The Good Boy, Bad Girl, Evil Mom and a Little Heart (WOOF)

Madeline watched as the boy flipped over her. He was quite acrobatic much like her daughter. Still, this wasn’t the time to be admiring the skill of others. Having missed her mark, Madeline used the momentum of her uppercut to rise to her feet and simultaneously turn around. She was now back on her feet and her gaze quickly tracked Johanna and then the boy. The ashen haired teen was beginning her descent back down to the roof. And the boy was already moving back on the offensive. This two versus one was basically a one and a half on one with how badly Johanna had been pummeled to this point, and that pain was only going to continue.

Madeline quickly took the shield off her arm and chucked it at her falling daughter. The large metal disk would slam into Johanna’s ribs with a hollow metal noise. The impact sent the girl flying a few feet away before she slammed into the ground where she let out a loud gasp. While Johanna’s ribs had taken a pounding previously, the young girl found this most recent attack didn’t hurt as much as the previous blows. As a mater of fact most of the pain seemed to had faded.

Looking up Johanna noticed that Jake was running head on into Madeline. His fist was alight and the girl knew what was coming. She tightened her fist knowing the pain he was going to be in if that blow connected, but to her surprise the boy tried to halt his advance and change up his attack. The awkward motion of it said that the red punch wasn’t what Jake was going for in the first place. This presented a new problem now however. Because Jake had to shift all his wait around after he tried to slow down, he had lost a lot of power behind his kick.

Madeline’s eyes were fixated on the boy. Her eyes lit up with curiosity at the sparking red energy around his fist. She was about to see what secrets the boy was hiding, or at least that’s what she thought till he began to skid along the rooftop. Apparently he didn’t want to use this power. Was he afraid he’d hurt Johanna’s mother? Or was it going to do more harm than good? These questions only intrigued Madeline further. She’d have to try and draw out such an attack again, but for now she had to teach him and Johanna a lesson.

As the boys leg came crashing down, she reached up with her metal hand and caught his leg around the calf muscle. At the same time Johanna attempted to catch her mother off guard. She reached down for the shield Madeline had thrown at her, and decided to return the favor, by throwing it back.

With a thrust of her metal arm she’d throw Jake backwards before shooting a blast of dark energy in his direction. She’d then turn around at catch the shield her daughter threw at her. “Oh come now. I thought it was time to get serious? Surely you aren’t giving it your all.” she said, shooting a glance in Jake’s direction. Her intention was clear, she wanted the boy to attack her again. Maybe this time he’d use that strange red attack for real.

Jake hadn't been paying attention to Johanna, having thought the girl could maybe recover, his eyes glanced over to her in the seconds his leg had been caught by Madeline, leaving him in a rather terrible position, but his focus was on the situation Johanna was in, one that spoke no good to him.

However, his focus was torn away from Johanna when he felt his foot leave the ground and he was thrown backwards, a ball of dark like energy coming his way. Eyes wide, Jake unleashed his wings once more and curled them in front of him. Despite the new shield protecting his body, when the ball made impact, he let out a shrill yell of pain, his wings falling uselessly to the ground and dragging him back to it along with them.

His right arm however, was held up, avoiding the ground, and as Jake stood, he tried to move his wings, only to hiss once more. The ugly grey feathers were beaten and muffled, dented. The dark energy doing more damage then was the norm for his resistance to pain. Seems like his body had grown soft to shadow like ability's... Why?

The wings did return into his skin, but the process was slow, painful and Jake winced with every second that passed till they vanished, and even then, he felt the phantom pain. Forget not being able to fly, Jake was sure he wouldn't be able to get them out in this fight less he risk hurting himself just by having them out. But for now, he had to ignore the pain, with the taunt Madeline made in his direction. He chose to fight, and he had yet to do anything to the woman. Looking to his right hand, and along his arm, he saw the red energy looked thinner then normal, but was still there. He shook his arm, attempting to focus on it and remove it, but found no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.

Looking back to the demon lord, Jake let his red covered arm rest behind his back, keeping it's distance away from everything, and with that, began walking towards Madeline. "Sorry. But one wrong move, and no one is happy." He spoke as he began picking up speed on his way to the demon lord. Without his right arm, and making sure it didn't do anything stupid like touch something, his options were limited, but he wouldn't stop trying.

