Round 2: Taylor / Hazelton vs. Dalton / Richardson

Anne's eyes widened in surprise as Riley almost seemed to ignore a shot that tore right at his hip and prepared to kick her into outer space. She braced herself with the skill of a white kid who's never gotten a beating in her life. Luckily, something charged towards her, pulling her away just in time and taking the boy with them as well in a tangled mess of limbs as the three kids flew off the balcony. She managed to collect herself, barely, her tight clutch around the girl had helped with the impact of falling off a balcony.

The numbness in her back was nothing compared to the still present wound in her arm, so the girl pressed an hand over it and gave the wound time, seeing disappear under her own eyes in a few seconds. It was almost delusional, she could still feel a small bit of pain, but it was much better. She didn't have time to celebrate her survival. Chip wasn't anywhere to be seen, but they would hear his golem's footsteps any time soon. She crawled over to Riley, pinning him down on the ground, one of her hands pressed on the tear of ihs jeans, her gift pulsing through her body and trying to worsen the wound to a oint in which he couldn't keep on ignoring it. She doubted it would be efficient trying to hold him on the ground, with him being almost twice her size, but she had to try.

Yes, she did look like Spiderman. Or one of those ninjas. Both really. The thought made his mind go elsewhere, reading the stories over in his mind, absently watching the girl spring off from the wall, taking his partner and Poppy's partner over the edge with her. At the last second, a hail storm of marbles shot towards him as if from a gun. They glittered in the air as if almost raindrops. Deadly raindrops. The movement of the golem to take the majority of this hit awoke Chip from his story mindset.

The creature did a reasonable job blocking the hailstorm. But even then a few made their way past the large creature. The few that got passed buried themselves into the student's arms, legs, torso protected yet again by the book. A mild thought to himself as he compared the two pains he had experienced. He'd gladly have this kind than the one that Cayden had generously hit him with. The boy stumbled from behind the golem--who collapsed and dispersed into a pile of rock and dust, then into black ink of words, that melted into the ground.

Chip barely even looked back, eyes narrowed on the horizon in which they disappeared over. Considering that the battle was not over, Chip did not let his guard down, rather opted to summon another creature. Or rather, in this case; creatures. Page flipping to an undamaged one, another bright glow and flow of words created a swarm of Stymphalian birds. There was little hesitation, half the group swarmed around Chip, while the other half dove off the edge and swarmed Poppy and Anne. Sharp and strong beaks aiming to tear and maim in any sort of way. Their sheer calls echoing though the map in a discordant song.

Riley felt his heart pounding as he flew through the air towards the girl, then it hit him. Quite literally. Next thing he knew he was flying through the air almost as majestic as a penguin. All together they fell to the ground, his back hitting the rocks pushing out the air from his lungs. Just when he regained his breath Anne was on top of him gripping his leg where the flesh showed through. At first he didn't feel the manipulation, then the pain became unbearable and his hands fumbled against her, kicking his legs to lose her grip.

The sudden shriek of birds startled him as the swarm of feathers engulfed the two girls. Riley took the chance to throw Anne off of him and he jumped on top of her, being the one to pin her down. Riley screamed as the pain that coursed through his leg made its way to his hands, looking to grab her wrists to send his pain through his opponent.

She'd always been bouncy. It was one of her few natural talents, besides the whole superpower thing. But still. Ouch.

They hit the dirt rolling, Anne and Riley's soft and squishy bodies pillowing the impact for the most part, and Poppy managed to tumble away to faceplant in the grass as the two lovebirds got lost in their own tango. She pushed herself back to her feet, fighting the dizziness that rushed to her head as the world re-orientated itself right side up. "Gyahhh..." she moaned as she found her balance again. Did they get Capri Suns after this whole thing was over, or like, a participation ribbon, at least? Even if they did win, she wasn't sure how many more rounds of this she could take. Yeah, it was awesome, but so was lots of things that were bad for you, like huffing glue. Fighting at this level would put most people in the hospital for a month, even if they did come out on top.

