David’s group was a lot more cohesive. Each of their attacks seemed to amplify the effectiveness of the others. They weren’t necessarily complementary powers, but they were better at timing their moves together.

A fireball chased by a jet steam of water assaulted Lila and Sophia. They dove to the side. Lila was grazed by the fireball but Sophia escaped unscathed. Lila shot a jet of cool air down her leg to hopefully numb the pain a little bit. It helped, but not a lot. Now that she was injured she would have more difficulty in evading even more blows. Lila quickly moved behind a building and into an alleyway.

Sophia had decided to launch a counterattack. She bolted forward, straight for the fire Elemental. He fired fireballs in rapid succession directly in Sophia’s path. She easily evaded them by bouncing from side to side. In her current form she was quick and extremely agile. She made the final bound poised to strike at the Elemental’s throat.

In a desperate attempt, the Elemental shot a fan of flames out in a cone of destruction. It was as tall as his entire midsection and flared out directly in front of him. In her own desperation, Sophia changed into her hawk form, narrowly avoiding the scorching embers.

She floated just above and out of danger with a new angle to strike, this time aimed for his eyes. His eyes opened wide with panic only making Sophia’s target that much wider. The water Elemental shot a flood in Sophia’s direction hitting her just as she made contact with his companion. Her talons scraped along his face, tearing across his left eye and down across his ear. Sophia was left tumbling down the road, a little wet but largely unharmed.

The same could not be said for the pyromancer. His left eye was a tassel of veins, gore, and an eyeball. His ear was left in dangling red ribbons. He was rolling in the ground, clutching his injured face. The Chrono saw the damage and was beginning to make his way over. Lila stepped in to stop him.

She launched frosty lances in his direction. He was doing a good job of dodging which led Lila to believe that he had invested heavily in agility. That didn’t dissuade her in the slightest however. She didn’t know what he was trying to do but whatever it was, it would surely ruin there current advantage.

She continued the bombardment only able to land a few hits. Blood began to flow from the various nicks and cuts the Chrono had received. He raised his hands over the wounds and they closed at an alarming rate. Lila was visibly shocked but glad that she hadn’t let him reach his ally.

The human flamethrower had recovered mostly from his wounds. He had opted to cauterize both his eye and ear, leaving a bubbling, boiling, malformed scar along the left side of his face. It brought pain just looking at it. He was currently facing off against Sophia in her hawk form, the added agility making it difficult for him to land any hits on her.

Lila was focusing on the Chrono, which left the water Elemental for Ethan. He tried to get close, as he wasn’t much use from afar. Each time he made a move however, a torrent of water cut off his path. He began making his way around, using patches of fallen building and debris as a shield. It was slow work but at the least, the water Elemental didn’t dare lose focus on him to fire on Ethan’s allies.

He slowly got closer and closer but was currently pinned behind a particularly small pile of rocks. It barely hid his bulky frame. Each time he stuck out a little, a thin stream of water shot out, making a small incision in its wake.

I need some kind of distraction. I’m no help to anybody like this, Ethan thought to himself.

Just as he thought it, the thundering sound of feet went off from his right. The large Might that had been ,until just now, in an involuntary nap, finally made his appearance again. The sudden hulking figure was enough to divert Ethan’s adversary’s attention long enough for him to leave his tiny shelter. Ethan headed straight for the man and suddenly, hunter became the hunted.

Ethan made a solid move, tackling the Elemental to the ground. Bewildered, his victim made no move to defend himself. Ethan began to pommel him repeatedly in the face. His servo empowered strikes inflicting maximum damage. Soon skin gave way to bone, the Elemental never able to gain his wits to muster up a meaningful defense. He lay limp as Ethan continued to hammer in the man’s skull. When Ethan finally stopped, there was only a bloody corpse and splinters of bone remaining. With one down, Ethan made his way over to help his other companions.

----------------------------------------

With club in hand, Alex moved forward to face off against David. This dude had been a royal jerk and Alex intended to rectify that iniquity. He had been able to get within striking distance before David noticed him. His first arching swing, making contact with David’s head. He was thrown to the ground, Alex smiling ear to ear.

Stolen story; please report.

Alex aimed his crude weapon at David’s head. The club was splintered on the end, making a jagged tip perfect for puncturing his opponent. He directed the crown of the beam at David’s head and pushed down. David quickly rolled out of the way, sweeping Alex legs out from under him. Alex crashed to the ground.