Breaking into a sprint towards Madeline, Jake moved his right arm close to his chest as he attempted to get in close before stepping forwards but to the side of Madeline, making a kick for the side of the goddess's knee, hoping to at least make her buckle so Johanna could possibly get a shot in, cause as he was now, he wasn't helpful, nor was she exactly in the best state to do anything herself, but he had to hope her will to fight was stronger then the pain she felt now.

Madeline had decided long ago that she was going to make this little spar challenging for both Johanna and Jake. Though the two of them weren’t much of a threat to her currently, the demon queen decided to have a little alone time with the boy and his intriguing power. Looking in her daughter’s direction, Madeline held out her metal hand, palm facing down. Then with a simple motion a large wall of ice, ten feet tall, formed across the entire width of the roof isolating Madeline and Jake on wide side, while trapping Thalia and Johanna on the other.

Of course while she was doing this she didn’t think to bother to keep an eye out for the boy, so naturally his kick to her leg came as a surprise and caused her to fall to one knee. The moment the goddess felt her knee hit the rooftop she immediately tilted her body away from Jake and rolled back onto her feet. She flashed him a devilish smile before waving her shield away and summoning a small sword to her hand in its place. “You see child, that simply wont do. If you or Johanna want to stand any chance of coming out on top, you’re going to have to go all out. You should never hold back on your opponent.”

In some ways the demon found herself enjoy this little soiree. And if truth be told, while she did want to see the extent of both Jake’s and Johanna’s powers, she was also taking this time to teach them in a way. Perhaps if they picked up on what she was doing to them, they’d realize how they could use similar tactics against her.

Madeline took the sword she had summoned and held it out in front of her. The blade quickly became engulfed in flames. Her metal arm dropped to her side and became bathed in shadowy energy. She made a quick stomp into the ground almost as if she were going to rush in at the boy, but instead stopped dead in her tracks. Rather than diving head on, the stomp served another purpose. A tendril of darkness would sprout from the ground behind Jake in an attempt to hit him square in the back.

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the frozen wall, Johanna gingerly made her way over to the icy blockade. She could barely make out what was going on, on the other side. She didn’t like the idea of him butting into this fight. She didn’t like him being trapped on the other side of this frozen wall with her mother. She didn’t want to see him get hurt. She silently cursed herself for worrying about Jake. Why did she care so damn much about a boy she’d only been around with a few times? She clenched her fist and pounded it against the ice wall.

She had to get over this barricade. She extended her arm and placed her finger tips against the wall and attempted to crawl up the frozen surface. Her ability to crawl on walls seemed to be working for the most part, but every so many steps she found herself sliding down the wall. She let out a groan of frustration and beat on the wall once more. Then out of nowhere, Johanna felt an odd sensation. She peered over her shoulder to find Thalia trying to lift her up over the wall. “What are you doing?”

The little demon flashed the teen a smile as she continued to hoist Johanna up with her hair. “Oh don’t worry bout little ole me. Madeline’s a big fan of uneven fights. If anything the idea of me helping you will only entice her more.” Thalia had pushed Johanna up as high as she could, and provided a good enough base for the girl to attempt her ascension of the frozen wall. “Besides all that. I really don’t want to see either of you get seriously hurt. You’re fighting a loosing battle.”

Johanna shook her head slightly as she latched back onto the wall and began to climb. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” she mumbled to herself.

Jake was generally surprised his foot made contact with the knee well enough, jumping away, he turned to face the Queen only to see exactly why he got the hit in so easily. A wall of ice separated the two from the others. Jake at first couldn't understand why, but then Madeline spoke, and it all became clear. She wanted him to 'go all out' which meant to him. She wanted his red energy to be used.

He thought about it, and still decided against it. Too dangerous in this location. Far too dangerous. He could still fight with just his left hand and feet. He had too.

Watching the demoness prepare, a sword engulfed in fire, a hand covered in shadows, he saw her step forward as if to prepare for a lunge, but as soon as the foot made contact, she stopped. Was it a taunt? A threat... An attack. His mind thought of all the times she had used tendrils to catch him and Johanna by surprise or midst attack. Thinking on that, Jake started to move to the left to dodge, only just remembering if he didn't dodge it, his right arm could be hit directly. So with his fumble, Jake suddenly shifted his weight from the left back to the right, thanks to that however, the left side of his back made contact with the tendril that had been used to attack him.

