Advantageous Twist: Back In The Fray

Dexter had started walking completely unaware that Twist or Sunshine were behind him. By the looks of things, they had no clue they were following him.  They weren't looking where they were going. They were too busy talking...well, Esra was talking. Twist gave a few vague gestures open to interpretation but nothing more. Vex sped up, hoping to lose them and have a little time to himself. They didn't notice him and kept walking at their own pace. He heard it as an argument. Thick twigs and such cracked beneath his feet, the sound echoing through the otherwise quiet wood. It was much more peaceful here, with birds and icy breeze that stirred up leaves that in turn stuck to his trousers, wet and heavy from recent rainfall. He paused every now and then to brush them off and heard a few thunks in the distance. He cocked his head, ear to where he thought the sound was coming from. It sounded like a fight. A proper physical fight, not like Esra and Advantageous' silly one-sided argument. He hesitated a moment before picking up his pace, curious. Two more sets of footprints sped up behind him, also having heard the fight. They were on a different path now. He could hear one of them running parallel to him behind some other trees. Twist, he assumed. He forced himself to a halt just before reaching the walkway the fight was on. He could see it from there. The three Japanese Mages converging on another Mage. He couldn't quite see the third man, as two of the others were obscuring him. He could tell it was a man as he was currently speaking, very out of breath. Wheezing. Asthmatic maybe? He was trying to reason with the three others as they closed in on him. Vex shook his head softly and stepped out into the path. Twist watched him from bushes, eyes warning him to keep his presence secret until the right moment. Vex rolled his eyes and took aim at the one who looked like the ringleader.

Ghastly didn't think he could fight anymore. In fact, he felt he was going to collapse any second now and the pain in his chest was searing. Yeah, he thought, I'm pretty screwed. They were staying a good enough distance away to prevent him punching them and were pretty fast when he moved towards them. If he weren't injured, he would be faster, but as it was...Everyone was very shocked when a blast hit the woman in the back. She fell with an inhuman shriek and the man behind her watched her fall. The two men turned to charge the newcomer, Ghastly lurched forward and grabbed the nearest one, spinning him and felling him with one hit. The second man dodged Vex's strike and caught him around the waist, throwing him to the floor. He rained down punches and paid no attention as Ghastly pushed himself off from the wall to help his friend. The woman was going to cut him off anyway. Vex pulled up his arm to protect his face. The man was fast but not strong and would tire soon, hopefully. Two more men strolled out into the clearing, one coming over and heaving the man off Dexter while the other went up behind the woman to stop her dodging Ghastly's assault. As he came closer, she lashed out a kick that caught him in the groin before swinging her head back to catch the man holding her in the face. Esra fell back with a howl.

Twist on the other hand was doing quite well for himself. After hauling the man away from Vex, he had begun to deliver as much pain as possible, not giving the man one chance to recover. He felt pretty sorry for the guy actually...Only he did hesitate to strike when Esra cried out. He was his best friend after all, and a part of him wanted to assist him instead of Dexter. As a result, the fast man was now doing the striking, fast jabs that Advantageous was struggling to block. Bit by bit he was forced back, trying to find an opening for his own strike. There wasn't one. Not an obvious one. And that stupid blonde guy had gone to help the others fight off the woman. Wonderful. Now he was alone. Then he tripped over a twig and landed flat on his back. The man straddled him, clicking his fingers. It was times like this Twist wished he had chosen a different discipline. He turned his head away, trying to bring his legs up but just ended up kicking uselessly. His shirt was set aflame. Part of him wanted to cry out, but his mouth remained shut as the man got off him and kicked at his face. He tried to turn away again, but was too late and his nose as well as his new glasses both snapped. This time he made a noise, but just a slight moaning grunt as he tried to wriggle out of his jacket so he could properly tear the burning shirt off. He threw the shirt away and felt a boot on his back, pushing him into the dirt. He pushed against the ground, happy to find he was stronger than this man as the foot was forced up by his back.

The woman twisted away from Esra and snapped her palms against the air, sending him stumbling back. She came at him again, slamming her knee into his stomach and her elbow into his chin. He stumbled back again, hesitated and charged her with a feral roar. She sidestepped and tripped him. Slowly, she turned to face Ghastly, who was trying to think before striking, something nobody else had attempted yet. She smiled, thinking he wouldn't be able to do anything to beat her as he sized her up. Instead someone came up behind her and wrapped their arm around her throat while pushing her forward. As she jerked forward, he yanked her back with the arm at her throat, yelling 'saved your life'. She gagged, tripped up and fell, only to be jerked back up again by Vex's arm. She bit her tongue and then gouged at his arm with her fingernails. He hissed in pain and pulled his arm away, and the woman tried to scramble up but a foot struck her ribs hard enough to crack them. She collapsed onto her front and two more kicks from two other people hit her. Two of them broke away, leaving Sunshine to kick her until she blacked out.

The man stepped back to avoid Twist toppling him and grabbed him under the arms, hauling him to his feet. If he were tall enough for it to make an effect, he would have swung his head back at the same time as his foot and elbows. The other man stumbled back and was hit by a wall of air and an energy blast at the same time. The man hit his head hard against a tree and blacked out. "Well..." Vex mumbled, "that was eventful..."
"I need to get back to Roarhaven." Ghastly replied.
"Twist'll drive you." Esra grunted as he finished kicking the woman. "He has a people carrier."
Dexter turned to Ghastly, frowning. "You're hurt..."
"I'm fine..."
"He's a healer." He jabbed his thumb towards Esra, but Ghastly shook his head.
"He comes nowhere near me."
"He's on our side..."
"He's crazy."
"That's true." Esra agreed immediately.
Ghastly shook his head. "You see? No way I'm letting him...anywheree...near..." And with that, he fainted.

((Heavy Metal is good for fight scenes. It has become compulsory for me to put a message here at the end for my brain...))