With Annabel and Rena supporting him, Fuyuto could see that one was taken down, and another was hit and stopped shooting. With only two shooting at him, he readied his other bar, and threw it, piercing the furthest cactaur back. Two down, two to go. Without another weapon, all he could do was continue to deflect. He brushed his clothes a bit to get rid of some of the needles that got through, it wasn't too bad, but the ones that got stuck to his bar spinning hand, his right hand, was starting to tingle. Fuyuto looked around, for another bar, hoping he could take down the other two, his right hand wasn't going to last much more than this. If it were to have been a sword in the first place, he could have dealt with this quite quickly. Without another bar, he decided to use both hands to spin the bar. This would let him use his right hand still if he needed to in other situations. With both hands spinning the bar, there weren't any more needles coming through.

Before Tyme could object to the dismissal of his ring, the guards had appeared and blocked their only way out, or so he had thought. Upon hearing the woman's orders, he grabbed the large sword and lifted it onto his shoulder, as he had with his gunblade. He immediately noticed the weapon was a little lighter than what he was used to, but then again, the sword didn't have a large barrel and revolver attached to it. He quickly took for the back as instructed, following behind Malachi as they passed through the narrow exit into the hallway. As he rejoined the lead row, guards burst through the doors, Tyme noticing that they had stepped into an ambush. Of course, it's never simple, is it? he thought, staring at the guard ahead of him. Lowering the sword from his shoulder, he glanced back at Red, he had to protect him at all costs. The others held no importance right now. Tyme took a deep breath, concentrating on two of the guards in front of him, forward and the right. Even though it was an even match, eight on eight, their numbers were reduced by gunners and even more so by non-combatants. The swordsmen would have to be quick, and that's exactly what Tyme intended to do, be quick and precise. He glanced at the other swordsmen and nodded slightly before rushing forward, using the flat of the blade to deflect several shots, then taking one step more and spinning as the sword shifted positions. When he came out of the spin, the sword cleaved through the unprepared guard, some of his blood splattering on Tyme's clothing. Tyme didn't hesitate in his next attack, crouching as he turned and let the sword fly, the momentum and force piercing the second guard and pinning him to the wall with the blade. Tyme stood and ran for the sword in hopes of rejoining the fray before he was targeted, though after a few feet, he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder and left leg. After falling to his good leg, he realized he had been shot twice. He spotted the gunner, they had managed to get away from the central fighting, "Malachi! Shoot the bastard!" he shouted, knowing he wouldn't be able to move away in time before the shot would be fired.

This was insane. This entire day had been insane. First being kidnapped, then being almost killed by an unexplained crystal, now they were escaping from a prison. None of it was making sense to Sara, but she didn't have the time to work anything out. She had to fight.

Tyme rushed to one side as they engaged the guards that halted their advance. Sara broke into a sprint, holding the sword in both hands with the blade pointed behind her. As some of the guards opened fire, she dodged to one side and avoided the bullets with a deft somersault. The ping-ping-ping of the bullets on the floor behind her didn't faze her as she sprung out of the roll and held her sword over her head. Once in the right spot, Sara brought the sword to one side and cut into a guard's waist, sliding to a stop past the guard with her sword forward. The guard fell clutching his wound.

Her next movement was to raise her sword and jerk its blade into positions to deflect more incoming fire from the next guard. The guard kept firing, requiring Sara to duck and feint a swing to make the man flinch. Swiftly, Sara used the opening to lunge and thrust her sword at the guard's torso. Unfortunately, the guard was quick enough to parry Sara's thrust and counterstrike her on the side of the face with the butt of his rifle. Sara staggered back momentarily and held her sword up to deflect as the guard took aim again, but the only things that came from his weapon were empty clicks. Sara dropped into a fighting stance again, using one hand to wipe the blood from her cut lip. She raised her sword to strike, but the guard was felled by a bullet from one of the blue uniforms.

Looking around, Sara spotted Tyme trying to reach his sword, which had impaled a guard to the wall for some reason. The fool must have thrown it. He'd taken a hit though. Sara started to run to get between Tyme and the aiming gunner that sought to end him, but it didn't look like she would get there in time to deflect any bullets. It was down to the other gunners in the group.

