Sorry, I haven't had a free weekend in forever and I was away for the last two. I promise I'll try this weekend but there's a lot going on!

I haven't been on here for so long! I'm not sure if this fits in with every other post- tell me if it doesn't and I'll try to fix it.

~Shaia

"Will o' the Wisp," I hiss, correcting myself immediately, "Subject Beta. Traitor."

It's time to take matters in my own hands. I glance carelessly at Leopold and the woman- does she look familiar? Yes- I remember seeing her before... somewhere? She was younger then- yes, she was. I decide not to ponder on her- another scientist, wasn't she? She was on my side, and apparently that little girl- Gem, wasn't it?- knew her. I reach into my pocket and take out a small hand gun- coal black. Such a wonderful weapon.

I finger it, stroking the black sides of it. Saana- that traitor- sees it in my hand and her eyes go wide- how innocent, "Scared, aren't you?" I ask, looking at her. 

She shrinks back, but stops herself, lifting her chin defiantly, "I'll never be scared of you... Shaia."

My eyes narrow and I point my gun at her, "You first, then?"

I walk slowly toward, and Skylock pounces at me- still a wolf. Does she really think that shape-shifting can help her? I skillfully leap aside, and she turns back toward me, "Oh, you too?" 

She growls, and I laugh, tossing a side glance at the little traitor, "My little snakies'll deal with you, huh? Ebony- strike." 

He slithers off my wrist, and I smile, "Good girl. Good girl." 

He can deal with the two weak little traitors. Not much they can do, anyways.  

Then I turn back toward Skylock, "Now, let's deal with you, shall we?" 

Then I raise my gun, smile, and squeeze the trigger, "Good-bye, little chickie. This'll be slow and painful- there's one promise I'll keep."

Her eyes go wide, and she tries to dive aside, but she's too slow, and falls to the floor with a shriek. There's one down already. This'll be easy. 

