Peach Lake
Peach Lake is on the north end of town, very close to the X-Mansion in consideration, no more than a mile's walk away. This lake, large as it is, has a shore that is littered with rocks and soil, as well as some reeds and algae in the shallower parts but otherwise is quite pleasant and clean. Though shaped relatively in an oval, there are several areas where trees dominate the shores, along with shrubbery, saplings, and low hanging branches that touch the water's placid surface. In short, the place is quite clearly a natural lake with turtles, snakes, Canadian geese, ducks, all assorted types of fish and even an eel or two. Still, this does not dissuade any swimmers and the lake is large, boasting room for recreational boats, inner tubing, swimming, and other aquatic activities. However, seeing as how its October, the activities are starting to dwindle as the months grow colder.
X-Men - Time
X-Men Grounds Peach Lake Hist
X-Men Grounds Peach Lake Hist1
Sunday, October 3rd
That afternoon...
Light walked up to the lake, coming from
X-Men Grounds with her arms crossed. She looked around, surveying the area to make sure no one was there, before walking over to a shady patch of grass near the edge of the lake and lying down on the ground.
Addy appeared next, looking around. She went over to the lake and dipped a bare foot in. It wasn't too cold, but it was cold enough for a good shock.
Shade walked up to the lake, following after the two girls and pulled his hands out of his pockets, stretching them as if he was about to yawn. "Well, isn't this quaint, lounging by the lake accompanied by two beautiful ladies." he grinned mischievously. "I guess we ought to start, though." he said, crossing his arms as he walked towards Addy. "I hope you don't make this one overflow."
Light turned her head toward the grounds when she heard Addy and Shade approach, quietly watching the two walk around and converse. She felt fine where she was, relaxing beneath the chilly shade of the tree, and so she stayed there, closing her eyes and letting her thoughts wander for the moment.
Addy took off the wrap and tossed it aside. She looked at Shade. "What exactly is it you think I should do?" she asked, eying the water. Addy crouched down so she could see into the clear surface, watching the light play on the sandy bottom. She ran her hand through the water, watching the ripples.
Shade had been distracted for a second, looking at Light with a malicious grin, as if tracing her chest gently moving up and down in tandem with the girl's breathing, before his attention was finally drawn back to Addy. "I cant basically tell you how I do it." said the boy as he sunk one of the sleeves of his hoodie into the water. Then, the boy placed his hand over it, casting a shadow on the hoodie. "It very difficult... even for me.. but it gets easier with solids. Though its tougher with water and almost impossible with gases... we're doing it this way because it's less risky." said the boy as the shadow became even darker. "First.. I need to probe a bit.. decide what 'belongs' to me and what doesn't belong" he continued, closing his eyes to focus. "Then I teleport away what is not part of me... or in your case, what is." he concluded. As he did, some water fell out of his other hand, from the shadow cast by his fingers folded over his palm, leaving the sleeve dry.
With a nod,
Addy watched how Shade had done it. Her powers were a bit different, so of course, she had to concentrate on what she wanted to keep rather than what she didn't. Addy dipped her uninjured hand into the water, holding it in her palm. She quickly realized that she could not hold enough water in her hands to really make a difference, so she knelt down and plunged both arms into the water up to her shoulders, drenching the front of her. Addy stood up again, dripping, and concentrated on keeping in tune with her own body. Feeling confident she knew what was her and what wasn't, she BAMFed a meter to the left.
In the split second before she reappeared, both Shade and Light saw a bunch of water and an empty bikini in the rough shape of Addy before it fell towards the ground. Addy reappeared before everything hit, completely nude, yet also completely dry.
Hearing Shade begin to tell Addy how to use teleporting techniques,
Light opened her eyes and sat up, watching the two as Shade demonstrated and Addy experimented. She gave a quick glance and a tired grin toward Shade before looking back at Addy. Suddenly the girl disappeared, and Light's eyes widened as she realized the girl had not only left behind water and blue smoke, but her bikini as well. Scrambling to her feet, Light snatched up the wrap the Addy had tossed aside earlier, carrying it quickly over the the blue girl. "Damn it, Addy, you really have a thing for undressing yourself in front of my man," she snapped, rememberind that earlier she had taken off her shirt at the pools. With a quick glance at Shade, Light tossed she wrap around the girl's shoulders and held it together, covering up her nude body.
Shade eyebrows raised up a bit as Addy bamfed away, leaving in her stead her bathing suit held aloft in the air for a few seconds as if the girl had been a Warner Brother's cartoon. Hearing her splash only a few feet away, Shade turned and couldn't help but betray a smirk. "Don't hold it against the girl, love." he said to Light, seeing her pass him by rushing to the blue girl. "I mean, it's not really unpleasant is it, besides she did a good job... now I've never been one to suggest that a girl keeps her clothes
on, but I guess that will be the next lesson."