The groan of the stone giant snapped her back into the heat of the battle, and she looked up just in time to watch the thing crumble into pebbles. Wait. That actually worked? Poppy cracked a lazy grin, running her fingers through her hair as the golem melted into a puddle of black ink. Her smile was slow to fade, but it melted off her face little by little, starting with the glow that spread out from the paper, then the stream of words that took shape, then color, a black swarm that filled the horizon, bronze beaks gleaming in the sun.

Friggin'—... She was starting to wonder if she should've listened when her nana said she should read more. Poppy stepped back, grinding her heel into the earth, twisting her body as the flock surged down around them, filling the air with the shriek of steel feathers and sharp war-cries.

Ow.

Birds swerved in, winding around, diving, pecking. A sharp sting flashed across her cheek where one swept past, a lock of  "Frick—..." One picked at her jacket, ripping and tearing at the fabric, and then another on the other shoulder, spearing, digging, ripping into flesh, a dark stain spreading down her torn sleeve. It felt like someone taking an ice pick to bone.

Okay, oh cheese and crackers, ow. Her teeth clamped down on her tongue as she bit back a gasp of pain, flooding her mouth with the taste of blood. She felt herself driven back, more and more weight tacking onto her limbs as the birds descended on her, trying to shred her into pieces where she stood. Poppy sucked in a hoarse breath, hunched her shoulders, and pivoted on her pitching foot, slapping her arm through the air thick with wings.

There was an ear-splitting rattle, and the hideous pitched squawks of a good half dozen or so of the little rascals.

Imagine slapping throwing knives away with a frying pan. That was the kind of sound they made.

One hit turned them from vicious beasts to shrapnel bombs, wild projectiles blasting in all directions, screwballing back toward Riley, Anne, Chip, the other birds, anyone or anything that held any sort of shape in the area, bladed wings slicing the cherry blossoms to pieces. Poppy dropped back to her other foot, following up with a backhand. Deep cuts gouged into the grass, stone, and wood, limp and broken shapes plopping back down to earth to melt back into the grooves in the smooth cobble.

It looked like an IED had gone off.

If her partner in crime got caught up in the backlash, oh well. Right now, her main focus was not getting torn to pieces. This was why she'd never bought into the PETA bullcrap. She'd been swooped at by this angry magpie who lived near her house, and she'd been bitten by an uncle's crazy parrot, but neither of those things had tried to literally shred her into printer paper on the spot. If anyone could keep cool then, they were crazy.

Her ears rang with the shriek of metal. She let her hand fall to her side, panting, the blood winding down her fingers where lacerations had formed along her hand and up her wrist, all the way up to the elbow. "Owowowowow...." she hissed through her teeth, clenching and unclenching her fist. Alright... So that mostly worked. Birds still circled and hummed around them, lightning fast, but at least she had a bit of breathing space...

It was felieving to see that it actually worked and that she could be useful too, at least for a while until Riley realized who he was pinned by and with a very 'manly' scream took control of the situation. The girl felt nothing at first, but the pain got increasingpy bad to the point where she had to keep her teeth grit just to not let out gasps of pain, because that would have sounded weird. The screeches of birds overhead made her nervous, having Poppy dealing with the entire swarm by herself eidn't seem like a good thing, but she couldn't do anything while she was still being held down.

Neat Anne hummed as the birds began to divebomb in all direction, hitting the ground and raising clouds of dust and pebbles before returning upwards. The things looked eerily familiar, and some took the liberty to tear at her clothes, shredding her sleeves up viciously, leaving red marks on her arms that proceeded to swell up, the air making them sting. She forced her hands against Riley's chest, supporting him as the birds that seemed quite attracted to the vulnerable tangle and pecked at the two with their sharp beaks. His entire weight was too much for he too escape by brute force, and the pain he sent through her body, increasingly hard to bear, having to source which meant she couldn't quite use her gift to ease it, she took her chances and focused her mind solely on the boy's hip wound, letting her gift pulse throuh his wound, continuing the damage from before. Even if she wasn't quite as strong as she'd be if she wasn't imobilized, the girl hoped to deal some damage and wreck Riley's concentrarion for a couple of seconds to slip away and hopefully shoot him.

