The fight continues

Leon watched as Owen picked up more and scoffed. This was like a game to him. From this height he was certainly confident that he could evade the rocks without much effort, nevermind the fact that Owen's aim was terrible anyway. If anything, this was more of an advantage to Leon. Owen was providing him with projectiles, provided Leon was able to catch them.

He had to keep his wings in close to protect them from the stones, which made flying a bit harder. Leon took pride in his speed, though, and tried to catch as many as he could. In the attempt he ended up getting hit by a few of them, one even hitting him in the "elbow" of his left wing making him drop several feet in the sky before he was able to collect himself again. The hit made his gold-scar flare up.

Because of the sudden drop, Leon only managed to catch about three of the rocks that were thrown at him. He promptly sent them back surrounded by energy the way he had with the first stone. Once his hands were empty, he massaged his left shoulder in a vain attempt to ease the pain in his wing.

The rocks were failing. His heart almost leapt when he dropped down a feew feet, but his hope was diminished as Leon managed to regain himself. He had run out of stones - and what worse, Leon was already sending back a few at him. Grunting in frustration, he wasn't fast enough to defend himself from the first stone, shattering against the side of his face. He blinked his eye sorely - probably unable to open it well thanks to the rock fragments. The next hit his leg, while the last was blocked by the back of his arms again. Even after the assult, he remained rather sturdy, giving him a challenging gaze.

His narrowed eyes scoured the ground for something else he could use, seeing as the stones weren't as effective as he thought. He came across a bottle - a bottle which had probably rolled down the cliff from earlier. Immediately picking it up, he tossed it at Leon, although the throw didn't seem as powerful as his first ones, thanks to an aching arm. He cared little if Leon caught this one, actually, he hoped that he would. The glass was likely to shatter on any impact.

((Actually glass bottles like that are pretty hard to break according to my dad..... don't ask me why he knows that XD))

With one powerful stroke of his wings, Leon easily rose five feet through the air. Owen's through was fairly weak anyway, but he didn't want to take the chance of trying to catch the bottle in case it ended up shattering.

Bluntly, Leon said, "This is starting to get pathetic, Owen." He didn't even mean it as a taunt. He was geniunly getting bored. He had no quarrel with Owen, anyway, as well as no real desire to begin one. He knew Owen would hate Leon for what he'd just done, of course. That, however, wasn't a good reason to start a fight in Leon's eyes. He had wanted to get back at Jami; Owen was simply a bonus.

Jami had been recovering this whole time. The monster was no small deal. The first time she had it almost take over, it took her days to wake up. But the knowledge of Owen out there with Leon made her try harder.

Jami weakly opened her eyes. She could feel her body wasn't healed properly yet. The monster had wrecked her nervs in last attempts. The first thing she saw were a bunch a of rocks. Why am I surround by rocks? She tried then to look further. She saw leons back up in the sky. Where was Owen? Then she saw a burnt and angery ruckarl. Oh no! With some of the energy she could pull she aimed at Leons back. A bright and powerful beam of green flames shot towards him. She hoped that the elimant of suprise would work. Her arm fell limp. All she could do now was watch.

Owen twitched slightly as the bottle sailed through the air underneath Leon, eventually shattering on the ground behind him. His teeth gritted at Leon's remark, half because of his opponents arrogance, and half because it was true. It was becoming pathetic. Predictably, the thought only made him seethe. Unless he managed to ground the demon, the whole thing would very much be a rather lopsided attempt at a fight.

"Damn you!" he yelled, throwing up a last ditch rock that barely made it halfway before dropping back down and shattering. "Why don't you come down and face me already! Too scared?!" A beam of fire interrupted him, and he snapped his gaze over towards the faerie, his eyes still filled with rage. "Jami!" he called, although it sounded more like snarl. He stormed towards her, his lips drawn back, revealing a row of unclean teeth. "Go away! Let me deal with him!" he glared, his injured eye twitching, pointing back at the academy. Relief was the last thing on his mind now, just revenge. He certainly didn't want Jami to enter the thick of the fight again and harm herself. And heck, his dignity was at stake here. He wouldn't allow himself to be saved by a girl.

Leon gave no response to Owen's challenge. He was no fool. The second the lizard got his hands on him would be the moment Leon lost the fight. Anyway, Owen had been the one to start. Anything Leon did was a retaliation of Owens own actions. He had no obligation to get up close and personal with the lizard.