Both men were lying on the ground. Without getting up, Alex swung an empowered fist in David’s direction, which was subsequently blocked. David followed up with a kick aimed at Alex’s face. He promptly threw up an arm to catch the lightning fast foot, which he did. Alex empowered his arms and swung David over his body, slamming him into the ground on the other side of him.

David hit the ground and bounced a few feet up. He used this height to get back on his feet before he crashed down to the ground again, breaking free of Alex’s grip in the process. David jumped back a few feet and kicked a large rock at Alex. Unable to dodge in time, Alex was hit in the shoulder and thrown back a few feet. David sneered at him.

“You should just give us what we want. I could tell from the moment we saw you that this battle was just a foregone conclusion. None of you compare to my strength. I’m surprised you have even hit me at all. I underestimated you but that doesn’t mean that I have overestimated myself. You are no match for me. None of your team is. If you give us everything you have, we will let you go. You should still have time to finish the quest in the time remaining. It will be a tight schedule but I believe you can do it,” David said with only a large amount of condescension evident in his voice.

Alex rolled his eyes. I can’t believe this guy. He gets a few good hits in and he thinks that I’m just ready to roll over and give up. This guy is a villain. Not only do I not want to let this guy take our hard earned goods, but I can’t let him go back to Earth. He will cause all kinds of mayhem. Considering everyone in my group is from Hillcrest, it’s likely he is too. I won’t let him free in my city.

In response to David’s proposal, Alex stood and squared his body preparing for another round. As if in agreement with Alex’s decision, Cameron vacated the building he had been whacked into. Both of the men prepared to take down the narcissistic prick.

“Fine have it your way. I gave you a chance. Not my fault you didn’t take it.”

The two brawny men rushed forward in unison flanking David from either side. Alex arrived first, striking with a flying punch. David blocked and returned with a strike of his own which Alex knocked to the side sending David off balance. Cameron then arrived with an attack aimed at David’s unprotected side. It connected with ease as David had been too concerned with his counter attack on Alex.

With a roar, David swung the back of his fist towards Cameron’s head. He ducked and Alex swung at David’s other side. David screamed as yet another hit collided with him. Cameron fired off another punch but David caught his arm and threw him at Alex. Alex caught him, but both of them were thrown aside giving David the space he needed to stop the double team.

Alex and Cameron got their footing and made their move towards David again. They were nearly upon him again when, out of nowhere, Alex started flying through the air and straight into a wall.

What the heck?

The bouncer had returned from his slumber.

Having lost their numbers advantage, Alex and Cameron took a more reserved approach again. David and his bodyguard appeared to want to stay together, likely because of the lower level and subsequent weakness of David’s ally. Unwilling to allow his enemies to dictate the flow of the fight, Alex instead initiated a brawl with the newcomer. He wasn’t particularly bright and Alex was easily able to bait him into leaving his comrade, to David’s visible chagrin.

Only having one opponent to deal with, Alex looked to make quick work of it.

“Let’s go. I have places to be and dickheads to fight. You’re just wasting my time. You’re not even going to be worth the time it takes to beat you,” Alex said while waving at him with his favorite finger.

This easily aggravated the man and he employed his favorite tactic: running at full speed in Alex direction.

Alex remembered his high school friend. While there was nothing nearby for his opponent to run into, Alex remembered another things that people do with bulls: bullfighting. The main idea of bull fight was to use their momentum against them. Once they got going, it was extremely difficult for them to stop or change directions.

As he closed the distance, Alex readied himself. At the last moment he turned to the side, grabbing the bouncer’s arm. Using the speed that the giant had built up, Alex swung him in an arch above his head and then back into the ground. As soon as he made contact with the ground, Alex let go and the man was sent sliding forward, his face in the dirt, digging a trench in the ground behind him. He tried to get up but his arms failed him and he fell back into the ground.

Alex now had a dilemma. He could leave this man here and return to fight or…He wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to leave him as he could come back at an inopportune time like he had the last time. They were able to recover quickly but next time they might not be so lucky. At the same time though, he wasn’t sure he could do it. It was something ingrained in most people, murder is unforgivable. In extreme cases, like self defense or the like, people could get over the fact that you had ended someone else’s life. This didn’t remove all of the repercussions though. One still had to deal with the guilt they would feel. Alex could tell that had he killed the man in the heat of the moment he would likely feel justified and it wouldn’t affect him too much, but now? His opponent was out cold.

Could he really end this man’s life like this?