Addy held the wrap that Light had so thoughtfully brought over closed and stared at her bikini, which was almost exactly three feet from her. "Sorry. I didn't know I could do
that. I was concentrating so hard on myself that I forgot my clothes." She went over and grabbed them, awkwardly getting both pieces back on underneath the wrap. The bottom was easy, but the top required use of both her arms, and she had to let go of the wrap and trust that the other two wouldn't care. Shade seem less than affected, Light seemed downright offended. Once that was finished, she set the wrap aside and nodded. "Okay, I suppose I should try to concentrated on
everything I want to keep..." A thought crossed her mind, and a grin plastered itself across her face. "You suppose I could 'port
others out of their clothes?"
“Don’t worry, I’m not holding anything against
her,”
Light replied to Shade, picked up her hands from Addy’s shoulders and turning to Shade as the girl dressed herself. “But
you keep eyeing underage girls, especially those who take their clothes off,” she said, crossing her arms, “you might get a car battery tied to your nuts later.” Hearing Addy speak, light assumed she was dressed again, and she turned back to her with a devilish smirk. Leaning down with her mouth close to the girl’s ear, she whispered, “You should test that out on Shade.” With a wink, Light glanced back over her shoulder at Shade then went back to her shady spot of grass, sitting down and leaning back on her arms.
"Truly, my dear, you know you're the only one for me!" advocated the boy with his left hand in his pocket and his right hand gesticulating towards Light. "It's not
my fault all these girls seem to just.. pop out of their clothes around me." he sighed, feigning distress while looking away for a second. "But I understand what you mean, I'll keep in line." he chuckled, turning to the blue girl for a second, he looked at Light again. "It's not like I purposefully turned to see her either, you know." added
Shade, crossing his arms over his chest as he turned to Addy. "Nevertheless, that was quite good for your second try, if you don't want men salivating though, you ought to learn how to teleport your clothes with you"
Her eyes still wide from Light's suggestion,
Addy held back a laugh and listened to Shade. She wondered if she could. She would have to imagine 'porting just him, not everything. Addy knew that teleporting was complex, and she could teleport herself and anything in contact with herself without problem. This teleporting just certain things, though, added a whole new level for her, and for her mind. It was stretching her notions of herself and how much she could hold in her head at once. She tried to ignore the light bantering between the two as she closed her eyes and just pictured herself, now with the addition of her bathing suit. Once more, she dampened her skin and stood with just her feet in the water. However, just as she was ready to BAMF, an errant wind blew the water so it lapped against her feet, bringing her mind to the lake again. She BAMFed, and the water around her in a nearly perfect two foot circle disappeared, quickly filling with the rest of the water. Addy reappeared on dry land, a circle of water around her for a moment before it trickled into the ground and back down to the lake.
Light couldn't help but sit back and smile at Shade when he got defensive over her comment; she couldn't stay mad at him for long, it seemed. Or could she even get mad at him at all? After shaking her head and grinning, she looked up at Shade and winked, crossing her legs as she said, "I know it's not your fault. It's that
charming personality of yours that just draws in all the sixteen-year-o
lds." Rolling her eyes, and still grinning, she turned her head to see Addy teleport, taking some of the lake's water with her. "Blue, if you get me wet, I'm wringing your neck," she joked in a serious tone, tossing her hair behind her shoulders.
Shade noticed Addy's teleporting and walked slightly away from her so she wouldn't get him wet as well. As he walked towards Light, he answered her with a mischievous grin; "Hey, I draw you in, didn't I?" With that, the boy stood next to Light, looking down at her for a second to catch a glimpse of her emerald eyes, before noticing Addy seemed to be improving. "Start with something small!" called out Shade. "Put one foot into the water and port away so you can concentrate only in keeping that one foot dry!" added the boy. "Oh, don't be mean to our little lackey... it's so unbecoming of you." he said to Light, in an obvious sarcastic tone.
Definitely not enjoying being called a 'lackey', if Shade had indeed meant her, Addy looked over at him. She stuck her tongue out at him before walking over to the water. If she was going to do this, it would have to be fast, and hopefully Shade wouldn't see it coming. She stuck one foot in the water, and concentrated hard on the steps it would take. Reciting them over and over in her head, until that they were all she was thinking about, and BAMFed. She left the water, and a split second later arrived next to Shade, dry, her hand landing on his bare hand. She BAMFed again, taking Shade with her. For a moment, Light would have the view of Shade's outer layers collapsing to the ground before, right in front of her, Shade and Addy reappeared. Shade was now wearing nothing more than what he had on under his jeans and hoodie. Addy immediately BAMFed away again, landing a few feet away.
Looking up at Shade as he walked over, Light grinned right back at him. “Wish I could say you didn’t, just to spite you, but I guess you’re right,” she said, taking the boy’s hand when he stood by her, pressing her lips to the back of it. Her eyes fixed on Addy when Shade called out to her, watching the blue girl practice, before looking up at Shade again when he spoke to her. “I’m mean to everyone,” she said with a smirk, kissing his hand once more as she looked up at him, before she let go of his hand and leaned back again. Her eyes fell on Addy again, waiting to see if she would actually try to ‘port Shade out of his clothes. Seeing her BAMF near Shade, and both of them porting away in an instant, Light’s eyes widened as Shade’s clothes fell to the ground. “Hah! You actually went through with it!” Light commented, grinning wide at Addy. “Too bad he didn’t lose all his clothes…” she added, looking Shade up and down.