Then he was suddenly pushed forward and cry of pain escaped his mouth. Something had hit from behind on his right wing, close to his back, where the muscles that controled his wings were. Leon's wings were pure energy and wouldn't catch fire from the fireball Jami had throw, but its impact was enough to injure them.

Leon had been a good 15 feet above the ground, but now he found himself dropping like a rock, unable to find his wings and collect himself. When finally he released them to their full length again it was already too late, he was too close to the ground to turn and go back up into the air again. He landed in a heap, scraping his hands on the ground.

Leon risked a glance at the area where he'd been hit to see that it had taken on a greenish hue, probably from the fireball. It would making difficult. Leon muttered a swear and stood.

Jami watched as Owen raged towards her. She looked into his eues, and then at Leon falling. She gave a small smile. she nodded toward leon on the ground for Owen to deal with. This night had been interesting and it was far from over. Before Own could leave she put her eyes back on his. "Thank you, so much." she said in her strong English accent. Her eyes a glossy grey blue. She looked back to Leon. Hoping that Owen would finally end this. She didn't want Leon to die but she didn't want him to get away with what he did.

Jami's smile failed to change Owen's expression - his eyes were still narrowed and his teeth were still bared. When she thanked him, he just jerked his hand at the academy again. "Go! Don't wait for me!" he ordered. He didn't like the thought of her thanking him - all he did was attack her, despite how he desperately he didn't want to. Besides, he was worried Leon would pull his trick again, starting the chaos all over again.

Suddenly remembering Leon was still there, he turned his gaze towards him. The demon had fallen, which was exactly what he wanted. Of course, he would've prefered it if he'd downed him himself. But he was on the ground - an ample opportunity to finally do what he did best - close combat. He stomped forwards, slowly at first, before picking up more speed (at least, as fast as his ruckarl body could manage). It was similar to his first charge at Jami, although his steps were slightly more clunkier, but his expression was still determined.

Leon watched as the lizard picked up speed in his approach. He crouched slightly, placing a hand on the ground. Then he began casting, the only real spell he knew how to use. He uttered the spell loudly in attempt to make it stronger, latin words that ranslated to mean "gate through matter". He continued to repeat the spell until he chose when he wanted to activate it.

A dark lattice began to appear beneath him in a similar style to his fiery energy. It grew larger each time he repeated the phrase until finally it extended about a meter all around him and wouldn't grow any more. Even then, he continued to repeat the phrase to keep the spell solid so he wouldn't fall through. With each repetition the wispy lattice flashed a vibrant purple before darkening, then lighting again at the next repetition.

He didn't judge Owen as being stupid enough to run headlong into the spell. Though he wondered if, in his lizard form, he'd be able to stop quickly enough. If Owen got close enough, for whatever reason, he'd allow the spell to activate and they'd both fall through the cliff. Well, only one of them could fly when they reached thee other side. It was no guardian spell, but it served its intended purpose.

He thought he could keep this up a bit longer, but he could feel himself tiring. He'd used a lot of magic tonight. Magic was much like running in that you could only do it for so long unless you did it often. Leon didn't do it often. He wasn't confident he'd be able to cast another spell after this one.

Jami watched as Owen ran off. He didn't seem to understand in his fury, she couldn't move. Her nerves were still shot. She was glad Leon was getting what he desirved. Then something caught her eye. A grid. Not that spell again... But on the cliff? They'd fall, and Owen had no wings. "STOP!" she screamed. Hoping either it would distract Leon and make him stop, or make Owen stop and not fall to his doom. She didn't know if a ruckard could stand that impact. She lay there motionless. Helpless. Weak. The form she hated most.

Owen saw Leon crouch down slightly, and at first, he couldn't tell what he was doing. Bowing in defeat? The thought was hopeful, but unlikely. He didn't have time to figure out what he was doing though - his eyes were bleary, the night was dark, and ruckarl eyesight generally wasn't exceptional at all.

But it seemed Leon had a plan anyways, and Owen had the sneaking suspicion that it had to do with magic. He was still chanting, so whatever it was, it didn't seem to be complete. If he could interrupt the spell, perhaps he'd be unable to cast it at all. Although most of it was guessing, Owen felt confidence in his plan.

