Nerdzul

“I don’t know if she can hide big you, but that’d be a helluva entrance.” "There is only a way to find out." Luke grinned. Sure Shooting Star's offer was tempting, but he did feel like he could stretch his wings a little and besides, he did want to show off his dragon side to Neko and Owain anyway. He stretched his arms as his body began to shift, a faint golden light burned in his chest as flows of an obsidian-like substance enveloped his skin, his muscles and frame growing massively, as his wings emerged from his back a crown of crests and horns adorned his now serpentine head and went down his on his neck. Soon, the boy was no longer there, replaced instead with a bus-sized black-scaled winged lizard, with golden crests and solid gold eyes. He stretched his wings and gave his friends a satisfied smile before turning to face Neko and Owain. "So... you think you can hide me?"

Sure the new stats work for me. By the way, the gorillas are minions so I think you can take 10 to hit them? I'm not 100% familiar with minion rules though. If you can I think that's a hit on both cases. The gorilla has a pretty good grapple roll though with 28 as well, but if I remember well, the attacker wins ties so the guy is grappled.

Nighstcale will skill mastery it at 20 I think (I dare not to roll :p)

"It's time for a double header!" The Mistress of Mayhem proclaimed. "Welcome The Fiery Fury! And her partner the Gentleman! Ready for the big league!" The crowd cheered. Meanwhile, the woman with the big sword and her companion had left the small backstage area and waltzed in the middle of the arena. She landing with a burst of flames while he gracefully floating in the air, with his eyes closed and hands raised to the sky. "And on the other side..." She paused for a short while for added suspense. "Since it's a special night. A little surprise, directly from the Tyger's private Managerie..." The lights in the whole warehouse began to dim, the unpleasant feeling of being observed by a stalker in the darkness spreading among the crowd, padded footfall echoed in the room, somehow, both quiet and loud at the same time. With a powerful roar, a massive tiger-like creature emerged from the shadows, unseen until mere moments before, it was almost like it was fading into reality as its powerful muscles lead it to land on the opposite side of the arena. Large as a buffalo, with two heads and a somewhat unnaturally symmetrical pattern of dark stripes that felt like they were stolen from the night sky, it's two pairs of eyes burned with an unnatural fire. "Be fast to place your bets, my friends. Someone is hungry tonight..." ---- The gorilla grinned at Davyd grim joke. "He better not. For his own sake." He paused to let the two contestants navigate out of the backstage and into the arena. Meanwhile, from the opposite side of the room, two more goons carried in a young man, bruised and barely conscious, with what looked like electric burn on his flesh, although a pair of attentive eyes could spot that they were quickly healing, dressed only in a pair of tattered jeans and a set military dog tags around his neck. They brought him inside one of the empty containers and disappeared from sight. The door of the Shadow guy 'room' wasn't locked, however, from the feeling of it while in the hands of the goon, it seemed to be quite heavy. Within, the container was illuminated by a small set of candles, whose shadows however, appeared to be way more expansive that what should have been projected by such tiny sources of light. Sitting on a metallic bench opposite to the entrance, was a boy, in his late teens, early twenties at most, wearing a stylish leather jacket, pale skin, eyes fully black, both the iris and the cornea and with blue neon colored hair, he was absent mindedly playing with what looked like a baseball made by some ebony, oily substance. He turned toward Davyd and the guard. "Finally... It's my freakin' turn already?" The Gorilla gave him a puzzled look, before shifting his attention toward the shapeshifter. "What is going on here?" ---- Seemingly without hurry, the jackal masked Mr. Tak emerged from the restrooms, with his two gorillas in tow. Now neither of the heroes could be sure if he was actually able to see them, but from the look of it, he was headed in their direction. "Come on ladies and gents, it's unpolite to sneak around like that don't you know?" The man teased. "Don't worry, I don't bite." His grin though, with its crowd of white teeth, seemed to suggest otherwise.