Shade was a bit surprised at what had just happened, since Addy's way of teleporting was radically different from his own, and just stood there disoriented for a split second before he looked down and noticed he was not wearing pants or his hoodie any more, instead, just sporting a t-shirt and a pair of black boxers. "Well, Blue." he said with a totally serious expression, glancing over to the young girl. "If you wanted to see me without my clothes on you could have just asked, you know?" he added, putting his hands on his hips. "Well.. now that everyone here has seen everyone else's underwear..." said the boy with a smirk as he walked over to his clothes, picking them up from the ground. "Maybe you want to teleport into something solid? I think you should be able to handle it without losing any more skin for now." he shrugged as he put his legs into his pants and pulled them up. "You totally put her up to that, love." whispered the boy to Light as he snickered mischievously.
With a giggle, Addy was glad that Shade had seen it as the joke that it was. She nodded at Light, tempted to give the other girl a thumb's up, which was corny, but instead settled for just a smiling nod. It seemed a little juvenile, but it was all in fun. When Shade suggested 'porting into solids again, she looked around, wondering what she could port into. The tree seemed the best bet. And she could do that with the other finger on her injured hand. "How about a branch?" she suggested, pointing up to the branch of the tree that Light was near. It was about at Addy's eye level and would make it easier on her to 'port to.
"How did you ever know?" Light asked sarcastically in response to Shade mentioning the joke was her idea. "And maybe she wasn't the one who wanted to see you without your clothes," she added with a wink, curling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. The later it got, the colder she felt, especially since she was out of the sun's light, under the shade of a tree. Keeping quiet and trying to keep herself warm, she continued to watch on as Addy practiced her teleporting.
After Shade pulled up his pants and fastened his belt, he picked up his hoodie and then turned towards Light. "Mischievous one aren't you? I'll have to make you pay for it later tonight." he smirked as he walked to the lavender haired girl and wrapped the hoodie around her shoulders, crossing the sleeves in front of her. "Hold onto that for me, will ya? I don't mind the cold." he said, turning away without giving Light time to answer and shifting his attention to Addy. "We ought make it something small and thin so you don't lose a finger this time...." said the boy when he suddenly noticed Addy's wrappings. "How about that dress... thing? the fabric is thin enough to barely leave a mark if you completely botch the teleportation." he suggested.
Addy nodded, trying to ignore the 'foreplay' that was going on with Light. She found it amusing, but knew the others would be embarrassed if she showed it overly much. She picked up her wrap and hung it from the tree so she wouldn't have to try to 'port through the ground as well. Focusing on her own hands, she looked at the cloth of the wrap. Without any more movement, she BAMFed over to the wrap, reappearing with her hand through the bottom portion. When she BAMFed back, a part of the cloth went with her. The wrap, now missing some of the bottom cloth, wavered in the breeze left by Addy's teleporting. When Addy reappeared back where she had started, the cloth was gone.
Glancing over to watch Shade dress himself, Light smirked when he threatened to make her pay later, replying, "I wonder what my punishment could be... Hope it's something good." Her eyes followed the boy as he walked to her, putting the hoodie around her shoulders, and before she could ask any questions or protest Sade giving up his jacket and standing around in the cold in a t-shirt, he had faced away from her and was already talking to Addy. Sighing, the girl smiled softly, pulling the hoodie tighter around her shoulders and holding the sleeves close to her face, smelling the scent of Shade and his cologne that lingered on the fabric. She continued to watch Addy as she started working with something more solid than water, porting to the fabric and taking a piece of it with her. When she reappeared, without the fabric, Light's brow furrowed and she asked quietly, "Where'd it go?"
"That's better, you're not missing any skin, are you?" asked Shade with a satisfied smile, but Light's question also interested him. "Where exactly did you send the missing piece?" he asked Addy as he approached the wrap and examined the brand new hole in it. "It's fine if you want to kill someone with it." said the boy nonchalantly, accepting the idea of someone getting killed in a fight as something naturally. "But you don't want pieces of that person raining somewhere at random." he added, also knowing that those incidents were best when hidden from the general public or the police.
"I...I...didn't send it anywhere," Addy proclaimed. She looked around her, searching for the cloth. "I was trying to not meld with it, focusing on keeping it apart from me." She was to the point of turning a full circle, inspecting the ground carefully. Finally, she straightened and looked at Shade seriously. "I just...let go...."
Before Shade could answer, a strong shuffling was heard in the bushes past the edge of the lake, right behind the trio. After a few seconds, the shuffling continued moving father to the left, as if going towards the mansion. It jumped around as it advanced, as if several objects were moving through the brush.
Light had been glancing around on the ground, but from where she was sitting, she couldn't see much. After slipping Shade's hoodie on over her outfit, the girl stood up and took a look around, trying to spot the cloth anywhere on the ground, in the water, or in the trees, when she heard the movement in the bushes just behind her. Tilting her head to the side as the noises moved around the edge of the lake, the girl took a step back, standing beside Shade as she jokingly and quietly asked, "You didn't piss off any wild animals with it, did you, Blue?"
