Realistic or Modern [Closed] Magik Hero U In-Character

[Shreb]

". . .as for me, I can shape my surroundings to serve me, to an extent."

...

Hesitantly, she held up her palms.

She picked up a loose piece of debris in order to demonstrate, hoisting it over her shoulder. Closing her eyes, a layer of light enveloped the tubular object, before cracking apart and shattering into hundreds of brilliant shards. Once the light dispersed, instead of mere debris, what appeared to be a working RPG-7 sat there in her grasp.

Holy shit.

"Can- You can put that down, now..." She blankly commented with a face that read, uh, can we not end up with more fires than we started out with?

Cursing herself internally, Potantia gave her ability two more shots, creating an ornate battle-axe and a heavy warhammer in a similar manner. Slightly more satisfied with these results, she held the weapons out, offering them to her comrades.

"Firemen use tools like these, so they'll probably come in handy. Feel free to pick your poison, I can always just make more."

Scratching her chin with a finger, she looked at the neighbourhood and then to Starponaria.

"Once we're set up, let's hurry, okay? We'll protect everyone, promise."

Starponaria immediately took the battle-axe.

Heavy!!

She managed to get it comfortable in her hands, but...Dang. It's not heavy, but it's quite a dangerous feeling...It must've been very sharp, right? Her thumb pressed into the edge of the blade, her eyebrows furrowing in curiosity, and a mix of fear that she might just cut herself. Still, she cooked before, this wasn't abnormal for her to do.

"So the supposed leader would even give unto those with power a weapon."
"Hush, Aila."

In a burst of bubble-popping sparks, the axe was suddenly surrounded in red, outlined with a hexagonal-shaped aura like it was encased in a honeycomb. It radiated with a faint amount of pressure that suggested that one swing could potentially knock down more than one tree.

"..."

Likewise, she pressed the opposite thumb into the axe. The honeycomb aura was replaced with a solidifying blue, one that was so forceful that it actively repelled her grip until it was forced out of her hands, falling to the ground, but landing instead against the surface of the blue rather than the axe itself.

She crouched down and touched it again, managing to replace the semi-solid blue with a bit more transparency. Following suit, the axe would fall as if there was nothing encasing the axe. She held it up in her hand, but noticed how slowed down she was, like moving her hand through sludge and slime. Glancing at her teammates and back to Potentia...

Starponaria proceeded to modify the blue in order to conform around her hand, but making the inner parts of the aura hollow, leaving only a hollow shell of a shield that surrounded the outside of the axe. The shape was still hexagonal, but now her hands were inserted into two holes within that hexagonal prism.

Well, that was good information to get. From all that, she managed to confirm:

• Her blue aura can only be made in the form of octagonal and hexagonal shapes and can contain an entire person. (Whether a living being can breathe in it will be determined at a later date.)
• Such a blue aura can be "shaded" in order to change its effectiveness to "block" incoming objects, its shade linearly proportional to how much opposition it emits.
• Her blue aura, despite being in hexagonal/octagonal form, can conform around a person's body parts.

Unfortunately, her red aura wouldn't really be needed, but she had to imagine that the red would perform a similar function to the rules she self-designated, an errand she would run so long as she had more free time. She wasn't quite sure where the limit was, but she would have to determine based off exhaustion, but she had to imagine it was good enough for what their mission was.

Besides, there was a team.

Other than that...

There was too much time being wasted on her part. Saving people wouldn't happen here. Before she knew it, she let out a quick, "Heading to the houses," and was already off into the flames. As far as she was aware, she could spot the figures of two people that had already went off...

But she could do well with assisting the other person.

Shreb STARPONARIA has joined ThatWhichShouldBe SOL INVICTUS'S party.

​

He's looking for a way in.

She hadn't fully observed his powers, but that was fine for now, she'll go off of the gut feeling that he had something to do with that brief collection of flames snuffing out.

"Hey!" She called out to him. "I'm Starponaria, teammate, and I have an idea!"

This would be a good way to test herself. She had supposed that her red aura might not be useful for this, but now this was suddenly becoming a wrong judgement as they needed a way in.

If I use the red aura on the axe's blade...

Your AXE has been given an ATK boost. The cosmos will be sundered at your command.

Wait, wait, wait!! She froze right before she would attempt to go for a solid swing into the front door.
"Surprisingly quick to change your mind. I commend your ability to think twice...At the cost of everyone's time."
"Ugh! Okay- what do...What do I do..."
For the sake of both of us. Channel your power as two layers."

She huffed. More seconds were being wasted, but at least she could figure out what the heck this puzzle meant.

This time, she surrounded her body in that same blue aura, only surrounding her shoulder down to her hand. She was going to try to precisely control the amount of force required to get the door open without blasting it open and risk sending shrapnel to potential civilians inside.

Your body has been given a DEF boost. From hearts of gold come the shoulders of gods.

Then, a thin layer of that same red aura is placed ontop of her shield, like a glued piece of paper against her shield.

One of your body parts has been given a ATK boost. The might of the abyss rests in your hand.

​

She had a gut feeling this would work. She ran up to the door, paused, and then proceeded to step forward and slam her shoulder straight into the door-

BANG!!!

Too much! The door had nearly flewn off its hinges, slamming open with a harsh sound that even she wished she had hearing protection for. It nearly sent the foundation it was built next to cracking and bursting open...But she was semi-successful; the door hadn't quite exploded like it would've with an axe purely containing damage-related boosts.

She glanced back at Sol Invictus. "Let's go!" Before running straight in to scout, coughing against the suddenly-new concentration of smoke; even natural filters can't so easily react to that change in smoke concentration.

But progress is progress.

 

[Solirus]

Nexus​

Nexus watched as the guard was healed by Candace, a feeling of relief washing over. The guard then began speaking, it was no clear that this was no mere accident and someone by the name of Mr. Smith was responsible for this. Nexus quickly reacted and grabbed before he could fall completely fall to the ground, "Sir, everything will be all right, just call firefighters and paramedics and be sure to move somewhere safe away from the fire." Nexus calmly spoke as he lifted the guard up. He wasn't confident everything would be alright, but he couldn't spread pessimism in a moment like this.

Once he saw Gleam take off, he followed her, trying to catch up as he reflexively placed his hand to cover his mouth.

"What's the plan?" Cer asked in a worried tone

"I advise we apprehend the culprit first and allow the others to look for survivors, if we allow the culprit to be free they would likely impede our ability to quell the fire and rescue survivors. Additionally if they get away they'll be prone to becoming a danger to others." Pier calmly explained

"But we know Mr. Smith is locked up in the control room" Nexus responded

"If the guard is to be believed, yes."

It didn't take long until Nexus managed to catch up to gleam, seeing her lockpick the door open. He saw Gleam's body seemingly move on it's own as the sound of a gunshot was heard and a loud ricochet sound came from he weapon.

"Sir, the assailant is armed, their sights are directed at your ally, exert caution." Pier explained worriedly

"... Get ready we'll support our teammate" Nexus said, as a shape slowly drifted out from his jacket and fell into his hand, gripping it like a baseball.

Without wasting time Nexus rushed into the control room past Gleam, chucking the shape behind the gunman and snapping his other fingers immediately just as the gunman fired his second shot at where he was standing. With a swift motion Nexus wrapped his arm around the gunman's neck with his other arm reaching out to the wrist with the gun. The gunman struggled and yet his strength seemed disproportionately great in relation to his physique.

"Quickly help me disarm him." Nexus said to Gleam as he carefully twisted the gunman's wrist so the gun wasn't pointing at anybody while the gunman was wailing at him with his other arm, trying to headbutt and kick him.

Nellancholy Juju

 

[Nellancholy]

"Coward! Filth! Rend this animal limb from limb!"

The shrieking of her familiar rang in Gleam's ears as her surroundings came back into focus. The light and smoke. The heat and the screaming.

Fortunately, Gleam didn't end up being the first to test the limits of the durability and...vitality of their EGO forms. Not yet, anyway. Ever reliable that Nexus was, as he immediately stepped in, restraining the poor, panicked arsonist.

The two struggled for a moment, another bullet flying past and embedding itself into a wall. Gleam rose from her defensive position with almost a sprinter's posture, taking a step forward and cocking her arm for another throw-

"Do not smite him forthwith." The other voice spoke again. "We need him alive and conscious for questioning. If not here, then at least outside, where things are a little less...combustible."

"Well thought, my dear partner." Gleam muttered. Not that unintentionally killing anyone was within the realms of possibility, right? Aiming a little off to the side from the arsonist's head, Gleam's arm whipped forward, sending her chakram spinning downwards and snapping into his arm.

The bestial cry of pain from the arsonist mingled with the sound of spinning metal bouncing off flesh and bone before clanging into the far wall. And shortly after, the sound of the gun hitting the ground.

Gleam wasted no time continuing her sprinting motion and tucking into a slide, grabbing the weapon off the floor before anyone else could intervene.

Release the magazine...pull back the slide to eject the chambered round...and then throw both objects in opposite directions. Gleam had seen enough in movies and games to know not to leave a loaded gun next to a seemingly subdued enemy.

And for the next step...

Quite a few of the computers in the room had already gone offline in the chaos. Which meant they wouldn't miss a cable or two.

Pulling out a power cord, she leaned over the writhing, cursing man almost like a dentist as she struggled alongside Nexus to pin one of his arms down at least, tying him to the chair. "Ugh, hold still, peasant. We're here to get YOU out too. Yes, even you."

It would be up to Nexus and the rest of the team to decide their next move.

Solirus

 

[Juju]

​

Prism + Rex

Interaction: seasonedcat || Mention: Solirus​

Prism let go a breath of relief as the guard’s wound was healed by Candace. It was strange seeing her excitable friend so calm, which only further added to the miracle of the spell. Although the melody served to patch up the wounded guard, it was so gentle and soothing that Prism couldn’t help but feel a well of vitality surge through her own limbs. So this was Ez’s magic?

“That was amazing, Ez--Candace!” she said, almost slipping up the names with her fragile nerves. Thankfully it looked like everyone but Nexus had run off. Whether he noticed or not was up in the air, but Prism kept her face as still as possible so she wouldn't draw any attention to it. There was a lot to focus on anyway. At least she hoped.

Nexus caught the guard before he could collapse, though the guard was still wobbling when he left. Prism was quick to take the place of her ally. She looked at Candace, now understanding how important he was for the team. “Go ahead, I’ve got the guard. You need to keep the others safe. Send out any survivors to me and call if anything goes wrong. And Candace… don’t do anything stupid. Ok?”

After saying this, She placed her arm under the guard’s and helped him walk away from the burning factory, Rex leading the way.

“What’s your name?” Prism asked the guard. She had heard that asking a name sometimes helped to ground people in a traumatic event, or so she hoped.

“Toby” the guard responded, “Toby Martinez”

Prism smiled as she guided Toby towards the area that had the least amount of smoke and flames. “Nice to meet you Toby. You were very brave back there, but just rest now alright? We’ll take it from here.”

She helped the man to sit down on the pavement and looked back at the factory, wondering how her team was doing. As much as she wanted to go help them, even just to see that they were ok, she was worried about the guard. If she left him, he could pass out and die if the fire spread. As if to confirm this, she heard the snap of a branch breaking further in the forest. The faraway flames made the woodland shadows dance, as if they were alive and conspiring against her.

“What-what are you?” Toby said from his sat position. He made a strange motion with is hands, imitating Candace's magik. "Do you have, you know...Magic?"

"Of course! Prism here is a magik hero!" Rex said, drawing the confused eyes of Toby. He didn't seem to understand what her familiar was saying.

“Yes. I mean, yes I also have magic. You can call us Magik Heroes, but honestly I’m not exactly sure what that means either.” Prism said carefully, unsure of how much she was allowed to say, and how much he would actually remember. Surprisingly, he seemed to acknowledge this and nodded.

“Magik heroes huh? Sounds almost familiar.” He said, still looking perplexed. Prism didn't have the heart to mention the popular video game.

'If humans cannot see us normally, why do those we save see us? Then again, I guess it would make it hard to rescue them. He also saw and heard Rex...does this mean his memory will fade gradually?' she thought, placing a hand under her chin. It was probably written somewhere in Moki's guide.