There was a narrow of the blond's eyes as he saw debris fly in all directions after sending them down. Lips pursed, the page glowed once more, and another flock--full this time--was sent streaming down in a fury of screams and flatter, once again attacking both opponents in a similar manner. If this was insanity-- it was working pretty well.

Riley groaned against his power as it shot waves of pain into the girl. He fumbled against her arms as she tried to get away, surprised she was not completely weakened by his power. This was the first time he's really let it out so it coursed through him like fire, a fire he's held up for far too long. A metal bird came flying into his back, along with more to follow. He tried to duck out for cover as Poppy blasted bird after bird away. The swarm was above him as well trying to go after Anne, his distraction of the birds and Anne's push made him loose his grip. Riley sneered as Anne's hand came loose and made contact with his hip once again. He shifted his weight putting his knee on her stomach and raising a fist to pin her right in the jaw. She wouldn't get away that easily, he was too worked up for this opportunity to go to waste.

And she'd thought she'd been doing so well too. Just as she swatted them away, another flock came streaming out from between the pages of the book in the boy's hands, like nothing. "Laaaame..." she groaned, her expression deflating. Frick. How was she supposed to compete with any of this?

What else could she do but blink, sigh, swallow, and try and brace for a second storm? She dropped back a step, then another step, until her back pressed up against the wall. They came swooping down, light rippling over their steel feathers like water. She curled her nails into her palm, fighting the sharp needles of pain that shot up her arm. Man, what to do, what to do... Poppy sucked in a deep breath, drawing her power into her legs like a spring, and set her foot against the wall.

Redirect that momentum. If she didn't put them back on offense, they'd just get worn down by these stupid things.

She pressed off, blasting forward, feet gliding inches above the ground. Ten feet, fifteen feet. The birds swept down around her as she blew through the thick of the shrieking cloud of beating wings and gleaming beaks. Her hand shot out as one banked toward her, long thin bill leveled toward her neck.

SQUAWK.

Its raucous cry caught in its throat as her bloody fingers clenched around its neck. She wound back, knocking one of its friends into a death spiral with the backhand, and swung forward in the same fluid motion as she bombed past Riley and Anne like a breakaway train, the bird's little legs still kicking in the air, aimed to clock Riley across the side of the head.

She didn't stop to see or check if she actually hit her target. Poppy burst out from the other side of the storm looking like she'd been wrung through a woodchipper, but she only had eyes for the small shape up on the balcony. Her foot touched down, the bird's body swinging around in her hand as she launched up, ten feet, fifteen feet...

Poppy twisted in the air, whipping Chip's feathered friend around as she spun, and let go. The bird careened back down toward the boy at missile speeds, the air whistling through its metal feathers.

Anne groaned with relief as he briefly shifted away, the pain weakening enough for her to take lungful of grateful air and feel her muscles no longer numb. Short was he joy when Riley brought down his fist, punching her in the face, his gift still pumping numbness and pain through her body, thought not as strong as at first. Just when it seemed like the sky was clearing of the shining metal birds, feathers scattering and cutting subtly at her skin, a new wave washed in, one diving to peck at her bare arms, cuts appearing out of nowhereon her after as the sky got dark again. The Summer yelped and shook her arm to make it go away, the bird flying off to circle close to them above their heads.

Her stomach was getting crushed under the teenager's knee, the pain becoming increasingly hard to keep quiet, arms bleeding from various small scratches. The kid rook her chances and, arching her feet to lock them around the boy's waist, headbutted him with the top part of her head in the forehead, a shadow swerving towards him at the same time. It felt hard to move after that, she just wanted to shoot them with a crossbow.

