[center][IMG]http://i64.tinypic.com/a2973n.png[/IMG]

[center][IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/2mcgmfn.jpg[/IMG][/center]
[IMG]http://i68.tinypic.com/e8an9e.jpg[/IMG][img]http://orig06.deviantart.net/7c36/f/2008/219/2/6/fire_emblem_lyn_by_enixcloud1.gif[/img]
[/center]


[hr][hr][center][color=a2d9ce]𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟛, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘   / /   ℂ𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕟 ℂ𝕦𝕝𝕡𝕒𝕖 𝟙   / /   ℕ𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕟 𝕆𝕦𝕥𝕤𝕜𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕤   / /  𝟚𝟙𝟚𝟞[/color][/center][hr][hr]

Cal felt a surge of excitement as the bird head lunged and missed. She grinned smugly as her sword connected. Although it wasn't where she wanted, she supposed any hit was better than no hit at all. Her sense of accomplishment, however, was to be short lived. Blood splashed the back side of her arm and torso, but she spared it no thought. Landing on the ground, she twisted her body away from the massive beak as it tried to peck her, the wheels of her mind spinning at a million miles a minute-- trying to come up with her next move. 

The feeling was gradual-- first, a warm tickling sensation as it rapidly ate through her shirt and then, searing pain. "[color=a2d9ce]Agh![/color]" her jaw dropped, lips curled and everything seemed frozen in time as she arched away from what she thought might be fire. Looking under her shoulder, she caught a glimpse of the bloody rash before the bird head's beak, a grim reminder that time had indeed [i]not[/i] stopped, came crashing down directly in front of her. 

A ribbon of the creature's blood splattered across her cheek as she staggered backwards. She winced and exhaled sharply, realizing she had been holding her breath. Her hand shot to her face and hovered over the wound as it burned. She quickly regained enough wits to dodge the third beak attack, but the same question from before had wormed it's way into her mind-- fight or [i]run[/i]? She'd only been fighting this thing for about a minute and she was already hurt. How much more could this thing harm her??

Gripped with apprehension, she knew she couldn't keep backing away from the blows forever. Eventually the monster would try something else or Cal would find herself encroaching on another teams territory-- then she'd have a whole lot more to worry about. What she needed to do now was calm down. She wasn't thinking clearly... and if she lost control of herself-- she might lose control of [i]that.[/i] Her eyes flickered to her shadow. It was long and stark black due to Ethan's light behind her. 

It might've been her imagination or the way Ethan's light was rapidly brightening, but she saw her shadow squirm and the hand hovering over her cheek quickly clapped over her mouth, muffling a startled scream. She couldn't run-- people were counting on her. Not to mention the prospect of ending up like one of those students from that morning wasn't exactly a great alternative. Failure simply wasn't an option right now. She had to do something... do something... DO [i]something[/i].

From her shadow, her eyes flitted to the quadruped's legs. If attacking from above was out of the question, then maybe.... She dove forward to dodge the next attack, trying to position herself between the monster's four legs without getting trampled. She grit her teeth and swung at the front leg, her eyes watering as her body twisted against the pain in her arm and side.