Little_ninja said
With Annabel and Rena supporting him, Fuyuto could see that one was taken down, and another was hit and stopped shooting. With only two shooting at him, he readied his other bar, and threw it, piercing the furthest cactaur back. Two down, two to go. Without another weapon, all he could do was continue to deflect. He brushed his clothes a bit to get rid of some of the needles that got through, it wasn't too bad, but the ones that got stuck to his bar spinning hand, his right hand, was starting to tingle. Fuyuto looked around, for another bar, hoping he could take down the other two, his right hand wasn't going to last much more than this. If it were to have been a sword in the first place, he could have dealt with this quite quickly. Without another bar, he decided to use both hands to spin the bar. This would let him use his right hand still if he needed to in other situations. With both hands spinning the bar, there weren't any more needles coming through.

With all of the distraction of Annabel, Rena and Fuyuto were providing, Laecora had successfully managed to find two smaller broken bars and snuck around to the side of the battle towards the exit. Remaining as silent as she possibly could (which wasn't hard considering most of her noise was covered by the needles hitting the spinning bar) she snuck up behind the two remaining Cactuars, praying to every deity she had ever heard of that nothing would come up behind her. In one swift motion, she shoved the bar in her left hand directly through one Cactuar's middle, and the other she threw like a spear at the final enemy.

Malachi wasted no time when the group was ambushed and quickly fired upon the guards... or rather, would've liked to. After three quick pops, the gun jammed. "Oh, you've gotta be fuckin' kidding me!" he shouted to himself and ducked behind an alcove to try and fix the damn thing. After fiddling with it for a bit he finally go the damaged shell out when he heard a voice "Freeze!". Looking up from his crouched position, Malachi locked eyes with a guard. "Put it down and stand up slowly!" he demanded, but Mal just cocked an eyebrow, looking at the gun barrel in his face. Then he looked down at the shitty one in his hands. Then back up. Then back down. Then back up... and smiled. Not wasting a chance he grabbed the guards gun and yanked him down, catching his neck, and snapping it in one swift motion. Picking up the fallen rifle, Mal turned back to the battle, muttering a quick "Thanks" under his breath. Now he shot at a few guards, distracting them long enough for the swordsmen to eviscerate the poor saps. Hearing his name, he quickly turned towards Tyme... who had made the biggest mistake a swordsman could make. Sighing, Mal shot the guard about to end him twice in the face, once in each eye, dropping the last of the irritations, before walking over to Tyme's blade and yanking it out of the wall and guard. Tossing it back to him, he gave him a small tidbit he learned from Leo "Don't ever throw your sword, unless you have another. What if you miss? What if there are others, like in this case. Next time, I might not be there. Food for thought" he smiled and took up his post again as the group reformed.

Red's eyes widened as he saw the fighting going on. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the two groups fighting, and he saw people on both sides getting hurt, and his heart went cold.

"Dammit, be more careful!" The woman commanding the escape shouted. "Group 3, cover that swordsman! Swordsman, fall back, you can't fight if your leg's busted. Get wrapped up!" She spoke, firing several shots at the guards and running forward to cut down someone who'd trained his guns on the civilians. She swiveled in place with an upward swing to hit another. "This is bad..." She groaned, only then noticing the guard who had flanked her. He slashed at her arm, leaving a bloody gash on it. "Agh!" The woman kicked the man away from her, then shot at him several times. "How the hell did this happen?" She mumbled to herself. "We shouldn't be this outgunned..."

As Red saw everyone fighting, the terror he'd felt in the cell started welling up within him once more. His body started to shake, and he found himself unconsciously reaching for the bracelet. His eyes wide with fear, he began to notice something odd. When he touched the bracelet, he felt a certain warmth. Again, it was like time had slowed down for the young man. He looked down at the bracelet on his wrist. There was something comforting about it now, but he couldn't place what it was. As he looked at it, he could have sworn it was glowing. "W-what are you?" Red mumbled to it. There was a sudden shock as information crossed through his mind. "WAIT!" He exclaimed, running forward. He raised his left arm, the bracelet glowing, and then pointed it to Tyme. "Keep on fighting!" He shouted, a burst of energy flying from his hand at the man. "I'll back you guys up!" He said, repeating the process several times. As the energy made contact, the targets could feel their wounds healing.