This time, Chip wasn't expecting the bird to come flying back at him. Nor were the birds themselves. They saw the projectile as one of their own and parted ways to make room for the creature. Unfortunately leading directly to where Chip stood, blue eyes peering up from the book. The spear like beak tore through his shoulder, feathers spraying and slicing his face like paper cuts. His shoulder took most of the attack, pain throbbing. No, pulsing. He couldn't move his arm very well, each time he tried, blood dripped through his clothes. If anything, it looked like heavy theatrical make up. But real. It hurt. His lungs made it hurt to cry out in pain, so the boy held his tongue, opting to take a seat on the ground. Cautiously, he watched through the gaps in the wall of the birds.

The dead birds faded into the ink and vanished, remaining ones continued their relentless attack, screams turning shriller and shriller as time passed.

Riley felt a sense of accomplishment as his fist connected with Anne's face though it was quickly knocked out of him with a headbutt. His forehead throbbed and the feeling of blood rushing to his head washed over him. His grip on Anne's wrists were let go and he kneeled limply on her stomach. That was when the bird hit. The metal slicing his ear created a Van Gogh masterpiece and the rest of the metal feathers slicing at his scalp leaving small, yet bloody, cuts to blend with his black hair. Riley stood up over Anne, waiting for her next move as his head stopped rushing and trying to regain control of his power. He would be ready for the next attack, whether it was a metal bird coming for his head or a physical head.

A shrill racket exploded out from the cloud of wings, piercing a hole through the wall of birds and right to the target in the center. Bang. She wasn't one of those people that got off on beating up little kids or anything, but how couldn't she take a little bit of satisfaction out of that? Alright. A lot of satisfaction. For a second, she almost forgot the pain up along her arm, hanging suspended in the air for what seemed like an eternity before gravity caught back up to her.

Geronimo.

She dropped like a rock, her frayed and torn jacket whipping in the air behind her, streaking toward Chip and his wall of little monsters like a comet, lashing her leg out in a wild kick.

Anne's temple pusled with pain as she pulled back after headbutting Riley, a swooping into his head soon enough and making the boy lose ballance, the thing scramble in the air, slashing her hand with its claws as if flew away wildly. She felt the huge weight on her chest lift as the boy got up, and the girl made a run for it, crawling and rolling away from him, one her hands reaching for her crossbow as she got up a couple of feet away, panting. A flock of birds was circling the sky, the smell of blood must be peaking their interest as the fight went on. The Summer fled her enemy, retreating towards the main part of the arena, pressing her hands over her wounded arms feeling the pain ease little by little.

The birds responded in kind, launching themselves in a suicidal abandon. Screams continuously growing in volume. The summoned creatures attacked with accuracy, swiping from the side to redirect the girl's attack, biting, clawing, in anyway they could to turn gravity against her.

Blue eyes watched as she fell towards him. No longer was he struck by awe at her abilities. Instead, he pushed himself to the side, too much in pain to use his one arm. At this point, he hoped that the birds would take care of the rest. As soon as that mentality came, it left. Chip rolled to the side, unable to keep back the cry of pain he was holding in, tears specking the side of his eyes at the sharp pain. As a last resort, the book hovered near the student.

Riley stooped over taking a few breaths as his opponent ducked away. His hands shuffled in the depths of his pockets pulling out a few throwing knives and gripping two in each hand. He chucked the first two towards Anne giving himself some cover to run towards a wooden pillar. His hip ached as he ran over, his limp slowing him down and the worry about the arrows at the back of his throbbing mind. When he made it, his back pushed against the pillar a sharp exhale leaving his lungs as he tried to regain his breaths. They were both weak, but he had the high ground, his fingers gliding over the sharp blade of the knife. He peaked around the wood throwing two more at Anne; his practice and precision slowly coming back to him.