Her pondering was interrupted when she heard a gunshot from the factory. Prism and Rex's ears perked up in sync as they turned their heads towards the factory. There were two in total, but after that a silence fell. Well, besides the roaring flames.

"They must have stopped him already!" Rex declared happily. "Well done team! We should be able to save everyone with ease!"

 

[Cresion Breezes]

#776598 #c6b5c9​

"Tsk...where are we?"

Kiva landed fairly smoothly, it seemed like Moki was at least not lying about the enhanced durability of these magical bodies. While an experienced trained person could leap from several stories or a streetlamp's height, being hurled onto the ground from the air via a strange portal was something else entirely. Her ankles ached a bit after her decision to not roll on landing, but who knows what would have happened if it was a normal human body. It was a bit concerning that this strange animal could just set a pitfall trap anywhere that transports people to other locations, it seemed like Moki or whatever is behind the creature has no idea what consent is, or simply does not care.

Besides that, Kiva noticed a more immediate problem, being the area that is on fire. She doesn't know how far away they were transported or if this place was even real or not, it felt real however, but what is real or fake has seriously begun to blur in her skeptical mind. Following the rest of her "team", whatever that meant, into the neighborhood, the other few members immediately scattered after a brief introduction.

Kiva remained with Potentia as a few panicked shouts can be heard...from her teammates. Ugh, what type of rescuer panics upon seeing the rescuees, that's not going to help at all. She thought silently while pulling out her phone, and then did a little twirl while taking a 360-degree panoramic video of the burning area. "Sorrryyy- I'm not too keen on getting my own hands dirty for this type of thing, that's not how I do things."

The familiar that was curled around her shoulders lashed at the youth's face with its tail, "What the hell? What type of selfish heartless bastard are you? There's literally people dying out there and you don't care??"

Kiva pulled the snake off of her neck and shoulders and held it out while it squirmed and hurled more insults at her. "First, so what if I don't care, would that necessarily make me worse than someone who breaks into a burning building by force and cause the structure to collapse in on itself, screwing anyone inside more than they already are? I'm not interested in helping anyone out of a sense of duty or panic, anything I do is to prove to myself that I can do it. That is my way of living. Are we clear?" Her tone towards the end has lost the tinge of sarcasm, it became rather stern, even causing the familiar to go silent for a moment.

"And besides, do you not even know what I can do?" Kiva added while pointing towards her few teammates that have already rushed into various buildings trying to do something about the situation at hand. "That's not how I do things, this is." With a snap of her fingers, several ghostly apparitions that have the same silhouette as Kiva herself appeared, seemingly gathered by smoke a fog, ethereal yet slightly intimidating while glowing in the flame-encrusted night. The apparitions scattered into the burning neighborhood, inorganic warriors that does not get swayed by fear or panic, they simply went about their given commands, doppelgangers walking without their own will. "Not getting my own hands dirty, right?"

It seems like a sudden epiphany has hit the familiar now as it saw the tactless magik hero's ability. "...You're still a selfish asshole though." It said viciously before transforming into a rather curious set of lenses. "And here I thought I was the unconventional one, that's no weapon." Kiva shrugged, but looking into the lenses make her realize immediately what their purpose was, it was quite a fabulous one too. The entire area was now under her surveillance, the number of buildings, the spread of the fire, and any potential people in the block.

"I see. Seven structures in the area with three in immediate fire damage danger...Hmph." She quietly condemned her teammates for basically rushing into the first burning building they saw without consideration, there was a larger house down South near the forest which the fire has almost completely engulfed, and there was no one there simply because it was the farthest from their arrival point. It also told her that the entire forest to the South seems to be burning, even through the eyes of her clones she can't tell where the end is. Clearly putting it out would be unfeasible for them, magic or not.

With her ability and familiar weapon form, Doppelwalker's apparitions began to survey the interior of the houses that her teammates have left unattended. Her enthusiasm wasn't as high, but she is making up for it with her calm demeanor and willingness to think of the most effective route. She traveled down the road at a seemingly too leisurely pace, due to her need to focus on the information her lenses are providing while trying to see where the others were so she can let them know of whatever she found.

 

[seasonedcat]

Candace
Candace nodded at their friend, giving her a wink, "you can't get rid of me that quickly, you know my number if you need help~" he sang to her, giving her a peace sign before quickly rushing after the group. The fire made him uncomfortably hot as he continued forward, suddenly aware that since he left last he had no idea where the rest of the group had gone off to.

it was only two shots from a gun that caught his attention, panic instantly going through every ounce of his being. He took off running in that direction, managing to catch up to his teammates, he quickly asked out, in an un-Candace-like manner, "Is everyone okay?" worry evident in his voice. He glanced around at each one of his teammates to make sure they were okay.

thankfully, they were, the bad guy already taken care of, Candace let out a sigh, quickly returning to his normal self, "Oh thank god the show is almost over, he is about to do the 'meddling kids' part right?" Candace joked as he glanced at the man in front of him, "So uh, this is where you do your supervillain monologue and tell us why you did all of this," Candace offered as he glanced around the room for anyone else who might be in it.
Solirus Nellancholy Juju
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊Enoki𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
as Enoki felt the soft resistance against the door, they stopped pushing, gazing in as they looked through the amount they managed to open, seeing the two people they had been looking for. Not wanting to injure the body blocking the door, they managed to push one of their thin arms through, moving the legs a little away before opening more of the door, they did this a few times until they could squeeze in.

"h-hey there! I am here to help," Enoki swallowed back panic as the eyes of the sobbing kid met their own, "I have got your mommy, okay, so all you have to do is follow me." They gently began to lift up the mother, surprise flashing across their face as they found that their weak nerd arms could hold her weight easily. As if on instinct, one of their hands tapped the ground, and after a few seconds a green mushroom grew, one they quickly laid on the woman's chest, the green spores emitting around her.

Enoki with the crying kid in toe, who was holding onto their shirt with a death grip, quickly made their way out of the house, fresh air reaching them. Enoki gently placed the woman next to where the other child once stood, before rushing and closing the door behind them in some vain attempts to quell the fire. They then quickly returned to the crying child who was trying to wake up their mom.

the child was also surrounded by the green spores but didn't seem to mind as they tried to rouse their mother. Enoki hovered in the back, a sense of panic in them as they tried to see if the woman was still alive. Had they gotten there in time? The more worrisome thing was the now missing second kid, had they rushed in after them? No Enoki would have seen her when they were leaving. They looked around, turning to the child, "Your mommy will be okay, you two are safe," they smiled at them, and the kid looked up crying,

"Where is my sister?" they croaked. Enoki swallowed, "I just told them to wait somewhere safe, I will go get them now!" they stuttered out, anxiety eating them. Oh god, what the hell were they going to do? As they looked around they saw a trail of torn grass, as if some animal had trodden on it. They swallowed back to fear, looking to the other burning house. Thankfully, their teammates had gone into that house, but they hoped they would be okay.

nervously they followed the tracks, making their way behind the house and closer to the trees, glancing around anxiously as they did so. How the fuck do you lose a kid? They swore angrily in their head as they called out, "H-hey it's the superhero from earlier! You remember me right? Your mommy and brother are okay, so why don't you come out and join them somewhere safe!" they offered out, as they approached the smoldering treeline, trying to gaze through the smoke to find the missing child. Audrina Also place themself on top of Enoki's hat to try and look as well, calling out about her being here to protect them, not that the child would understand.
Juju

 

[Juju]

choose your hero
Neighborhood

✧. ┊   Shreb ThatWhichShouldBe​

Spoiler: Starponaria, Sol Invictus and Pandora

Sol Invictus’ use of gravity served to snuff out some of the lesser flames, and as he circled around the house he could faintly hear crying from within. Someone was trapped in the house, scared and helpless. It was at this time that Starponaria arrived, swinging her augmented weapon to tear down the door. A rush of heat and smoke escaped as the entrance was made.

Without hesitation she dived into the smoke-filled house. The black haze limited her vision, but she used that crying as her guide. It was coming from the basement of the house, and as she rushed closer to it she could hear something other than cries. It sounded like laughter, and from more than one source.

Starponaria charged into the room to find an elderly man cowered against a wall while a group of floating shapes chittered maniacally. Their semi transparent bodies allowed them to blend almost perfectly with the smoke, given away only by their stark white teeth and eyes.

When Star entered the room they stopped their laughter and all turned, smiling at her. There was only a brief moment of stillness, before they all swarmed her. Claws and teeth bounced off a quickly made shield. Still, the sheer numbers were starting to make a mark on the magical barrier.

“Quickly! Channel both of your shields in unison!” her familiar instructed, and Star was quick to follow.

BANG!

The two shields overlapped, exploding outwards and knocking the dark creatures away. A few of them exploded into a puff of smoke, only to reform into two more. Still, it gave Star a precious moment of respite.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you! Just hold oooon!” She said as she grabbed the old man bridal-style and ran up the stairs, the swarm of creatures following closely behind, cackling up a storm. She burst out of the burning building, creatures in hot pursuit, and shouted, “Uhhh Big Guy, we got company!”

As she said this, she nearly tripped, but instead of falling she felt gravity shift and catch her. A girl with long white hair stood in the middle of the street, arm outstretched and scythe in hand. She dashed ahead and sliced down a line of the monsters. Once more they poofed into smoke, but this time they didn’t reform.

“Pandora! You sav-” Just as she was about to say this, a piercing screech echoed across the neighborhood. It came from down the street, where Potentia was.

“Wait, Potentia went that way." Worried about her teammate, Star was quick to take off. "I’ll be right back!”

As soon as she left, more laughter could be heard in the bushes, rising up like smoke. A new hoard of the black creatures appeared, as if summoned by the screech. They closed in on Sol Invictus, Pandora, and the old man, scratching with claws and trying to bite with fangs. There were so many of them that they almost looked like a smoke cloud themselves.

Pandora alternated between swinging with her scythe and blasting away the creatures with gravity. The old man cowered to the ground, gasping for breath. Pandora had already suffered several slashes and bites in her attempt to protect the old man. She let out a hiss of pain as yet another claw tore at her arm, “You better not have a heart attack on me! I'll be so pissed!”

The more they killed, the more monsters there seemed to be. Eventually, they even began to obscure Sol Invictus’ sight of Pandora. He could hear her cursing, and see her occasionally. It was during a period of blindness that he heard her scream out, along with the old man.

Both screams seemed to be travelling quickly in opposite directions. If Sol Invictus was quick enough, he might be able to catch up with one. The closest was the old man’s, while Pandora’s seemed to be already fading into the cloud of laughter and claws. He could also hear Moki's voice through his phone.

Attention heroes! A breach has been detected. Creatures of darkness have infested the area. Although new, as Magik Heroes your duty is to defend the light! Exercise extreme caution and protect civilians at all cost! ​

Spoiler: References

✧. ┊   Cresion Breezes Glassred​

Spoiler: Dopplewalker and Potentia

Potentia had decided to investigate the crashed car alone, but was soon accompanied by her teammate Dopplewalker. As the two drew closer to the car, it was clear that all the seats were vacant, and that the driver's door was open. The car was completely empty, and there was no sign of whoever had been driving the car, dead or otherwise. The broken powerline crackled nearby, making it highly unlikely someone could have just gotten out of the car without shocking themselves to death. Truly a perplexing sight.

In the meantime, Dopplewalker’s "eyes" spread throughout the neighborhood, a magical surveillance system at her fingertips. She could see everything, and it was for this reason that she was probably the first to spot the anomaly. One of her dopplegangers saw something, movement in the shadows between houses. It was like a shimmer in the air, drawing closer to her sight. Then it saw nothing. In the blink of an eye the clone had been destroyed by an unknown assailant. Within the span of five seconds, yet another clone saw movement but this time it was something more than a moving shadow. From the doppleganger's vision she could catch the glimpse of fangs and claws materialize out of the smoke to pounce on it.

It was at this exact same moment that Potentia, who was closest to the car, heard the chittering. The smoke surrounding the two heroes began to show bright white smiles and eyes, condensing into a pack of strange semi-corporal creatures. Like a curtain, they closed in on the space between Potentia and Dopplewalker, cackling as they danced around the two heroes, as if taunting them. Even if they were slain, it only seemed to boost their numbers as one by one they multiplied until all Potentia and Dopplewalker could see was a cloud of toothy grins.