Luke nodded as Owain mentioned wanting to go back home. "Yeah, I imagine it's hard to be so far from your family..." Himself, well, he could definitely understand the feeling and he was quite grateful that fate allowed him to stay close to the ones he loved. "I'm sure that we will figure out a way to send you back though." He smiled. "There are a lot of great magicians at school..." Yeah, in fact he was being mentored by the freaking Phantom after all. "You know... I'm kinda from another realm myself as well... I mean, I think at least, I have lived here all my life, but I got taken away with magic or somethin'" In truth though, while curious about his origins, Luke wasn't as eager to know exactly where he came from, in fact, one could say that he was almost a bit afraid of one day meeting his draconic birth parents. "Liked and subscribed." He chuckled. "Hey that's not a bad idea by the way... We should, like, make a superhero channel or somethin'" "Hey..." He gave Leon a playful nudge when he mentioned Old Navy. "Why not a cool Blind Guardians' T-shirt, or maybe Powerwolves..." he grinned.

Luke was about to tease his friend about the length of the joke a body crashed down from the 25th story window very visibly startled him. "What the hell? F-" He threw a glance toward the unfortunate victim and lowered his eyes, that was definitely not a way for someone to celebrate Christmas wasn't it? He nodded approvingly at Owain murmuring a prayer for the dead, now, he was not a religious guy himself, but that certainly couldn't hurt right? Himself, unfortunately perhaps despite his young age, he had seen death, but that didn't mean that he had grown accustomed or desensitized to it. Truth was though, they could do nothing for the victim, not now at least, but maybe they did get the chance to help out if anyone was still in danger. "A what?" He replied to Heroditus. Now he didn't exactly know what an ascender was, but at least he could figure out what it was supposed to do. "Ahh ok... I can bring us all up there, but we might need a way to hide us... " He threw a glance toward Neko, reminding her performance while she was playing hide and seek with Owain. "I mean I'm not exactly subtle ..." He ruffled the hair on the back of his neck, understatement of the century.

Luke nodded approvingly as El kept her hammer pointed at Creepshow. The villain was down for now, but that didn't mean that he couldn't still attempt some other trick, or perhaps had some other monster in store. "Maybe we should tie them out or somethin'" He suggested, not that he could see much that could be used as a rope, but then again, he could probably fashion some restraints by bending a pipe or some other lab gear. In truth, though, seeing what he had done to these people, rather than just restraining the guy Luke was seriously tempted in turning the smug supervillain into his personal punching bag. Still that line of thought was interrupted when he realized that Shooting Star was in need of some help. The burning guy was... well still burning and not exactly cooperating with them. There wasn't that much he could do for the first part, fight fire with fire didn't actually work in this situation, but perhaps he could help with the other. "Hey, it's ok. We are here to help." He did his best to get eye contact with the poor fellow and, used the best soothing voice that he could muster, while letting his magic do the trick and try and calm his emotions.

"Looks like we have our first winner!" The ringleader's voice boomed again in the arena. "Give me three cheers for Chain Lightning!" The crackling of the woman's electric chain echoed in the air, to emphasize her triumph. Meanwhile, the wolfman had shifted back into a young man, bruised and battered, gasping for air, he was taken into the arms of two of the goons and dragged away from the scene. When Jennifer's eyes briefly passed on him, she quickly recognized his features. Jacob. After a short exchange of cheers, the crowd began to gather again toward the fox-faced bookie and money trade hands again while expectation for the next bout began to build up. --- Mr. Tak shrugged as he absent-mindedly listened to Davyd. There was a flash of doubt in his eyes as he studied the shapeshifter's disguise, but fortunately he seemed to too distracted to figure out what exactly had attracted his attention. "You two deal with him. Will you? There is somethin' I need to take care..." He stretched his arms and left his perch against the container wall and quickly headed for the main area. The gorilla who had a come with Davyd, shook his head disapprovingly and then headed inside. "Let's see how bad it is..." His muscles tensed as he waved ad Davyd to follow. --- The goons stepped inside. It was a narrow passage, formed between the rows of containers, apparently everyone of them dedicated to one of the fighters. Most of the doors were closed. There was another guard within, standing against a wall on the opposite side of the corridor. His eyes focused on a small screen hanging against the wall, displaying the wider arena. He gave Davyd and the other a surprised look, but his attention quickly shifted back to the image on the screen. He was not alone, though, as the space was now shared by a tall, woman, that pretty much towered over the goons, with a glowing red skin, dressed in casual gym clothes and with a massive, metallic blade holstered on her back, she was playfully conversing with a fellow who was instead sharply dressed, his features concealed by a white mask. The two tossed the newcomers a glance, but then returned to their conversation. Davyd could hear some violent metallic thuds against the walls of the leftmost container soft growl coming from another by his right. There were ten of them in total on either side, but much likely, not all were filled at the moment. The gorilla walked confidently toward one of the containers, much likely the one holding the shadow-boy fighter.... --- As Neko, Owain and Jennifer walked away from the restrooms, they saw the jackal masked man speeding in on the scene, together with two more goons that had much likely gathered on the way there. He seemed to hesitate for a moment when he got near to their 'hiding place', like he was somewhat aware that there was something wrong, but then moved past the group and toward the restrooms. "You stupid gorillas, it was a freakin' veil." They could hear the man addressing the goon, shortly thereafter. "Damn. Let me..." Both Neko and Owain could now feel a surge of supernatural power, much likely, Mr Tak was now somehow looking for them.