He heard Jami scream, but it was too late to slow down. Besides, he'd already had his mind set on attacking - Leon was grounded, and he might not get another chance. Instead of tackling - like he initially planned - he tried to aim a forceful fist at the crouching demon once he was close enough.

Leon didn't take his eyes off Owen as he continued to run towards him. It was clear he had no intention of stopping. He had a moments hesitation in which he muttered another swear to himself.

It seemed he had overestimated the lizard's intelligence. Owen had absolutely no idea what this spell would do, but he was content to throw caution to the wind and run into it anyway. Leon didn't know if there was a big drop under the cliff. He assumed it probably droped right into the ocean. Owen would drown in that form.

There were only seconds before the lizard would be on him. Leon stopped his chant, taking a deep breath and releasing it. He hated that this would make him appear weak, as if he were running away, but as he'd determined at the very start, he didn't want either of them dead.

The spell activated before Owen reached it, and Leon fell through the cliff floor. Now he could only hope the lattice would close before Owen reached it, otherwise he'd fall through anyway.

The underside of the cliff sloped downwards, then went out over the ocean. At the very bottom were dozens of sharp rocks. He kicked off the slope, willing his bad wing to carry him upwards, before grabbing onto a stone that jutted out of the cliffside to hold himself up without having to use his wings. Then he watched the shrinking lattice to see if any oversized lizards would fall through.

Jami watched as Leon fell through the cliff. The lattice spell he had made slowly closed. All she could do was hope Owen wouldn't fall. Even if he did make it, it didn't control how she was now, tears forming in her periwinkle eyes. As they poured down her face she moved her arm. A sharp pain went up it. At least she had some control back.

Jami would have cried if it was any of her friends in this position, but it being Owen, the guy she recently figured out she liked, it made it that much worse. She hadn't really liked anyone since Henry broke her heart all those years ago. There was that one boy in America, she didn't really like him. He just liked her and she was lonely.

Jami realized she was thinking back too much, she needed to focus on the now, which was Owen and that cliff. Maybe if she could start moving she could get to the water if he fell. He would drown like this, and not like she would freak if he suddenly changed human, which she doubt that would happen, but she thought that he wouldn't be comfortable being nude around her as they were friends and of the opposite gender.

Owen narrowed his eyes as Leon vanished from view, and it was then he noticed the lattice beneath him. Some sort of escape route? A cowardly tactic, he saw. And in his book, cowards didn't win. There was no time for stopping, besides, the demon almost seemed to be just within his reach. If he could stretch further, he surely would've caught him by now. Either that or his recent lack of depth perspective was screwing with him.

It was then the ground vanished beneath his feet. It was sudden, and the shock of it was almost reminiscent to falling down stairs. It wasn't, however, unexpected, and he managed to force himself forwards with his limbs outstretched, hoping to at least snatch a feather from the demon's gnarly black wings. However, his target was long gone, his only company being threateningly sharp rocks and the gaping water beneath him.

The impact of the cold water felt like a brick wall. The world suddenly submerged, the sound of water rushing around his head was defeaning. Opening his eyes, he tried to see around, but he could only see the murky darkness of the water, combined with the tiny fragments of rock carried by the current. Owen didn't realise that he was unable to breath until he opened his mouth to let loose a cry - only bubbles escaped instead.

When the blood rushed to his head, he realised that he was positioned upside-down. He attempted to right his orientation, but his foot seemed to be caught on something, and he was unable to tug it free. His arms flailed, faling to latch onto anything useful. His mind raced, panicking. Was he going to drown? His weight was pulling him down, yet his foot remained captured, almost as if it was tearing. He could not descrbe the strange, numb sensation.

As his lungs emptied, it became increasingly difficult to cling onto conciousness. But a surge of determination remained, and despite his tiring body, he managed to thrust out his arms and grab the rock before his face. It was sturdy, likely attacthed to the sea floor. After securing his hold, he summoned all his strength to force himself upwards, the water making it slightly easier to lift his own body weight. His foot was unhinged from whatever had him captured, and he quickly righted his position.