Addy had quit talking when she heard the noise. "I don't think so," she whispered back to Light. Adrianne looked over at Shade, lost for what could be in the brush. It wasn't as if Addy was the best woodsman. She hadn't even been into the wild until not even a year ago. Rather than investigate, she waited for the other two.
"Tsk... sure, send the guy to do it." sighed Shade as he crossed his arms and walked towards the edge of the woods. "Whatever happened to the whole women's liberation thing?" added as he took a step into the brush, peering into the dimness of the forest, he reached out with his right hand, growing a long shadow tendril to probe the woods as he kept his left hand inside his pants pocket.
Before Shade's tendril could even make its way into the woods, three lights suddenly appeared, as if from flash lights, and a beam of light flew towards the boy, searing a few leaves on it's way. At exactly the same time, a small wave rose up from the lake and reached out unnaturally, forming a sphere that tried to immediately envelop Addy.
Without thinking, Addy leapt onto Light and BAMFed into the tree, away from the lake. She glanced back at the water, trying to make sure it wasn't following at the moment. This was bad, very bad.
"Not like we asked you to," Light commented as Shade stepped away, folding her arms over her chest and watching the boy inspect the woods. Suddenly the lights shot out from the woods and on instinct, the girl's hand immediately shot out and her fingers snapped, sending a bolt of lightning past Shade and towards one of the lights. Not expecting the sudden weight on her shoulders, however, Light was knocked to the ground as Addy leaped onto her, her aim being thrown off and cursing as she landed on her knees and elbows. Quickly, she tried to scramble to her feet, unaware of the moving water that had spooked Addy.
Shade didn't have time to answer Light before he saw the searing beam energy flying towards him, almost instinctively, he lifted up the shadow tendril to cover himself, but didn't try to move out of the way, since the girls were standing behind him. Unfortunately, since the beam was made of light, it cut through his shadow tendril as a hot knife through butter
Seeing his tendril melt away, the boy quickly lifted his arm up closed his eyes.
The searing beam of light shot right to Shade, leaving a scorch mark straight up his arm as the boy dropped to the ground. Unable to reach Addy, the sphere of water quickly broke and splashed on the ground. As Light's lightning bold zoomed past Shade's head and into the woods, one of the lights dimmed out and a scream was heard, the other two Lights immediately moved to the side. A split second later, a large explosion came from the woods, levelling several trees, including the one on which Addy was perched. His by the shock wave before the tree fell, she was flung off from it onto the ground, Addy crashed into the dirt, spinning at high speed and bouncing twice. Finally, spinning like a rag doll, she splashed into shallow water. After the smoke from the explosion had cleared, two men with guns and built in flash-lights emerged from the forest, flanking the mutant trio.
Light quickly got to her feet and scrambled over to Shade when he dropped, ignoring the scream she caused coming from the woods. Before she could kneel down, however, the sudden explosion knocked her off her feet again, though she didn't hit the ground as hard as Addy did, landing on her side and hands. "Fuck," she cursed under her breath, pushing herself up and glancing over her shoulder at Addy and then to Shade, her hands stinging from fresh scrapes cause by dirt and rock. Noticing the scorch mark on Shade's arm, the girl remembered just how sensitive Shade was to light, but she couldn't do anything as the two men advanced out of the woods. "Sh-shade, get up," she said, reaching out for him with her hand as she looked up at the men with guns.
Pain exploded across Addy's tail, left, already injured hand, and her right leg. She knew better than anyone that they were broken. Pulling herself over to where Light was, she huddled close, trying to judge the distance between her and the men surrounding them. She was already forming a plan as to how to get away, but she needed to make sure Shade and Light were still okay. The pain of her bones was more than enough to keep her conscious and alert. Her tongue hit the tooth just behind her fang and she noticed it 2@wasn't there anymore. Addy cursed under her breath. They could break her bones all they liked, but when it came to her face, Addy was very sensitive.
]Shade arm was still was still giving off smoke when he opened his eyes and coughed once or twice, being down on the ground had kept him from taking the full blast of the explosion, but he did see Addy flung off the tree like a rag doll, splashing into the water. His ears ringing from the blast, the boy stood up and dragged himself over to Light, kneeling over her and lifting up a sort of shadow shield between the two of them and the armed man on the left. "Blue! you alive?!" he called out and, with swing of his arm he shot a dozen shadowy tendrils towards him, fast as arrows or spears.
"Are they conscious?!" a voice was heard over the ringing as the rightmost armed man approached Addy, wading through the shoreline. Both men were dressed in full commando garb, goggles and face-masks included. In the meantime, a third man emerged from the forest, it seemed as if he was made of blowing embers and was naked except for a pair of pants and two belts lined with throwing knives, smoke billowing out of his body as it began to cool down and flesh seemed to grow back onto his frame until it finally left a an older man with salt and pepper head and wisps of smoke flowing off his body. "Take them down, leave no witnesses!" he yelled out. In the meantime, the leftmost commando lifted his hand and pulled a large wave from the lake, which crashed into Shade's shadow spears, deviating them. Immediately afterwards, he shot twice towards Light and Shade.
