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Damn! It never failed; even when he was hiding behind a tombstone and surrounded by evil-smelling, shrieky chaos and being yelled at by his friend who had shrunken herself to the size of a bug and popping off Zelda references in dusty-winged fury, he still had to smile. He could see Crysta's tiny smile and it certainly didn't help. "You'll have to really yell then, because I can hardly hear you now!" All the hullabaloo really was making it harder to think; maybe he SHOULD withdraw and vanish into the woods; it was beginning to look more and more as though he wouldn't find much of what he would be looking for here. He did want to be special like his friend, but this was becoming less appealing every time he saw power being bestowed on another. They all seemed tied in with death, and it was Jayke's wish to preserve life. And the way things were going, it seemed more and more likely that someone was going to get really hurt.

Jayke suddenly saw the flash of metal as the arrow soared through the air to land somewhere within the folds of the ghoul ringleader's robe. "Oh s**t! Crysta, someone just shot that guy!" He watched in horror as the figure seemed to crumple to his knees, he could almost taste the shock in the air, and was it his own thundering heart he could hear in his ears slowing down, or was he about to see his first real casualty since his own parents' demise?
He didn't even see what caused it, only that in the next split second, he felt the ground beneath him heave as though it was going to be sick, and then it actually BECAME sick as it spewed forth the contents of coffins right and left. Bones and joints that had not moved for years were creaking and straining, and jaws with perfect teeth attached clacked in hideous laughter as fingers with small flaps of skin still hanging from them like drying jerky reached out toward the terrified living. Two such creatures rose from the earth in front of him like a pair of spectres, reaching out for him as though wanting to pull him down into the earth with the rest of the dead. He took a hurried step back and instinctively reached for his shoulder with the intention of scooping Crysta up and holding her safe in his hand. "Watch out! Here they come!"


Lyssa's next footstep halted abruptly as a shard of metal sang out and neatly sliced past her line of vision before vanishing into the cloaked side of the figure. Her eyes widened in surprise and shock; all of the scary beings running amok in the graveyard, and someone shoots the CLOAKED guy? She felt and barely heard a gasp escape from her throat; she didn't even think to try and trace the missle back to its point of origin. As she watched the figure fall to his knees, she felt a strange feeling begin to well up inside of her; a strange sense of loss, as though something valuable and irreplaceable was sinking down into an abyss in front of her, growing farther from her reach yet still close enough to wink tantalizingly at her of unspoken promises that could have been hers....

And then suddenly, it was as though the abyss had spat him back out, and dirt and soil erupted all around her in agreement with her vision. She could barely make out the blood soaking through the figure's clothes and dripping onto the ground at his feet, and yet he rose, looking out at the pandemonium almost haughtingly, as though daring his attacker to come forth as more monsters surged forth to add to the already staggering chaos. Lyssa's mind was in a whirl; the guy didn't even LOOK hurt! How was it possible? She watched with her mouth agape as he summoned a huge hulk of a zombie to stand by his side, and she felt herself stiffen slightly as she saw his glance turn towards her. Such incredible power...... to not only stave off death, but to summon it to do your bidding! Her eyes widened as she imagined what she would do with such power. Here would be something that would send her soaring above what she always feared was her destiny; staying home forever and being surrounded by copies of herself who either stepped on her to rise up to their own potential, or climbed up her because they were still too small to step. She would use that power to become the best of all of them, greater than everyone! Yes!

"Yes!" Lyssa blurted out, the softly spoken words of the figure only bolstering her as the feeling of loss was quickly diminished, replaced by feelings of eagerness and greed. This would be hers, and only hers; something she would never have to share, like every other thing she had ever owned. She would no longer have to put up with the insufferable whines of 'mine!' from the young ones who toddled out of her room with her own possessions clutched in their drool-coated fingers, or have herself shoved backwards as the older and stronger laughed at her and left the same way, more of her things leaving with them like a tribute to a flock of hulking dragons, leaving her to what little she had left. This was hers, as the figure said, and NOBODY would steal it from her! Eyes shining with eagerness, she renewed her steps toward him, taking care not to get too close to the hulking and rather ripe-smelling bodyguard.