The laughing made it hard for communication between the two, and the swirling only served to disorientate anyone caught inside the monster swarm. Strangely, the swarm of monsters didn't attack Potentia or Dopplewalker, but soon enough the reasoning became clear. Although they could not see it, something was moving through the cloud of monsters. It was invisible to the eye, yet the way the tiny beasts were being shoved away proved that something was hidden inside the swarm. Whatever the things were, they were using the swarm as cover.

For Dopplewalker it looked like there were about two shapes circling around her like sharks, staying close to the ground. Thanks to her previous scouting, she could guess by the shape and size that it was one of the shadows that had taken out her doppleganger. Unlike before, they only continued to circle. It seemed that they were waiting for her to make the first move before attacking, or perhaps were just looking for any gap in her defenses. Maybe they were confused if she was real or fake.

Whatever was circling Potentia was different. It was as larger than a horse, and broke slowly through the swarm. As it drew closer she could feel a deep sense of dread tugging at the core of her being, and a sharp pain in her head. A feeling of overwhelming loneliness gripped her heart. Only then did the creature show itself. It was covered in long strands of hair, and its toothy maw was capped in a twisted visage. It looked like an attempt at a human face, yet melted and imperfect. Its skinny arms and long body were contrasted by its bulging stomach, as if it had eaten too much in one sitting.

The creature opened its greedy mouth wide and let out an awful screech, one that sent Potentia's mind reeling. She could feel her limbs turn stiff, and her head swimming with painful feelings of loneliness and isolation. Unable to move, she could feel her strength draining, her vision fading to moments sat alone in dark rooms, of abandonment, of those she has tried to sway to her will finding out the disgusting truth. She had tried to make herself perfect, but she was unwanted, unneeded, alone. The monster's mouth unhinged and it loomed over her, saliva dripping off a snaking tongue as it prepared to swallow her whole. Her familiar, whether they be in weapon or creature form, seemed dim and about as incapacitated as Potentia.

When faced by such a darkness, it seemed the light of her virtue was weak.

As if it couldn't be more out of place, both Potentia and Dopplewalker could hear an announcement from their phones.

Attention heroes! A breach has been detected. Creatures of darkness have infested the area. Although new, as Magik Heroes your duty is to defend the light! Exercise extreme caution and protect civilians at all cost! ​

Spoiler: reference

✧. ┊   Glassred Shreb​

Spoiler: Potentia + Starponaria

The mouth closed, but became stuck on something, a barrier. A blue shield surrounded Potentia, blocking the fangs now chomping down. "Hey! Don't you dare eat her you oversized toupee! Off, off!" a familiar voice cried, running through the cloud of monsters.

Starponaria was covered in the tiny monsters, focusing on putting her power into shielding her friend. A red shield surrounded her as she charged up to the large monster and gave it a punch across the jaw. It hissed in pain, and seemed to be broken momentarily out of its feast.

"Yea that's right, you leave her alone! Uh Potentia, are you ok? Potentia?" she said, glancing down at the still paralyzed Potentia. A look of fear covered her face, but she tried to smile instead. "Don't worry, Starponaria is here to save the day! Come-on you ugly thing, pick on someone who can fight back- whoa!"

The beast slashed at Star, who just barely blocked it with a shield. She managed to save herself, yet in doing so had to leave Potentia unprotected. The monster rushed for Potentia during this opportunity. Star gasped and quickly formed a shield around Potentia before she could be harmed. "AAAAH! No! Go for me!"

At this point Potentia was starting to recover, but her limbs were rubbery and asleep. She could see what was going on, yet too weak to do anything. Star once again boosted her attack, but could no longer shield herself without the beast charging at her friend. She dodged swipes and bites, but it was clear that fighting without her full shield was a severe handicap. A pinkish blood was leaking from a heavy clawmark on her chest, and the smaller creatures were biting on her legs and weighing her down. "Shoo, shoo!"

It was only a matter of time before she slipped up, and the monster pounced. The hair on its back shot out and wrapped around her arm as she tried to dodge, and the fangs found her collar. Like a dog, it clamped down on her and shook violently before tossing her aside. She rolled across the ground, limp and unmoving. The blue shield that had been protecting Potenia all this time fizzled out. A blonde girl now lay in a pool of glittering pink blood, her face pressed into the ground. The smaller monsters quickly swarmed her, hiding her from view.

Potentia could just now slowly move, but was held down by a claw of the monster. As it lifted her to its mouth all Potentia could see was darkness and fangs. They glittered wetly, reflecting a harsh purple glow, growing in intensity.

B O O M!

All at once the world was filled with purple light and shimmering stars. Potentia was freed by an explosion that sent the monster flying into the nearby car and cleared out the swarm of monsters. The force of the explosion had displaced even the smoke, and in the circular gap Potentia could see the clear starry sky above. With the swarm gone she could see the street again, and laid on it was Starponaria her shaking hand outstretched.

"Fell for my... trick... heh." She coughed, magikal blood bubbling from her mouth. The EGO shattered, leaving behind a bloody girl Potentia might have recognized if not for her scuffed up face. Her pretty blonde hair was caked in blood, and her body had been mauled by the tiny creatures. Beside her lay a tiny fox, its eyes closed and its body still.

A familiar chime could be heard from the girl's pocket. The MHU jingle. Moki leapt from out of the phone, landing beside the girl, starry eyes wide and ambiguous. They touched the girl with a paw, and both she and her familiar instantly disappeared. Moki then turned to the now fully recovered Potentia. "It's not over yet! Starponaria may have greatly damaged it with her desperate attack, but that creature is a Page of the Forsaken, it will only grow stronger when you are alone. Moki suggests regrouping with Dopplewalker and taking it down before it can bring its harvest back to its Heart. Otherwise many people will die."

✧. ┊   seasonedcat​

Spoiler: Enoki

As far as Enoki could tell from his limited knowledge on tracking, the claw marks on the grass looked to be made from some sort of struggle, and ended about halfway around the side of the house, leading towards the backyard. Enoki turned around the corner of the house and was met with an eerie sight.

A dark shape was hunched over, its hairy back facing the mushroom hero. It made a disgusting swallowing sound, and Enoki could see its stomach swelled with whatever it had just eaten. Perhaps Enoki’s own stomach would churn when he realized what the meal had been. Enoki probably could have had the opportunity of surprise, but a chime of the MHU app sounded from his phone. An announcement with Moki's voice.

Attention heroes! A breach has been detected. Creatures of darkness have infested the area. Although new, as Magik Heroes your duty is to defend the light! Exercise extreme caution and protect civilians at all cost! ​

Alerted, the monster's head snapped back at Enoki, revealing an ugly mask and a mane of long matted hair. It was about the size of a wolf in height, but its tapering body was much longer. Its bloated stomach moved on its own, as if something was struggling to get out. The creature slowly turned the rest of its body towards Enoki and let out a piercing cry, claws digging into the grass. The hair on its back began to move, attracting the smoke from the burning building, and from it a swarm of small black creatures took shape.

The creatures giggled at Enoki, swooping down with tiny claws and fangs. Meanwhile the swollen monster waddled away, fleeing towards the burning forest with its prize.

Spoiler: reference

Factory

✧. ┊   Solirus seasonedcat Nellancholy Tiguidi jmann​

Spoiler: Nexus, Gleam, Candace, Earthquake, Twilight

Thanks to the combined efforts of Nexus and Gleam, the gunman was not only held in place, but disarmed without any injury. Seeing that the danger had passed, the technician that had been saved by Earthquake rushed into the room. He skidded to a halt beside the computer and swore under his breath, bending down to adjust some of the wires. He went to one of the monitors, checked something, then fiddled with the buttons. The sound of fire alarms filled the building, but the sprinklers were still malfunctioning. The man swore once again.

Meanwhile, the detained man known as Mr. Smith completely stopped his struggling and instead began to cough violently. His body convulsed as he gasped for air, as if only now being affected by the smoke. It probably would have looked that way, if the man didn't start spitting up black fluid. Mr. Smith fell into a seizure, gripping his heart and choking on the ink while the flames roared higher.

Earthquake and Twilight, who were outside of the room, would be the only ones to see how a portion of the nearby fire lifted itself up and rushed towards the room. It rushed at Candace and then Nexus unless they could move, forming a ring of fire that flared outwards, burning anyone too close and destroying Nexus' teleportation-shape. It was almost as if it replaced Nexus' shape, as the spinning ring of fire was centered exactly where the shape used to be.

From the inside of the circle a long set of claws extended outwards, gripping the edge of the flames and dragging out a hulking shape. A doubled fish-like maw poked out of the makeshift portal, its long neck snaking this way and that as it scanned the room with bulbous eyes. Even if it was hunched, the creature towered over the heroes, its long claws touching the ground. The portal behind it shut, and the flames seemed to be absorbed into its body, turning the edges of its purple-black flesh a molten red.

In unison, the phones of the magic heroes chimed, and Moki's voice could be heard.

Attention heroes! A breach has been detected. Creatures of darkness have infested the area. Although new, as Magik Heroes your duty is to defend the light! Exercise extreme caution and protect civilians at all cost! ​

With a high pitched wail, the creature lunged at Gleam and grabbed her in its claws. She could feel her flesh burning where it touched her before it threw her through the wall and out into the main area of the factory where Earthquake and Twilight were. Thanks to her EGO, breaking through the wall didn't seem to do substantial damage, but the burn mark on her abdomen hurt tremendously. With her agility, it was likely that she could land safely, if Earthquake or Twilight didn't help her first.

After tossing Gleam out of the room, the monster rounded on Nexus, going for a slash of its claws. As soon as the swing was complete, a line of flames burst in the space the claws had 'cut', as if igniting the very air. If the claws happened to hit Nexus, it would surely ignite him as well.

Spoiler: reference

✧. ┊   Juju​

Spoiler: Prism

Rex walked in a wide circle around Prism and the guard, his ears and eyes alert for any signs of danger. He had insisted he do a wider range for his rounds, wanting to be on the lookout for anyone in need of assistance, but Prism convinced him to stand watch over her and the guard instead. The furry creature seemed pleased by this duty and took it very seriously.

Meanwhile Prism was busy watching the factory, wondering what was going on behind the flames and collapsed walls. Should she leave Toby here for a moment just to quickly check up on them. Shouldn't they be back by now?

Noticing her agitation, Rex stopped his rounds and looked at her, "Hey, are you worrying again? You know, we should have more faith in our friends! Earthquake is very strong, and Candace is a skilled healer!"

Prism let out a sigh, turning to look at her familiar. He had a point, she probably should just have a bit more trust in her teammates. Being anxious wouldn't help the situation, especially when the guard here had already had a traumatic event. He needed someone calm.

She took a step towards her familiar, intending to lean down and give him a pet, when she froze in place. This time she was absolutely sure something moved in the forest. It couldn't just be the fire's flickering light. Her back straightened and her eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" Rex said, tilting his head.

The movement was directly behind him, moving faster than Prism's mind could keep up. A dark shape practically materialized out of the smoke and lunged for her familiar. Prism dived for Rex, her hand extending for him, but what she grabbed onto wasn't plushy fur but the cool shaft of a spear.

Toby screamed in alarm, standing up but not knowing what to do.

Prism stopped her roll in a crouch, boots skidding across the pavement as she looked up at what had attacked her familiar. A beastly creature with a twisted face plastered above its fangs was hissing at her, seemingly more cautious now that Rex was in his weapon form. Her heart was racing, realizing that this was one of the monsters Moki had talked about. But weren't they supposed to get used to their weapons before facing them? Was that a lie?

The beast pounced again, and Prism barely managed to keep its fangs away from her face by placing her spear's shaft in the way. Fangs clamped onto the spear, but the claws still swiped for her. One caught her shoulder before she tossed the beast to the side.

"Uhhh Prism, behind you!" Toby cried, giving her just enough warning to turn around and slash at the second creature that had tried to ambush her. It let out a howl of pain and scurried out of spear range.

Prism also took a moment to step back beside Toby, trying to keep them both in her sight while also keeping the guard safe.

"Stay close to me, and keep your eyes open. We don't know how many there are." Prism ordered the guard, blood trickling down her arm.

She could hear a screech from the factory at about the same time she heard an alert from Moki.