Light looked over her shoulder to see Addy pulling herself out of the water at the same time that she felt Shade lean over her and saw the shadow rise up in front of them. Hearing a man order the others to "take them down", Light looked past the two commandos and spotted the older man reforming. However, she didn't get a good look as the large wave suddenly came crashing toward them, the water spraying her as it washed away Shade's shadows. The girl dropped to the ground as soon as she saw the man lift his gun, but the bullet shot at her still managed graze her shoulder, slicing deeply though her skin and her clothes. Ignoring the sudden pain, Light immediately responded by snapping her fingers in the direction of the man, slinging out a bolt of electricity toward him as she called out, "Blue, get up!" The girl attempted to get on her own feet as well, blindly sending out another bolt toward the man near Addy.
Rather than stand, Addy bit her lip and BAMFed, disappearing from the dirt. She reappeared next to one of the commandos, making a grab for anything she could touch. Her broken leg buckled when she landed, but she only needed to touch the man before BAMFing again, attempting to let go in mid-teleport. Addy vanished once more, trying to take the man with her and loose him in the area between her teleports.
Shade ignored the burning man as he stepped out of the woods and immediately strengthened his shadow wall, trying to protect himself and Light from the gunshots. Sticking one hand inside the blackened wall, he quickly pulled out a pitch black scythe which coiled and snapped its shadowy extensions, trying to reach darkness around Shade. "It's three on three!" he yelled out to Light. "Take the water one, love, I'll try to knock down the flaming man." he said as he pushed easily 50 shadow tendrils towards the water controller, it was exhausting but he only needed one of the barrage to get through the water wall to knock his gun out of his hands, that way Light could engage him safely. "Don't be bailing out on us, blue!" he bellowed.
The water wielding commando instinctively tried lifted a large water bubble, using it to catch Light's bolt. He immediately noticed Shade's barrage of shadow arrows and turned on the flash light on his gun, pointing it at the tendrils to erase a large swatch of them with the beam of light. A few more tendrils crashed into the electrified ball of water, which promptly splashed on the floor. A single one, however, reached the gun, slicing cleanly through the flash-light, visor and part of the barrel. The man yelled out as he stumbled back into the water, until he was up to his knees in it. In the meantime, the other commando let out a burst of gunfire into the water where Addy had been lying, as the bullets splashed, the girl teleported away, barely avoiding it. She appeared in a split second next to him, grabbing the man's pants. Unable to pivot his gun fast enough he simply turned to the girl, and searing beam of light erupted from his visor, missing Addy by inches and bringing the water to a steaming boil in a split second. The beam was interrupted as soon as Addy teleported again. The girl materialized near the tree line, with the man suddenly appearing and falling from nearly 10 feet up over one of the trees knocked down by the explosion. Falling on his stomach, he let out a loud "Omph!" as his gun flew several feet away and he tried to stand up. The older man immediately grabbed two of the knives on his belts and with a quick spin and flick of his wrist, flung them at Shade while he attacked the water wielding commando.
Light got herself on her hands and knees and looked to Shade when he spoke to her, nodding her head in response to his instructions. Getting on her feet, the girl stayed close to the ground, turning and following Shade's shadow tendrils with her eyes and rubbing her thumbs and forefingers together on each hand. As soon as Shade's tendril struck the gun, Light snapped her fingers on her right hand, sending out a bolt of lightning in the direction of the man's chest and flinching at the sound of gunfire near her. Upon seeing and hearing the man stumble backwards into the water, Light got another idea, and snapped her fingers in the direction of the water directly surround the man's legs, hoping the electricity was strong enough to knock him off his feet.
As horrible as this situation was, Addy wasn't about to bail on her friends. She BAMFed over to the where the gun had skidded and placed a hand on it, teleporting away again. Adrianne was trying to put this morning's exercise into good use. The gun tore in half as part of it lay in the grass and the other vanished with her only to reappear as she did, landing on the man she had just dropped.
Shade managed to avoid one of the knives thrown at him, but the other one sunk deeply on the boy's right shoulder. Letting out a cry of pain, he turned to the side and stumbled back, falling down sitting on the ground. "Mother fucker!!" he grunted as he stumbled back up and swung the scythe at the older man, stretching it as was a he could so it became more like a bladed whip, and glad the sun was going down and he could pull off those kind of a attacks.
In the meantime, Light's bolt struck the water, the commando once more tried to form a wall to protect himself with, but he could not deflect lightning as easily if he, himself, was standing on water. The electricity clashed against the liquid wall and immediately crept down to the lake and to the man's legs. Receiving the full force of the shock, the commando began shaking uncontrollably before he dropped down to the shallow water, splashing as he apparently passed out. However, an instant later, the man turned over, obviously stunned, but protected from an indirect impact by his gear, he began crawling out of the shore. On the other end Addy managed to teleport next to the gun and grab onto him an instant before the man aimed another searing beam of light at her, scorching the grass where she'd been standing. Unfortunately for her, she still could not separate parts of the same material, but the scope and handle of the gun were made of pla31stic, as opposed to the rest of the gun, and she managed to separate them, rendering the weapon useless. As she tried to drop onto the commando, he quickly rolled out of the way, and pointed both his hands at the girl who had just dropped next to him, firing two laser beams at her. The older man, clearly the leader, grinned as Shade fell to the ground, and immediately pointed a finger at the incoming scythe, as if pointing a gun. "Bang!" he said as his finger suddenly exploded as if it was a stick of dynamite, tearing a head of the scythe to rapidly dissolving pieces. As his finger cooled down from an incandescent form, he took another step towards Shade, pulling another knife at flinging it at the boy.