It was of no comfort that the skeleton seemed more interested in Rakurai over himself. Seraphim didn't like the undead skeleton being anywhere near him, and he felt tears budding in his eyes. He was such a coward! If he was a normal kid then his reaction would have been forgivable, but losing himself like this....when he had powers and magic to protect himself. It was shameful without a doubt. His wings remained curled up to keep himself half shielded from the terrifying appearance of the undead enemy.

Something changed then. Something happened and he had missed whatever it was. The graveyard seemed to have gone quiet, and a part of him hoped that perhaps the battle was over before it went any further. Ah, but no. More terror arose in the following seconds then anything he had seen thus far. It seemed like every grave was now opened. To the left and right of him undead things were called forth and he had no where to run now for safty!

Seraphim felt himself shaking a little when he heard a female voice. His wings drooped somewhat, and he stared at the skeleton like girl Vertebrae. Somehow her image seemed ten times more frightening. A few feathers seemed to drift loose of his wings as he reached for a silver wing handled sword at his side. Fumbling with it he managed to lift it in time to take the strike of the slash aimed, though the blade wobbled in his weak grip and kiltered dangerously to one side. "P-please...I..I'm j-just...h-here to h-heal! I...I'm a healer. I..I don't want to f-fight." He found himself begging while shifting closer to Rakurai.

Black Cat struggled to stay on Gargoyle's back. Shifting positions she manged ti wrap her arms around his neck and hang on piggy back stile. Tilting her head so that she could some what see his expression, her face took on a some what amused yet curious look. "Why shouldn't I be involved? I mean it seems your pretty involved your self. Either your like the skeletons a creature brought to life by someone else's magic though I doubt that or your someone like me." She waited a moment before warping one arm all the way around his neck and letting go with the other. Although whether or not the part of the wing that would have been a membrane had it not been stone, was weaker than the rest of the wing was debatable. Trying to punch a wing made out of stone probably wasn't the best idea. She was shocked when the Necromancer got hit. Her grip loosening enough that when Gargoyle spun around she fell off some how managing to land in a kneeling position.

It -was- getting noisier. Probably because of all the evil spirits filling the place with their dark energy. Flutterby was momentarily distracted from the chaos when Jayke would joke back at her. The seriousness of their situation seemed to be rather hard to focus on. It felt far too unreal, and Flutterby felt no sense of fear. Jayke's exclamation, and swear, drew her attention to the figure that had knelt. The Super Bad guy had gotten hurt? Flutterby's wings snapped open and closed as she watched him dealing with what she assumed was a lot of pain. "Well he's the Super Bad Guy...." She started to reply. Getting hurt was going to happen when you picked the wrong side.

The ground seemed to burst then. Flutterby's eyes dropped down to stare at the ugly corpses, and bad smelling to boot, that started to reach towards her and Jayke. The Super Bad Guy was Super Bad Mad! Flutterby snapped her wings open and shifted her grip on her staff. It was time to get dangerous! Or so it would have seemed until Jayke reached up to snatch at her. "Hey! Jayke! Leggo!" She said with a mild frown. "I gotta fight! You heard the Bad Guy! Now it's time for me to do my job!" She said while attempting to wriggle free. The ghouls were to close to just run away from! Flutterby snapped her staff to point it at one of the two. Narrowing her eyes, she invoked her power. From the tip of her staff, a flutter of black butterflies with sharp as blade wings. She directed them at the ghoul with a grin. "In the name of the butterflies I will defeat you!"

The attacks came and were deflected quickly enough Rakurai was somewhat startled. At least the angel was competant enough to defend himself. He could not help but be amused by the girl's costume. It was refreshing knowing whatever it was that decided this had given someone an equally ridiculous one as his own.

"Who says I came here to fight?" Rakurai scoffed. Though deep down he wanted to lunge at the girl Rakurai knew if they stayed here while it seemed like the very ground was tearing apart this clear non-combatant would be in danger. His task at hand needed to be getting this kid out of here. That's what a real hero would do. Feeling the magic in himself well up Rakurai suddenly roared. The magical blast of the roar rushed outward from where Rakurai stood pushing at and possibly deafening what foes surrounded him. He then promptly turned and ran in the opposite direction as where Necromancer was. Rakurai did his best to keep to paths that were still somewhat in tack and avoid getting grabbed by or collide into any undead.

