----------------------------------------------------- [i][b]~~~~~~Agrabah (Desert)/Empire-Trident Warship (Interior)~~~~~~[/b][/i] “[color=ed1c24]I am Grandmaster D motherfucker![/color]” Said Dominic, the swell of pride he had for his obviously self-chosen title came through loud and clear as it left his mouth. The seriousness present across his face made the situation even more ludicrous, especially with the now uncontrollable laughter coming from the still clutched Caleb, as well as the embarrassment that Shinto must have had on behalf of his friend. It only took the small tug from Caleb to free himself from Dominic’s grasp, and as he did so, Nomis’ cane tapped loudly against the cold metal floor of the hallway. As Caleb returned to Nomis’ side, the young man’s use of darkness growing more natural every time he used it, the two older men across from the Uncle and Nephew were already on the attack. Though the floating Birugs were quick to focus their sights on the two men, their speed causing them both to come up as two blurring figures for the machines, it didn’t take much to destroy the hovering metal eyes, thanks to the combined effort of Dominic and Shinto. The wild display of lightning passed through the Birugs instantly, with such intensity that the swirling dark gears within the floating cases exploded in a violent shower of red-hot metal chunks. This, along with Shinto’s bullets as they ripped through the remaining Birugs like paper, meant the machines had no chance against the two high-speed men, their metal remains falling into bigger piles by the second. As Dominic and Shinto seemed to slow down for a moment, the two men appearing on opposite sides of Nomis and Caleb, and now being the ones to have the Uncle and Nephew caught between two sides, it was clear this was their one and only chance to strike against them both, if they wanted any way to leave the ship alive. The electricity that built up in Dominic’s hand appeared to grow redder with intensity, as if the Grandmaster knew this one shot needed to be enough to take the older man out, while Shinto’s wild and relentless display of telekinetic shots would be enough to keep Caleb busy but not to kill or even severely wound the boy. It was rare for things to slow down for Nomis. It had been a very long time when the man had a chance to even push his thoughts into something more complicated than his usual calculations, but when he had to, that was when things started to get dangerous. Watching the two as they acted and attacked, the logical path of events ran through Nomis’ mind as fast as the two men moved, perhaps even faster. The idea of trying to pin the Uncle and Nephew was both the most logical, safest, and easiest path the two men could take, and so it was also the one predictable. With cane still resting against the hallway’s metal floor, the sudden and swift arcing motion Nomis made around himself with the item caused the substance of the floor to shoot up as if it was liquid. As fast as the molten metal appeared, the speed at which it immediately re-hardened was even more impressive, the now severely inches thick metal wall had become more than enough to hold off both attacks, the red lightning repelling itself wildly along the smooth reflective surface of the metal as it struck, while the bullets which young Caleb was preparing himself to block were soon buried deeply in Shinto’s own side of the metal dome. Though the creation of the dome had come with a slight screeching sound, a rather eerie silence now filled the hallway, that was until the wave of metal and gears suddenly rose up and struck against Dominic’s back. While the machines had been reduced to nothing bigger than pebbles, the sheer number of them all was like trying to fight against crashing waves, the sudden surprise of it sending Dominic along with the pieces of metal before breaking against the smooth metal dome, like rocks in the ocean. The dark metal hand that tightly clutched Dominic’s shirt and chest came shooting out from the smooth surface of metal the man now found himself against, the striking waves of metal rolling back in on itself to continue the constant motion while the metal dome began to melt back into the floor. Glaring angrily at Dominic now in his tightly clawed grasp, Nomis took a moment to look towards Shinto just as the dome revealed everything that was going on, from both sides. Just as Shinto had the first chance to see the state Dominic was in, already another series of events played through Nomis’ mind. Already the high-powered rifle was rising up to strike him down...the sight of Shinto beginning to levitate himself once more, along with the gathering display of telekinetically floating bullets was a dangerous image to see...something like that was clearly a last-ditch attempt to fight back, yet it took just another swing of Nomis’ cane to bring the whole plan crashing down before it even got far. The slightly crushed bullets, those stopped by the initial appearance of the metal dome, laid now on the ground once the barrier disappeared and also now completely harmless, that was until the flat end of the cane struck one such metal bullet. The metal that once made up the casings of the bullets, now just beginning to float thanks to Shinto, soon began to rip themselves apart into a shower of raining shards, the tough material tearing through Shinto’s clothes with every new exploding bullet. The longer the cane remained touching the spent bullet on the floor, the more violently the shards of metal struck Shinto, swirling around the man with every pass causing a new slash through his clothes or a deeper tear through to his skin. The once ocean of metal that battered against Dominic as this went on, eventually stopped, yet not in any relaxing way. Clumping together first along his arms and legs, the grain like metal soon began to harden and incase around Dominic, the substance travelling up along his body slowly yet always clinging tightly to his body like a tough metal shell. For Shinto, the many lacerations on his body meant not only had he grown weak from the constant razor-like cuts, but the wild tearing from the shards had meant more and more of the pieces of shrapnel stuck through into his body, though by luck the weak feeling his body must have been racked with would have meant he wouldn’t have the strength to feel any of them. If it turned out Nomis was finished with them, of course. Though his cane finally removed itself from the bullet, the sight of Nomis picking it up before turning towards the wall was quickly followed by his arms swinging forward, causing both the now badly wounded Dominic and Shinto to hurl their bodies forcibly right into the hallways wall, thanks to the metal both men had uniquely attached to them. “[color=9e0b0f]So both abandoners are here too, I heard you say? Correct? I guess that settles things then. We’ll just have to tear this useless city apart until we find them.[/color]” Said Nomis as he flung his arms, and in immediate response also Dominic and Shinto, straight back down the hallway and into another wall, yet again with enough force to cause pain. [i][b]~~~~~~Agrabah (Desert)/Empire-Trident Warship (Exterior)~~~~~~[/b][/i] The first feral howl seemed to drown itself out thanks to the wild rushing of sand being swept along by the rough winds of the desert, though with every new accompanying howl their growing sound grew louder and louder. Soon the large pack of abominations clung to the top of the settled warship, their claws allowing those who were eager to get going to slowly pace down the side of the ship with ease. The city of Agrabah off in the distance still had a grand sense about it, even from so far away, yet for the prowling monsters it was a different feeling they had but one they all shared. Their hunger was growing with every passing second, and at the sound of a newer, louder howl, the massive gathering of creatures sounded in unison before charging down the colossal side of the ship and soon towards Agrabah itself, where they would feast on anything they could get their large claws on.