Stumbling to the right, his left hand gripping onto his now pained ribs, Jake stared directly at Madeline. "I can't.. I can't go all out. Because if I did. Too many people would be in danger. So unless you can somehow take this fight to a wasteland that doesn't care for damage. I can't." Jake mostly focused on the ice wall as he spoke his words. Johanna, the people in the surrounding buildings. The people in thee building right under his feet. To this date, Jake has only ever managed two attacks on people with the red energy, with simply his fist where the energy was concentrated, thus the rest of his arm carried the force of a normal attack. Like that, it was as if he was tapping objects, and simply by tapping them, buildings would deteriorate with the sheer force of the tap crashing into them. This time however. His entire arm was covered in the stuff, which meant his arm carried the entire force.

Taking a deep breath, Jake ran towards Madeline, his right arm still held close enough to his chest, running till he got close and then jumping over her, high over her, twisting his body so his feet landed first, Jake then quickly pushed off directly at Madeline like a bullet, knowing any slower and he would have lost the little traction ice offered, flipping his body forwards so that he could rise his leg to bring a powerful axe kick directly on the top of her. The kind of attack if he hit the roof, he might accidentally collapse it. If he thought about it for a second, it reminded him of the time him and Ann fought, where a kick from the sky onto the shield she held brought them both under the roof and into the building. Better times that was.

“Not all of your fights are going to be in isolated areas. There will be times where you must do whatever it takes to bring down your opponent no matter the cost.” The demon queen reared up for an attack as she spoke. Would you be willing to go all out if I were more of a threat? What happens when you come face to face with an enemy that wont be reasoned with?” These were things that both Jake and Johanna needed to know if they were going to make it in this world.

Not every opponent they came across was going to be reasonable. Not every enemy was going to be their parent who just so happened to be holding back. At the end of her last sentence, Madeline Launched herself at the boy or at least where the boy was standing. The two had over shot one another. The boy’s kick would meet nothing but air, and Madeline would find herself floating off the side of the building, sword extended. She turned around just in time to see the boy’s heel come crashing down into the roof. The resounding impact caused the roof to crack and cave in, in a few places.

On the other side of the wall, all Johanna could hear as she climbed were Jake’s and Madeline’s muffled words. This was suddenly followed up with the sound of cracking concrete. This brought a bit of worry to Johanna. The only thoughts going through her mind was that Jake was in terrible danger, and she needed to make it over this wall. The boost Thalia had provided was more than enough for Johanna to finally make it to the top, where she stood on the ledge and looked over the scene. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw that the cracked roof was the result of Jake missing his attack, rather than Madeline putting him through it.

“Ah look whose finally risen to the challenge! I take it Thalia gave you a little boost? So reliable that one is. Gotta admire her spirit.” there was no hint of aggression in her voice at all. Madeline had expected the tiny demon to help the teens out in some way. She was actually more surprised that this was all Thalia did to help. Perhaps she was worried Madeline would be upset with her, or rather perhaps she didn’t want to get on Johanna’s bad side. This was her fight after all.

“Well so long as you’re here, you might as well help your friend out. He seems to be holding back, and that just wont do. Same goes for you!” She said. Her amber eyes shining in the light as though they were aflame.

Johanna gracefully leapt from atop the glacial wall and landed with a soft thud not to far from where Jake had forced the roof to cave in, a small wince of pain coming to her as her ribs felt the shock of the landing. She then made her way over to Jake. Fist thing she noticed was his hand. It was lit up with that same red glow she’d seen before. Judging by the way he was cradling that arm and the fact it wasn’t broken signaled to the ashen haired girl that something wasn’t right. “Your powers acting up, or you just happy to see me?” she joked, flashing the boy a reassuring wink that said she was ok.

Jake stared hard at Madeline, thinking over her words. He hadn't paid much attention to them midst his own thoughts and planning of attack, but has he jumped back to avoid the absolute sinkhole of a roof he had just made, he almost wanted to laugh out loud. She said almost exactly what he had said to Red not too long ago. She was someone who could be reasoned with... No. Someone who he know wasn't here to cause havoc, just to find her daughter, which in turn, became a fight because of his stupid freaking mouth.

Eventually, Johanna made her way up the wall of ice and towards him, making a joke about his situation the only way she could. Which all in all, meant she was okay, wink or no wink. "Aww, Ann, you know I'm always happy to see you." Jake said back with maybe a little too much meaning. A mistake if he didn't want Ann thinking he really meant that, now did he? Right? Eyes glancing to Madeline before the hole in the ground, he tilted his head back to Johanna, a plan in mind.

