The Guard Armor did indeed recoil from the sudden blast of fire it took in the torso. And when that spell was swiftly followed by one of the girls delivering a jumping blow to its chest, it reared back a bit, and right into the slashing of another's blade. This time it did seem to take actual damage, indicating that its torso was where it was most vulnerable. It swung its arms about, flailing them wildly in an attempt to keep the attackers at bay. About that time, it felt the sting of another direct attack, this one from a bullet coming from someone's rifle a distance away. The group was indeed damaging the creature now, but made a potentially fatal mistake. In their decision to focus solely on the Guard Armor, they ignored the Shadows pouring up from the puddle of Darkness where the creature stood. Now that they were being commanded by something, the Shadows moved in a strategic manner.

They spotted the lone shooter on the nearby roof and were practically stampeding in the direction of his sniper perch. Along the way a small girl made a break from an alleyway into a nearby shop door. Most of the shadows ignored her, choosing instead to continue after what they perceived to be the larger threat, and the stronger heart. But one chose instead to designate the child as its prey, making a pounce toward her now scared stiff form.

Meanwhile, Thatch sat in his spot in a daze. When he started hearing whispers in his ears, he thought he was losing his mind at first. [i]"Don't be afraid."[/i] Afraid? Afraid of what? The Heartless? That seemed a hard thing to accomplish when he knew he was now completely unarmed. [i]"Don't forget."[/i] The whisperer followed up with. Forget? Was there something he was meant to remember? If so, he never knew about it. It was the gunshot that snapped him out of his daze, Jared now staggering to his feet and throwing the fish off of himself. As he did so, an apparent stampede of the smaller creatures had passed him by, racing toward a location somewhere behind. He turned to look, eyes widening as one of the critters stopped to attack a small girl, "Oh no you don't!" he shouted, screaming at the top of his lungs and running toward the girl in what seemed like slow motion.

[i]"Don't be afraid..."[/i]

"I'm not! I'm not afraid!" Jared cried, seemingly answering the voice he was imagining.

[i]"...and don't forget."[/i]

At this point Thatch had reached the girl, now taking a leap of his own at the Shadow attacking her. He made a swing his hands, unsure of how he expected to defeat one of these things without a weapon. [i]"You will be the one... to [b]close[/b] the door."[/i] As if being saved by a miracle, a small cylinder of light formed his hands during the swinging motion, materializing into a [url=http://i1040.photobucket.com/albums/b407/DoctorSim/keyblade1.jpg]mysterious, key-shaped object[/url] that ended up being the weapon that slammed into the Shadow. Despite looking entirely blunt, the object was somehow able to cut the creature asunder as if it were a wickedly sharp blade.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp2ZRue5c38]Cue a shift in Battle Music[/url]

"Go! Get inside!" Jared shouted to the stunned little girl behind him. She hesitated but nodded, darting into the shop door she had originally ran for and into safety. Now was when Jared got a better look at the object (or weapon, apparently, given the effect it had against the Shadow) and was as stunned as the girl was. But he quickly shook it off, sprinting toward the Guard Armor and, using his running for momentum, lobbed the weapon as hard as he could at the creature. The weapon spun rapidly as it sailed in the air, eventually sinking the tip of the "blade" into the emblem of the torso. This particular blow seemed to really sting the Guard Armor as it staggered harder than before. Jared could only hope that this would give his apparent comrades a good enough opening to maybe finish the brute off.