Luke had given an amused grin as he saw Neko and Owain 'democratically' settle on a plan for the rest of the day, the two reminding him of himself and his younger 'bro. At Owain's question, Luke ruffled the hair on the back of his neck. In truth, the boy himself didn't really have a plan about what to do after Claremont. College, unfortunately, was not likely and even if he did have a chance for it through an athletic scholarship perhaps, he wasn't even sure that he was going to pursue that path... He listened to his friend and in truth, he was somewhat pleasantly surprised that his roomie was beginning to change his mind about going back to his old ways. "Well we do have a certain superhero team we are workin' on..." Luke grinned as he playfully nudged his Leon. Now, the track record of the Young Guardians wasn't exactly the most stellar yet, but the young man was convinced that they had something great going on with that and he for once, did not intend to abandon it even after school was over. "As for myself... Well I'm gonna try and give something back to my neighborhood." He smiled. "I mean, I grew up in Southside and... it sucks. The place sucks, but the people there... they... well we deserve better." He clenched his fists slightly, it was not out of anger, though, but determination. "I'm gonna do everythin' I can to help out. Clean up the place." Now of course, not every problem in his neighborhood could be solved by crimefighting and dragonfire and in truth, Luke wasn't sure yet about how he could fix everything, but that didn't mean that he wasn't gonna try. "What about you two?" He added casually.