Breaking the surface of the water, he gasped, almost as if he'd never taken a breath of air in his life before. It flooded into his lungs, and his breaths were long and deep before they finally slowed down. He still clung to the rock, however, knowing that if he let go, he would sink. What he couldn't help but notice though was that the sharp point of the rock had turned an unsightly shade of red, and a flap of skin seemed to be stuck to it. He looked back at the water, also noticing it had adopted a similar murky red colour. He peered, raising his previously captured foot, trying to figure out what it was.

Then he realised.

His foot had been impaled by the sharp rock, cruelly keeping him in place during the struggle. It was only just then the pain throbbed in his foot, and terribly so. He couldn't tell what it looked like or how bad it was, but merely the imagery of a gaping hole in the top of his foot was enough to make him retch.

He looked around, his gaze scanning the cliff walls. It was then he noticed Leon hanging from the wall, and he only scowled in a slightly pained frustration. "Damn you," he hissed. "...Damn you.."

Leon's heart sank as he watched 300 lbs of lizard fall through the lattice. Needless to say, the lattice hadn't closed quickly enough. He swallowed as the lizard boy fell down the slope and into the rocks in the ocean. He didn't want a dead body on his hands.

In all seriousness though, what else was he supposed to do? He hadn't expected the lizard be stupid enough to jump into a lattice for which he had no idea what it was capable. Clearly, it wasn't there for decoration.

He looked down and saw one Owen's feet impaled on one of the sharp rocks. Then he began to pull himself off it, blood dispersing into the water all around him. Watching it happen was cringe-inducing, but at leas the was alive. Worse case scenario: it could have been his head that was impaled on that rock.

Now Owen was holding himself above the water's surface with one of the rocks. Then, he was blaming Leon for his own stupidity. Owen had been the one to blindly run into a spell that he didn't know the effects of. The only reason he'd used the spell was because he'd assumed Owen wouldn't have gotten anywhere near it. How could Owen possibly be laying the blame on him??

Leon looked him directly in the eye, "You are an idiot," His voice was like steel, and he realized that his temper had risen again.

((That line is uber-weak because you told me not to curse in the threads ^^; OOC. He definitly would have cursed lol))

Before the girl could rise, the ruckarl fell. Jami didn't say a word. She wipped her wings out and flew to the edge of the cliff. Sharp rocks lay at the bottom. She saw Owen fall and then rocket into the cold water. She was to shocked to do anything but stay in the air. Leon wasn't to far off. he was hanging on a ledge.

She moved slowly down making sure she wouldn't losse control again of her nerves. He still hadn't surfaced from the water. When Jami's eyes had ajusted a bit sshe realise the water was tinted red. Oh no.. Jami's eyes started filling with tears. Owen please come up!

Then he did.

Jami started choking in relief. But he was still surrounded in blood. Owen yelled at Leon when he had seen him. Leon calling him an idoit just made her like him less. A angery guy who is charging can't just stop. Jami noticed earilier his wing when funny when she had hit it. It seemed Leon hadn't noticed her yet. Her aim was going to be dead on.

Her arm raise she pulled energy from inside her soul and the green and black flames shot towards the demons wings. She hoped he wouldn't move. If he did the attack would be dead on. The next thing she did after realising that engery was nose dive towards the water and pulling up level just in time. her arm grazed one of the rocks and she felt a small pain but she would heal soon.

"Owen!" It had gotten harder to see now she was under the cliff. She hoped he would call out so she could find him.

((everyone did long things so i tried.. may edit now ive written it all XD))

Owen was still clinging to the rock, both of his arms coiled securely around it. His good leg was pushing down against the rock, while his injured foot hung limp, unable to be moved. The pain was almost unbearable, his teeth gritted and his tail lashing slowly in the thick water. It reminded of something that had happened long ago - a painful memory, but one he was sure he'd never forget.

The cold water sloshed at his shoulders, slowing down his movements. It was one of the disadvantages of being cold-blooded - if his surroundings were cold, he would adopt the same temperature, making him rather sluggish in return.

He twinged with anger at Leon's words, and he almost reached for his spiked rock to tear off the tip and hurl it him, However, his anger practically fizzled out before he raised an arm. He sighed defeatedly - it seemed Leon was the victor of this round.

Leaning his head against the rock, a green flash of light distracted him. Jami? he hopefully though, squinting as he peered around for her. He heard her voice, and he desperately hoped that it wasn't a hallucination. He felt ashamed that she would see him in this state, but it wasn't anything he could help.