Attention heroes! A breach has been detected. Creatures of darkness have infested the area. Although new, as Magik Heroes your duty is to defend the light! Exercise extreme caution and protect civilians at all cost! ​

Spoiler: reference

/SPOILER]

 

[Solirus]

Nexus felt as the most recent shape shattered, a dizzying cry blurting out in his conscious. As the assailant shook in pain and spewed out a tarlike substance, a portal opened where the shape had been shattered. Nexus could no longer feel the heat around him, instead only feeling cold and frozen like a statue, unable to move from seeing the monster. The message from his phone was only a muffled wind in unison to the rest of the sounds.

The high pitched wail from the monster shattered the coldness, igniting the adrenaline within him. Nexus dashed back to the assailant, grabbing a hold of him before looking back at the monster witnessing as it tossed Gleam through the wall. It's twisted face turned to Nexus and with it's hand of knives it slashed towards Nexus. Just before the molten knives could reach him Nexus snapped his finger teleporting himself and the assailant to the shape located outside the factory.

Nexus let go of the assailant, placing his hand on his face. He'd almost died there, the feeling of the things claws slashing his soul out his own body. Nexus's breathing became heavy and rapid, slapping himself to regain composure. Nexus looked back at the assailant, finishing up in tightening the wires to the chair and laying the man to the side so the smoke wouldn't reach him.

Turning back to face the factory, Nexus tried taking a step forward, only to feel the weight of fear. He couldn't force himself to move towards the danger, the all too real danger. That thing was hideous and deadly, it had attacked them when they were preoccupied, how intelligent was it? Nexus couldn't fully process everything, only a few days ago was he a simple upstanding student and now he was risking his life against things he didn't fully comprehend.

Nexus shivered as his breath became heavier and the fear of death crushed him further.

"Nexus, please take a deep breath, you may not want to be here, but standing here and doing nothing will risk you and your teams lives! We have to help them" Cer cried out.

"... Yeah... yeah you're right" Nexus responded his breaths lightening up.

"Sir, the enemy appears to be empowered by the flames, perhaps it'd be best to fight it away from said flames." Pier suggested

"That would be best, but we'll need to get the team out of the factory first." Nexus said as he formed a new shape placing it near the first shape.

With a final deep breath, Nexus delved once again into the hellish Factory.

 

[seasonedcat]

Candace
"Sweet fucking peas" Candace swore out as he stared in horror at the man seizing before him, "Ahhh shit um UM I can heal that right, hahaha," he fumbled out his guitar into his hands but before he could even play anything a searing heat knocked into him, sending him tumbling forward, catching himself before he fell on his face, "SHIT-" he swore loudly at the searing pain in his arm where the creature had hit him.

as he regained his footing, he checked the ping on his phone, feeling a light laugh bubble from him, "little late on that one..." as he let his phone disappear he saw gleam get thrown through the wall, "OH FUCKING FISHSTICKS, WHO FLUSHED THEIR GOLDFISH DOWN THE TOILET???" he hissed out in surprise, morbid humor taking over as he watched the beast then dash for Nexus.

Nexus was still recovering and Candace could see the disorientation on the other's face, in a vain attempt at heroism Candace lifted up his guitar, letting out a cry of rage equivalent to a barbarian he slammed the sharp edge of his guitar down onto the creature just as Nexus teleported out. Sadly, unlike tabletop games, the cry of a barbarian did not induce rage, nor made your attack go unnoticed. The beast skillfully jumped out of the way, this time turning to face Candace.

it was at this moment Candace realized that he was now alone with the creature, his teammates no longer with him. Candace let out an awkward little laugh as he scooted back, "Maybe we can talk about this?" he offered before it lunged at him. Candace scampered out of the way, barely managing to avoid its claws. "guess it doesn't like to talk..." Candace squeaked out as he barely missed another claw, this time it cutting his arm slightly. The burning sensation from before was far worse this time as if it was now spreading inside his arm.

"Ow, yah fuck that hurts ahhh." Candace swore, this time turning to the best method he had available. "So beans, can you do anything other than turning into a sick guitar that's also an axe??" With another golden light, the guitar around his neck turned into a large sniper, the same strap connecting it to his shoulder, "Uh yah, that's very cool but NOT HELPFUL AT CLOSE RANGE!" he hissed out as he managed to dodge the beast again, this time by tripping on some rubble and falling on his face just under its claws.

"Okay, time for plan two," Candace took a deep breath before letting out the loudest scream he could manage, "HELP ME SOMEONE HELP ME! I AM A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS NEEDING A STRONG HERO TO CONVENIENTLY COME TO SAVE ME AT THIS POINT IN TIME BEFORE THIS HOT PRINCESS BECOMES MINCED MEAT!"
Solirus jmann Nellancholy Tiguidi Juju
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊Enoki𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
Enoki's breaths came out in thick gasps as they stared at the scene before them, their body freezing up. Tears flowed freely from their eyes as they shook. This is not what they signed up for when they downloaded some hip game. This is not what they signed up for when they came today to talk to Moki about turning back. This was not what they signed up for when they did anything in their entire life.

a choked sob came from their throat as the creature took off. Oh god, it had eaten the child, hadn't it? They had said they were a superhero and all they were doing was crying. The little creatures were getting closer to them, they needed to do something. They couldn't let the child die, they said they would keep them safe. No one else was coming to save the child. They were the only one who could.

they closed their eyes, they didn't want to do this. They didn't want to be here. The water was filling the cabin, their dad could have saved himself, but he didn't. He didn't want to be there either. They couldn't let the child die. With trembling hands, they reached into their pocket and grabbed their pill bottle, dumping a few into their throat, their racing heart being forced to calm down. They couldn't falter here. They had to make their dad's death worth something.

as they opened their eyes they saw Audrina distracting the monsters, "Ah servant! I see you finally have recovered! Good, now bask in my radiance as I take out these monsters and save the day!" With a bright green light that dashed towards them, a bow formed in front of them, falling into their hands. Drawing back the string, a purple arrow formed, knowing what to do. The arrow hit the dirt, and purple mushrooms formed rapidly before the approaching monsters.

purple spores shot into the air, the creatures began to cry out, slashing the air in front of them. They couldn't see. Perfect. Enoki quickly turned to take off after the fleeing monster, their body lighter than they expected. Suddenly a thought came to them, what about the child they had left behind? Swallowing back panic, they remembered something. They weren't alone. In one of their hands, their phone formed, quickly texting out to one of their team members, with a few typos they told them about the child and his mother in front of the house that was in danger. They only hoped that they would get it.

as they dashed after the monster, they let out some shots, and red mushrooms formed. Giant mushrooms tried to block the monster's path in attempts to corner it so that Enoki could fight them. They would not lose the child, no matter what it cost. They couldn't fail everyone. They had to do this. They had to save them.
Juju ThatWhichShouldBe Glassred Cresion Breezes

 

[Tiguidi]

TWILIGHT​

“Wooh, nice work!”, Twilight praised once the crazy armed man was apprehended by her teammates. In any perfect world, all that would be left would be to make sure that the factory wouldn’t completely explode and make sure the flames wouldn’t spread.

But of course, such a world didn’t exist. Go figures.

A shift in the ambient lighting caught Twilight’s eye. It was like the fire itself started to move on its own, rushing toward some of her teammates as if it was alive! “Huh!? Hey, watch out!”, she called out to Nexus and Candace. The Magik Hero covered her eyes as the flames burned bright, now forming a rapidly-expanding circle. “What the… heck is going on…!?”

The second when the creature made itself known, Twilight immediately shrugged off any lingering feelings of fear and brought her staff forward. People were in danger yet again and her monkey familiar did mention that her powers would be great against monsters. Maybe now would be the time to properly show off!

“Whoa, we’ve got a Fishlegs here…”, she mumbled to herself. Lightning was already crackling from her hands and staff as she eyed the monster, trying to find any openings, wincing when Gleam suffered the results of being its first target. “Welp, no need to be a genius to see it uses fire attacks…”

“Twilight.” The Magik Hero perked up at the sound of her familiar, resonating in her head. “This would be your moment to strike. It is currently distracted and your attacks will be particularly deadly.”

Her lips curled into a smile. A nervous smile? Maybe. Or perhaps the idea of frying a creature of darkness with magical lightning brought some form of joy. Regardless of its cause, Twilight was ready to strike.

Positioning herself, Twilight nodded to herself when Nexus teleported away to avoid a potentially deadly attack. The team’s numbers were already dwindling so there was no time to waste!

“Candace, jump to the side, I gotcha!”, Twilight yelled as she slammed her staff forward, a blinding bolt of lightning firing from it straight toward the monster. While it may have been able to avoid physical attacks from Candace, a lightning bolt was a completely different story.

CRRRRRAAAAACCKKKKKK

The electricity hit the fish-like monster on the side of its chest, lightning coursing into its body. It let out a guttural roar in response; it definitely took damage! And, fortunately for Candace, Twilight’s attack momentarily stunned the creature, which would hopefully allow him to escape.

Anyone close enough to the monster would notice its body getting slightly transparent after Twilight’s attack, before returning to normal about a second later.

Letting out another roar, the monster turned to face its assailant as flames started to swirl around it, getting absorbed into its body. While it was a good thing, in a way, since it essentially put out some of the fire that was happily burning in the factory, it also probably meant that it got powered up from it.

“A-Ahh crap, we gotta get Fishlegs away from the fire!” Immediately realizing the threat, Twilight started dashing backwards, continuing to spray the monster with smaller bolts of lightning. “We need to lure it outside where there’s no fire! It just absorbs it!”

Juju Nellancholy Solirus seasonedcat jmann

 

[Nellancholy]

"Aghk!"

So it turned out that crashing through a solid (or maybe not so solid) brick wall was not much more than being hit by a particularly hard pillow to an EGO form. Good to know. The fire, on the other hand...Gleam was still kneeling, clutching at the mark seared into her side. Hotter still than the raging fire surrounding her (not that she cared to look), the kind of thing that utterly consumed one's senses, paralyzing with agony.

"Huzzah! A beast worthy of our efforts! Where better to make our stand than in this storm of hellfire, with the world falling to pieces around us?!"

"Ugh..." Gleam already knew this was going to be an especially fraught relationship. "Silence." Grabbing hold of the plush rabbit, she allowed it to form into a chakram again. Even so, she could still barely move. Narrowing her eyes and focusing through the pain on the scene before her didn't instill much more hope in their odds.

Nexus was prompt in extracting the arsonist from the factory, though Gleam wasn't sure how useful he'd be now that he appeared to be unconscious. A real reliable guy, that Nexus was.

As for the beast before them...what a fascinating anatomy. That skeleton, probably piscine in construction, though its skin was probably reinforced to withstand lower pressure above sea level without bursting...were its internals pressurized? Perhaps if they successfully ruptured its skin, the consequences would be explosive. And those claws...chitin? Keratin? Bone? For a moment Gleam almost forgot that those were the sources of the burning wounds inflicted upon her, searing her flesh.

Studying it would be so fun, but alas, they were where they were. Maybe she'd at least get to take some pictures and do something of an autopsy once it was over...

Candace, despite his apparent popularity with the other players, proved poorly-equipped to face that thing head-on. Kind of embarrassing, really.

Twilight, on the other hand, kept her head on, drawing its attention with a fierce lightning strike, and...provoking it into sucking in some of the fire to restore itself. Okay, now that was impressive.

"Focus, mistress." The more dignified voice spoke up. "Why don't we give it a bit more water then?"

"An excellent idea." Gleam groaned quietly, standing to her feet. Scanning the walls, the positions of the pipes that directed the water supply became clear. "Fishlegs, was it? Look, over here!" Even considering her current state, Gleam made her best effort to raise her voice and get the creature's attention. "Have a taste of the sea, that you may return to it!"

With that, Gleam wound up and swung once more, delivering another fierce throw of her chakram. It struck that creature's skull, barely missing its maw and doing little damage...but it made her a target, just as she planned.

The chakram would have flown off and hit the wall again, if not for another wave of Gleam's hand. Turning sharply, the chakram curved in midair, striking a valve on one of the pipes. It didn't take more than another second for the pipe to burst at the joint, spraying a gout of water at the Fishlegs and quenching more of the fire.

Hopefully, that'd both distract and weaken it. If its biology was amphibian enough, that might stop it from absorbing more fire...