"Yeah... don't tell me." Luke grinned. "I could kill for a freakin' warm shower right now." He smiled at the thought. “Hang on for a second.” "I'm on it." He chuckled and shook his head, despite his currently precarious position. He waited for a few interminable seconds for Leon to get back to him. “It’s about another ten feet below you. Should be enough room for us both.” Ten feet... Damn. He hoped it would have been less than that. Now with his powers properly working, he could have easily dropped down without a sweat, that night though? He wasn't looking forward to a plunge into the darkness. Plus, as far as he knew at least, there was no chance that Leon would go through that unscathed with just a scrap of paper to protect himself. "We need to work together for this." If the descent had sucked so far, this was gonna be even worse. Fortunately, there was enough space on the rocky wall to accommodate the both of them and the surface was irregular enough to provide them with ample spots to hang their hands or feet, on any other day, Luke would have found the experience an easy, if not somewhat entertaining challenge, but on any other days he would not have to do so blindly. He waited for Leon to start climbing, keeping his friend above him, in order to be able to help in case anything happen and perhaps shield him from the worst impact of a fall, and slowly (and awkwardly) guiding his roommate out to the footholds that he managed to find by sliding his legs and hands on the stony surface. Not that it felt like Leon needed any help though. "Hey you didn't tell me you were a parkour expert man." He teased after their feet had landed on the ground, finding out that it was now made by polished gravel, much likely the product of the small torrent that flew between the stone, creating a canyon of sort in between and cutting a path that was, by then, large enough to allow the boys to navigate it without needing to squeeze. "Finally." Luke took a deep breath and stretched his arms. Progress down the path of the river proved to be almost pleasant compared to what had transpired before. Sure the water was cold, but in truth it was still better than the icy breeze that flew through the cavern and it made their path softer and easier to follow. The two couldn't be sure for how long they had been walking, but finally they began to see some light filtering down from above, between some cracks in the stone, providing them with at least a bare modicum of visibility, one that, at least for Luke, had sorely been missed. "F- Yeah!" Luke gave his friend a wide smile now that they could finally see each other. Sure, they were not safe by any stretch of the imagination, but the light was more than enough to fill the young man with optimism. --- The crashing metallic heartbeat of the cavern was getting closer and closer by then, when the boys could hear another noise breaking the silence just a few feet ahead of them, its souce concealed by one of the many turns of the torrent's path. It was the twisted clacking of one of the beasts, one that however, was more frantic than the ones they have heard before, almost desperate perhaps. Threading as lightly as he could on the rocky surface, the boy sneaked up ahead, trying to see what was going on, quietly praying that he would not attract the monster's attention. Once he got there, however, he quickly found out that his worries were unfunded. A small creature, no bigger than a dog and far less imposing than the monsters that had chased them before, was ahead, it was sort of a reptilian beast, with four legs, a large head if one compared it to its size and that sported a massive set of fangs, it was eyeless, with a rubbery black skin and bat-like ears. Much likely a cub of their species. The monster was clearly afraid, fighting for its life against a small swarm of the beetle-like bugs that had disturbed Leon's and Luke's descent. Luke turned to face his friend, in truth despite almost becoming a meal for one of them, he almost felt some sympathy for the poor creature...

I think that the two might need help each other out climb down together, I'll have Luke do most of the work, since he is has a better climb skill (plus he is hanging on th the ledge already) Luke's roll is a 23 Can Leon roll to help at DC 10?

For Nightscale is 23

A DC 15 notice check for any of the heroes will reveal the following Anyone with an enhanced sense of scent will also realize that, not unlike the other masked people they have no scent.

The goon nodded, buying every word that came out of Davyd mouth. "Freaking newbies..." He shrugged, waving at one of the other guards to join them, neither looked particularly worried by the idea of getting into a scrap with one of the fighters, even superpowered ones. The two led Davyd behind the back of the stage, to some makeshift structure made by two rows of old containers facing each other and forming sort of a natural corridor blocked by a tent acting as a door. There were two other gorillas by the 'entrance' and with them a tall, thin man dressed in an expensive looking suit, but with his shirt untucked and his tie hanging loose around the neck, his eyes were closed behind his jackal mask and his jaw loose revealing a state of bliss, he was resting with his back against one of the containers. "Wake up Tak." One of the guards addressed the man, who opened his eyes and gave him a venomous glare. "Pay your respect you-" "To whom? The Master of Scraps?" The goons all laughed. "You can't even notice that one of the fighters is trippin' off..." ---- The two gorillas waited for a few moments before bursting in. "As you wish miss..." Two of them burst through the door and gave a disappointed and puzzled look at the small window and the woman that was now running away. "How..." "Go and get her." One of the goons darted out to chase the false Jennifer, while the other remained in the restroom, unable to see the three supers concealed by illusion. "We have a problem boss. The intruder is on the run and the Japanese woman and the big dog are gone..." It looked like the remaining gorilla was talking into an earpiece concealed under his mask. He hesitated for a few moments, much likely waiting for a response. "Ok sir. I'll wait for Mr. Tak..." "I mean, Master of course." --- Meanwhile at the fighter pens, Davyd could see the jackal masked man straightening his back and muttering an annoyed. "Ok... I'm on it."