Waiting for the man to drop down, Light watched as he hit the water, silently begging the man to stay down. However, seeing him immediately try to get back up, the girl cursed and rose to her own feet, slinging another bolt of lightning out at the man, hoping she could stop him long enough to at least get a hand on him; she figured direct contact would be more effective, and as much as she wanted to avoid it, she had to do something. As soon as the electricity left her fingertips, Light sprinted toward the man on the ground and into the water, hoping she could grab the man's leg before he could get away. If she could keep him in the water, she should have no problem taking him out. Hearing Shade cry out in pain, however, she looked up with wide eyes, momentarily distracted, only to see him fall back to the ground as the older man's finger suddenly exploded, destroying Shade's shadow-scythe and flinging another knife at the boy.
Addy hit the ground on her bad leg and swore loudly. She dove out of the way of the lasers and hissed between her teeth as she rolled and her bones ground together. Popping up again, she BAMFed, grabbing for the man and BAMFing again, as high as she could go. Her plan was to release the man high enough up and then BAMF herself back to the ground.
"You fucker!" said Shade as he managed to stand up and raise a shadow wall, deflecting the incoming knife as his scythe shattered, dissolving into this air as wisps of black ink. "I'm pissed now!" he growled ripping the knife lodged on his shoulder off and tossing it on the ground. Knowing he could still not use his powers to their fullest extent during the twilight hours, Shade tried to make a run for the shaded area cast by the treelike. As he did, he reformed his shadowy scythe and spun it at high speed in front of him to block any incoming knives.
Light's second bolt of electricity crashed in the water and the man once more jerked while the current climbed up his legs and arms, this time falling face down on the shallow water and letting some bubbles come out of his mask. As the girl moved towards him, she got a grip on his leg, but now she had a problem, if he shocked the man now, she might be electrocuted as well. The man was slightly reanimated, feeling her touch on his leg, and turned to her. Immediately, a large bubble of water appeared behind Light, levitating a few inches above the lake. At the same time, the stunned commando managed to turn around and using his free leg, he tried to kick the girl in the chest to push her into the water trap behind her. Addy managed to grab the man and teleport high up into the air, where she let him go. The man flung his arms wildly, last beams bursting forth from his hands as he dropped to the ground. Finally, he landed face first with a dry sound and stopped moving, apparently passed out or dead. Addy managed to teleport back to the ground, seemingly safe, only to notice a scalding, blackened burn running from her side to her shoulder. In the meantime, the leader of the commandos continued his assault at Shade, but instead of tossing more knives, he noticed the boy's tactic and aimed at him with his arm, making everything from his shoulder down explode into a large fireball, attempting to block the boy's path.
Realizing that she shouldn't be distracted from her own fight, even if Shade was hurt, Light looked back down at the man in the water, her hand trying to pull the leg of his pants up so she could make direct skin contact with her electricity. However, before she could do that, she was met with his other foot on her chest, knocking the breath out of her as he managed to push her back into the bubble trap he had set. Light immediately tried to breathe in, lacking air, but instead sucked in water, grabbing at her mouth as the water began to fill her lungs. It was obvious she wouldn't last long at all inside the bubble if someone didn't help her out right away.
Addy was about to dive into the water to try to relieve the burning in her side. Her swim top was melted into her skin, adding an extra burn. But as she was about to go, she saw Light get kicked into the bubble of water. Sending up a quick prayer, Addy BAMFed into the bubble, pushing outward violently on the water, and grabbed at Light. Feeling something solid and grasping onto it, Adrianne BAMFed back to dry land, focusing on leaving most of the water behind as she did so.
Shade continued spinning his scythe in front of him, which protected him from much of the blast, but as soon as the flame caught up to him, the scythe disintegrated under the glow of the fire and the boy was tossed forward into the tree line. He crashed into a thick tree in, his back arching as he let out a cry in pain and fell onto the floor. As Shade stood back, he snickered, her was now safely under the shadow of the tree line and didn't have to worry about the sun dispelling his constructs. Coughing out some smoke, the boy generated yet another scythe, and not only that, stretching from under his shirt, two tendrils emerged, tipped with long shadow blades. "Now I got you." he smiled as he ran towards the older man, swinging all three blades at once.