"W-What...?" The commander mumbled, feeling her wounds close up. "Was that magic...?" She now took her turn to be the wide eyed one, but quickly regained herself. "RIGHT! Men, if you're injured, motion to the young man so he can heal you! We keep fighting!" She shouted as she returned to the fray.

Annabel sighed after the last cactaur had been beaten. They needed to get the hell out of here.
"Alright ladies, show of hands. Who is hurt?" She asked as she went over to Fuyuto. Gently, she started to remove some of the needles. She inspected one, they didn't appear to contain any poison. Thank the Gods for that. Once they were all out, Annabel said,
"We need to leave this place. It appears the behemoth that passed us collapsed the way to the central parts of the building. Perhaps there is a way out in the direction it came from." and motioned to the hole in the wall.
Tentatively, she stepped over the rubble and glanced around. There was no one around and it didn't look like there were any monsters either. She motioned the others to follow and sneaked quickly down the hall. Annabel had to do a double take after she caught the shine of metal from the corner of her eye. She stopped dead, causing anyone keeping too close behind her to run into her. She smiled, some luck at last! A weapons room!
"Anyone want a sword or gun?" She asked looked back at her companions and pointed into the room. The question was completely rhetorical and she entered the room without another thought.

With the last cactuar beaten, Fuyuto stopped spinning the bar. It was scratched all over and even had needles coming out of it. He threw it away. Annabel came to him, removing some of the needles from his hand. "Thanks" he said. He could see she was inspecting them, he could tell they weren't poisoned, he would be feeling something by now at least. When the needles were removed, he gripped and loosened his hand a few times. Some of his neurons were damaged, but it would heal. Tsk, and it's my dominant hand. he thought. He took another bar out from the cells, just in case.

Annabel said
"We need to leave this place. It appears the behemoth that passed us collapsed the way to the central parts of the building. Perhaps there is a way out in the direction it came from." and motioned to the hole in the wall.

Annabel got the words out before Fuyuto did. Since when did she have that kind of confidence? he questioned to himself. Well it has been three years, things change. As she lead the way, Fuyuto kept close. If anything popped up, he should take the front again. He was a guy, he should avoid letting the girls get hurt at least. Suddenly she stopped, he bumped into her slightly. "Why did you ..." he was saying, when she smiled.

Annabel said
"Anyone want a sword or gun?" She asked looked back at her companions and pointed into the room.

"Lucky~" Fuyuto said, tossing aside the bar. It seems there was mostly swords and guns. The swords weren't to his liking, but they were much better than the bars. He took two one-handed long swords, and four short swords. Just in case he had to throw some again. The two long swords were on his back, in a X formation. The four short swords were just hanging from his belt, two on each side, like people who called themselves samurais would. He probably looked ridiculous. But it was better to be prepared. "Extra swords for throwing" he told them, so they would understand.

He turned and headed for the door. The others were still choosing it seemed. He was quick, since he was able to spot which swords he could use and were in good conditions. He checked the halls, nothing was there. "We should be careful as we continue down. It would be good if we could reach a map room to get our bearings. We should also try meet up with the others. I assume Mal and the other 20 or so people would also be in cells like ours."

Stepping out first, keeping his eyes peeled, he turned back to the girls. "You all ready?"

Laecora took up the end of the line as everyone started to leave, carrying both pole-halves she had been using and constantly checking behind them. When Annabel indicated that the room ahead had guns and swords she frowned, wondering if perhaps the daggers that had been taken off her were in the room. Slowly, Laecora walked around the room, scanning every item with her emerald eyes and selecting none before letting out a slow sigh and starting to re-circle the room again. Finally settling on a matching pair of dirks, she picked them both up. Giving them a few swings, twirls, and thrust to acquaint herself with them and their balance points she nicked a sword belt off a rack and strapped it around herself, setting the two blades in on her right side. This belt was made for a user who fought with one blade in a reverse grip, but Laecora would have to make due.