"Come on!" If the angel didn't follow or quickly recover Rakurai was not above dragging him along or attempting to pick him up if needed.

(OOC note: any dragging has been oked by Akki but it is up to them on how it goes exactly)

Lyssa was so focused on the promise being offered to her by the mysterious figure that she hadn't even paid the least bit of attention to the swooping figure of Gargoyle until he was nearly on top of her, his tail whipping out to strike her. Living with an absurd amount of siblings, most of them still young enough to think that the best game in the world was throwing things, gave her enough of an instinct to dodge away from being hit head on, but the hard stone clipped her painfully in the shoulder and sent her spinning, then sprawling in front of the hooded figure.

Her cheeks burned as hotly as her shoulder, though she was more concerned at how ridiculous she had looked than the interesting bruise that was sure to blossom on her shoulder before the night was out. Would the figure still think her worthy to wield the power he was offering? Yes; she looked with wide eyes as the hand reached for her, gasping something......a cloth of some kind, oddly matching her pullover. Reaching out with a hand that was already starting to tingle from the impact on her shoulder, she grasped it and realized that it was a bandanna. She fancied she could feel the magic contained within it, and she beamed as she brought up her other hand to stroke it. Such magic and power, contained in such an ordinary thing; this would be less likely to be seen as special by everyone, and she would be more able to keep it safe, keep it for herself, ONLY for herself.

Reaching up, she yanked off the old head wrap she had worn here, letting it flutter to the ground, and ignoring the ache in her shoulder, reached up to tie the new bandanna in place. She could practically feel the magic seeping into her scalp, tickling her brain and making it's way through the rest of her body. She scrambled up and looked at the Necromancer, her eyes shining and her mouth open in a smile of pure delight. "It's mine! I can feel it! IT'S MINE!"



Jayke continued to shrink back in repulsion as the affronts to nature continued to claw and shamble their way toward him and Crysta. He was amazed that she would want to fight them when she was so tiny! What sort of damage did she think she could inflict when she was small enough to be accidentally stepped on?? Then again, he couldn't help but reflect, Mother Nature does have strange ways; the smallest bacteria can topple a nation if it had the means before it. Sure enough, he blinked at the swarm of butterflies advanced upon the corpse, slicing an arm off with their collective sharp wings. His jaw dropped as he saw it flop on the ground, but then he had to step back again as the rest of the body continued with it's purposeful intent to tear them apart with it's rotten fingers and teeth.

At least he had the good sense then to let go of Crysta; being magical, she could do more damage than he could. Still, he wasn't about to just stand there and let his friend do all of the dangerous stuff. Trying to be careful of where he stepped from all the holes and open coffins jutting out of the ground, he searched the immediate area for a strong branch he could use as a makeshift bat.
(Rolling for Jayke)

(Gaw! I am sorry I am dragging this RP down. >.<' I'ma make up for it now though. *Thumbs up* I can focus more on getting posts out like I ought to. *Hangs head*)

The arrow was released. It's path was clear enough to Feywild. She felt neither relief nor disappointment when Necromancer managed to step back and avoid taking the shot where she had first initially intended. The battle would have been over sooner had it hit it's mark of course. The undead would surely have fallen back into the rotting corpses without the magic of their animator. Likewise, this uprising of clearly dangerous magical foes would have been put to a stop as well. At least to the degree of being a organized group that was bound to make her job much harder. Instead Necromancer managed to evade such a blow...and Feywild wondered if she had only made things worse? The graveyard erupted in a riot of activity. More graves then she could count were now disturbed and she was grateful she was up above their grasp.