The water commando extended his arm towards Light, now trapped in the water bubble, as he tried to stand up once more, he opened his palm, ready to push in the water and crush the girl. Suddenly and with a splash, Addy appeared in the bubble and teleported out with Light. Addy fell down sitting on the floor with Light sitting on top of her and her hand firmly planted on the lavender haired girl's breast. The commando looked around confused for a few seconds, not knowing where the girls went. In the meantime, the older man pulled two knives, using them to block two of Shade's slashes, then lifting his arm and trying to kick the boy in the stomach. Though one slash made a flesh wound on his back, he ignored it, waiting for his arm to regenerate fully before exploding again.
When Light reappeared, sitting on top of Addy, the girl immediately slid off of Addy and began coughing up water and gasping for air, totally oblivious to the position they were just in. "Fuck," she said hoarsely between gasps, remembering what Addy had done to Shade earlier. "Blue, can you... get his clothes off? Expose something." The girl paused, now breathing clearer but heavier and shakier, and she looked over her shoulder at the man. "I just need.. to get a hand on his skin." Hearing and explosion and Shade's cry coming from the woods, the girl winced but knew she couldn't help him until this other guy was out of the way.
Addy nodded and sat up, taking a quick stock of her injuries. She would be in casts and bandages for weeks. Pushing herself up onto her good leg, she BAMFed over to the man in the water, trying to grab a hold of him and BAMF him back to where Light was, concentrating on leaving his pants behind. If she could get him onto dry land, Light would be able to do her thing.
Shade snickered as the man tried to kick him in the stomach, quickly placing his scythe in front of him as if to block the kick. However, he let the older commando's foot go through the black inky surface and strike him on the chest. For a second, it appeared as if the boy was going to fly backwards once more, but instead he used the other two shadow blades to prop himself up and tried to close the scythe's shaft onto the older man's calf, trapping it and limiting his movements. By now he'd discerned the old man's powers, so he quickly wrapped everything under the man's knee in a pitch black, inky bubble to catch any explosions he might provoke.
Unbeknownst to the girls, the commando Addy had apparently knocked out began to stir again, probably protected from the fall by his body armour, but still severely injured, the man groaned as he attempted to drag himself to the woods. In the meantime, Addy managed to teleport next to the water bearing commando and teleport him back to dry land, instead of his pants, though, she managed to leave behind his boots, leaving the man barefoot on the mud near the shore and looking utterly confused. In the meantime, the leader of the group was surprised by having his foot caught in the shaft of Shade's scythe, realizing he would soon lose his balance, he flung the two knives on his hands at the boy before purposefully dropping on his back, trying to get his superior weight to pull the scythe and him forward while he kicked in Shade's thigh with his free leg, making it explode as it made contact with the boy.
Still breathing heavy, Light waited and watched carefully, waiting for the moment that Addy could get the man onto dry land. As soon as she spotted him, she looked for any bare flesh and pushed herself toward him on her hands and knees, reaching out for one of his bare feet as soon as Addy let go. "You must be the stupid one of the group," the girl said to the man as she looked up at him from the ground, her nails digging into the skin of the man's foot as she pulsed electricity into his veins. Hearing yet another explosion in the woods, Light gritted her teeth and squeezed the man's foot tighter, drawing blood and sending an even stronger shock into the man, wanting to bring him down as quickly as possible, while static rolled off of her wet body and snapped in the air.
Seeing that Light had him under control, Addy turned towards the forest, hearing the explosions. She noticed the man trying to crawl away and she shook her head. "No, you don't." BAMFing over, she grabbed the man and BAMFed him to a tree that was still standing, coming out of the teleport with some force, attempting to drive him into the tree hard enough to cause him to stop moving, but not hard enough to kill him.
Shade was yanked forward as the older man fell back on the ground, feeling the commando's foot on his thigh, the boy could tell the explosion was coming and tried to jump away as fast as he could. He was not fast enough, however. Though he avoided the burn from the fire blast, the wave sent Shade flying back several feet, falling down on his back. The boy staggered up, trying to regain his balance before the old man stood up, still holding onto the shadow tendril that had locked on the commando's feet, Shade crated a large wave of shadows from that spot. Done trying to use his own strength against the man, Shade spat to the ground and reformed the wave into a massive Shadow tendril, as thick as a tree trunk and still connected to the commando's ankle. Using the strength of his power, he tried to lift the commando up in the air and smash him against the ground with all his strength.
In the meantime, Light managed to secure the man's foot, his clothes still wet, the electricity crawled up his body, making him spasm and convulse with extreme force. Arcs of lightning formed between the man and the ground before he fell to the ground, totally limp and giving off trails of smoke. Addy, in the meantime, teleported close to the last commando, trying to smash him into a tree. Unfortunately, the girl's momentum was not increased by her teleportation, so whatever little thrust she was able to put into the man before the teleportation remained unaltered afterwards. Though she didn't manage to smash him though, she did end up banging the man's head against the tree pretty hard, after which he fell to the ground once more. The commando leader, in the meantime, started regenerating his foot when he was pulled up several dozen feet in the air by the massive shadow tendril. Flung forward as if grabbed by an elephant's trunk, he was smashed against the ground with enormous force. Hardy as he was, however, he coughed up some blood and managed to get up on his knees. "F-fuck! Things're gettin' bleak." he said coarsely before adding. "General retreat, men!" and pulling a small thread on his double belts. With that, the dozens of knives held around his chest all became loose at once right before he exploded into a full blast, sending not only a shock wave, but a wall of fire and a hail of knives in all directions, followed by a sea of black smoke.
