ᴅ ᴀ ɴ ᴛ ᴇ   ᴊ ᴏ ɴ ᴇ s - ʏ ᴀ s ᴜ ʀ ᴀ ɢ ɪ   +   ʀ ᴜ ʙ ᴀ ɴ ɪ   ʟ ɪ ᴇ ɴ ᴇ s   +   ʀ ʏ ᴀ ɴ  ᴍ ᴀ ʏ ᴇ ᴢ   +   ʙ ᴀ ʀ ᴛ  ᴍ ᴀ ᴛ ʜ ᴇ ʀ s : 

[indent][indent]ᴛ ʜ ᴇ  ᴅ ɪ ɢ ɪ ᴛ ᴀ ʟ  ᴡ ᴏ ʀ ʟ ᴅ :  [b][sub]L I K E  L U K E W A R M  W A T E R[/sub][/b][/indent][/indent][hr]
[center][sub][@Briza], [@Ezekial Wolffe], [@Fish of Oblivion], [@RBYDark], & [@VKAllen][/sub][/center]
 
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. The invisible grip around Dante’s body didn’t quite exert the pressure needed to cut off his circulation or push his bones from their proper place. Nonetheless the sensation of helplessness sent his head reeling and his blood beating in his ears, his expression frozen in its prior horror.
 
Coherent thoughts were as beyond his reach as the others were: he watched them move about, their words as garbled as the thoughts running through his own head. As the sounds coming from their midst grew louder and more aggressive, however, something began to spark off at last in his head. Fear was one thing, but anger was another: it was infectious, and for better or worse, it began to creep its way into Dante’s head, furrowing out his terror in favour of raw frustration.
 
When the other boy rose from the dirt and shoved back at the girl who’d grabbed him, it was just about enough to complete the reaction. Beginning to breathe again, slowly and then increasingly quick and shallow, he filled his lungs with air and prepared to call out-
 
[color=fdc68a]“Well, [b]I[/b] think I gave you guys a fair chance.”[/color]
 
And his words caught in his chest as the crystal plunged through it
 
The next few moments passed in an incomprehensible blur. At the exact moment the crystal was pushed into him, his mind went blank: not so much from pain as from the curious sensation of having something pass through you as easily as you would pass your hand through water. Shock claimed him, and he was all but dead to the world as he was thrown to the ground, as he felt his insides vibrate unpleasantly from the crystal dispersing and spreading throughout him.
 
He stared upwards, frozen in premature rigor mortis as the horrifying scene continued. As his consciousness wavered, the last things he heard were the terrified, stammered whispers of one of the girls, the stuttered horror of the other boy, and the sounds of footsteps as Rubani moved to defend them the best she could. Moments later, and he-
 
“...” Light returning to his eyes, he blinked and moved his hand to his chest. The unpleasant liquid sensation of before was still present, and kept him on the ground as he recovered from his fall: but at the crystal’s apparent point of entry, there was no wound. No no gaping wound, no blood, and not even a hole in his shirt. His sternum seemed entirely undamaged, and there wasn't a hint of pain as he moved to tap it.  
 
He blinked again. His mind began to move once more, and blank panic and shock was replaced with abject disbelief.
 
“What the hell.”
 
[center][hr][/center]
 
Unfortunately for Rubani, the floating child shook his head. [color=fdc68a]“Nuh-uh!”[/color] And raising his hand, the earth followed, creating a short, muddy wall. Not enough to really block any of their fields of visions, but certainly high enough to catch Rubani in the midsection. He giggled, floating down and sitting on the wall’s top. [color=fdc68a]“Oh, so close!”[/color] Even with the mask’s unchanging stare, there was a hint of a mocking grin on that covered face.
 
Rubani nearly tripped over her own feet as she tried to come to a sliding stop. Even so, she somehow managed to stumble into the wall. She had fallen backwards when the demon child mocked her from the wall. Her mind was past caring, however. She had already accepted her death at the hands of the monster; her only concern was making sure as many people as possible got out alive. If she couldn't get past the wall, there was an easier way to get their attention.
 
[b][i]“RUN!!!”[/i][/b] she shouted to the two kids. If that couldn't get their attention, there wasn't much else she could do.
 
