Max created a slightly-transparent red blade on his hand and waited.

"Not really! I've always been like this~" As she continued to swat attacks away with her misty energy, Tama frowned. "This isn't much fun. You should stop running away." In a flash, she was right in front of Max. "Are you afraid? Hehe~" Lightning-quick, she went for an axe kick to send him back to the ground.

Max caught the axe kick before smiling and putting his palm in front of him. "Nah. You should flew into a-" Not stupid enough to tell this is what he'd been waiting for, Max fired a large beam of yellow Chaos Energy at Tama point-blank, a Super Chaos Wave. If it hit, it would send her into the skies before exploding with a large impact.

In response, Tama's own hand shot up to block the beam with her own beam of energy, pushing back against Max's. Her movements were almost unnaturally quick; something was boosting her power, and it seemed to be getting more potent with each moment. "Bye-bye~" Her beam surged with power, in an attempt to overwhelm Max and send him crashing down.

Max smiled. "Well, at least a little kid like you can provide a quarter of a challenge." Then, Max teleported away, having turned what was supposed to be a beam into a flare. As soon as he teleported away, it exploded while Max was on the ground, smirking. "Try that on for size, little girl!"

Clock walked up to Platinum, Smash, and Transford. "We should do something. Everyone seems all right, but we should try and finish this battle as quick as possible." In a flash, he manifested his arm cannon. "I'm going to try and get a shot at the flying one; she seems the most dangero—"

Suddenly, as he was lining up his shot, the side of his cannon exploded. The impact sent Clock tumbling to the ground, though he caught himself with his other hand, quickly righting himself. "What the—"

"Clock!" Smash exclaimed, just barely stopping himself from running to his aid before turning the opposite direction.

The perpetrator was clear: A wolf standing a few yards away, pointing a finger gun towards the group. He smirked, before rushing towards them, shooting rays of orange energy at them. "So, you're the punks causing us trouble? You must be something special!"

"And you must have been feeling left out on an ass kicking today." Transford said through a half-amused, half-annoyed smile as he rapidly dodged the newcomers attacks while firing off shots at him.

"Crap, reinforcements!" Smash quickly dove to the side in order to avoid the projectiles, "Take em down quickly; who knows how many agents they've got left!" Smash stood and began to sprint across the field, hoping to flank the newcomer while Transford kept him busy.

Platinum got hit once, but got into the swing of dodging the attacks. "Another one!? These guys are coming out of the woodwork!"

Quickly rolling to avoid the rays, Clock managed to leap back onto his feet. With his left hand, he reached into the back of his coat, pulling out a large silver sword. In a flash, he began to move the blade surprisingly quickly, blocking the shots fired at him.

The wolf began to counter Transford's shots with shots of his own. Noticing Smash running to the side, he began to run straight towards him, risking getting hit a few times so that he could get too close to Smash for Transford to shoot, without the risk of shooting Smash as well.

Smash could only trust that Transford wouldn't actually shoot him, and continued his pursuit towards the wolf. He was still weary of him, though. The best, and probably the only way he could take down a ranged fighter would be to get up close and personal, yet this new foe came straight for him. As soon as he got close enough, Smash ducked his head low and aimed a powerful left jab towards the wolf's gut as he attempted to rush past him.

Transford managed to fire off a few more shots before deciding that that the odds of hitting Smash were too high to keep going. Deciding to join Smash in an up close attack, he flicked at a button on the leather cast around his left arm, causing a blade to spring out of the front. He bolted toward the wolf, positioning his arm to try and cut into his leg as he passed him.

Tama seemed to be somewhat battered, but it was clear that she wasn't giving up yet. "You've lasted pretty long... But how long can you keep this up?" Again, she rushed straight towards Max, letting loose a barrage of misty energy beams.

Max flew to the side before using Chaos Shield to block against any beams that might have hit him if he hadn't. Then, Max fired the shield at Tama, trying to push her away. At that moment, he was hit by one of his own disco beams, blasting him back into the tree from before and taking its top off, leaving only a trunk. Annoyed, Max grabbed the severed tree and threw it at Tama, hoping to deal some serious damage.

The wolf braced himself for the blow; it almost seemed like he let himself get hit. He quickly turned his gaze towards Smash, and if he looked into the wolf's eyes, he would feel like an invisible force was attacking him, trying to chip away at his will. "Submit." He growled. Before he could go any further, however, he noticed Transford, and was forced to look away in order to move his leg out of the way.

Smash barely caught a glimpse of his eyes as he turned around, wondering why he showed so little resistance against his attack. All of a sudden, Smash froze in place with a quiet gasp, feeling an unnatural pulse throughout his body. His eyes widened and his brows furrowed; something was seriously wrong. '' ' What is this...overwhelming vibe he's giving off? ' '' He asked himself as the wolf looked away. It was only for a second but it was more than enough to catch Smash off guard. '' ' That wasn't just any old look. I've stared monsters right in the eye and I've never felt weak in the knees. Not like that. ' '' With Transford coming to keep up the offensive, Smash clapped his face with both hands, trying to regain focus, and took this opportunity to rush the wolf's backside.

