[h1]Injae Park[/h1]
[hr]
"We should totally--"

BANG! BANG!

Way to ruin the moment. Ratchet immediately jumped, skidding on her roller blades again. Kate and Winston ran to catch her and prevent her from cracking her head. "MOTHER OF PEARL!" Ratchet yelled.

"Are you okay?" Winston asked.

Ratchet struggled back to her feet. "I'm fine," she muttered, ripping out the key on her fiberglass arm. "We need to split," she said, as the burly man roared orders (peppered with obscenities).

Ratchet was no military-weapon-expert, so all she saw was "scary-metal-gun-with-dangerous-looking-bullets." Hearing the shots, she turned and saw the black dots flying into the air. She couldn't concentrate on the bullets, but maybe she could work with her wheel; after all, she had some good kinetic energy going there.

"Aren't festivals supposed to be [i]fun?[/i]" asked Kate, running in the direction opposite of the entrance of the Fiends.

"Yes, they're [i]supposed[/i] to be," Ratchet muttered through gritted teeth. She winced as she spotted a falling bullet embed itself into someone's forehead. "Je-[i]sus![/i]"

Ratchet said to Jennifer, "I'm certainly not removing the contents of my pockets for these buffoons." Her wheel still spun. "I think we should turn around and leave, since, putting it lightly, right now I'm liking Rosalina the character better than Rosalina the isle."

"Those guys are scary," Kate whimpered.

Ratchet removed her roller blades and gave them to Winston. "Run--er, roll! I'll give you a head start!" she said, as her brother frantically slipped on the skates. "Are you comfortable? Yes? No? No time! GO!" Ratchet violently flicked her wrist as Winston strapped the last Velcro strip on the roller skate. Winston yelped as Ratchet used her kinetic-energy power to push him away. Ratchet then grabbed Kate's hand and looked around frantically.

"Jen! Follow us," Ratchet called, turning around and dashing in her socks in the direction from whence they came. Ratchet wanted to minimize the amount of trouble that she got into. "Don't listen to what the buff guy's sayin', it'll slow you down."

Ratchet wasn't quite sure how to deal with gunmen, since she hadn't had much experience with gun-toting gangs. Both the cities of Black Fall and Amherst had their share of shady characters, but Ratchet tended to stay away from those folks. That being said, she had her share of flack for her metal arm, and she felt that these wild gang-bangers were inflated bullies. Um, with guns. Yeah.

That, of course, didn't make them any less dangerous, since a bullet is a bullet no matter who shoots it.

"Does this sort of thing happen a lot?" Ratchet called to Jennifer, as she guided Kate away from the chaos.