"Jokes aside, yea, bit useless if I don't want to... Ann, remember how I can keep finding you. Distract your mom for a moment... I'll give you an opportunity of attack." Jake spoke to the girl in a hushed voice while pointing past Madeline to the edge of the building, hoping it would give Madeline the illusion he would come from the behind the demon goddess. Giving a quick nod, Jake walked over to the hole in the roof he had made and jumped down it, kicking whatever roof remained till he found himself inside the building. Madeline nor Thalia knew about his red vision, with Madeline only having witnessed it once when he attempted to use it's bright light that emitted from his eyes because of it to blind her, something that didn't seem to amount to much success, this use of them however, would be much better. Hopefully.

Turning his red vision on, Jake slammed himself though wall and door as he made his way to under Madeline, waiting for what would seem like a perfect opportunity to  jump up and slam his left hand though the roof, attempting to grip the goddess's ankle and using the leverage of the roof with his feet, pull her leg down, pinning the woman inside the roof and giving Ann the moment she would need to get a good hit in. Of course, he had to wait for the right opportunity that was.

The girl shot Jake a blank expression mixed with a bit of shock. Her cheeks turned a shade of red before she shook her head back and forth. “Not the time or place.” she said. Her turquoise eyes turned to her mother who slowly descended down to the roof several feet away from them. “While you two do look cute together I hate to be the one to remind you we’re in the middle of a fight here. Every moment wasted brings loss that much closer.” This fight had turned into more of a teaching experience by this point versus therapy for her confused and angry daughter.

Madeline sought battle like a drug addict pursued their next fix. Unlike the drugie, Madeline couldn’t feel the full embrace of her destructive tendencies unless there was a challenge. The only way she was going to get that here was if she tried to help the two teens overcome the mountainous obstacle before them. She watched Johanna and Jake mumble to one another and let out a sigh. Finally the two seemed rearing to go. Jake quickly ducked down into the building and left Johanna behind.

It didn’t take a goddess of war to see what the two had planned. The boy was going to surprise her by attacking her from behind, while Johanna attacked from the front. What she didn’t count on, was Jake’s ability to see through walls. As his hand burst up from beneath her, a wave of surprise and admiration over took the queen. The boy’s hand latched tightly around her ankle and tried to drag her downward. Madeline took her sword and slammed it into the roof to provide some stability and to prevent herself from being dragged down any further.

Johanna took Jake’s surprise attack as her chance to attack her mother. The demon goddess’ attention seemed fixated on the hand around her ankle. Madeline shot her daughter a glance as the ashen haired girl rushed at her. She was getting ready to unload a heavy punch into Madeline’s face, but the demon had many tricks up her sleeves. Her mouth opened up wide and a torrent of flame shot forth. The sudden burst of flames caused Johanna to stop dead in her tracks as she shielded her face from the harsh flames. Luckily for her she was fire proof.

Using the fire as a way to break up the one two punch. Madeline returned her focus to freeing her leg from Jake’s grasp. With one forceful tug she pulled her leg free. Her right palm immediately shot forward, aimed directly at the hole Jake had caused with his hand. A sphere of dark energy began to form. Before she could squeeze of the attack, she was speared by her daughter and tackled to the ground. Johanna tried to use this to her advantage, but any attempt to pummel her mother was stopped when Madeline reached up and grabbed both of the girl’s wrists. She lifted her head with enough force to deliver a pretty rough headbut which caused Johanna to recoil back in pain.

Madeline then jumped high into the air. Her amber eye’s peered over the battle worn rooftop. Somewhere beneath the surface Jake was hiding. She’d have the advantage up here for now. “Much better. You actually managed to put me on my back. Now if only you could just finish the job. Either of you have something that can do that? Hmm?” Madeline again attempted to call Jake out on the power he was trying so desperately to abstain from using.

The moment had come, Jake had punched his hand though the roof and grappled the demon goddess by her ankle. Watching events unfold with his eyes, and did his eyes widened in surprise at the fact Madeline showed another damned power. Shadow's, flight, ice, fire from her mouth?, weapon forming and physical capacity. What more did the demoness hide behind those amber eyes?

He fought to keep her leg trapped, but Madeline proved to be much stronger then he, pulling her leg free and forcing Jake to grip a hold of the edge of the building so he did not fall on his back. Which would have proven to be a bad idea with the way a ball of dark energy was aimed at the hole. Thankfully, he was saved by Johanna, who tackled the demon woman to the ground.