Platinum stood back to watch, waiting for the right moment to rush in and join the fray.

As it flew towards her, she formed a blade of misty energy to slice it in half. Luckily, the halves didn't come crashing down on top of anyone, but the impact of them hitting the ground would likely be startling. "How about that? I stole that one from you~" She continued her pursuit, attempting to land a blow straight to Max's gut.

"Uch, of course a brat like you is unoriginal," Max said, with a groan. As she was nearing him, he smiled cockily, however, and if she got close enough to hit him she'd find that her attack would phase right through him. If she looked around the park, there were clones of Max everywhere - two afterimages were bickering, one afterimage was licking ice cream, one afterimage was taking a nap, and three move afterimages were playing Hot Potato with an Chaos Spear. Some were taking strolls, some were doing barrel rolls in midair, and some were looking at Tama and seemed to be gossiping among themselves about her.

"The more, the merrier! If I can't tell which one is real, I'll just break them all~" Raising her arms, Tama let loose countless beams of energy into the sky. After a moment, they descended, shooting towards the various Maxes scattered across the park, and the rest of the combatants too. The afterimages all dissipated, showing that Max had stopped trying to fool her, but if Tama didn't react, she'd find a lance through her chest that would explode after five seconds.

"Geez, this is like walking through a minefield!" Clock exclaimed, barely avoiding the explosions caused by the missiles hitting the ground. "Forget about us surviving, soon this park is going to be a crater!"

Xavis lunged at the red Hikari with another flaming punch, and planned on following by grabbing the cat by the arm and chucking him at the newcomer.

As soon as Xavis got close, Hikari disappeared, only to reappear to his left.  'Damn, he's got a lot of power...'  Hikari thought. '' 'All I can do is keep trying to avoid his attacks until he runs out of steam. That should be all right, but with this kind of power, even my illusions might not be enough...' '' From his hand, he let loose a bolt of the same misty energy that Tama had used earlier, hoping to catch Xavis off guard.

As the blue Hikari rapidly approached him, Splice's hands glowed an icy blue as he took one step forward, readying himself for whatever Hikari was about to do. If he came within melee range, Splice would trap him within a large, jagged block of ice.

Once the blue Hikari got within a few feet, he quickly lunged forward and to the right, firing a blue ray of light energy at Splice. Immediately after the attack was released, however, he disappeared, reappearing to the left and firing another ray.

His arms were spread out as he was going to follow up with his trap move by slamming his hands into the ice with fiery palms, but now Splice was practically a sitting duck after his initial attack missed. Fortunately he reacted fast enough to dodge the first beam by lurching his upper body backward, but he was in no position to dodge the second one. He cried out in pain, losing his balance and staggering off to the side. He managed to turn around to face the blue Hikari before falling to one knee.

Noticing Splice's cry, Clock-Watch rushed towards him, firing at Hikari to distract him from the downed Splice. He quickly moved in between the two. "Are you alright!?" He asked. "That looked like it hurt. I can hold this guy off while you pick yourself up, if you need me to."

While he was occupied talking to Splice, however, the blue Hikari took the opportunity to let loose more bolts of energy towards the two.

"I-I'm fine!" Splice insisted, clutching his searing side. "Get down!" With his other arm he pulled Clock forward as he doved to the ground, narrowly missing the bolts coming at them. From the ground, he reached out towards the blue Hikari, causing a stream of ice to rapidly approach their enemy--threatening to freeze him to the ground. The ice's range spread outwards in the shape of a cone to cover more ground. "Get 'im when he jumps!" He quietly told Clock.

"Woah!" Clock shouted, seeing one of the bolts fly right over his face. "Alright, I'll make sure he can't dodge this one!" Lining up his shot, he waited for Hikari's move.

"Geez, it looks like more of a mess than it did," Reens commented, beginning to heal Alexia and Jewel at the same time, one hand on each of them. "Thank Chaos we have more help, but it looks like the other side has more help too." As she focused on healing them both, her eyes traveled to the battlefield, to the ice dome, then back to her patients. ''If this ends badly... no, you can't focus on that right now. It'll be alright ... right?''

The green Hikari had gotten fairly close at this point, determined to take out the trio. Leaping into the air, he fired a jet of green fire at the dome, in an attempt to melt it. The dome began to melt, but Alexia planted her foot into the ground, trying to keep it from melting. "Ms. Cy-Cyborg.... please hurry w-with the h-healing... I can't hold th-this for much l-l-longer..."

Reens' teeth grit together as she focused harder on healing them. "I'm going as, as fast as I can! I'm sorry if I can't, can't heal you all the way, okay? I'm the only healer here, it's kind of hard to do!" Tears started running down her cheek as she said this, showing that she wasn't angry, just really... scared. Her chest started glowing from the strain.

"Omigosh, I'm.... so.... sorry..." Alexia felt horrible now. She was struggling to keep the dome up, and now she was making someone cry. The situation was mortifying. Alexia gulped before speaking again. "I... If it's too challenging to do quickly, I suggest we leave the dome and leave Ms. Jewel in here. Then, we can protect her while pushing off our assailant." Alexia sighed. "I-If you d-don't mind, of course..."