Gleam hopped backwards, putting more distance between her and Fishlegs while doing her best to keep pace with Twilight as she attacked from range.

Tiguidi Juju

 

[jmann]

Hector | EARTHQUAKE

Earthquake had only a second to breathe before more fire erupted and he was thrust back into action. A creature had emerged and was terrorising his new allies. His first thought was the criminal who needed to be escorted out, but before he could even react Nexus had already solved the problem. That left Gleam that had been thrown through a concrete wall, and Candace who didn't look to be enjoying the entity's company. Gleam looked injured, but Candace had the potential to be much worse. Earthquake rushed to her side as she stood on her own and taunted the creature.
"Remember your limits," was all Earthquake could provide while keeping his stoic caricature. He patted Gleam on the back and broke into a run inside.

Inside he saw two points of interest. The first was the creature itself and Candace in danger, and the second was the burst water main. Combined with the shock attack, the creature was momentarily stunned and couldn't absorb the fire. That was the weak point he needed. Earthquake pulled the shield off his arm and spun around, throwing it like a discus straight toward the pipe. His throw was a little off, embedding in the concrete directly underneath the burst, but it accomplished what he wanted. The water sprayed off the shield like one big sprinkler. The moisture and the smoke made it even harder to breathe, though Earthquake hoped it would do something about the fire. Regardless, there was only one thing he needed to do now.

Earthquake leapt forward over rubble and around the flames. He found himself clenching his left hand where his shield grip once was. While he only had it for a short time, Earthquake felt strangely naked without it. Regardless, he steeled himself and slid down the dust-covered debris, scooping up Candace along his way. Earthquake spun around, nearly slipping but catching himself. In one leap, he soared up and slammed down onto the catwalk above. The metal connections groaned under the strain, screws snapped and shot across the factory. He knew if he stayed any longer there was a very real chance the catwalk collapsed, taking Candace down with it. He wasn't about to let that happen. Earthquake set Candace down and stepped off the catwalk. He landed into a kneel like every superhero he'd seen, yet none of those heroes had mentioned the pain shooting through their knee that made his eyes water just a little.

---

Nellancholy Juju seasonedcat

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

Sol Invictus

Just as soon as Invictus waves Pandora off, he's forced to charge into the fray. The muscular young man is an avenging titan, his fists slamming through the strange monsters as he immediately moves towards the old man's side to try and keep them safe, though his passage through the crowd is impeded by the numberless swarm, biting and clawing.. His gravitic powers flex themselves, pulling monsters into his whirlwind of blows, helping control the flow of the battle and keeping monsters off of Starponaria and the civilian. And he can feel himself grow stronger, strength welling up in him as he fights. Each blow he makes is mightier than the last, scattering monsters like nine-pins. Was this what Magik Heroes were meant for? Fighting these... monsters?! It was supposed to be a game, not...!

And then Sol hears something that sends a chill through his heart. A scream, two screams. He had to make a choice. His ally, or the people they were supposed to protect...? After a half-moment of indecision, Sol bolts towards the Old Man, cursing as he desperately wishes that he could call for help. He didn't want Pandora to get hurt! He was on the verge of panic when he feels, as much as hears, Horus speak, his familiar interjecting. A moment of calm in the midst of the storm.

LOOK.

Sol's eyes are drawn towards the phone. Yes. Yes! The phone! He pulls it out with one hand, the other hand forcing his way through the horde. His enhanced strikes send him barreling through, gravity being used to push him forward with bursts of force as he charges like a one-man wrecking ball to rescue the civilian. He flicks it open to the group chat, and sends out a broad, mass-channel message to every Hero he could.

"HELP! THE MONSTERS GOT PANDORA, THEY'RE DRAGGING HER AWAY! ME AND HER WERE FIGHTING IN THE SECOND BURNING HOUSE DOWN THE STREET, WE'RE GETTING OVERRUN OUT HERE!"

 

[Cresion Breezes]

#776598 #c6b5c9
Interactions: Potentia ( Glassred )​

Kiva's eyes were closed, it wasn't due to the rather disturbing scenery now clouding around her, they were closed far before that. She can see the strange swarm from behind, the shadowy beings that cut off parts of her transmission, as well as what happened outside with Potentia and...that other girl. "...I didn't expect it, but it appears I've gotten myself into something rather dangerous, even by my standards." She slowly opened her eyes while the alter egos on the other side of the swarm disappeared, the energy used to create them returning to Kiva. It would be quite unwise to expend that supply right now, Kiva had other plans.

Just then a ringing sound broke through the silence that Kiva was trying so hard to maintain, she scowled as the noise hit her ears. Not even bothering to listen to whatever the message is, Kiva picked up the still broadcasting phone hand and hurled it right into the swarm. "Way to be a distraction." A phone wasn't a big deal when you're in fear for your life, and besides, Kiva had enough of those things to spare anyways, you never know when you might need to change up your phone to shake off some pesky pursuers. While the phone did a parabola through the air, the girl at the center seems to have multiplied. Kiva's body made duplicates of itself rapidly, with all the doppelgangers fanning out in a 360 degree. Some of them were glowing brightly, while others more dimly. "A bit of Zipf's Law for you," Kiva said rather emotionlessly. The 80-20 principle was what she decided to base this attack on. From what she saw with her previous clones and what that Star-whatever girl did, it appears these swarms were not too intelligent and attacked in a more instinctive way, and one of them was destroyed by an explosion from the inside. 80% decoys, clones that used nearly no energy to produce and only glimmered faintly like a dying star, 20% damages, the more solid-looking copies that are mixed in with the decoy copies, waiting to blow something up.

"I just got rid of one distraction you know." Kiva said to Potentia, who suddenly charged in and began chipping away at the swarm with some sort of wire-constructing weapon. It was similar to the principles of fishery, the blindly moving components of the swarm simply charging into a net. Her eyes were closed again as she focused on creating more clones that adhered to the planned principle, it wasn't easy spacing out their configurations like that. Occasionally she opened one eye and gazed into the lenses hovering in front of her to check on the condition of the swarm, and the abnormalities in the back of it.

"I hate being watched, maybe that's a bit hypocritical to say," she said to no one in particular as her phone was already tossed away right into the swarm while gazing into the lenses again to spy on the battlefield's condition, "so if you want to watch something, watch this."

With a snap of her fingers, the built-up clones all fanned out and dashed forward with no regard for what is in front of them, whether it is empty space, or monsters, or even her supposed teammate Potentia. They moved as fast as humanly possible, leaving what seemed like a glowing afterimage that looked like the trails of a time-lapsed starry sky, cycling around the battlefield while Kiva herself looked for an opening to escape with her true body...and perhaps detonate the entire place. "Just saying, I'm not the protector type, especially if it's at the expense of myself." She shrugged at Potentia while gesturing in the direction of where she came from. "I'm willing to be useful for you though. Just watch your step." One of the weaker clones near Potentia detonated in a small shower of sparks, barely any force due to the source being a barely energized decoy, it was just a showcase of what is to be expected from her, Kiva didn't have time or interest for an introduction anyways. And if Potentia didn't get the message, too bad.

 

[Juju]

Factory
✧. ┊ Prism ( Juju )
Asphalt was torn apart as a gemstone burst from the ground, catching the monster's underbelly mid-pounce. It let out a sharp yowl, its claws scraping against the stone as it was tossed into the air. Before Prism could deal a final blow to it, the second monster took the opportunity to lunge at the prison guard. Prioritizing the man’s safety, Prism left the airborne monster alone and instead threw her spear at the approaching beast.

“Don’t you dare.” she hissed between clenched teeth as her weapon dug into the beast’s side. In retaliation, the beast wrapped its hairs around the weapon and tugged it free from Prism’s grip, leaving her disarmed.

‘Allow me to demonstrate my power!’ She heard the cheerful voice of Rex in her mind, her eyes now seeing a ghostly line between her existing gem construct and the spear embedded in the creature’s side. The gemstone shattered, but Prism could feel a new energy flowing into the spear.

‘Let’s combine our efforts! I’ll show you!’

Prism focused her magic into her spear, feeling its energy grow. In a splash of black ichor and purple light, gemstones burst from her spearhead, impaling the beast. It clawed uselessly at the crystals, its body falling apart into black flakes of ash and smoke. It kept struggling and snapping until its limps disappeared.

The sight seemed to frighten the other monster, for instead of attacking it opted to circle Prism once again, baring its fangs and thrashing the prehensile hairs of its back. She raised her spear in preparation, adjusting her stance to be between herself and the guard, only to notice the hundreds of smiling faces that poured from the woods like a black cloud.

How many of these monsters were there?

It was at this point of time when Nexus appeared from a portal, bringing with him an injured man. Having no idea what happened inside the building, Prism assumed he was a survivor.

That’s why she let out a cry when the swarm completely ignored her and instead rushed for the helpless man. Dragging the security guard by the hand and extending her power with the other, Prism summoned crystals in an attempt to slow the cloud of cackling shapes. It didn’t even slow them down. She raced the creatures, the poor guard hardly able to keep up with her pace.

In the end, both she and the swarm were beaten by something else. When her crystal wall shattered from the force, Prism only had enough time to turn on the guard and shield him with her body, clutching him in a tight hug.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──​

✧. ┊ Twilight ( Tiguidi ), Gleam ( Nellancholy ), Earthquake ( jmann ), Candace ( seasonedcat ), Nexus ( Solirus ), Prism ( Juju )

‘Fishlegs’ ducked its ugly head behind an arm as it was bombarded by Twilight’s lightning attacks, letting out a quivering hiss of rage. It let out an annoyed hiss as in this moment of distraction, its prey (Candace) had been snatched right from under its nose.

A harsh glow bloomed in its chest, the light shining through its flesh and illuminating the silhouette of its ribcage. The glow moved into its mouth and was unleashed in a blast of fire that shot at Twilight in a large cone of flame. While the attack could be dodged with effort or aid, the flame’s sheer size made it difficult to escape totally unharmed. Of course, there may be other ways to avoid the flame’s wrath with some quick thinking or teamwork.

After unleashing its attack, the glow of Fishleg’s skin was significantly dimmer. It once again attempted to absorb the flames around it, only to notice that the flames nearby had been extinguished by the actions of Gleam and Earthquake’s shield-sprinkler combo. The floor was now flooded with running water, and a steady spray rained down from above.

Fishlegs took a look at the water gathering around its feet, then reared back in a deafening screech that echoed harshly in the enclosed space and hurt the ears of all within range. Although the water did not appear to harm the creature, it certainly seemed enraged by it. Lashing with its tail and arms, the creature swung blindly at anyone and anything nearby, scratching a deep rent into a nearby chemical canister. An unknown fluid began to drain from the canister, but thankfully it only harmlessly mixed with the water.

The monster’s tantrum abruptly ended when its body once again flickered in and out of transparency. Its head whipped back towards the entrance of the building and in a single urgent movement, the creature charged through the factory. As it fled, the remaining fire in the factory was pulled to it, wreathing it in flames until it looked like a comet. It crashed through a metal catwalk in its way, collapsing its support pillar, and barreled right over Nexus’ location.

Unlike before, the monster was not directly targeting Nexus, and if he was quick to react he would be able to dodge the charge with only some minor burns. Unfortunately for the teleporting hero, the area Fishlegs was heading towards was none other than where Nexus’ current shape was located. A rather unlucky situation.

Fishlegs’s charge ended in an explosion of flames centred over the unconscious gunman. The flames shattered the nearby teleportation-shape and blasted back a swarm of monsters that were converging on the gunman.

Although these were the same monsters that were attacking the neighborhood, it would be the first time Team 1 had seen them. The miniature monsters that had survived Fishleg's flames regrouped and tried to attack Fishlegs again, only to be slashed with flaming claws. The unconscious gunman was completely unharmed by the fire and appeared to be guarded by Fishlegs who crouched over him. Meanwhile, a disgusting black stain was forming on the ground below the gunman, making the surrounding asphalt crack. It was only just noticeable, but Fishlegs looked larger than it had in the factory.

Prism could also be seen in the factory courtyard, huddled over the security guard. She was surrounded by broken crystals, and looked to have suffered burns along her back and limbs.