Using the opportunity to lower himself back to the ground, Jake sought to move once more and try to grip the demon around her neck, but he was too slow. Watching Johanna receive yet another painful sounding attack, Jake flinched. He had entered this fight to stop that, to stop these attacks on Ann, yet all he had proven to done is get distracted as Johanna continued to receive punishment.

Feeling anger well up inside him, Jake turned his eyes to the now flying Madeline. He couldn't fight her without her being distracted or him hidden. All because he wasn't enough, and he wouldn't allow his power to be enough. Annoyed with himself, Jake had not realized the way his red energy seemed to react to his feelings, covering more then just his arm now, it seemed to have spread over his back and chest, climbing up his neck and towards his face.

He didn't have a choice. If he was going to stop this, ether someone needed to get badly hurt, or Ann had to see that this fight was not needed any longer. Bending a knee to the ground, Jake kept his eyes up and primed his feet to jump though the roof and towards Madeline. What he didn't count on, was how the red energy in that moment, converged on his entire body, making him a being of bright red light before the red energy Jake was so use to shimmered and vanished in one fell swoop, not that he had noticed.

The next second, Jake burst though the roof where the hole was made, shooting at Madeline at a speed both Johanna and the goddess could note he had never reached before, if they could even register the surprise burst of power and speed coming from the boy. He sure couldn't, and because of that, all he could do was just crash fly upwards into at Madeline, where contact would simply be an incredible smash of body on body if he even hit, a miss would mean he'd continue high into the sky, going further then he'd ever reached before. One could also note Jake was a light shade red, with red like sparks bouncing off his skin and his eyes no longer glowed but where a shade redder then his normal blue.

With all the goading Madeline was doing, it was at this moment, while she exchanged looks with her daughter, that the demon queen would get her wish. Jake and Johanna were both about to throw massive curve balls in the proud demons direction. As Madeline hovered just above the roof her amber eyes caught wind of something going on just beneath the surface of the roof. Flashes and hues of red emanated from the two holes Jake had caused. Johanna also took note of the light show going on right underneath her feet. Was Jake going to use his power like he did when they fought? No! Johanna remembered him saying something along the lines of him not wanting to use his power despite the flare ups.

“Jake!” Johanna shouted just mere seconds before the boy would explode out of the floor of the roof as if shot be a cannon. It was almost impossible for the ashen haired girl to even tack him. Madeline shared in her daughter’s inability to react to any of what just happened. In almost an instant, Madeline felt a very hard impact around her midsection. The momentum carried them several yards before Madeline mustered up enough strength to stop their movement.

While Madeline had enough sense to realize what was going on after the impact, the look on Jake’s face said otherwise. The boy slid off of the demon queen and began to plummet. Madeline attempted to reach out and grab the boy but she was too slow. She turned her body to pursue the boy, but before she could fly after him, another blur shot past. In the blink of an eye, Jake was gone. Madeline looked up to see how her daughter would react, only to find the girl absent from the roof top.

The fiery redhead soon spun around to find Johanna on the adjacent rooftop holding the boy. She was surrounded by a cloak of black fire.

Johanna stood still on the new rooftop. Her gaze was fixed on Jake till she noticed her arms trembling. When her turquoise eyes caught sight of the black flames she nearly dropped Jake. She placed the boy down gently and noticed several of his features had changed as well. Madeline’s stress test had managed to trigger not one, but two changes. There was no telling what Johanna was to expect from the docile flames that washed over her. They weren’t harmful to the touch at all.

Madeline looked down at Johanna and Jake with glee. “Well this certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. Both of you awakening new powers at the same time. I’m impressed.”

While Madeline spoke, the girl paid her no mind. Instead she continued to stare at her trembling arms. She felt lighter while simultaneously feeling heavier. It was as if she had gained muscle mass without it actually showing. She felt stronger and faster. The only off putting thing about this newly discovered power was the incredible amount of heat Johanna felt. It wasn’t an outward heat, no, this fire was internal and she felt as though the entire inside of her body was on fire. Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead as she turned her gaze Jake’s way. “You ok? Thought you said you didn’t want to use your powers.” she said with a shaky voice and a playful smile.

While the two got acclimated to whatever changes they had just experienced, Madeline landed on the edge of the roof the battle had originally taken place on. She waved her metal hand and the massive ice wall vanished into a flurry of powdery snow.

“OH MY GOSH! YOU’RE ON FIRE!” Thalia shouted with joy. She could tell by the massive grin on her queens face that she had succeeded in awakening Johanna’s dormant powers.

