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(Choosing not to attack this round! )

The mice were a attempt to distract the enemy, a fail attempt for the most part, but hey at least they were cute. Remi's power could not effect touch at the moment... so the most the mice could do was taunt, be adorable.. etc.

Oh god though, did he hurt. He had a feeling he was internally bleeding somewhere, or...at least a hefty amount of bruising was going to be on his side in a few hours. His muscles were also starting to seize up from the trauma. It was making it difficult to move.

When Amrita put herself in front of the boil, it caused his male pride to spark for a second... now that was something he did not know he had. WELL THEN. Usually he was all but willing to let others take the pain... but this 'training' turned into something more real, so his instincts were taking over.

AND as soon as it was there, it was gone. He knew he was hurting, and she seemed to be good as new... All the same, he gave a little whine and grabbed the back of her shirt, tugging with his teeth. She should come too! He did not want anyone to be his meat shield...

All the same though, he took a step back to F6. "Get back here too or ill drag you myself." Remi grunted.

((Robert moves to E8 ))

That cranberry blob sidestepped right past him and didn't even -

Suddenly Robert couldn't give a s**t about cranberry monsters. Petra was up in the air, and his eyes followed her movement, running as soon as the curve of her movement began to descend. He wasn't fast enough, and she landed on the tile right in front of him, just as he slid to his knees to try and catch her.

He failed.

"SUNSHINE!" He screamed, his voice cracking heavily as he crawled closer to her. "Baby, baby come on, are you okay?"

(Petra's moving to E8~)

As it was, the moon hunter in training wasn't conscious to find that her boyfriend -- no, her fiance -- had tried to catch her at all. In fact, there was an impact with the ground, surprisingly no better or worse than the burns had been, a sudden snap of recoil of her body against tile, and then she was out. Thankfully, it wasn't for longer than for half a second.

It was Robert's voice which coaxed her eyes to flutter open, at first not believing it all, slightly delirious as she was. It wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility -- at this point, on top of a concussion, she was pretty scorched as well, although surprisingly not nearly as badly as it should have been. Blinking her eyes a few times, Petra slipped a shoulder under her body to lean up on one shoulder, looking around for the voice of the man whom she had always trusted to protect her. "Bobby?" she muttered, sounding a little confused for a second, as if not sure if it were him. There was also a little concern in her usually-monotone voice, a little desperation in the flick of her blue eyes as she looked around, gaze starting to clear -- the tone of his voice had been panicked, and for a second her muscles tensed, ready to jump up, no matter how her body groaned at her to take a rest. The second her eyes fell on him, however, and she immediately relaxed a little again, relief apparent in her face. He was ok... at least at first glance, he seemed ok.

A small smile curled the corner of her lips, so uncharacteristic, especially for what had been happening in the battle.

"I'm fine," she replied, her own voice a little rough. Already she was staring to push herself up, renewed just by being near the ox of a man whom she loved so fiercely. Getting slowly to her feet, she took a few slow steps onto the tile Robert had crawled onto, resting both hands on his shoulders, thumbs brushing along his jaw. It was an intimate gesture, something she would have only ever done in private, but somehow the situation warranted it -- her eyes were blazing again, ready to throw herself back into the heat of battle. She just hoped... prayed... that it was with him. That was the great thing about Phoenix -- they all worked so well with each other -- but there would always be that part of her who would choose him to fight next to above anyone else.

"How about it hun? You and me."

At that moment, she flicked her eyes over her shoulder, watching with no small amount of satisfaction as Madison and Ennea worked seamlessly together to hit Amrita. Hard. The undead girl's teammates might have saved her once, but she wouldn't survive for long. None of them would. Phoenix would make sure of it.

"They want to play? Let's show them how Phoenix plays."

Narrowing her eyes at Lacie, Petra through up her mace at the last minute to block the attack, throwing her weight to the side and baring her teeth at the girl, not answering her. Instead, for now she merely countered, not attempting to deal a returning blow. In fact, there was an almost insulting quality about it, as if she didn't think Lacie was strong enough to handle it, her midnight blue eyes completely cold and distainful, as if saying 'crawl back to where you came from and leave the fighting to those who can.' Perhaps it was because Lacie looked the most human -- it was a slap in the face, and it disgusted the hunter in training that she would side with these creatures.

In the moment that their lips met, the entire battle melted away. For that second, the burns were gone, the ache in her shoulder where she had landed had dissipated, the sounds of screams, of agony and fury and hatred and determination, vanished completely, leaving only that briefest of touches of their lips. In that moment, and in every moment he kissed her, she could have sworn the earth stood still. That that second in time, the fact that they were ruthless assassins, or crusaders for all humanity, or however you wanted to label them was completely forgotten, the monsters which they knew would feed on their very fear inconsequential. She was back in their small apartment in a city neither of them had really wanted to be in, laying between crisp starchy sheets, his arms wrapped so protectively around her, chasing away her nightmares. When he pulled back, she let her eyes stay closed until she heard his voice, letting them slide open to look up at him as he confirmed everything she had hoped and prayed for. Although her heart was pounding wildly, Petra merely smiled in that private way she did, they way she had, when their lives had been far more simple.