Team 1's phones also rang with a message from Sol Invictus, reading; "HELP! THE MONSTERS GOT PANDORA, THEY'RE DRAGGING HER AWAY! ME AND HER WERE FIGHTING IN THE SECOND BURNING HOUSE DOWN THE STREET, WE'RE GETTING OVERRUN OUT HERE!"

Spoiler: 'Fishlegs' reference

---

---

Neighbourhood
✧. ┊ Potentia ( Glassred )

“It’s not over ye-” Moki tried to explain before they were rudely, and rather violently, cut off by a gunshot. The creature’s tail fluffed out with alarm, back arched like a startled cat.

“Potentia that-” once again, their words were drowned out with another shot, this time aimed to kill.

The bullet hit its mark with excellent efficiency, yet instead of a splatter of blood and gore, there was only the sound of a light splash and the crack of pavement below. Moki’s form had become translucent, as if now made of water and stars. Just like the pond that had teleported them here. Ripples spanned across Moki's body from the bullet, then grew still. Once more, their body returned to what Potentia could only assume to be physical.

Ears alert and body tense, Moki trotted after Potentia. They eyed the Magik hero cautiously as they were threatened, “Moki understands that emotions are clouding your judgement, but you must be careful now. A Page of the Forsaken will only grow stronger when you are alone. Fight it together with Dopplewalker, or Starponaria’s actions will be in vain!”

With that said, Moki bounded away to where Starponaria had fallen. They leapt into the now bloody phone, and both disappeared.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──​

✧. ┊ Potentia ( Glassred ), Dopplewalker ( Cresion Breezes )

Potentia’s wires slashed through the swarm like a hot knife through butter, making a huge dent in their numbers. She could even see Dopplewalker between the gaps she made in the creatures. It was at this point that the monsters took notice of the nuisance on their border, and split off to surround Potentia again. Strangely, as soon as they shifted their focus, the razor wires no longer kept their numbers down. As soon as one was poofed into smoke, another took its place.

On the other side of the swarm, Kiva was formulating her own plan.

Kiva’s phone actually did serve as a momentary distraction, as one of the shapes inside the swarm moved towards it, melding into the cloud of smiling monsters. When clones began to appear, the creatures swooped down at her in turns, trying to figure out if she was a clone or not. Unsure of who was real, the swarm had no choice but to divide itself up between all of the clones, Kiva and Potentia.

Just as Kiva had theorized, the creatures instinctively swarmed around each of the clones as they ran their separate ways, dispersing the swarm into more manageable fractions. With their cover gone, she could clearly see the two hairy monsters that had commanded the swarm and used it as cover. One was chasing after a clone, while the other pounced on a fake Kiva as she fled. It knocked the fake Magik Hero to the ground and tore it apart with long, finger-like claws.

Thanks to the splitting of the swarm, Potentia could see easily past the monsters trying to claw at her. She could also see the different Dopplewalkers going their separate ways.

Meanwhile the real one was faced with her own little swarm. Emboldened by the nearby monster’s pounce, a few of the small smoke-monsters grabbed onto her arm and legs, trying to weigh her down and scratch her.

The monster that had attack Potentia and downed Starponaria was nowhere to be seen, the only indication of its presence being the dent in the car it smashed into and the blood on the street from its latest victim.

Spoiler: reference

Big guys that hid in the swarm and seem to summon them;
smol monsters that make up the swarm:

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──​

✧. ┊ Enoki ( seasonedcat )
The monster attempted to dodge the arrows, but its sluggish movements proved to be too slow. Caught between the mushroom and Enoki, the monster skidded on the grassy turf and slammed into the mushroom. In this moment of opportunity, a magikal arrow shot through its leg, pinning it to the ground. Screeching loudly, the monster struggled to free itself.

It appeared that for a brief moment, it was immobilized. A finishing blow would be easy, yet must be done carefully to not hurt whatever was inside its stomach.

Nearby, the minions it had summoned heard the monster’s call. While many of them remained in the cloud, they were beginning to use their master’s screeches as a means to find their way out of the cloud. Those who freed themself flung themselves at Enoki, biting and clawing at the magik hero.

Enoki could also hear shouting from in front of the house, coming from a middle aged woman. While the distance, noisy monsters, and flames made it difficult to hear, it sounded like curses and threats. A child shouted too, and a monster hissed. Enoki would recognize the child as the boy he had saved, and could only assume the woman's voice to be the mother.

The sounds were overshadowed by the sudden alert from his phone, one that was sent by Sol Invictus. It read; "HELP! THE MONSTERS GOT PANDORA, THEY'RE DRAGGING HER AWAY! ME AND HER WERE FIGHTING IN THE SECOND BURNING HOUSE DOWN THE STREET, WE'RE GETTING OVERRUN OUT HERE!"

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──​

✧. ┊ Sol Invictus ( ThatWhichShouldBe )

Sol Invictus' strength grew with every punch, yet so did the swarm. It seemed that no matter how many he killed, they just kept coming. At this point he couldn't see any sky, only the white eyes and smiles of the monsters. They cackled at him as they clawed and bit, as if mocking him for the loss of Pandora in their storm. Already he could no longer hear her voice above their chatter.

After Sol's message was sent, he got a familiar ring from the MHU app. Unfortunately it was not a response from his teammates, but the arrival of Moki, who leapt out of his phone. The furry creature landed on Sol's head and sat there with perfect balance as the hero fought against the monsters.

"Well done Sol Invictus! Moki forgot to mention Magic Hero U's chat feature, but you found it without issue. Wonderful! Moki is glad that attunement has been mostly successful for both teams!" The creature said, voice cheery despite the dire circumstances. "Furthermore, Moki is impressed with your quick actions! Protecting civilians is always a hero's top priority! As for Pandora, Moki can still sense her nearby. If Team 2 is to be save her they will need to stay together. A Page of the Forsaken grows powerful when people are alone. Even these lesser creatures cannot be slain by a hero alone."

Moki seemed unbothered by the monsters swarming Sol, and shuffled on his head to point with a paw in the direction of the house next door. "Hurry, Enoki is nearby and in danger. They are in the yard beside this one!"

With that, Moki leapt effortlessly over a swooping monster and vanished into Sol Invictus' phone in a puff of bright pixels and light.

 

[Nellancholy]

Things were finally looking up for once. With Earthquake's valiant assistance, much of the flames were either extinguished or soon to burn out. The collateral damage to the factory had the fortunate side effect of venting smoke AND letting more air in (this time without stoking the flames much). If Fishlegs tried to attack or heal again, it would end up depleting even more of the fire and decisively secure the area.

It seemed to know that very well, as it proceeded to use its remaining reserves of strength to blast a truly fearsome gout of flame towards Twilight...

"Twi! Beware!" Gleam set herself in place. God, if only she could fly, or had super strength enough to just carry Twilight out of the way...but she didn't. Time for the next best thing. She held up her chakram, bracing herself...

...and the flames blew around her and Twilight, a storm of searing heat barely averted by her timely action. It was a miracle, even more than those before, that her weapon did not heat up or melt into a puddle. It truly was magic...

But there was little time to even sigh in relief, as Fishlegs proceeded to flee the increasingly damp building, tearing at its remains as it went. Apparently unsatisfied with the damage it had already caused, Fishlegs proceeded to singe and tear at...a group of smaller creatures that had gathered around Nexus' shape (which promptly shattered before the flames) as well as the arsonist.

Those creatures were from the game too, probably. Monster infighting was always a fun mechanic, though Callisto never liked to let something else do most of the work. Of course, what was of greater importance was the arsonist's unconscious form, and...the horrid black effluence trying to...capture him?

No, that couldn't stand.

"Come on, Twi! Nexus! Look out for him!"

Winding up in what was now a familiar motion, Gleam spun like a discus thrower, lowering herself to the ground and releasing her chakram to spin low to the ground. In its barrelling flight, it knocked out a few more of the miniature creatures, sliding itself under the arsonist like the tray it was meant to be.

Gleam clenched her fist, pulling back. It wouldn't be far, but hopefully she could drag him close enough for the heroes to properly protect him...

Juju Tiguidi Solirus

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

With that, Moki leapt effortlessly over a swooping monster and vanished into Sol Invictus' phone in a puff of bright pixels and light.

SOL INVICTUS

The hero charges through the swarm, the old man safely tucked under one arm as his other fist continues to pummel his way through the swarm. Even if he got stronger, it didn't seem to help with this damn *mass*! Gravitic pulses exert themselves as he pushes the swarm back, slamming the monsters into the ground for him to crush as he fights slowly against the tide, heading towards Enoki. From Moki's words... This enemy was stronger when they were alone, so they had to link up, otherwise they'd have major issues! They had to team up quickly, so that they could save Pandora. He didn't want to leave her alone in that swarm for any longer than he needed to!

Eventually, he leaps over a fence into the yard....

"ENOKI? YOU HERE?"
seasonedcat

 

[seasonedcat]

𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊Enoki𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
panic gripped Enoki's chest like a pair of handcuffs, their breathing becoming labored as so many calls for help ragged in their ears. The monsters began to tear at their legs and arms as they tried to finish off the pinned beast in front of them, messing up their shot every time they attempted to take it. Grunting in pain, they thrashed around, throwing the little beasts off him as best they could.

as they fought, they overheard a yell, their hero's name on their lips. They had no clue who was calling their name. Still, if they knew, it must mean that they are another magik hero just like them, "I am right here," a grunt interrupted their voice as another tiny creature bit at their arm, "B-but you have to protect the civilians in front of the house! A mother and a child, these beasts will kidnap them if we aren't careful!" they called out, feeling a deep-rooted panic at the thought of being alone. Civilians were more important than Enoki; they could not fight back.

with a grunt of annoyance, Enoki gave up trying to use their bow; grasping the arrow in his wrist, he let the creatures bite and scratch at him as he stumbled forward, reaching the beast that began to flail out at them, "Give them back!" Enoki cried as they brought the arrow down, slashing its stomach as best they could, the cut shallow at first from the small blade before they brought it back down. Pain radiated from their body as they finished with the green arrow, stabbing it into the ground as the green spores filled their lungs.

the pain began to lighten up on their body, but the creatures still ate at them as they tried to throw them off, hoping that the cut was deep enough for the building stomach to spill onto the ground.
Juju ThatWhichShouldBe
---
Candace
thankfully, the princess in distress always worked, his allies coming to rescue him just like in the video games. A very strong and defiantly not attractive arms grasped him, a witty comment stuck in his throat as he gazed upon a very beautiful specism, "oh wow, muscles..." he breathed out in awe before he was placed down, and the world came crashing back to him as he cleared his throat and slightly red face.

sadly, his admiration didn't stop as he watched the muscular man land in an epic superhero way, Candace quickly responding in such, "the superhero landing," stars practically in his eyes. Though his fan girl moment was cut short when the monster came crashing through the catwalk he standing on. A simple "fuck me" fell from his mouth as he fell rapidly.

some metal banged into him before he landed on the growing pile of rubble, more falling onto him as the rest of the catwalk came down. The next thing Candace knew, tiny paws were pressing against his cheek. Blinking away his pounding head, he realized he must have blacked out for a second as rubble was no longer falling onto him, and Beans was looking at him worried.

it took him a moment to realize that the smoke in the building was burning to breathe in and that he could feel a warm substance dripping on his forehead. "Oh, bullocks, as the British would say," he wheezed as he processed the fact that his EGO was destroyed. He also noticed that he was trapped under rubble, thankfully not enough to break any of his bones, but the blood from his head and the pain in his breathing were a tad concerning.

"there goes my secret identity," he chuckled lightly as he regained his swimming vision. "As much of a loud mouth I am, I don't think I can call out this one; mind going and grabbing someone for me beans?" he hummed out lightly, patting her head with a dust-covered hand. For once, the creature did not fight, clearly too worried for the other to bother putting up her usually lazy act. Beans maneuvered her way out of the rubble, squeezing until she was standing on top, meowing in panic at the few teammates who had not chased after the monster for help.
Juju jmann Tiguidi Nellancholy Solirus

 

[Juju]

┌── •✧• ──┐
Nellancholy (Gleam)
jmann (Earthquake)
Solirus (Nexus)
Tiguidi (Twilight)
seasonedcat (Candace)
Juju (Prism)
└── •✧• ──┘

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Winding up in what was now a familiar motion, Gleam spun like a discus thrower, lowering herself to the ground and releasing her chakram to spin low to the ground. In its barrelling flight, it knocked out a few more of the miniature creatures, sliding itself under the arsonist like the tray it was meant to be.

