Young Writers Society

Barring the grav shaft situation, their shopping expedition came to an end without too many further complications. Shania was called away moments after that on some call that James also was required on for some reason leaving just Vankous with Harry and Jennifer who said she'd hang around for a little bit longer to see how things went.

They were just stepping out of the area when a loud ear splitting roar sounded from not too far down the street. Predictably most of the shoppers scrambled for cover. Well this had taken a wonderful turn.

"I don't think that's anything to worry about," said Harry, right as a large foot planted itself in front of him. It was the size of your average Earth school bus, reminding Harry very much of a dragon.

Soul and Mage both quickly stepped back at the size of the thing that had appeared in front of them. Soul had never seen anything like it before. Mage, who was slightly more used to seeing seemingly impossible things after his first adventure with Harry, was still just as alarmed as Soul was. Electricity crackled as it danced up and down the arms of Soul's suit of armor, and fire and darkness mixed in Mage's hands as he held one hand out in front of him.

"Everyone is running away," Soul noted. "I think it's something to worry about."

Mage gave a frantic nod in agreement.

Harry frowned. Hanging around people who faced the end of worlds on like an hourly basis tended to make one less sensitive to how people react to danger in general.

"Oh don't worry, yes almost everyone is running away but that thing honestly...

"..is just an overcooked goose that's going to ruin this shirt. Ahh...which moron thought this was a good party trick. I swear I am..." began Vankous before Jennifer cut off his rant.

"So yeah, let's not get panicky just quite yet, Its almost definitely going to head this way, these sorts of things love stationary targets as opposed to running ones and that's the way it should be because we don't want civilians in the line of fire...just wait for the right moment and then we move..okay..trust me on this one," said Jennifer. "Vankous shield perhaps?"

"In this shirt...come on..." said Vankous.

"Fine...just stay out of range," said Harry, "Everyone behind me." He stepped forward, wings stretching out to their full length as they formed and impromptu protective barrier between him and the others.

Soul and Mage gave each other a look before ducking behind Harry's outstretched wings. After everything he had done with Zogin, Soul was sure he could handle a battle like this one. But Harry and the others had more experience than he did fighting things like the...goose (?) in front of them, so Soul decided it was best to follow their lead.

"So what does it do when it sees a stationary target?" Mage said, a little bit of worry in his voice.

"That depends on if it breathes fire or ice," supplied Harry.

"We duck," said Jennifer at the same time.

"That sounds...dangerous," Soul finally said, eyeing the thing in front of them. He wanted to trust Harry and Jennifer because Mage did, but it was hard blindly doing that when there was something that could destroy him just a few feet away. Soul didn't want to know what fire breath or ice breath would do to him.

"Well, yes but it wouldn't be if someone wanted to make a shield?" said Harry, looking pointedly at Vankous.

"I'm just waiting for the opportune moment, the odds of it attacking before that moment are only 89%. Nowhere near a certainty," said Vankous.

"And you thought that was a convincing argument?" said Jennifer.

"Yes," he declared before as if to prove his point he stepped out in front of Harry. "See I am absolutely...." He didn't get to finish his sentence as the thing behind him let out a roar, clearly in preparation for an attack. "Statistics, you have failed me..."

"DUCK," said Harry, as he gave the creature a casual wave like he was saying hi to a friend. An arc of blue electricity slapped the creature across the face, causing it to stagger back.

Soul and Mage immediately crouched down to the ground. Both had already been on the verge of doing so after hearing Vankous and Harry banter, so they really didn't need the warning. The statistics alone had been enough to concern them.

"Now what?" Soul asked, his own electricity still dancing up and down his arms.

"Depends...on a scale of 1 to 10 how well can you two aim?" asked Harry.

"Harry...please tell me you're not doing draw the eye on the elephant?" said Jennifer, sounding concerned.

"Ooooh please tell me we are," said Vankous, having gotten back behind cover.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that statement until our guests have answered," said Harry, trying to keep a straight face.

...Did Soul even want to know what an elephant was?

"I can aim," Mage said, and Soul didn't doubt him for a minute. He could use his Sin better than Soul ever could—or, at least, better than Soul could use his electricity.

"...I'm not as good at aiming," Soul admitted. Mage opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, but closed it when he realized Soul was right.

"Hmm, that's a wrench, we need three very accurate shots," said Harry, "Vankous would you..."

"Absolutely not, I am doing the tripping. That beak on it looks exactly like the one on a chicken and I am not coming any closer to that than I have to," declared Vankous.

"Jen, could you step in?" he said, doing his best pout.

"I hate this plan," she said.

"So you'll do it?" said Harry.

"Fine," she said with a huff.

"Awesome, so...Mage, you will be shooting, Soul, umm...you can run fast right?" asked Harry.

"I can try," Soul carefully said. He could run somewhat fast when he needed to, but he was also wearing a suit of armor. That slowed him down considerably.

But he wasn't going to take it off. Not just because he didn't want them to see what was underneath—if he got damaged...

He still hadn't found Zogin. He had been making due without her, but there was only so much he could fix.

"Would you be opposed to like being carried while running?" Harry asked, "just in case its not fast enough."

Soul hesitated, then gave a nod. He had no problems with being carried if it meant they all got out safely.

"Awesome, so basically Jen and Mage, shoot its eyes, distract it, and then we trip it up and run as fast as possible while it hopefully just facepalms on the turf," explained Harry.

Jennifer let out an audible groan even as Vankous cheered rather loudly.