Tyme took his blade from Mal and stood slowly, using it to support himself, "Sorry, force of habit." he apologized. He nodded at the suggestion, it wasn't like he'd be able to fight right now anyway, not with his injuries. However, before he could make any sort of move towards the group, Red had done something involving his bracelet. Looking over his wounds, he noticed they were healed, leaving no scars whatsoever. When he heard the word 'magic' he turned his head to look at Red, who was now shouting orders. He wanted everyone to fight? Hell, that was something Tyme was good at, fighting. Lifting his sword from it's position as a support tool, he now held it with both hands, not speaking a word as he bolted forward into the fray once again. This time he made sure his attacks were timed with the gunners of the group, engaging the guards when they were shot at. The first guard to be caught in this was felled easily, though the others became aware of this and did what they could to prevent another coordination from occurring. It didn't stop Tyme though, he also assisted the other swordsmen, no longer wishing for this fight to drag on even further. "Guys, focus on helping each other take them down, this fight has already gone on long enough!" he shouted, using his sword to block a swing.

At the last moment, the guard that was about to finish Tyme fell backwards where he stood, two small splashes of blood were thrown from the back of his head. Sara glanced to see where the shots had come from and saw Mal aiming down a smoking rifle. Some words were exchanged that Sara frankly thought could have waited.

The sounds of struggle from the direction of their apparent commander took Sara's attention next. Sara moved to engage the guard that had wounded her, but the guard was able to defend himself. At least the commander was out of immediate danger. As Sara and the guard circled each other and exchanged blows, there was yet another strange event. At first Sara thought that the farmboy, Red, had lost it completely as he ran forward, but then some strange power streamed from his bracelet and flowed into the injured members of the group, healing their wounds. Is that what these bracelets are for? How did he do that?

There was no time to think, Sara and this guard continued to clash. As far as skills with a sword, they were virtually equally matched. She wished she had her halberd, then she could really exploit this bastard's weaknesses. Thankfully, for risk of hitting their allies, they weren't attracting too much gunfire as they clashed. Just as the guard began to get the upper hand, he brought a wide slash to bear on Sara, who's only possible reaction was to block it directly. Their swords never met, however, as Tyme intercepted the blade and gave Sara a perfect opening to cut into the guard's neck. "Thanks for the assist," She said, before moving on to other targets. It seemed like there were more guards coming out of nowhere. They just needed to cut their way through.

Rena followed the group wordlessly. The confidence she had shown during combat had receded again, as the adrenaline wore off and the memories came back. Her strength was just under the surface, though, ready to come back if needed. When she heard something about a weapons room, and guns, she was snapped out of her little nightmare, and though she didn't smile, had the energy of a kid in a candy shop as she browsed the selection of guns in the room, eventually picking a stocky wooden rifle, and plenty of spare ammo. It was the closest thing to a crossbow she could find in lieu of an actual crossbow. She set her rocks and her metal pipe down. She didn't need them anymore.

She looked out with Fuyuto, a ranged weapon in her hand giving her focus. She was starting to come out of her shell. "I'm ready. Let's go and find out where we are, and why we're here."

Mal couldn't believe what he was seeing. Did nobody care?! That kid! He... He just fucking used MAGIC!!! Walking up to the... the... ... Mal grabbed him and pushed him against the wall, completely ignoring what was going on around him "Spill it! What are you! And don't even THINK about trying to trick me. Only monsters can use magic! I should know. I hunt them for a living. What. The hell! Are you?"

But before the kid could respond a blade jutted out from Mal's right shoulder. Dropping the boy and his gun, he clutched at the wound and looked over at his assailant. It was a guard, taking advantage of his lack of attention. Burning anger ran through Mal's brain and he felt a searing hot, yet cool, sensation running up his arm from his bracelet. The next thing he knew, the guard was on fire. Stunned, Mal silently looked at his hand, where his bracelet had been glowing. "I... I can use... magic... It... can't be..."

Not wanting to take too long, Annabel quickly scoured the room. There wasn't much there she could use. It was more likely she would shoot an ally than the enemy if she took a gun. There was no way she was going to not hurt herself with a sword.
As Annabel was about to give up, she spotted a stick in the corner. As she walked over to it, she realized it was a staff. With tender hands, she lifted it. It was lighter than it looked and seemed sturdy. The steel bar was covered in cactaur juice and had become slimy so it would probably slip out of her hands if she swung it.
Annabel noticed everyone was waiting on her and walked to the doorway.
"Fuyuto, you should take the lead. You know how fight better than I do." Annabel said looking around, then pointing down the hall, "We should go that way."