"Makes sense to me," Reens replied, wiping her eyes. "Um, you might wanna stand back a bit though, okay?" Alexia did as she was asked and steeped back, waiting in anticipation to see what Reens had up her sleeve. Reens took a deep breath and focused, becoming enveloped in a ball of light. When the light dissipated. Reens would be canary yellow with crimson eyes, and her heart necklace had become silver. Her clothes didn't change at all, but her robotic arm was different. "Okay. let's do this!" She picked up Alexia (who had just been staring at her in amazement) and flew out of the dome, having the dome close back around Jewel.

The green Hikari raised his eyebrows at Reens' transformation. He ceased firing his jet of flame, and assumed a defensive stance, waiting for her to make the first move.

Xavis raised his arms against the red Hikari's attack, with the energy simply reflecting off the crystals covering his arms. He then went in for another punch. If his opponent dodged again, he'd spin around and spew fire in all directions. Hikari might sense that his energy was slightly different from normal Chaos--there was something else, some unstable, unidentifiable energy growing within him...

"That bolt of Symphony didn't even phase him... This is a problem." The red Hikari muttered. Sweating, he threw his arms into the air. Suddenly, what appeared to be even more copies of the red Hikari popped into existence around Xavis. Some would vanish, sending beams of red energy towards him; the others began to run in various directions, hopefully making it hard to discern the real one.

Heartbeat Reens set Alexia down gently. "Like what you see? Hope so, cause you might not see this for a while!" she teased the green Hikari with a wink. She readied a large orb of water, similar in size to her Tidal Wave attack, but as she concentrated, the orb of water grew larger. She floated in the air, then spun and threw the orb straight onto him. "Hurricane!"

As it approached, the green Hikari vanished, but the impact of the orb hitting the ground was enough to knock him over, reappearing a yard or so to the left. Grimacing, he shot a ray of green energy towards Reens.

Alexia nodded. "Thank you s-so much! I'll try my best not to let you down!" Determined to do something useful, Alexia burst in speed to Splice and ran in front of him, staring at the Blue Hikari. "I-I'm not going to let you harm this man any further! I don't like violence, b-but if you're going to b-be so rude, it looks like th-th-this is my only option!" Alexia created four small shurkien that looked like snowflakes and fired them at the Blue Hikari. They would freeze the body part they hit in a block of heavy blue ice if they succeeded in striking their target.

He had just leaped into the air to dodge Splice's attack, and as the shuriken approached, the blue Hikari let out a burst of blue flame to melt the attacks. However, he was too caught up to notice Clock firing at him, and was hit square in the chest by a shot of silver energy, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Clock-Watch pumped his fist in celebration. "Yes! A clean hit!" He turned to Splice. "Quick, freeze him while he's down, and let's finish this one!"

"On it!" Splice stood up, holding his hands forward as the ice formed under the blue Hikari in the shape of a cage ready to catch him. If he landed inside, Splice would proceed to completely trap him with another layer of frost, sealing off any openings from the cage. With that, he would prepare to follow up with one last finishing blow.

Tama was sent flying backwards by the exploding lance, but still didn't cease her murderous grin. Her fur glowed a sickly green, and she rushed towards Max with simply uncanny agility. As she got closer, she fired energy beams to surround Max, preventing him from running away without having to walk through one of the potent attacks. They soon formed a cage that would keep both of them stuck until she dissipated it. "No more tricks. How tough are you without room to run?"

"Who says I need to run? I'm just trying to have fun. With you being some dumb kid, I thought you'd be able to enjoy yourself more than me." Max opened his mouth like he was going to speak again, but then an enormous red explosion went off instantaneously, even more powerful than a Chaos Blast.... with its power multiplied by three. This was Max's Super Chaos Climax, a destructive move that was used best when point-blank. Because of the cage, it wouldn't escape, leaving Tama without room to run unless she put the cage down.

Almost reflexively, Tama let loose her own explosion of energy when she felt the blast reach her. The two attacks broke the cage of energy with ease, and lit up the sky with green and red light. Neither one of the two would be able to avoid taking the brunt of each other's attack at such close range. After a moment, the smoke and light cleared, and Tama spiralled down to the ground, seemingly exhausted.

Heartbeat Reens simply deflected the blast with her robotic arm, then turned her robotic arm into a stronger version of her plasma cannon. "Is that all you could do? I guess being further away makes you weaker or something?" She fired a succession of plasma blasts straight at the green Hikari. "That didn't even tickle!"

The green Hikari's eyes narrowed, and he ran out of the way of the attacks, firing back towards Reens. Noticing Tama falling out of the sky, he ran towards where she would land. Max was also sent flying downwards while spinning, however, and he stil had some Chaos Energy in him. He would end up hitting the Green Hikari with a large amount of force, and if he didn't notice, the two would find themselves in a ten-meter deep hole in the ground.

Seeing Max's attack heading towards him, Hikari quickly pulled something out of his pocket... A crystal? Wrapping it in mint-green energy, he whipped it towards Tama at lightning speed just before getting hit by Max's attack. "Tama! Catch!"