"J-jami?!" he croaked, turning his head towards the voice. "Jami, Jami, I'm sorry, a'am an idiot..." he slurred, his speech cracking slightly. "J-jus' leave, Jami, s'not safe..."

Leon called out as the fireball hit his left wing just below the elbow and swore. He was starting to seriously hate Jami, to the point where it was dangerous for her.

Now he clung to the dliffside and retracted his wings. His back burned when the feathers that had turned green from Jami's fireballs entered them, but once his wings were fully retracted he no longer felt the burn on his wings. They should be fine when he released them again. Wing injuries always healed when they were retracted unless they were gold-scars.

He looked over at Jami and Owen on the water's surface. Whatever, he'd lost interest. He'd gotten what he wanted. Now all that was left to do was give his wing a little bit of time to completely heal and then get the hell out of there. If Jami so much as looked at him again, he'd drop off the cliff, release his wings and be gone. He'd had enough of her attacking him from behind and once airborne it'd be impossible for her to hit him again.

At the sound of owen's voice she made her way towards him as fast as she could through the rocks. Along the way another rock scraped her wing. She could see Owen now. Jamiwent right up to the closest rock near the one he clung to. Looking up one last time at Leon she knew her beam had made its mark. It seemed he was going to leave. "Owen! I am not going. Leon's going to leave i think. Everything will be okay, as soon as I get you out of here."

The girl didn't care how heavy the boy was in this form, she was stronger then she looked and nobody ever seems to realise it. it also help if you have healing magic taking away any pain she may feel if it was too heavy. "Please Owen. Let me help." Owen had saved her, so now it was Jami's turn to save him. She doubted he would ever get out without assistance in this form.

Jami reached towards Owen with her bad arm and gasped in pain. She had forgotten it had been hit, she was to intent on finding the boy. She pulled it back towards her and a bright white light illuminated from her skin. Jami looked god like with her skin glowing. Jami saw in the light, that the dress she had worn to the fireworks had torn a bit and she frowned. Then she put her gaze back apon Owen. Her eyes pleading, hoping he would accept her help.

Jami wouldn't leave her friend here anyway, no matter what his answer was.

He'd heard the noise of Leon calling, and even without seeing the actual attack, he knew that the attack was successful. It gave him a reason to feel slightly relieved, although he was still disappointed that he couldn't have done it himself. As far as he was aware, Jami had managed to attack the demon more time successfully than he did. His dignity would certainly not escape this predicament unscathed.

He got a fright as his grasp slipped ever so slightly from the rock, and he scrambled for another, tighter hold. His eyelids began to droop, no matter how hard he tried to keep them open. However, he still had enough conciousness to hear and reply to Jami. Her presence was comforting yet frightening - he really hadn't wanted her to see him like this.

"N-no Jami..." He swallowed back a choke. "A'am fine, I jus', I jus'..." Struggling to speak, he turned his head away, looking outwards towards the sea. There didn't seem to be a paticularly easy escape route, at least not one that he'd be able to access without swimming. "I jus'...," he muttered. It was becoming difficult to hide that fact that he was genuinely touched by Jami's insistence - why wasn't she leaving him already? He'd lost the fight, and he'd gone as low as he could.

"Jus' wanna sleep..." He rubbed his face against his arms tiredly, as if attempting to fall asleep right there and then. He really did have the urge to sleep, despite knowing that he shouldn't do it, considering his position.

The bright light was blinding, having been accustomed to the darkness, and he shut his eyes to defend himself from it. "Please, Jami, I don't, I don't need - a'm fine," he insisted. "Leons still there... jus' go..." He really couldn't stand the way he needed to be rescued by Jami - it really seemed he couldn't do stuff for himself these days.

Leon released his wings again and, though the feathers were their proper color again, he could still feel that they had been injured. He could feel that were freshly healed and got that sense whenever the wind hit the area that Jami had burned. It made him angry all over again.

He flapped his wings, scaling the cliffside a bit, then kicked off of it and took to the air. He wasn't sure if he could throw his energy the same way Jami threw her fire, but he figured all he had to do was mold it first. Using his energy he made a sphere about the size of a baseball. He trew it in the air twice to test its weight and solidity. Then he shot it like a bullet from a gun, directly at Jamis's wings. He watched the flaming sphere barrel towards the girl's back and thought, Let's see how she likes it.