Robert's response to Lacie's attack sent chills down her spine. In the half-second that followed her defense, his arms were suddenly around her again, plucking her easily from the tile and away from danger, his body between her and the halloweentowner. She could feel his growl vibrate through her, so feral she almost wondered if it had come from someone else, except that he was practically bristled against her. For the first time in a long time, Petra's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink as the air whistled with the swing of that batleth, the point shimmering in the limited light, that razor-sharp edge pointed directly at Lacie.

She had rarely seen this side of him. It had been there, a flickered hint in his eyes sometimes when they fought, but by far she had never seen this intensity, the last time that had even come remotely close being when they had almost been mugged. He hadn't just defended her, he had beaten the s**t out of all three of the thugs, but this. This didn't even come close. He was vicious. Deliciously vicious. She didn't even need to ask him if he was ready -- she knew he was. Shifting a little in his arms, the moon hunter rested a hand with a deceptive gentleness on one of his large, muscular bisep, her petite hand dwarfed by his sheer size. Even as he held her, it was obvious it didn't phase him in the least. It was using this knowledge, that he could handle her not only emotionally but physically as well, even with Cain's added weight, that she rested the balls of her feet against his thighs, already leaning closer.

Using him as a sturdy support, Petra launched herself towards the reaper, her mace already drawn back and ready to deal a brutal blow. Knowing Robert was right behind her, the moon hunter swung hard in a wide arch from the right, her weapon slamming into Lacie's right side.

A sudden shower of stalactites rained down on Raziel's head. It wasn't as painful as the tile burning his feet had been, but it still did a bit of damage. Once the stony storm had stopped he took another step onto A2, once again trying to get closer to his friends and comrades to help them out.

He could only watch in horror as the battle waged on between his friends, despite not knowing them for very long, and these angry strangers. "CRANBERRY MONSTER!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, "GO TO ROW E!" He was aiming for the boil who was attacking Lacie. Even if he didn't hit him, there were others nearby on that row too. His grip on the turkey tightened, forcing the bird to let out a gobblegobble. He brought the shiny object closer to his face, looking at it, hoping for something good to happen, something to save them and kill the others.

HP: 24/30

"R-remi! What---" As the Kitsune grabbed the back of her shirt, the Vetala naturally stumbled back; but not enough to get out of the way of Madison's attack. Amrita could utter no more than a shocked choke as all the blades landed on their mark; one grazed her left side cutting more fabric than skin, another was barely dodged over her shoulder, making a thin line on both her collar and neck. The third bit into her right leg, cutting it to the bone, and the forth...the forth landed clear and true deep into her chest, impaling her left side before the shock of the blow jerking her back and sent her to the ground.

"Nngh..." She grunted out as the ghost-blades returned to their owner, curling up as best as she could with the odd pain that shot through her. Nothing had ever pierced her so deeply until today, where nearly everything made it through the borrowed skin and nearly to her core; today sucked. It sucked a lot. It was a good thing she was undead though; it didn't hurt as much as it probably should have. So she stubbornly struggled to get up, but it seemed the moment she was back on her feet, she was attacked again.

Ennea's wind sliced her up pretty good; it tore her clothes, bit roughly into her skin, sheered into curly locks of hair. She had been a mess the first time she nearly died; this time was worse. The ghoul's arms came up to protect her face a little too late, but as she braced herself against the winds, pushing back on her toes behind her, she managed to stay standing this time. Stumbling, but standing.

"Y-you..." Amrita coughed out, sputtering up nearly congealed blood. Her hazed gray eye looked between Madison and Ennea "A-are you...h-happy with yourselves?" The winds had stopped and she was swaying from side to side. "Attacking when we've...we've done nothing to you." Suddenly gaining her feet, the ghoul reached up, grabbing a loose flap of skin on the right side of her face and tore, ripping flesh and muscle to expose her skull's natural grin. It had been Ennea's work that loosened the stitches enough, and so it was Ennea who found the full weight of Amrita's stare. "I hope you can sleep well tonight!" The last few words were hissed out, and the held scrap of skin thrown to the ground before she lunged at the pink haired ghoul.

Then there was silence. The calm before the storm. Amrita never got a chance to attack as the board rebelled against them. Remi's illusion shattered, and after getting a good look at the lava under their feet, she sucked in a deep breath...and let out another ear piercing shriek.

She barely heard the exchange, but she felt the explosion under her feet. Before she knew it everything was black, and the room was gone.

(Exiting!)

Raziel had still been a good distance away from everyone when the room began to change. He watched in horror as the tiles faded away and the lava seeped through Remi's illusion. How would he get to his friends now? It wasn't long before the whole idea of getting to them was completely shattered as a giant crab beast came out of the lava and argued with his cranberry monster. At first Raziel was terrified, where they going to have to fight this thing next? But once it started arguing with the monster he was more confused than anything.

Then Suddenly the room exploded and sent them all flying into the air, he wasn't sure where they were headed, but right before it, he could see that Amrita was in dire need of help, or one of their pumpkin pills. She wouldn't last much longer otherwise.

((exiting!))

"Amrita!" Remi had managed to call out, looking on in horror as she was hit with not one, but TWO massive attacks.

He should have pulled her back when he had the chance. It might not have done any good... but how else would he have known if he had not tried?

Glaring at the hunters... he felt a deep rumble start in his chest that started as a growl. He would want payback for this! On all of their teammates...

And then the tiles exploded.

The growl turned into a yelp... as the illusions he was holding dropped, and everyone spirled off into the distance. (BLASTING OFF AGAIN STYLE)

(exiting!)

For my own records:

HP: 14/40