Tama's eyes shot open upon hearing Hikari shout to her, her gaze immediately turning to the crystal. It almost flew past her, but she barely managed to grab it with her right hand. Somehow, some way, she landed on her feet. "Ooooooooh~ I feel really excited now!" She immediately turned to look towards Platinum, who was still watching the wolf that had just appeared. "Now, where was I?"

As if he could sense what Smash was doing, the wolf attempted to hit Smash in the chest with his elbow, not even turning around to aim, though it still managed to be a precise strike. Perhaps he had ways of sensing opponents beyond just his eyes?

Smash was almost caught off guard, but managed to block the elbow with both hands. He quickly rose his boot in an attempt to kick his arm away from him.

With the wolf distracted enough to allow it, Transford stopped to press at a button on the gauntlet around his right arm. Various bits of it retracted or folded back into itself as the whole thing clattered to the ground. Without a single word from Transford, four pitch black tendrils composed of pure energy emerged from his back and sped toward the wolf, each one aiming to wrap itself around a different one of his limbs.

In response to both attacks, the wolf backflipped over Smash, a trail of steam appearing to follow him. It seemed as if he intended to use Smash as a shield against Transford's attack. If Smash looked into his eyes, he would again be subjected to the intense feeling from before.

Smash barely had time to look up at the wolf, thanks to Transford's freaky tendrils stretching towards him. He saw them coming before the wolf launched himself with a smokescreen, and immediately after Smash knew what might come next. He let out a startled grunt as he quickly stepped aside, before shooting a disturbed glance towards Transford; his face saying all that needed to be said and asked. Returning to the matter at hand, Smash looked up to see where the wolf was going to land.

Static looked on as the battle raged. The park was getting demolished left and right. "Good grief, the park is ruined! Good thing we didn't fight in the city." He thought aloud.

Feeling somewhat rested from his time out of combat, he felt that he to get back in and help, though he wasn't entirely sure how much use he'd be. He could barely go five minutes without tiring himself out. Maybe if he fought more conservatively, he could avoid exhausting himself. "I think it'd be a good idea to get you somewhere safe and out of the way." He said to Melissa.

"Oh? Y-yes, thank you," she replied, getting herself to her feet. "I think my vision's starting to come back..."

Static led her to a nearby tree and helped her settle down. "Just stay here and stay down." he said. Seeing Kiko's unconscious body, he decided to get him out of the way as well. He ran over and, putting his arms underneath and around Kiko's chest, began dragging him over to the tree. He then carefully positioned Kiko against the tree.

"Hey, your highness?" he asked. "I don't suppose your abilities could tie him down or something. If he wakes up, I'd rather he didn't escape."

"Oh, um, okay," Melissa replied, gesturing over to Kiko. A shadowy blanket wrapped around the fox's torso to constrain him.

"Alright. Shout if you need anything." Static said. He then turned to face the battle. He just needed an opportunity to jump in the fray. He watched the battle unfold, waiting for a good opportunity to assist.

Meanwhile, the multiple red Hikaris were only aggravating Xavis further.

The entire area started to go up in flames as the enraged hedgehog began spewing jets of fire from his arms in every direction, trying to hit the overly evasive cat.

Knowing that he could only keep holding out for so long, more and more of the Hikari clones turned into beams of light energy that fired towards Xavis. Only a handful of them remained after the barrage of light beams had finished; he hoped that the attack would weaken him somewhat, at the very least.

Heartbeat Reens flew around the area, dousing some of the flames that were getting too close to Splice, Smash, Platinum, and the other combatants. "Man, it sure is getting awfully warm here! Are you guys okay? What do you need me to do?"

''CURSE IT ALL! THIS IS STUPID! ''Max thought, attempting to grab the Green Hikari by his collar and throw him into the air. "I don't have time to waste with people like you! That girl's head is mine!" If he succeeded, he would go blasting off towards Tama, the flames spreading into the sky as he flew. He would create two flares of Chaos Energy that'd explode when they got near.

Unable to avoid it, the green Hikari was flung into the air, though he managed to land on his feet a few moments later. It was clear that he was exhausted at this point, however.

Tama turned to look at Max, a slight frown on her face. "I'm done with you, your game wasn't very fun. You can go now~" From her hand, she let loose a large beam of mint-green energy towards Max. It was unnatural, how quick she fired the attack. Clearly, her power had increased beyond what it was only moments before. "You should stop before you break yourself~"

Max was hit by the blast, unable to respond to its amazing speed, and he was sent high into the sky. When he stopped flailing, a yellow aura surrounded him as he clenched his fists and yelled "YOU BRAT! I WON'T LET YOU BREATHE FOR MUCH LONGER, YOU HEAR ME?!" Max boosted downwards towards Tama like a comet, and it seemed like he would try to punch her in her face.

"You're no fun anymore~" Tama giggled, boosting straight towards Max. Once he got relatively close, she would release an explosion of energy around her. "Boom!" Max was immediately hit by the explosion... or so it seemed. This was what Max was hoping for. As soon as Tama released the explosion, Max teleported away, and then, reappearing in the air, he smiled before charging Chaos Energy in his mouth and firing it in the shape of a beam at Tama.