No need to hide in plain sight @Dr Archeville there is enough confusion that no one is really paying any attention, however a Bluff check might be in order to convince the guard to follow Davyd. A notice check DC 20 would also reveal the following:

The gorilla goon gave Davyd a puzzled look, but ultimately he seemed to be convinced by his disguise, for now at least. "Who's making problems? I bet it's the new guy." His grin, not unlike the one belonging to the Mistress of Mayhem, felt somehow like it had too many teeth. "The kid with the strange shadows... It's always like that with the fresh blood isn't it?" The goon chuckled. "Boss told me to check on the girl with the fake mask first, you sure of this?" --- "Looks like the match is tied out people." The voice of the ringleader boomed again, surpassing even the howling and electrical crackling coming from the arena, where Chain Lightning had apparently managed to trap Ripjaw in a tight grip. --- The restrooms were not as dingy and filthy as one could expect in an abandoned warehouse, in fact it looked like someone had restored them to good order, even if the building hadn't been in use for some time. The stalls were fortunately empty at the time, with the attention of the public entirely focused on the fighting and betting going on in the arena. The room had a small window close to the top of the roof, too small for a person to fit. Both Neko and Owain could sense that some of the residual magic extended to this place as well, although the effect was far weaker than the area surrounding the main event, Neko accustomed as she was in performing tricks of illusion, could recognize its particular touch on the area. As the group left the main area of the warehouse, they could see some of the goons picking up pace, but still trying to avoid making too much of a fuss, much likely in order not to alert the crowd that something was amiss. The hesitation allowed our heroes a few seconds to plan freely before they could hear a clear a firm knock at the door. "We know you are inside miss. Our boss would like to talk have a talk with you." Another knock followed. "I am sure that I don't need to explain you why... nor that she would be quite displeased in case of a delay."

"Get warm?" Luke echoed Leilani with a puzzled expression, in truth, he quickly realized that the temperature around her already was more than a few degree higher than it should have been, plus her attire probably should have given him the idea that something out of the ordinary was going on with her anyway, right? And her companion didn't exactly screamed 'ordinary guy' now that he thought of it... He was still lost in his thought (and looking for the goblin who stole his present) when all hell broke loose. "Woah! Woah! Woah..." He jumped on his feet as he saw wall of rocks enclosing the area, raising clouds of steam as the snow and ice quickly melt. He followed the woman with his eyes as she flew up above. "Uh.. ok... Cool. (pun intended)" He scratched the hair on the back of his neck as he realized that this wasn't the only 'miracle' going on. "Oh hey..." He waved at ghost, smiling as he a crowd of goblins was swallowed by the now semi intangible surfaces they were jumping around. The distraction however, was more than enough to make him definitely lose sight of the specific green pest that he was looking for. Still, he did have a trick up his sleeves too, albeit perhaps one a bit less flashy than the other assembled heroes. He closed his eyes and called a bit of his magic, powering him through his innate connection with what, in a way or another, was his. "There." He grinned as supernatural senses pointed toward the rogue-ish imp's hiding spot. Still, the matter of actually catching the creature was still one he had to solve. He had managed however, to overhear an interesting snipped of the conversation about a net taken from 'a magical circus in Austria in 1957' (plus it was kinda hard to miss, when looking at the guy) "Hey... Do you mind helping me catch one of the goblin with that?" He asked. "I mean... he stole something important to me."

Luke ruffled the hair on the back of his neck. "Yeah... Guess it makes sense." He smiled. "I mean, I imagine that Saint George's story would be different if written by the dragon." He chuckled. The young man widened his eyes a little when she mentioen dhtat her family is mostly made by monsters. "Really?" That was perhaps a bit insensitive wasn't it "Ehrm I mean... Cool... Sorry." He nodded at the mention of his instincts. "Yeah, in truth, I'm not always sure about how much it is myself and how much is the dragon part of me sometimes." He shook his head. "Still, I won't let that be an excuse... I mean, it'd be me doing whatever crap I do anyway." "How?" Again he gave Phantom a look of wonder as she casually performed her art. "Is it? Can you teach me to do... that?" He tossed shortly thereafter. "I mean, I can do some tricks, but it's not like you do them, I think... more of a matter of what's in my blood I guess..." Golden light began to filter into his eyes as he called a sliver of his innate power. One more time, he nodded solemnly. "Yeah... I guess it's inevitable, isn't it?" Perhaps he had known all along, still, the idea of losing the connection he had with his family didn't sound that great, not after having already screwed up with them once big time in the past. "Yeah I did a lot of stupid crap when I learned that I was adopted, but... I... well... they forgave me, you know?" While his eyes revealed more than a hint of shame, there was definitely plenty of warmth in his smile now, as the young man reminisced about the day his parents welcomed him back home.