Gleam clenched her fist, pulling back. It wouldn't be far, but hopefully she could drag him close enough for the heroes to properly protect him...

Gleam's aim was exceptional, the chakram sliding under the unconscious gunman just as she had planned. It served to move him a few feet before the man suddenly stopped midair. The chakram continued to move in its thrown arc, though it was empty. It was as if an invisible clothesline had snatched the man from what would have been an impromptu rescue. Even a beginner's understanding of physics knew that the gunman's movements were unnatural, as if held aloft.

A black tar that had pooled below the man had shot upwards with thin, almost insect like tendrils that wrapped around his body and pulled him back into the pool. Within the span of a single heartbeat the substance rose and spread around the man, forming a fleshy cocoon. It pulsed like a heart and with every beat a red molten light glowed through the membranous exterior.

The jingle of phones chimed at once, heralding yet another message from Moki.

"Attention heroes! The monster is attempting to create a Heart that will anchor it to this realm. This means that it is desperate, but also means it will grow stronger by the minute. Please destroy the heart with your weapons before it fully develops! Moki shall bring emergency backup!" ​

As soon as the aforementioned 'Core' was formed, the beast let out a shrieking roar. After having blasted the small monsters (which had oddly attacked Fishlegs over the Magik heroes) to ash, it wasted no time in switching the offensive. However, it was clear that it's blind charging tactics had been replaced by a more reserved method of standing near the Heart.

Pools of red light appeared below the feet of Prism, the security guard and Gleam, growing harsher by the second. Within two seconds, pillars of flame burst from the ground, searing the air where they might have stood.

Prism, who had already been scorched by the monster's fire, was quick to react to the heat beneath her feet. Grabbing the security guard by the hand, she dashed to the side and narrowly missed incineration. Now that the monster was out of the factory, protecting the security guard would be difficult, but if she sent him away he could easily fall prey to the shadowy monsters if they returned. If she tried to help Gleam fight the monster, he would also be left alone and in range of Fishleg's attacks.

It was a difficult situation to be put in, but she couldn't stand idle. She looked between Gleam and Fishlegs, trying to devise a plan. Where were the others? Candace you better be ok...

After its initial attack, the monster slammed its claw into the ground, causing a fissure to appear in the earth between itself and Gleam. It cracked through the pavement like some invisible knife, travelling at an alarming speed. Before it could hit Gleam it crashed into a purple crystal, which erupted from the ground only as few inches from Gleam. A burst of slag and broken pavement sprayed around the glowing crystal, then disappeared.

"Gleam! Focus on attacking that Heart. I'll give you cover with my crystals!" Prism shouted, her spear pointing towards the beast, "If its protecting that thing it will have to use ranged attacks. We can use that to our advantage!"

The "Heart" swelled behind Fishlegs and twitched as if alive, a black mist billowing from it. As if in response, Fishlegs also grew a little, its skin rippling with fire as it was preparing to launch yet another stream of flames from its mouth.

In preparation of this, Prism formed two more crystals on the battle field. They were smaller than she would have liked, but enough for a person to hide behind.

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯​

┌── •✧• ──┐
Cresion Breezes (Dopplewalker)
└── •✧• ──┘

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

The hero known as Potentia was in a battle trance. Every motion was perfectly calculated to bring wrathful destruction upon the hoard of monsters swarming herself and Dopplewalker. Not a single ounce of strength was wasted, and her stance left no openings for the beasts. Soon enough the swarm was thinned down to only a few of the monsters An impressive display of unusual might.

A hard light shone through Potentia's gaze, the only glimpse into the whirlwind behind her narrowed eyes. The girl beneath the EGO had become a tempest of emotions, the sort of outcome she had always avoided when dealing with people. What better way to avoid the sting of abandonment than to keep others at a safe distance. Walls were built to keep them out. She was in control. People became tools.

Starponaria had been in that category of 'tools', and yet somehow she had left a stain on her invisible wall. She had died for her, a truth that nipped at her to no end. No matter how hard she tried, the sight of Star's blood on the monster's fangs haunted her every step. It was like a parasite she couldn't shake. How troublesome.

It stoked a fire deep within herself, a shade of determination she hadn't felt before. She had fought only for herself in everything she did, even with her newfound powers. Yet all she wanted in this moment was to make Star's sacrifice mean something. No. It didn't stop there. She would be sure every last monster was scoured from the earth.

In that moment, she finally found a cause to fight for that wasn't for her own sake. A vengeful determination flared in her chest like a sun.

A shriek came from the weapon in her hands, followed by a puff of magikal sparks. The bladed whip disintegrated, falling to the ground as the white crow familiar Anopheles. Splotches of black stained the tips of his feathers, falling from them like spilled ink. He cawed and flailed his wings, only to stumble on the ground.

Potentia fell to her knees beside the familiar and picked him up in her hands, a look of disbelief and distraught in her cold eyes, "What's wrong with you? Idiot bird! I don't need another deadweight now y-"

Dopplewalker might have heard more of the conversation, had the MHU jingle not blared from their phone, followed by a bright flash of light. Moki materialized in the air and landed on Dopplewalker's head. Their fluffy tail obscured the odd scene ahead, almost purposefully. "Please excuse Moki!"

Despite any question or protest Dopplewalker might have, she was immediately washed with the same nauseating feeling she experienced back at the pond. A violet starry sky spanned across all she could see in this void, aside from "Spare Cable" of course. It seemed that this time Moki had not chosen to come with them.

It collapsed all at once, turning from the peaceful void to a burning landscape. Dopplewalker had been plopped at the gate to The Factory. She could see a hulking piscine monster facing off against Team 1. The factory was still aflame, yet seemed to be under control. The monster, however, looked to be the opposite. Fire crackled along its body and embers fell from its mouth.

"Change of plans! Team 1 needs Dopplewalker's help! You will need to destroy that core before it fully forms. The monster will guard it until the end, but Moki knows you are clever!" ​

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯​

┌── •✧• ──┐
seasonedcat (Enoki)
ThatWhichShouldBe (Sol Invictus)
└── •✧• ──┘

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Just as Sol Invictus shouted for Enoki, he would see the thing that Moki had warned him about. A twisted monster was crouched on the roof of the house above Enoki, its back a tangle of hair and its head a twisted mockery of a face.

Its teeth shone in the flames that curled from under the roof, and its black form almost completely blend in with the smoke. Although its legs were spindly, its stomach was swollen and twitching from whatever was trapped inside. A long tongue lolled from its mouth, dripping with black saliva. How gluttonous to want another meal while it was already full. As for what that was, none could say for sure.

It eyed Enoki, but had its attention drawn away by Sol Invictus. At the arrival of another hero it seemed to consider its options, though drool continued to fall from its mouth.

Everything changed when a screech echoed across the neighborhood, causing even the masked monster to flinch and shudder. It turned its ugly head towards the direction of the sound, which happened to be the middle of the street about a few houses down. Sol Invictus would be able to tell that it was the direction Starponaria had gone to go help Potentia.

The monster then unhinged its jaw and let out a howling cry of its own and turned tail to leap from the house, forgetting about Enoki and Sol Invictus. Any and all of the smaller monsters that had been around also followed suit, halting their attacks and retreating quickly after their apparent leader. Soon enough all that was left was the burning buildings and the people Enoki and Sol had saved together.

After a couple of stabs from Enoki's arrows, the swollen monster stopped its flailing and disintegrated like a letter set on fire. It flaked apart in pieces of black ash until it faded away completely to reveal a crying girl curled on the grass. She slammed herself into Enoki, hugging his waist tightly and sniffling into their puffy shirt.

"I am right here," a grunt interrupted their voice as another tiny creature bit at their arm, "B-but you have to protect the civilians in front of the house! A mother and a child, these beasts will kidnap them if we aren't careful!" they called out, feeling a deep-rooted panic at the thought of being alone. Civilians were more important than Enoki; they could not fight back.

"No need! They are quite safe now!" came the perky voice of Moki from beside the house.

The creature trotted towards the two heroes, tail swishing, while behind them the mother and child were following. Ash covered their faces, and the mother had a scratch on her arm, which still firmly held a garden shovel. Aside from the minor scrapes and burns, they looked well enough. The mother dropped her broken shovel as soon as she saw her daughter she let out a strangled cry. In a few quick steps she went to scoop the young girl in a hug. The boy was quick to join, forming a tearful group hug.

"Thank you, thank you..." the mother cried out, holding her children close.

"Well done Enoki and Sol Invictus! Out of team 2 I am happy to say that you have received the highest grades of performance! Outstanding!" Moki continued, paying no mind to the crying family. "Unfortunately, your work is not done. Team 1 is in desperate need of help... so Moki needs you, Sol Invictus, to go to their aid."

Moki hopped onto Sol's shoulder and looked down at Enoki "As for you, Enoki, you will stay here to help these civilians. The monsters have likely fled with their prizes, but there is always the risk of stragglers. Be careful! The humans will be arriving here soon, and can take over from there. Please call for Moki when this happens!"

Moki tapped their paw on Sol's shoulder, "No time to waste! Please destroy the Heart! You'll know when you see it!"

In a blink, the burly warrior was transported beside Dopplewalker and met with the same sight. He might have experienced a little disorientation from the unusually short teleport, something that Moki seemed to forget in their urgency. When his dizziness faded, he would see a hulking monster dripping with flames. Beside it stood the black, fleshy 'heart' that Moki had described.

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯​

 

[ThatWhichShouldBe]

Moki hopped onto Sol's shoulder and looked down at Enoki "As for you, Enoki, you will stay here to help these civilians. The monsters have likely fled with their prizes, but there is always the risk of stragglers. Be careful! The humans will be arriving here soon, and can take over from there. Please call for Moki when this happens!"

Moki tapped their paw on Sol's shoulder, "No time to waste! Please destroy the Heart! You'll know when you see it!"

SOL INVICTUS

"Wait! What about Pandora! Someone still has to-"

It was too late. Sol Invictus was already being torn away, away from any chase of saving Pandora. He tries to reach out as if to grab the earth, to hold on, but to no avail. He is flung away, away, away. He finds himself standing before the monster and its heart, its pulsing beat clearly heard, as Sol stares at it in disbelief. Goddammit all. He couldn't fucking save her! Because of this... this piece of shit! Air distorts around him, as his gauntlets warp the ambient gravity to cause Sol to begin to levitate into the air. His gaze is fixated upon the hulking monster, his rage boiling up in his heart like a volcanic eruption.

All this hurt. All this pain. For this fucker. And that monster wanted to stay on Earth?

He flips out his phone, sparing a few words for his other teammates. He growls the words out out with an utter, unbridled fury. He barely spares a glance to Dopplewalker, as he steps forward, glowering towards the beast. If gazes could kill, his would have already torn its organs out and eaten them.

"I will take the monster. You guys handle the Heart."

Then Sol wills himself forward, shifting gravity to fling him forward like a bullet towards the monster. Sol had been fighting during this entire mission, his strength growing with every second the monsters surrounded him and he lashed out at them. It grew even now, even as this greater monster's own strength grew. And there was more than just magic behind his blows; there was a primal wrath behind it now. Wrath at this thing that dared hurt people. And he responded in that simplest, and most primal of ways, going back to the dawn of man, when we were upright apes that scrabbled in the dirt for nuts and berries.

He punched the giant monster in the face, really fucking hard.

 

[Nellancholy]

"Aha!" The fierce voice in Gleam's head bellowed. "Our foe's true form has been revealed! Let us lay waste to it before it causes more harm!"

"Oh, if only we could be gentle enough to preserve its heart for study..." The calm voice lamented.

"My thoughts exactly." Gleam pursed her lips. "Guess we can't have it all..."

Their little conversation was promptly interrupted by a circle of flame that gathered beneath Gleam's feet...

Fwoosh.

Without the slightest care in the world after having been shot at earlier today, she pulled off a graceful kickstep and front flip out of the way. Prism, being a little further back wasn't quite within the range of Fishlegs' next attack, a rippling fissure that swept along the ground...only to be nullified by the crystal that formed. With barely a moment to breathe, Gleam tucked and rolled again, staying low to avoid the aftermath.