The beam pushed Tama to the ground, but she managed to stand her ground, and began to repel the attack with a beam of her own Symphony Energy. "Go on! Give it everything you've got! I don't want to be dissapointed~"

Max laughed for a long period of time before his pupils shrank and he sidestepped the beam, dodging Tama's attack. ''I... I think I know what she's trying to do. If I go all-out, I'll exhaust myself while she'll still have a ton of stamina.'' Max slapped himself on the head. ''Collect yourself, Max. I need to stop acting headstrong and start acting head-smart. This is a battle I can't afford to lose.'' After calming down, Max's smile turned into a neutral expression as he flew towards Tama casually, seemingly not caring anymore.

"Are you done now?" Tama asked, tilting her head to the side. Suddenly, she flew straight towards Max, lightning fast, slinging balls of energy at him. "Bye-bye, then! It's a shame you've given up so quick!"

Platinum was watching the fight between Tama and Max closely. Something felt off, but she wasn't sure what it was. Whatever it was, it seemed like somehing was about to go wrong, in her mind, so she was on edge. But what could be causing her to be so unsettled?

Max was apparently hit by the balls, but still, he flew to Tama, floating carelessly.

Splice's cage managed to trap the blue Hikari, though the rapidly increasing temperature meant that it likely wouldn't hold for long. The second he realized what had happened, he was already expelling flames to try and melt the icy prison.

Clock turned to Splice. "Before he breaks out, let's finish this! If you can keep him busy, I can charge up another shot from my cannon, and hopefully put him out of commision for a while. We're almost there!"

"I'll h-help keep the ice on! Tell me when to stop putting on the pressure!" Alexia said, putting her hand out to harden the ice. It put up a better defense, though the flames were still effective.

Though he didn't know who she was, Splice more than welcomed the extra help. A toothy smirk spread across his face as his daggers caught fire. "Ready when you are, Clock," he said as he crouched low with his arms crossed in front of him, ready to spring forward at any moment.

Energy gathering in his cannon, Clock nodded at Splice. "All right. Let's do this, now!"

In an instant, a burst of flames erupted from Splice's heels, giving him a huge burst of speed as he launched himself towards the blue Hikari. In the next second he was already behind him, his arms outstretched behind him as all the flames quickly burnt out from his knives. Suddenly, the top half of the icy prison began to slide down, revealing the clean cut right through the center. "Fatal Frost." Splice uttered with a hint of satisfaction, just before the entire cage burst into several shards and shrapnels of ice. It was at that very moment when Clock's blast closed in on their target, ready to finish the job.

As the debris cleared, the blue Hikari could be seen lying on the ground, defeated. His suit seemed to spark a little bit, but besides that, it was clear that he was out for the count.

"Yes!" Clock shouted. "We're finally managing to turn the tide, how about that?"

Splice stood up straight, twirling his daggers around triumphantly. He looked over his shoulder with a grin. "You rock, Clock. Didn't think you were much of a fighter at first, but I'm glad I was wrong!" He then began to survey the area, seeing how everyone else was holding up with their respective battles.

Instantly upon landing, the wolf rushed towards Smash, his eyes glowing with the same intensity they had before. If Smash was caught off-guard, he would aim a punch directly at his gut. If not, he would go for a sweep kick. Either way, he tried to stay close to Smash in an attempt to keep Transford from being able to get a clear shot at him.

Smash had expected the wolf to come for him, but it was only at this moment when he noticed the actual change in his eyes. In an instant, he felt that same unnatural pulse throughout his body--yet, even worse somehow. With the wolf charging right for him, eyes locked with his, Smash felt no more powerful than a deer in the headlights. '' ' Why...? Why won't...my body move...!? ' '' He gritted his teeth, visibly struggling under his foe's influence. Yet, the more he looked into his eyes, the more he began to realize...

"OOF!" Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do anything about it in time, and took the blow head on. He staggered backwards, clutching his stomach and coughing. Yet now that his gaze was forced away from the wolf's eyes, the overwhelming feeling rapidly left his body.

With Smash recovering from the blow, Transford rushed back in to keep up the attack. He prepared to try and fake out the wolf with a gut punch before using his blade to stab him in the side.

Continuing to fly around the area, Heartbeat Reens kept dousing the flames that got too close to her friends. She also fired orbs of water at the Hikari clones, but these orbs were stronger than her previous ones and were more solidified. She also hovered above the wolf and readied another orb of water.

The wolf barely managed to avoid the attack from Transford, and quickly lept away from the two, shooting a spray of scarlet orbs of energy at both Smash and Transford. Noticing Reens above them, he quickly used his other hand to fire at her as well.

Smash looked up as the wolf jumped. Their eyes met briefly before the latter's attention was drawn towards Reens, and just like before he felt that same paralyzing sensation come and go. This time, however, a slight smirk crossed his face. "I see..." He muttered, just as he began to step out of range of the energy orbs. "So that's his strategy."