"Nightrunner, care to help?" 

~~~

You guys could find a cure for her, because the bullets were poisonous, but because she dived aside, maybe the bullet went into her arm and didn't kill her? 

Not part of this group, I just wanted to say this story is awesome and interesting. Keep it up! 

~Gem

"NO!" I shout, as Skylock falls to the ground. The ground begins to rumble uncontroably. Rage surges through every inch of my body.  

"Gem, stop this at once!" My mom warns. No. I can't . Stopping is not an option. 

"NO!" I scream, this time at my mom. "I WON"T STOP! THIS IS WHAT YOU MADE ME! ARE YOU HAPPY?!" Sharp spires start coming through the floor and screams come from below. But I ignore it all. I see red. I'm sobbing, I'm screaming. It's too much. "I WON'T STOP!" 

Hey guys, sorry about the really long post (which didn't do much for the plot :P), but I haven't written for a while! I've been missing Zan! And you guys too, of course!

Zandibar~

Shock. That's all I register. Just a single flash of pain, then just shock. I've been hit? I think groggily, That's unusual. Will and I used to joke about my force field, didn't we? It wasn't a real force field, just pure luck, but I hardly ever get hit with a bullet. Good reflexes, maybe. But we'd always laugh about how I could just dive out of the way of a bullet. She'd always tease me about my expressions while doing it, too. I remember that.

But this time, my luck ran out, my reflexes were slow, my force field failed, something didn't work right and I was hit. I feel cold cement on my cheek, but it's only after that when I realize that my shoulder hurts where I hit the ground. Isn't that backwards? Aren't I supposed to feel pain, then cold from the ground? My arm hurts, too, right on the front of the fore arm. Fore paw? I can't even remember what species I am.

I think I'm human, but I don't remember. I check my front limb to be sure. It seems look like a wolf's paw at first, but then it slowly changes to a human hand. The throbbing pain intesifies slightly, but not very much. Not too bad, to be honest. I always thought being shot would hurt more. 

I try to remember everything that's happened in the last few minutes. I think someone else shot at me. Leopold, yeah. But... he missed... because Will shoved me out of the way. Will? Where is she? I don't see her. But I don't see much, actually, because the world is blurry and sparkley.

Back to Will: If she shoved me out of the way, she's on our side, right? Right? I don't know. My brain is so foggy. Is my arm hurting?

There's something wrong. Someone's screaming, I think it's Gem. Have I been shot? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I have. I'm tired. So, so tired. I want to just... fade... fade... away... 

"...lock... Sky... Zandibar. Zandibar!" Someone's calling me. My face hurts. My eyes slowly open, I see a tan blur, hear a smack, then my face hurts again, belatedly.

"Aaayyy..." I mutter. Why is someone hitting me? Never mind. It doesn't matter, I'm going to sleep.

"Nope. Stay here, Zandibar. Zandibar." 

"Stoppit..." Suddenly, my face is very wet and very cold. My brain seems to sharpen, enough for me to weakly bop the person who's been slapping me and dumping buckets of water on my head. "Hey!" I say indignantly, opening my eyes.

"Shh!" Their face is blurred, but coming into focus. I see big blue eyes, peering anxiously down at me. "It's Dawnstreak," she whispers, "Look, Skylock, I'm going to pull you over here. Don't freak out, I don't think I'll kill you." She starts to pull me under a table.

"Ahhh...!" I gasp with pain. Maybe getting shot does hurt after all. But wasn't I shot in the arm?Why does my shoulder hurt? It's spreading, almost like poison...

"Shh!" she hisses again, then I hear a thump as she falls next to me. "Woah, got a bit dizzy there. I guess getting tranquilized doesn't go away all at once, huh?" She sounds remarkably cheerful. If I were in a saner mood this might be weird, but right now it's actually comforting.

I feel her roll my sleeve up to my shoulder. "Ahh, yikes," she mutters, "Look, I won't pretend to know much about this, but I think you may have been poisoned." 

Rex

~

I get to my feet. My vision is sharp. I feel alert and alive. I guess this is what antivenom does. There's almost a sense that something is wrong, in the back of my mind, but I can't place what,  so I ignore it. Scanning the scene, I realize we've pretty much lost the battle.

Zandibar is on the ground,  barely conscious, as the vigilante I don't know pours buckets of water over her head. Saana -- is Saana okay? She stands beside me. Yes. Good. She'll live.

A shriek echoes through the room.  The floor begins to rumble. Gem. What is she doing? She yells through tears, but over the grinding roar of the earthquake she's creating, I can't make out her words. 

The woman standing beside the scientists collapses. I watch as Gem's face twists with conflicting emotions. "Mom?" she screams,  the pitch of her voice rising in hysteria. "Are you happy?"

I'm  overwhelmed.  My brain can't process this much information. Too much is happening at once. I draw a deep breath, all at once shaky and weak.

Saana puts a hand on my arm. "Andy. Get it together. We have a battle to fight."

"We do?" I say, turning to look at her. "Odds are,  the battle will end with us all dead or poisoned or brainwashed."

Saana's eyes are blazing with fire. "Yes, we do. We're alive, against the odds. The odds aren't reliable,  so don't set your fate by them.  Never say die.  Let's fight."

I grin, for the first time in a long time. Side by side, we charge into battle.

~~~

I know that wasn't great and it didn't really advance the plot at all. I haven't really written anything like this in a few weeks,  so I'm just catching up with myself and with Rex's place in the plot.  

I (Zeus) posted.

Zandibar~

"Poisoned?" I repeat, feeling a little twinge of horror go through me, "I- well, that makes sense, considuring... considuring it's Darkness Princess who shot me. Whoops, I'm supposed to call her Shaia now, aren't I? She puts poison on everything. It's a bit extra, to tell the truth. I mean, who needs a poisoned bullet? You already shot me, you have to poison me too? That's just not fair." I'm rambling now, trying to keep myself awake. Because if I go to sleep now, I'm not waking up again. Fairness never had anything to do with that.

"Fairness never had anything to do with anything," I announce. Does that make sense? I don't care at this point. I just don't want to die. To die? Am I going to die? I don't want to die. The pain is passing my shoulder now. 

"Fairness rarely does," Dawnstreak replies, "Someone once told me that the world's not fair. It's more like a circus." I close my eyes, then jerk them open.

"That's true," I whisper. I think that's what Saana and Rex have been saying. Rex would probably roll his eyes at it, but I think Saana might get the humor. Or maybe it'd strike too close to home with her to be funny. 

"Skylock. Skylock, do you have an antidote?" Appearently Dawnstreak has decided to get down to buisness. 

"No... Will'o- er, I mean Will, had the antidote. We usually take turns carrying it, and only one was supposed to leave the house at a time." We made an agreement, so that we wouldn't waste them.

"Where can I get more?" She asks urgently, gently shaking my good arm.

"Um... at our base. The vigilante base."

She sighs softly. "Anything closer?"

I consider for a moment then say, "Well, Shaia probably carries some for emergencies..." 

"Ok, that's not too helpful. We'll figure something out though, don't worry! You won't die."