"Looks to me that we kicked your ass..." Luke teased the supervilain as he fell down from his perch. Admittedly, they had been at least a little bit lucky, given the situation, in landing two ruinous hits in a row between himself and Outrider, but well... despite the horror around them the teenage dragon definitely felt at least a little bit proud of himself. "Everyone alright?" He surveyed the scene, to see if any of his companions needed any help, Chimera seemed like he taken a big hit, but at least she was still standing. "Need some help?" He tossed her way, not that he actually knew anything about first aid, but then again, maybe he could help her walk out of this place if things were going too rugh for her. He did not lower his guard though, just in case any of the creature still wanted to fight. Sure it seemed that now with their master down they might have lost that murderous rage, but one could never know right? Still perhaps he could try to calm them down any of them who still wanted to be an hassle with his power, the way he had done with the bru- Matt before. Speaking of the big guy by the way... Where the hell was he? And Shooting Star? He did remember seeing her crashing through he floor. Time to go and take a look... "How is it going down there?" He tossed.

”Was just a bad night is all.” "Hey man... You couldn't have known, ok?" Luke remarked, trying to lift his friend's spirit somehow. Not that himself he was particularly proud of his exploit of course, but than again Leon seemed like he had been affected way more. "Plus she is pretty hot, I mean I couldn't blame you for trying..." He gave Leon a grin and a playful nudge. "Better not get prank called in the middle of the night, kid." "Boy scout honor that we won't." Not that he had ever been a scout of course. Luke again smiled at Casper as he pocketed the card, in truth, he had no intention to use it to mess with Ghost, dude seemed ok, plus they were definitely in debt. "I guess you know where to find us, if you need anythin' back..." He tossed. “We should roll before the cops or whoever gets here.” "Yep. Definitely. Let's go man." "Thank you again ghost dude." He saluted Casper.

Luke swore loudly as he unwittingly kicked the rocky surface below. "F-----" Then again, hitting something was almost a relief by then. He took one deep breath and after exploring a little to make sure that there was enough space on the ledge he lowered himself. “We good?” "Yeah this one is like... two feet deep at most." Luke chuckled. Maybe they got worried for nothing. He waited for Leon to get down with him before testing the ground and finding out how little space they had before another drop. "Ok... yeah.. I guess this ain't over." He slumped his shoulders a little. He nodded approvingly as his friend suggested they use some small rocks to test the ground ahead, although, of course, being too dark Leon could not see him. "It's like a massive stair or somethin'..." He scratched the hair on the back of his neck. "This is gonna suck-" The seventeen years old prediction proved to be correct. At least now with the help from the rocks they could test each individual drop before leaning down, which made the navigation easier, but it wasn't an exact science, plus the stair formed somewhat a canal for the treacherous wind to flow into and batter their flesh during the descent. Plus those damn bugs they had met before seemed to had grown more common and didn't look like they had any qualm about harassing the two teens as they descended. At least until Luke squashed a couple fo them with his leg against the rocky ledge producing a crunching noise that the boy found both disgusting and satisfying at the same time. They have been alternating for a while in stepping down from each ledge at it was Luke's turn again, by then they could hear the song of running water below, a torrent or something, must have been running between the cracks in the rocks. The boy lowered himself again, but this time his feet could not quickly find any ground to land on. He pulled himself down hanging with just his hands on the ledge and the chest against the rocky wall Still just air under his feet... "Damn..." He muttered between breath. "This one is deeper than the last..." Now of course he could still take a leap of faith. The humidity in the air suggested that they weren't as far from the water flow, perhaps his landing could be a soft one, but then again, if only they had a way to make sure...