Jami was scared Owen was going to drown. "Owen! No! don't fall asleep. Wait just a bit longer, please!" She started thinking. He is a lizard. They have cold blood. The water was cold. It all came together. She started a flame and willed it to hang next to Owen hoping to warm him. As soon as she had done that though she was hit. She gasped and felt a burning in her back. It was searing and full of anger. Leon was still here.

She lost her grip for a second. Just one, and started tosink in to the cold depths of the icy water.She grabbed at the rock but it was too wet this low down. The fire ball hung in the air still not reacting to her. At least it was stable. Hopefully Owen could see her in the light and help. Where the water touched her wings it steamed and she cried out in pain.

So many thoughts raced in her head. She could swim but the water was so cold it could paralize her. If she tried moving her wings it hurt. And if she continued to grasp at the slippery rock she would eventually tire and no one could help Owen. Yes she was still thinking of his saftly through her pain and scared feelings. Finally she slipped down further she shot out her hand in one last attempt tosay up but her palm swatted at nothing. All she could do was hope she caught onto something before sinking.

Jami's succeeded in snapping Owen back into reality, and he blinked his eyes woozily. It was becming tricky to stay concious, and he could feel his senses numbing slightly. The warmth of the fire did help him slightly, and he did manage to keep his eyes open. That was when he saw Jami attacked. His jaw gaped with pure shock as he watched her fall. "I told you to go!" he yelled, forcing his voice to a higher volume, despite the fact she would probably not hear him.

Peeling one arm away from the rock, he clung on with a trembling arm with the other. Despite the light, he couldn't see well, and his searching arm trashed hopelessly in the water.

Then it touched another hand. He made an immediate grab for it, holding it tightly before trying to heave her up to the surface. What he was not going to have was a drowning friend. "Why didn't you listen..!" he hissed angrily, knowing immediately it was Leon's fault, without even seeing.

It was pure cowardice - running away then attacking from behind. The thought of it made his blood boil - it was so unfair. "What the freaking hell was that for?!" he screamed, knowing the demon should be able to hear him. Both of his arms were preoccupied, so he couldn't attempt a counterattack, no matter how much he wanted to. Leon had stooped too low to be forgiven.

That was it for Leon. If he stuck around any longer now, he'd just get even angrier. anger for him was a weakness. When he didn't think about his actions things had a tendancy to get ugly... as they just did.

He still wasn't entirely cooled down, though, and didn't give himself a chance to care about the predicament Jami and Owen were now in. He had honestly considered helping Owen get to shore before Jami shot, from behind, again. He hadn't wanted him to fall through the lattice to begin with and had felt an obligation to get him out of the water. Now he felt nothing but anger.

A part of him wanted to continue. He wanted to dare Jami to shoot him in the wing again, he almost did. But, instead he only shook his head. Anger is weakness, he thought to himself, and forced himself to, finally, leave the scene.

Jami was scared. She was sinking now. Holding her breath under the water. Her air was running out and she couldn't move in the cold water. She was going to die here. Owen aboove her and the cold sea floor bellow her. Her air was being squeased out of her and soon there would be none left.

Owen's large claw grasped her hand and pulled her up. As soon as Jami could breath she started sobbing. Not from Owen yelling at her not listening to his warning, but from the fact she almost died and he had saved her, yet again. She swung around to the other side of Owen's rock so he wouldn't have to hold her. Jami's arms were tiring though.

She looked through her tears at the rocks behind her she shot her hand out towards one. She hadn't really made something exsplode in a while, only had use her flames. She hoped it would stay controlled. But as Jami willed the rock to level out flat enough to sit on, about ten more behind it exsploded as well. The good thing about this though was the rocks were now level.

"Owen, Go to the level ones. We can talk later. I just want to get out of here..." The tears streamed down her face but her exspression was one of seriousness and fatigue. She clung close to the rock as to let Owen move around her easliy onto the flats areas. As she held tight the flames came towards her, almost like it had emotions and could sense she was in pain. She whispered to it, not having the strength to think straight at the moment. "Follow him and keep him warm."

Jami felt a warm fluid running down her back, blood? That blast couldn't have cut her, only burnt unless it was worse than she thought. As soon as she could get to level earth she would heal herself and Owen.