"Phew...that's your doing, Prism? I shoulda figured. Cool power..."

Before Fishlegs could continue to assail the two...a decidedly girthy man barreled out of seemingly nowhere, slamming into it like a boulder.

"I will take the monster. You guys handle the Heart."

"Oh, certainly. Please, allow me." Gleam smiled. Carefully, she took aim, taking advantage of the momentary diversion...

Yet another throw of her chakram, smacking hard into the rippling, quivering Heart. Instead of embedding itself or falling flat, the weapon bounced off, striking one of Prism's crystals, bouncing off, and hitting the Heart again.

Then it did the same with the other crystal.

Having landed three solid blows on the Heart, the chakram sailed into the air, where Gleam allowed herself to catch it with a somersault.

Her heels clicked as she landed, and she looked up, hoping some effect had been had.

Juju ThatWhichShouldBe

 

[jmann]

Hector | EARTHQUAKE
The cries of a cat caught Earthquake's attention right as he went to run after the beast. He turned, seeing an unfamiliar form crumpled in the wreckage. Candace. With a jolt, Earthquake was by their side lifting warped metal off the pile until they could see the face. It wasn't Candace. What were they doing here? Earthquake's face burned with colour. Beads of sweat carved through the dust and ash. His once bulletproof demeanor had been replaced with what could only be described as dread.
"Ezek-" he caught himself, "What are- how- I..."
There was no steeling himself from this. He couldn't separate Hector and Earthquake when Ezekiel was in danger. Hector, no, Earthquake didn't even know their last name. They were just the cool boy in class that made him nervous.
"Go," Earthquake cleared his throat, "Go, you should, uh, get far away from here... it's not safe."
He didn't make eye contact. Nor did he respond to any quips or comments. He wasn't strong enough. Every minute with Ezekiel was spent regretting everything he'd ever said and wanting to run away and also impress them and also die inside all at the same time. That wasn't who Earthquake was supposed to be. These people deserved better. He couldn't do that to them; that's what he told himself at least.

As Ezekiel crawled from the wreckage, Earthquake dropped the debris behind them. He forced out a final comment before they got too far away.
"And, uh, stay safe? please?"
Earthquake turned and climbed into the rubble. Partly to reclaim his shield but mostly to escape from his own mind. The only thing keeping the stress from breaking his hero form was the terror of Ezekiel seeing Hector and everything associated with that part of him. He needed to be strong for his team and for himself.
Earthquake tightened the straps of his shield. As long as he could separate Hector and Earthquake, he could do the job.

Earthquake turned back towards the open doorway and began to run. Unlike the blind and scared sprint before, this would be the calculated athletics of a hero. Outside, his attention was not drawn to the monster but instead the new heroes surrounding a 'heart'. One muscular individual was chasing down the monster, delivering all the fury of a shonen anime protagonist. That meant it was up to the rest of them to take down the heart. Earthquake as a game character had a number of tricks to deal decent damage despite being a tank build, but this wasn't a game anymore. He would have to get creative.

Earthquake didn't know half of these people as well as he would have liked. The one throwing the chakram was decently clever, but the rest of their powers were a mystery. He could normally form plans with a good knowledge of the team, yet maybe improvising would be good for him. Nexus had the ability to teleport objects and people. With that, ideas rushed his mind and a grin crossed his face. He skidded to a stop before the heart, shield ready.

"Nexus! Ever heard of kinetic bombardment?"

---

Juju Solirus seasonedcat Nellancholy

 

[Solirus]

Nexus​

After fishlegs burst into flames and flung itself, Nexus could only move through instinct, having the flames almost burn his very being with the burst of air following afterwards knocking Nexus to the ground. His surroundings became blurry and an awful ringing plagued his mind. Only the subsequent screech of the creature and the heat emanating from it brought back Nexus's senses.

Standing back up Nexus quickly checked the new message on his phone. After a few moments of watching the heart appear Nexus saw as some of the members from the other team arrived, wondering where the other ones were. As each focused on their own separate actions Nexus waited idly by, waiting to be able to use his shapes once more, hesitant to move any closer to the danger. Not before long however, he saw earthquake rushing past him before stopping directly in front of the heart itself, turning around with very Hector type of grin.

Nexus paused, completely dumbfounded at the question. Of course he knew about kinetic bombardment, he'd written an entire essay about it alongside some experiments of his own. But in what world would it make sense to bring it up now...

With a heavy sigh Nexus created a new shape, around the size of a baseball but with the wrong feeling to it. Nexus prepared himself and threw the ball as far up as he possibly could having the shape move itself too for greater height and a better angle. Sprinting forward he waved his at earthquake as he crossed him, snapping his finger and transporting the large hero far up into the sky.

Whilst Earthquake was far up into the sky Nexus moved forward at the heart after watching gleam strike it with her chakram. Without wasting another second Nexus struck at the heart with his fist, noting how hard the thing felt yet how little his hand actually hurt. Nexus then began hitting the roots that were embedding themselves into the ground, damaging them slightly but unable to fully break them off as he tried to pull them off. With a slight look upward Nexus quickly dashed away from the heart. "Stand clear of the heart, you don't want to get yourself caught on the impact."

Juju jmann Nellancholy

 

[Juju]

┌── •✧• ──┐
Nellancholy (Gleam)
jmann (Earthquake)
ThatWhichShouldBe (Sol Invictus)
Solirus (Nexus)
Tiguidi (Twilight)
Cresion Breezes (Dopplewalker)
Juju (Prism)
└── •✧• ──┘

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

Fishlegs unleashed the wave of flames from its mouth, but was quickly interrupted by Sol Invitus' simple and yet highly effective strategy. Had his primitive ancestors been around to see it, they surely would have been proud.

An audible crack sounded through the air, followed by a hissing yowl. Flames sprayed and sputtered out as Fishlegs stumbled from the impact of the punch, its head thrown to the side from the violent motion. When it snapped back, posture straightened, its jaw sat at an odd angle and did not close. Pointed teeth had shattered, and a black ichor dripped from its broken jaw as readily as the sparks.

Meanwhile, Gleam had led the charge in attacking the heart. Using the cover made by Prism, she managed to evade the short burst of flames and remained unscathed besides her previous burns, which seemed to sting anew from even the brief exposure to the flames' heat.

Thanks to Sol Invictus' attack, it didn't last long, and the creature was distracted enough for her attack to go unchallenged. Flung like a pinball at an arcade, her chakrams ricocheted between the pulsing heart and Prism's crystals. Every strike left bright red gashes upon the heart, which oozed a thick black liquid and puffed with acrid smoke.

Seeing the heart under attack sent Fishlegs into a rage of its own. The air wiggled from the heat of its claws, now flexed towards the nearest attacker. Fishlegs lunged at Sol Invictus, slashing at him with the same primal ferocity as an angered bear. One such strike found Sol Invictus' gauntlet and didn't leave so much as a scratch, while the other tore at the hero's arm and shoulder.

Flames erupted from Fishleg's claws, searing flesh in a messy and violent burst. Had it not been for Sol's current buildup of strength, it was likely the entire arm could have been reduced to cinders. Instead, what was left was deep gashes and burns on a mostly functional arm. A few burns had been sustained on his face and chest, but they paled in comparison to the claw's wound. It hurt tremendously, even more when he moved, but the rage he felt could serve as a momentary distraction.

The fleshy heart twitched, bleeding from Gleam's attack. Instead of growing, it appeared to be focused on repairing itself. Black tendrils, like writhing worms, slithered their way to frantically weave over the holes in a web-like pattern. The roots dug deeper, but soon would also come under attack.

Nexus' punch easily tore apart a sizable amount of the roots, having already been damaged by Gleam's chakram strike. As if in response, more of the fleshy roots began to shoot into the ground, digging into and under the concrete.

Nexus was mid-dash when a black tendril burst from the concrete and latched onto his foot, turning his dash into a tumble. Another one shot from the heart itself, and wrapped around his arm, and both began to slowly tug him back towards the heart.

There were not many instances when the Magik Hero known as Nexus could not whisk himself away with a quick teleportation. This was one of them. The moment he felt the fleshy tendril snag his foot he could sense something very wrong in the core of his being. He felt a chill within his bones, not too unlike the first time Moki's magic had blessed him. It felt like he was torn between two realms, not fully physical in each.

A cold dread filled his mind like sea-water, bringing with it a sensation of impending doom he couldn't understand or shake. It was as if he was the only one in the world with the knowledge that everything he loved would be destroyed. It was maddening and confusing, but not enough to make him lose himself. At least, not yet.

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯
​

┌── •✧• ──┐
seasonedcat (Ezekiel)
└── •✧• ──┘

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮​

"Hello? Hello? Is anyone still there? Is that.... thing... gone? Can I come out now?" shouted a hoarse voice from within the burnt factory. It was the factory worker, who up until now had been cowering under an upturned desk in the control room. It seemed to have worked before, and so too had it worked again.

The flames had burnt out, absorbed by Fishlegs, but the smoke remained. He coughed haggardly and wondered if he had been forgotten about. He gingerly walked across the debris-strewn floor, eyes wide and alert at even the smallest of sounds. It came as no surprise that upon seeing Ezekiel's battered form he let out a cry of alarm.

"My word you nearly scared the life out of me! Are you alright, boy? What are you doing here?" just as the man asked, the hint of suspicious caught in his eyes. The wheels began to turn, and the connections began to link. He lifted up a shaky finger, mouth agape. "Now hold on... are you-"

"A magik hero? Yes!" Moki's cheery voice came from above the man, causing him to jump and scream yet again. The small fluffy creature sat atop Ezekiel's head, absentmindedly kneading the boy's hair like a cat preparing to sleep. "Though you're not supposed to know that! Could you keep a secret for Moki, please?"

The man was speechless, his mind trying to piece everything together in a way that made sense. Nothing worked.

"Moki is happy to see you survived, Candace! Though your EGO will need to recover for quite some time before you can safely use it again! Until then, you're about as fragile as a typical human! Oh... that being said, Moki advises you and Franklin get to higher ground! The top of this rubble pile will do!"

Moki leapt down from Candace's head and gracefully lead the way over the rubble, their dainty paws finding balance on even the most precarious concrete block or singed metal beam. "Come, come, quickly now!"

"H-how did it know my name?" The man aptly named Fanklin sputtered, though he did in fact follow the order to move.

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯​

 

[Tiguidi]

TWILIGHT​

Twilight had kept her distance from Fishlegs, blasting away at the monster with her lightning bolts. After being slightly singed by the piscine monster, she had decided to play much more smartly. It was obvious now that her ‘role’ was that of a ranged damage dealer so she’d play as such.

Turned out that there were many more monsters outside -and that Team B was in trouble. “Annnnd now Fishlegs is entering its second phase…”, she mumbled to herself, getting ready to defend herself when she noticed the pitch black pool of foul liquid appear under the monster’s feet. “Hey, if we need to use ranged attack, that might be in my field!”, she exclaimed to her allies with a forced grin. “Woo, Invictus, let’s go!”, she cheered when Team B’s muscle man barreled into Fishlegs like the muscly man he was.

“Please remember not to reveal your location with loud noises during battle.”, came the elderly voice from her staff. “Stealth is an immense advantage, especially when presented with an opponent’s weak point.”

“I-I know…! It’s also important to cheer for our allies!”, Twilight argued in an ushered voice, though knowing full well that the staff-monkey was right.

“I am not berating you, I am simply pointing out mistakes in your judgment so you can grow into a better warrior."

’Alright, alright, I get it, sheesh…’ Sighing inside, Twilight shook those thoughts away and focused on Fishlegs instead, only to notice the wound the monster had inflicted on Sol Invictus and the danger Nexus currently found himself in. Lightning crackled between her fingers but she found herself hesitant at attacking, fearing her highly volatile attacks would hit her teammate. ’Argh, no time to think!’

So she fired anyway.

A bolt of lightning shot out of her staff in a loud CRRRRACCKKKK, heading straight toward the heart, if not a little behind it to reduce the chances of it damaging an unintended target.

“If someone can do anything to get Nexus out of there, now would be great!”
Nellancholy jmann ThatWhichShouldBe Cresion Breezes Juju seasonedcat Solirus