Everyone had gotten their weapons ready. Annabel indicated where to head. "Sure. I'll take the lead. Someone watch the rear, we don't want to get pincered." Fuyuto called out, taking a last peak, making sure it was clear. It was clear, he slowly walked ahead, silently. Down the hall, there was a left and right path. They had no idea where to go, and splitting up would not do much good. He crouched to the floor, to see if he could get any sort of information from either footprints or otherwise. There was a path to the left, where the Behemoth had come from. If they followed it, there was a chance it would lead outside. There wasn't anything useful information on the right.

Standing up, he made sure to check nothing was coming from either the right or the left before indicating it was safe and started to go down the left. So far so good. he thought. The ground was uneven due to the Behemoth, and larger. Up ahead there was a right turn. Walking up to it, he went up against the wall, and looked over. There were two more Cactaurs. Strays, most likely. He pulled out his short blades, stepping around he threw them. *Squish* into them they went falling on the ground. He indicated to the others to come. "Rena, cover me while I recover my blades." He told her. Walking ahead, keeping his eyes peeled, approaching his swords.

Little_ninja said
Everyone had gotten their weapons ready. Annabel indicated where to head. "Sure. I'll take the lead. Someone watch the rear, we don't want to get pincered." Fuyuto called out, taking a last peak, making sure it was clear. It was clear, he slowly walked ahead, silently. Down the hall, there was a left and right path. They had no idea where to go, and splitting up would not do much good. He crouched to the floor, to see if he could get any sort of information from either footprints or otherwise. There was a path to the left, where the Behemoth had come from. If they followed it, there was a chance it would lead outside. There wasn't anything useful information on the right. Standing up, he made sure to check nothing was coming from either the right or the left before indicating it was safe and started to go down the left. he thought. The ground was uneven due to the Behemoth, and larger. Up ahead there was a right turn. Walking up to it, he went up against the wall, and looked over. There were two more Cactaurs. Strays, most likely. He pulled out his short blades, stepping around he threw them. *Squish* into them they went falling on the ground. He indicated to the others to come. "Rena, cover me while I recover my blades." He told her. Walking ahead, keeping his eyes peeled, approaching his swords.

Laecora naturally took the rear of the line and watched behind them as they went through the hallways. Upon Fuyuto's double hit on the cactuars she quiet called up a cheer. and then nodded as he asked for her cover. Before heading up to the front of the line she turned towards the two girls. "Stay here and don't move. Try to stay as close to the wall as you can." She wasn't trying to be insulting by telling them what to do, she just didn't want any extra chaos by them being spotted.

Once that was taken care of, Raena closed up the distance between herself and Fuyuto, Despite the good hit, she remained keeping an eye out in all directions and her hands on her blades, ready to draw at any slight motion. "All seems clear so far. Just make sure they are dead before you turn your back on them."

[] oh god.. sorry about this.. I am also using a character whos name is Raena (not Rena) in another thread and thought it was typo'd ... forgot who goes where. Ack![]

The commotion drew Sara's attention to Mal pinning Red up against the wall. He looked upset. They didn't have time for this. Sara was able to slice at the back of a guard who was levelling a weapon at Mal, but another one had taken his place before Sara could engage. She could only watch on as a thrust got him through the shoulder. He was a goner, or so she thought. A similar energy flowed through Mal's bracelet to what Red had exhibited, and suddenly the guard that attacked him burst into flames. Not only that, the guard was utterly cooked in seconds and almost instantly died. Sara didn't know what the hell was going on, but that seemed to be the case for the entire day.

At first, Sara was scared to even approach, but the guards present meant that she couldn't hesitate. Red would have to use his magical healing fairy dust or whatever the hell it was on Mal while they moved. Without a heed to the sudden internal conflict that seemed to keep him frozen in a stupor, Sara grabbed Mal by the collar of his jacket and pulled him along with the group, away from the charred corpse of his assailant. "Come on, Mal! Keep moving!" Sara glanced back to Red and pointed at Mal's dropped weapon with her sword, "Grab that and let's go, farmboy!"