"It's ok..." Luke shrugged. "No need to ask for forgiveness." He gave Owain a playful pat on the back and a friendly smile as the young time-lost knight defused the tension that had manifested between them. In truth, but of course Owain couldn't know, he had managed to hit a sore spot for Luke, who at his old school, had been in more than a few fight when the subject of his worthiness had been raised by another student due to his humble upbringing. This was a new life though. Time to turn the page. "It's a different world for you anyway..." For both of us... "Mall is fine... or we can show you an amusement park or somethin." He chuckled. Although, they would probably have to sneak inside in that case as Luke didn't exactly have spending money for a ticket. Wouldn't be the first time though... Luke grinned when the subject shifted on the matter of Owain clothing. "Don't see any problem with that." After all, Luke was used to second-hand stuff (or worse) for himself, although, to be completely honest, he still did pay attention to his attire more than he would have dared to admit.

They seem to consider the masked woman (Chimera) to be an intruder of sort, Davyd can imagine that they are going to 'investigate' her, possibly not doing so gently.

A chorus of electrical crackles, mixed with howls and screams soon filled the scene and stole the attention of the majority of the patrons. The ebbs and flows of the fight in the makeshift arena favoring some time Chain Lighting , others Ripjaw, with a clear winner having yet to emerge. The Mistress of Mayhem playfully commenting on the competition. Davyd's uncle quickly left the bookie and rejoined the crowd, carefully placing the envelope in a pocket of his jacket, one could not tell if the grin on his lips was one of satisfaction, or if it was tainted by more than a hint of anxiety. Meanwhile, the gorilla-masked good that he had been following clearly had his eyes toward Chimera, he and his colleagues were trying to be discreet, which at least, slowed them down enough that they hadn't yet reached their quarry. Now, Davyd's could not be certain, of course, but it didn't look like they harbored good intentions. --- Neko and Owain could also see one of goons approaching from behind Chimera's back, picking up the pace a little, but still keeping his walk deliberate enough. As the crowd began to heat up while following the fighting going on in the arena, cheering, shouting and teasing the two combatants, both of time displaced young heroes could realize that the supernatural field was somewhat reacting to their behavior, going with the flow of emotion in some way. When the electrified chain wrapped around Ripjaw's neck sending the wolf-man scrambling for air the patrons began to call for his opponent to finish him and as they did, the unnatural energy of the place seemed to surge more powerfully than before. --- While Chimera still was not aware of the guards closing in on her, by then she could by now notice that at least two goons were beelining toward her from the crowd. One wearing a gorilla mask, the other a strongly built fellow in camouflage pants and a blue-and-green striped shirt, who seemed like he was tailing the Tiger's Den guard just a few step behind.

"Stop! You freakin' green pest!" Luke was dashing through the crowd, chasing one of the goblins with his fists clenched and a light golden glow in his eyes. That damned thing had stolen the present he just got for his little brother... Yes it was Christmas Eve already. Yes he shouldn't have reduced himself to the last second. This time though, he did kinda, sorta, had an excuse. Money. He wanted to get something special for Gabbo given how little he had been able to spend with his 'bro since he had gotten back to school after the summer and well... that meant that he wanted it to be kinda expensive and (as usual) Luke was pretty much bereft of cash. In fact he had been running deliveries since the day before in order to scrape by enough for the content of the package before a green imp appeared out of thin air and snatched it from his fingers. The creature, of course, gleefully ignored the teenage boy and kept jumping around, hopping fast from place to place, with the brightly colored package precariously locked within its grasp, unhampered by the crowd, unlike its pursuer who, despite at time wanting to, could not just trample the people that were crowding the busy street and had instead to clumsily navigate around them. I'm gonna personally fry you alive, you little... Finally, there was an opening in the crowd. You're not running away from this. Luke darted in. But he suddenly bumping with an Hawaiian woman that was dressed in an attire that was perhaps a tad unusual given the freezing temperature and snow. "Sorry..." He tossed. His eyes already scanning the crowd to look for the creature, now if only there wasn't a small army of those things around...