Transford was able to easily dodge most of the orbs or the tendrils on his back moved to block the others, but only one managed to land a hit. It only grazed his right shoulder, but the pain was enough to send him staggering. "He can't keep this up forever, but we clearly ain't getting anywhere with whatever the hell this is." Transford said to nobody in particular, but audible enough that Smash could probably hear him as two of his tendrils dissipated into plumes of black smoke and he clenched his fists, sending sparks flying.

"We haven't landed a single blow on him, so far." Smash noted somewhat quietly, walking up beside him. "But I think I know how we can. His strategy seems to be about avoiding your shots by getting in close range of me. His eyes have a paralyzing effect if you look into them, and that's how he's trying to catch me off guard. I'm going to try and use that against him. When he comes after me, be ready to shoot."

"Well?" The wolf's voice was quite loud, as if it was being amplified in some way. It wasn't paralyzing, but it was certainly disconcerting. This time, he decided to rush towards Transford, eyes aglow once more.

"All yours." Transford told Smash as in a flash of light, he shifted a far distance away from the attack, preparing to shoot the wolf down as soon as Smash made his move.

With that, Smash stepped right where Transford used to be, and glared right into the wolf's eyes with defiance. He knew he was putting himself on the spot, making himself completely vulnerable to the wolf's paralyzing gaze. He struggled a little under the influence, but now that he knew for sure what was causing that horrible sensation he felt far more confident that he could beat it.  ' You don't scare me, '  He thought, baring his clenched teeth into a snarl, '' ' Just try that again, I dare you. ' ''

Smash's actions confused the wolf, but he wasted no time closing the gap in between him and Smash. Once he got in range, he would throw a right hook, followed by a burst of energy from his other hand if it landed. He was certain his attack would hit, but something about the current situation troubled him.

The Hikaris were beginning to decrease in number, but there was still a decent number of them still on the battlefield.

Reens let the orbs hit her, then smirked as she threw down the water orb she had been holding. "Man, that didn't hurt a bit," she said, flying off to destroy more Hikari clones. Invulnerability really pays off, she thought to herself as the orb exploded.

Meanwhile the barrage of attacks from the red Hikaris was too much for Xavis, who was unable to dodge or block them all at once and was left collapsed onto one knee. He was breathing heavily, and the wavering of the heat and fire made it clear his rage was beginning to fade.

The few red Hikaris relaxed somewhat, clearly exhausted from the attack. A few of them still looked to be going strong, but for the most part, they looked rather tired.

"Man down!" Splice told Clock, pointing at Xavis. "Let's take them all out at once; it's the best way to give him some breathing room!" He then broke into a sprint, gathering as much ice power in his palm as he could. With an upward swing of his arm, he summoned a long chain of sharp icicles to sprout from the ground like stalagmites, each one popping up closer and closer towards the red Hikaris until they would appear from underfoot.

Clock followed behind him, firing a spray of energy spheres at the red Hikaris, taking care to avoid friendly fire on Xavis or Splice. A few stray orbs might get close, but he made sure none actually hit anyone other than their intended targets.

Although a decent number of the Hikaris were dispatched, dissolving into light, the remaining few quickly merged back into one Hikari, and he took on a fighting stance once more.

Alright, I'll help take care of Hiccup first. Static thought, purposfully calling Hikari the wrong name in his head. Given the choice between him, the wolf, and Tama, Static decided to go with the one that didn't make his hair stand on end.

Since his focus was on Clock, Splice and Xavis, Static had the element of surprise. He dashed forward at high speed and attempted to trip Hikari by sliding under him while electrified, then immediately follow up with a strong electric blast.

Taken by surprise, Hikari fell onto his back. However, he managed to raise an arm to block the blast with what appeared to be a red barrier of some sort.

Splice then attempted to flank him, now getting a good look at his red barrier and deciding to shoot his unguarded side with a stream of ice pellets from his fingertips.

Hikari quickly put up his other hand, creating a barrier to block the icicles as well. It took all of his concentration to block both attacks...

And as such, he didn't pay attention to Clock, who had quickly moved behind him. Drawing his sword, he held the tip above Hikari's neck. "Yeah, you can stop now. Are you going to give up quietly, or are you going to be a prick about it?" Hikari's lack of action seemed to indicate the former, and he let down his barriers. "All right, hows about you popsicle this guy until we're done with everyone else, Splice?"

"You got it!" Splice grinned widely, his hands already glowing with power. "One vanilla ice cream cone with an extra scoop of defeat, comin' riiiiight up!" As he worked his magic, Hikari would find that instead of being simply incased in another block of ice, a long trail of ice spiralled up his body like a coil, leaving only his head exposed. To top it off, Splice set a large ball of snow on his head. He clicked his tongue when he was done, looking very much proud of his handiwork.

"Nice one!" Clock said, flashing Splice a thumbs-up with his free hand. "Now we've just got two left!"

Hikari simply grumbled, but didn't attempt to break free of his icy prison.

Tama frowned at Max's strange behavior. She stopped her assault and floated in place, awaiting his next move. Max suddenly shook crazily, and Tama would feel herself being tapped on her shoulder.

"What the..?" Tama quickly turned around, and fired a beam of energy out of her mouth. Max ducked, smirked, and placed his placed his hand to her chest before firing an incredibly large and powerful yellow beam.