There were some who were not though. The normal unchanged kids were fleeing. The smarter ones were at least. Feywild kept her sight focused on Necromancer though, he was the source of this...this chaos. He needed to be taken down before the true threat that he heralded could come to pass. "Blood is not what I want. But I will not shy away from the path set before me." She calmly replied in response to the Necromancers bold and rather damning words. Aphrodite had given her a purpose with her beacon, and Feywild would not fail it. She couldn't! She lifted her bow again before her, though hesitated in summoning her arrow. Which one? She was hesitant to summon one of the more potent arrows, just in case one or two of the now transformed kids could be talked around to seeing the err in the side they were picking. They couldn't possibly understand the whole of this. Plus there were..well...she assumed they were on her side. There was a stone boy. Some small flitting thing that she couldn't quiet see. To the far back she thought she saw large wings? And some other boy engaging the werewolf. Thank goodness for...

In the seconds it took her inner monologue to traipse through her thoughts. Something happened to her perch. Feywild was not entirely certain what, as she had not seen Sprawl's power manifesting in an attack on the old oak. The branch she was standing on creaked, then snapped. With a surprised yell, she fell through the remaining branches, her wings pressing tightly to her back to keep from catching and tearing on the rough branches in passing. When she landed, it was on her backside at the foot of the tree. The decayed branch proving to be at least soft enough to cushion her landing without breaking her tailbone...but barely. "Ngh..." She groaned and reached a hand around to rub at her a**. Oh..oh that...hurt.... and was embarrassing to boot....

Was someone playing a freaking flute in the graveyard? Maybe the fall had her ears ringing as well as her backside throbbing. Feywild could not even begin to imagine someone thinking that now was a good time to practice for band. Her purples eyes darted back and forth uneasily as she felt a looming sense of danger. Now that she was on the ground she was certain they were going to start encircling her... Disbelief aside over the flute playing, Feywild was not going to sit there on the ground more then a few seconds. Not when she was clearly in a dangerous position. She had at least kept ahold of her bow, and now used it to stagger to her feet. Like a old man with a cane, her legs felt rather shaky from the unexpected fall. Feywild fanned her wings open, the long gossamer membranes did not seem too badly damaged. Actually they seemed a bit more hardy then she would have initially believed. Feywild swept her gaze around the graveyard near her, and lifted the bow back up as she debated which arrow was best to use right now. A show of force maybe? Something to rattle these would be villains? Feywild narrowed her eyes as she drew back the string on her bow and searched for a cluster of undead that was basically clear of the magical children.

(Naois is preparing to summon his Sear Arrow)

The girl, Vertebrae threatening him and Rakurai was terrifying. Seraphim felt tears budding in his eyes as his sword trembled in his hand. For the first time since he had been given his gift, he found himself seriously doubting himself. What sort of hero was he if he fell apart like this in front of his enemy? Still..he didn't want to hurt her. More importantly he didn't want to be hurt! The masked boy with him didn't seem as shaken as him, and Seraphim turned to look at the other boy hopefully. He had been hoping that Rakurai would be able to make her back off. He had not been expecting the sudden explosion of sound coming from him.

Seraphim's eyes crossed as he was hit by Rakurai's roar. He tottered on his feet, then fell to the ground in a stunned heap. His head was ringing, his sight was..vibrating? He couldn't hear anything either. He did not hear Rakurai's call to follow him, but became aware of a arm around him. Jerking him up and... Dragging him? Seraphim gave a small groan. His sword had fallen from numb fingers and laid on the ground, not that he cared right now. His wings dragged over the ground while the demon made his escape with the still stunned angel. "Nggggghbble."

Flutterby was unaware of the sense of awe that Jayke was currently feeling. Despite all her bubbly joyfulness, being faced by the two zombies seemed to give her some focus. Jayke was in danger, if she did not protect him he could really get hurt. While she didn't seem to fear getting hurt herself, she did fear for Jayke. He was in the casualty area. Flutter was very pleased to see she had shorn off one of the zombies arms...but he still had one more and was coming for her and Jayke. She had to dart backwards to avoid getting grabbed by the zombie. She figured her best bet would be to get up over it's head, out of it's reach and all...but..there were still two of them. Frowning, Flutterby flew upwards to try and stay out of their reach. She didn't wanna get squished! "Jayke do you see a way outta here? There are too many baddies!" *She warned while pointing her staff at a leg of the one armed Zombie. Narrowing her eyes, she released another flutter of butterflies. Instead of the black winged ones that could slice the flesh, she released a flutter of yellow ones that would explode on contact. Maybe they would have a better effect?