Rubani really did not have to yell, [i]RUN!!![/i]  Ryan knew what to do even in her horror stricken state, her adrenaline took over, and in a vain and clumsy attempt to take flight, her hand pressed rudely against Bart, fingers twisting into his shirt and skin for better friction and shoving him further into the ground.  As her body began to make movements for sprinting, Ryan hesitated and quickly turned his attention to Bart, miffed in the ground.  A spare movement to help him up registered through her mind.  However,  the thought did not follow through into her nerves, and the rest of the moment became a black blur as she shoved one boot in front of the other, shoveling her heels into the Digital World’s floor.
 
Bart detected the immense pressure from Ryan’s coarse and rough palms as he attempted to rise and make a run for it. “S-stop! You’re crushing me! Ow!” The pain was enough to paralyse him as Ryan took flight-- a pin cushion to her needle-like fingers that pierced his skin and nerves all the way through to the ground. 
 
As the two ran for their lives, Rubani's worries were still plenty. If they ran, the demon child could still catch him. She just couldn't let that happen. From the ground, she clumsily leapt towards the demon. Her arms reached outward; her goal was clear. If she could grab the demon and distract it for a moment, Ryan and Bart would have a few more seconds to get away.
 
Rubani was too close for the little demon to move off the wall and out of her reach. The fleeing of the other two also captured his attention - muttering something that sounded a lot like “Not again” as he raised an arm, likely to manipulate the ground around the two and entrap them. That was before he noticed Rubani-
 
And before he could react, she reached [i]through[/i] him.
 
The moment hung in the air - Rubani’s arms plunged through something that felt like lukewarm water before connecting with the top of the muddy wall the child sat upon. It seemed to stare at her through the mask, his midsection fuzzing around the arms that were halfway through it.
 
[color=fdc68a]“....whoopsie.”[/color] He darted upwards as if Rubani’s arms weren’t even there. He casually flung an arm outward as he stared down at Rubani, and a smattering of violet crystals landed, points jabbing skyward, by Ryan and Bart’s feet.
 
The feeling of something that wasn't where she thought it was be wasn't a feeling that Rubani felt all too often. Her hands phased through the demon and she found herself falling over the wall and landing back on the ground face first. It took a moment for her to register what just happened. [i]No, I'm sure I didn't miss,[/i] she thought. 
 
Ryan stopped sprinting the second her body was about to barge into the crystal barriers charging at her feet.  Her arms spread-out, trying to stop the momentum and found herself tumbling over, cheek rubbing burns of dirt in her skin.  Her eyes closed in pain as she held back tears; fists clenched themselves as her muscles flexed to push herself upwards.  It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how weak and exhausted she was from everything they had just done -- predominately chasing Bart and getting into a failed wrestling match with him.  She was tired; but her mind wouldn’t let her give up; and all she could do was helplessly whimper Bart’s name.
 
His hand clutched and raked the grass by his palm and rose from his grounded position and propelled himself forward as if a feline had met its match. A flustered and exhausted look bequeathed Bart’s complexion; beads of sweat slithered by the plateau of his forehead and crevices of his cheeks. A sharp, cleanly dissected crystal implanted itself into the ground in front of him and the grip of his shoes managed to stop him from advancing further forward prior to momentum following through his body. There’s a look of surprise. The glasses had unbalanced -- quickly adjusted by with a natural flick of his fingers and scoured around him until he saw that tomboy struggling. Corpse tumbling over.
 
What ensued next probably wouldn’t be good. Rubani’s attempt at distracting the monster had failed, Bart had only milliseconds to think and react as the ground shifts for Bart; breaking him into a sprint with determination and ran to Ryan’s side as he hoisted her up around his shoulder but silent. “Not today. Nooope,” He continued his advance, albeit slower away and further away from the monster (hopefully).
 
Bart’s grasp pulling Ryan over his shoulder caused her mind to try and retract from the disorientation.  She wanted to push herself from Bart like he had some type of cooties, but logically that was an unreasonable decision.  Her body relaxed as it would -- perhaps, selfishly, now, as her heart pounded through her chest, echoing into her eardrums.  The boy was breathing deeply, but all she could hear was her own breaths as her eyes strained to glance around the area.  They were not going to get far anytime soon.