The attack hit her dead on, and it sent her crashing to the ground, right in front of Platinum, who threw a right hook the instant she could, sending Tama staggering back a little bit.

"Let's take her out, now!" Platinum called out to Max. "Hit her hard, and then I can handle the rest! While I'm taking her out, go and help the others!"

"On it, Not-Granite! Let's finish her!" Max said before putting his hands in front of him, where a yellow orb appeared and light shone. His expression looked strained as he said "SUPER CHOAS WAVE!" He fired a yellow beam of Chaos Energy at Tama.

The beam hit her before she could react, pushing her across the park. Platinum followed alongside the path of the beam, cloaked in ivory-colored sparks. After being pushed quite a few yards, Tama managed to deflect the beam into the air, clearly angry. However, before she could let loose, Platinum was already standing in front of her, glowing purple. She had reverted to her normal blue-and-red mix at this point.

"All right, kid! Let me show you what real power looks like!" Platinum yelled. What followed could only be described as a complete beatdown. Platinum was throwing punches and kicks as if she was a walking tornado, not giving Tama a single chance to retaliate. The assault sent the two even farther away from the rest of the group, simply due to the speed and power behind each blow. As they approached the edge of the Park, the glow around Platinum had become even brighter. "And this is the finisher!" With both of her hands, she clubbed Tama directly over the head, a pillar of purple energy erupting from the strike. The glow and intensity of the blow would shake the park and light it up. After a moment, the dust settled, and Tama was lying in a crater in the ground. Platinum stood above her, exhausted.

The sound of the explosion caused Clock to turn his head to view it. "Woah." He muttered. "How about that, then. Well, uh. I guess it's just the wolf now."

Hikari also caught sight of Platinum's assault, and his eyes widened with uncharacteristic concern when he saw that Tama had been beaten. "Tama!" He gasped. It seemed that her defeat had caused him to lose his augmented voice and power, and he appeared to be even more weakened than before at this point.

Heartbeat Reens turned and blinked. "D-damn..." Her glow started to flicker. "Um, anybody need some help? I don't think I can, er, keep powered up for much longer." She looked around and noticed Smash against the wolf that had thrown the orbs at her earlier, but he looked like he had a plan.

"Isn't boredom so boring?" said Max, floating down to Reens. "I'd help Corliss over there, but he's probably got some new technique he's got up his sleeve, so I'm gonna wait. Meanwhile, how did your battle go?"

Smash had already been gauging just how powerful the paralysis was, by attempting to close his eyes while the wolf approached him. No good; it would take just about everything he had to move his eyelids and get the jump on him. The wolf would notice him struggling too and probably take evasive action. But Smash wasn't bothered by it; he had a better idea. All it required was timing. Soon, the wolf was in range. He began to throw his right hook, and that's when it happened. A blast of sky blue energy erupted from the echidna, with a bright enough flash that--for a split second--obscured their view of each other. In that instance, Smash's eyes shut tight and his own arm shot forward with explosive speed, aiming to punch him in the chest before the wolf could strike him first. The blow would be powerful enough to send him soaring backwards.

Confident in his abilities, Smash's attack caught the wolf completely off-guard. "What-!?" Was all he could cry before getting knocked back a few yards, landing on his back. Despite being in clear pain, he lept to his feet to survery his current situation. Not good. He thought. ''I'm the only one left, and there's no way I can take them all on. My best bet is to get Hikari and Tama, and get out of here.'' His gaze turned to the frozen Hikari, and he prepared himself, waiting for someone to make a move.

Transford whistled to bring the wolf's attention back to him as he rushed toward him. Before getting within striking distance, he shifted himself behind the wolf, revolvers aimed at his backside as he pulled the trigger.

Smash's fist shook and trembled as the echidna began to feel the after effects of the blow he just dealt. Not wanting to exert himself too much more, he reverted back to his regular state and exhaled deeply. His plan seemed to work, but now he needed to think of another one. It wasn't likely that the wolf would give him a second chance at another attack like that, so he had to figure a way to follow up should Transford fail in his assault.

Thankfully for Smash, he wouldn't have to. Unable to react in time, both shots hit true, striking against a machine of some sort; it must have been obscured by the suit. It caused the device to let out a burst of electricity, which sent the wolf tumbling forward and onto the ground. He lept up once more, steam hissing from his suit, and turned to face Transford. However, his gaze quickly shifted as the following events transpired.

Meanwhile, Platinum was still standing in place. The attack had begun to take its toll, leaving her completely spent. However, as she was looking down at her defeated opponent, she noticed something. What's this stuff on the ground? She thought, tentatively kneeling down to look at what had caught her attention. ''It's some kind of... Multicolor liquid?''

A red Chaos Spear suddenly flew by in front of her. Xavis, who had managed to recover some, was running towards her. "PLATINUM WAIT NO!!" He yelled, quickly coming up next to her and pulling her away, "Don't let it touch you!"

"Wha-" Platinum could only gasp as she stumbled backwards and got pulled away by Xavis. "You know what that stuff is?"