Light smirked as she watched man's body spasm above her. Finally when he fell, Light pulled her hand away from his foot, and suddenly feeling very weak, she placed her hand over her chest, wincing as a sharp pain passed through her heart for a split second. She mentally scolded herself for trying something like what she just did while she was covered in water before the pain subsided and she managed to get to her feet. Before she could take a step, however, the explosion that came from the woods knocked her down onto her side. Instinctively, she covered her face with her arm as the wall of fire and heat blazed past her, along with a knife or two whizzing past her head. Finally when things had settled, the girl moved her arm and opened her eyes, seeing nothing but black smoke, and covering her mouth with her hand as she coughed. Cursing under her breath, the girl pushed herself up off the ground, looking around before she stood up and attempted to walk slowly and blindly through the smoke. The girl quietly felt her way over to the edge of the woods before stopping and leaning against a standing tree, waiting until the smoke cleared before she moved again.
Addy was lower on the ground, having just landed on the commando and not being able to stand. She didn't notice the knife whizzing over her head until it buried itself in the tree with a dull 'thunk'. When Addy looked up to see what it was, though, the smoke filled the area and she coughed, covering her mouth with her not broken hand.
As soon as the man crashed into the ground, Shade got ready to lift him up and smash him again, without a doubt with the intent to kill him. However, the sudden explosion caught him unprepared, the boy quickly lifted up a shadow wall, almost instinctively, which protected him from the blast wave. The fire blast, however, tore the shadow wall apart letting a knife get through and slice a flesh wound on Shade's side.
After the smoke cleared, all three commandos were gone, in their stead, there was only a set of footprints seared into the grass, heading into the forest.
Shade winced as he felt warm blood flow out of the cut on his side and trickle down his leg. He stuck his hand under his shirt to press against the wound and stop the bleeding. As he stumbled forward, coughing up some smoke, he looked around suspiciously before calling out. "Everyone in one piece?!" trying to hide his concern over Light's well being.
"Blue?" Light called out, hearing a girl coughing next to her. When the smoke finally cleared, she saw Addy lying on the ground not too far away and walked quickly over to her. Looking over her, she frowned at the obvious breaks in bones all over Addy's body. Hearing Shade call out to them, she looked up to see him staggering around further away and immediately stood up and rushed over to him. "Fuck, Shade," she muttered, a pained expression showing on her face as she spotted the blood on his side and shoulder. She started to reach out to Shade, but stopped not knowing what other injuries the boy might have; on top of that, the girl was still soaked and wanted to avoid shocking Shade at that moment. "You two need to get to the infirmary," she said, looking up at Shade, then over her shoulder at Addy.
Addy rolled so she could inspect her leg, which was throbbing by far the worse. The bone was pressing through the skin and she hissed. Upon hearing Shade and Light, she looked up and waved at them. "Still alive over here." She looked over at where the commando had been and frowned, grinding her teeth slightly in irritation and pain. Light commented about the infirmary and Addy nodded. "That sounds nice." The adrenaline was starting to wear off and she lay back on the ground, her leg straight except for the broken part, her broken hand cradled on her chest, and her tail out to the side.
"Pain is gonna kick any second now..." replied Shade as he wrapped some shadows under his clothes around his middle portion and shoulder to serve as a makeshift bandage. Glad to see Light didn't seem to banged up, the boy stumbled his way towards Addy and offered her a hand, figured she needed to lean on someone to be able to walk. "I'll port all of us to the infirmary as soon as you're ready..." spat the boy, feeling some blood in his mouth. Figuring Addy needed the most care and he didn't like the immaculate white light of the complex, he added, "It's better if you tell the Dr. what happened once we're there, blue."
Light watched Shade carefully, following close behind him as he staggered over to Addy, honestly more concerned for him than the blue girl. She wanted to ask if he was positive he could shadowport them all to the infirmary in his beat-up state, but figured he knew his own limits best and stayed quiet. "Just don't touch me right now unless you want an extra helping of pain," Light said, holding out her arm as water dripped off of Shade's hoodie and a chill ran up her arm and spine, the cold air beginning to set in.
Adrianne took Shade's hand and let him help her up. She stood on her good leg, leaning heavily on Shade for support, though he probably would have no problem holding her upright. She nodded and looked at Shade. "I'll just tell him we got attacked by some crazy men in black..."
Shade wasn't too sure he could shadow port two extra people all the way to the infirmary, but thought it would be a good idea to get to infirmary as quickly as possible. After all, his makeshift bandage and teleportation capabilities drew energy from the same place. After Addy held onto him, he opened a large black portal from all three of their shadows, quickly eating the trio up and taking them to the infirmary.
You may go back the way you have come, following the dirt path back to the X-Men Grounds, X-Men Grounds Woods, or you could walk around the lake and find yourself in X-Men RP Salem Center Township.
X-Men Rules * X-Men Characters * Start X-Men
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