Xavis' panicked cries caught more than just Platinum's attention. Splice nearly jumped out of his shoes, completely startled by the outburst. Not knowing what was going on, he wordlessly ran behind Xavis to catch up and see what all the commotion was about. Even Smash took his eyes off the wolf for a moment to see what was happening.

Clock kept his sword out, but turned away from the frozen Hikari to look at what was going on. Luckily for him, Hikari had also been taken in by the strange turn of events, waiting to see what would happen.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. More of the multicolor liquid was emerging from the dirt, as if it had a mind of its own. In a flash, the sludge began to creep up Platinum's right leg, before she could even get a chance to notice what was happening.

"Huh!?" She gasped. "Hey, get this stuff off me!" Trying to pull her leg out of it seemed to only drag the substance upwards, and it was slowly creeping further and further up.

Panicking, Xavis wrapped his arms around around Platinum's waist and caused jetstreams to erupt from his feet, hoping to send the two rocketing away from the liquid and burn whatever was on the ground.

Heartbeat Reens also saw the liquid and began to hit at it with water orbs, hoping to wash it off of Platinum. "Whatever that goop is it's not a good thing! I absorb liquids, sure, but I'm not sure I want to even get near that! Plus it kind of looks like the stuff that one gal has with the monster, and it still creeps me out..."

Static looked on, not sure what to do. He was about to run over to get a closer look, but then a thought occured to him. Hoping that the others could take care of it, he turned his focus back on Hikari and the wolf. He didn't want to let them have an opportunity to take advantage of the distraction.

Weakened by the attack from Reens, the liquid began to lose its grip on Platinum, and Xavis would be able to begin to pull her up and out of it, but not all the way. It was managing to resist being seperated from the rest of the mass somehow managing to cling to the bottom of Platinum's leg. Slowly but steadily, it seemed to be spreading upwards.

"Geez, this stuff is holding on tight!" Platinum grumbled. "Get off already!" She leaned over to fire some balls of energy at the stuff. She didn't notice it, but in doing so it caused her pendant to no longer stay tucked behind her shirt, and was now dangling out in the open.

Back at the House
Only minutes before the rest of the group joined the battle at the park, someone else was making her way towards the house they had met up at. Her name was Ryoku The Hedgehog, self-proclaimed sister to Clock-Watch. She had been waiting for him to return from playing pool, and was about to go out to the place he frequented to drag him back to the apartment they stayed at. However, at that moment, she recieved a fax, presumably from Clock himself. It read as follows:

'Danger. Government guys are going after some magic crystals or something. Found a weird haired girl who knows stuff about it. Currently out investigating. Meet up at this house. Bring the documents. Keep them safe at all costs.'

What followed was a short map with directions to a house within the city, and a number of files that appeared to be government documents of some sort. Ryoku's eyes widened when she saw the Hyper Division insignia on them. Not letting a moment go to waste, she gathered her things and ran straight towards the house the directions were leading her to.

Inside the house, Mimic had helped himself to some of the pizza that Smash had ordered earlier. He had picked up a pineapple on the trip back and had sliced some of it on to the pizza he was eating. Whether he paid for the pineapple or not was another question entirely.

Shouldn't we wait until the others get back? Tom asked.

"What? I'm not gonna eat all of it." Mimic replied. "Besides, any more waiting, and it'll get cold. And you know how I feel about cold pizza."

There is a microwave you could re-heat it in. Tom said.

''Microwave reheated food never tastes right. ''Jerry complained bitterly.

"Exactly." Mimic said in agreement, dropping a slice into his mouth and eating it all in one bite.

As he was eating, there was a knock at the door, followed by a voice. It was quiet, though, presumably as to not alert anyone outside to her message.

"Clock? It's me, Ryoku. I have the documents you asked me to get. Can you let me in and tell me what the heck is going on?"

"Clock-watch is not here right now," Mimic said, taking a second to stop eating pizza and alter his voice to sound like a recording of Clock-watch's voice. "Please leave a message at the sound of a beep." He then perfectly immitates the same annoying *beeeeeep* sound used in phone messages and audio censoring.

'''Seriously? That's what you're going with?''' Tom deadpanned.

"Ha ha, very funny." Ryoku deadpanned. "Just hurry up and let me inside already; I'm worried about what's going on. These documents you sent me... This is more serious than I could have imagined." She paused for a moment. "Also, if you stop messing around and let me in, I'll buy you one of those parfaits you like."

''Ooh! Parfaits!'' Jerry chirped.

"Door's unlocked." Mimic called, still using Clock's voice. He also shapeshifted into Clock-watch.

Ryoku opened the door and walked in, finding her way to 'Clock-Watch' and lying down on the floor. "Nice place. I'm not going to bother asking what you're doing in an abandonded house, but where'd you get these papers? I had figured that they'd be here, but I never thought that- er, nothing."

'Clock' raised one of his eyebrows for a moment, but decided not to press the issue of her verbal backspace. "It's a long story; I'll explain it all when everyone else gets here. I've gotten caught up in this mystery since the attack at the bank earlier today."

"I was wondering why you took so long. Normally it doesn't take you too long to lose at billiards." Ryoku joked.

"H-Hey!" Clock stammered. "That's not true! Shut up!"