“Well I have to say. Despite all the earlier drama, this sure did turn out quite well in the end. Shall we go get something to eat?”

“Hold the phone! You think you’re just going to end the fight after we just leveled up? No. We’re continuing this fight till I’m good and satisfied.” Johanna shouted.

“Oh my poor child. This craving for battle will never be satisfied. It runs in the family.”

As they came to a stop, Jake felt an immense wave of exhaustion hit him, right before he felt the air give way as he fell back to the ground. Looking up, Jake could see the Queen demon, reaching for him but just missing. It was strange to look at, her turning and moving for him, right before he found himself in the arms of someone and the air no longer around him. He was finally still.

Staring up at his savior, Jake saw Ann, covered in what seemed like black flames. It was rather pretty, he decided. Being placed down, Jake slowly came to a stand, his own arms and legs were shaking and he couldn't figure out why. All he knew is he felt.. Strong. Tired, but strong. Also, his skin was kinda red, that was freaky. He looked into Johanna's eyes with reddish, purplish eyes, like it couldn't decide between red and blue. "I... Have no clue... Are you okay?" Jake reached out and patted Ann's arm, as if trying to pat the flames away. They didn't harm him in any way. This was all so weird.

A voice calling out to Johanna broke Jake out of his daze, and he turned back to face Madeline and a now visible Thalia, the ice wall gone. Madeline made an offer to eat, something Jake very much wanted to accept because of how tired he was. With how his power had been acting up, the red energy was almost in constant use and that alone is a tiring affair. Now... Whatever this is. It was making him even more so exhausted, but of course, Ann was not so invested in a meal or rest. "Ann... A meal... Sounds good." Jake on shaky steps, made his way to the edge of the roof they were on, aiming to jump towards Madeline so they could just... Rest. He miscalculated the power he had flowing in him at the current moment however, and the moment he made his lunge, he moved at a speed slower then his previous jump, but still too fast for Jake to handle without any prep or even training. It took him days to learn how to control his normal jumps, this... This was so far from normal.

Landing on the roof just a bit ahead of the demon goddess, ha landed in such a way that no balance could be kept and his landing turned into a tumble, with each time his body touched the roof, it'd tear it off as he kept going, his crash tumble heading towards Thalia as his skin became less red, the sparks that seemed to fly off him lowered till finally, Jake was his ordinary self, moving at a speed he couldn't control and in such a way he was damaging the roof and himself on his way to Thalia.

Johanna slowly turned her head in Jake’s direction as he basically conceited the fight. She was no where near ready to quit. Not after just discovering this amazing power she had within her. Before she could open her mouth to refute Jake’s statement, the boy had leapt back towards the other roof. It was clear he wasn’t accustomed to this newly acquired strength as he basically over shot his landing and had to much momentum behind him. Losing his balance, the boy would collide with the roof and roll onward. Madeline did nothing to stop Jake’s movement, and instead left that up to Thalia.

The tiny demon’s long red hair slammed into the tough concrete of the rooftop and anchored her in place. When Jake finally collided with her, it was a case of unstoppable force versus immovable object. The collision between the two made a loud thud, but Thalia had succeeded in preventing Jake from rolling right off the roof. The Heart of Madeline’s knights sat there and held the boy in her arms. Her mismatched eyes looked him over to ensure he hadn’t injured himself after that pathetic display of a landing.

Madeline simply looked over her shoulder to inspect the damage caused by the boy. It was a shame. He seemed all tuckered out already. “And just when I thought things were going to get interesting.” She then shrugged and began to step down from the ledge, but the sound of her daughter’s voice made her stop in her tracks.

“Where do you think you’re going? We aren’t done. I want to see what I can do!”

Madeline shot a glance across the way to her ashen haired daughter. “It’s done Johanna. Your friend is extremely tired. Fighting you alone isn’t much of a fair fight. And lastly We’ll have plenty of opportunities to continue this. I plan on actually getting to know you after all.”

Johanna’s eyes narrowed in a fit of anger. If her mother saw no reason to continue fighting, then Johanna would just have to give her one. With breakneck speed, Johanna darted from one roof to the other in the blink of an eye. She spear tackled her mother to the ground, the force of the impact sending sharp pain through Madeline’s ribs. The weight of the impact caused them to go through the rooftop and for several moments the two remained on the floor below until Johanna came bursting through the roof. Madeline soon followed and caught her flying daughter by her ankle and threw her with all her demonic might back down at the roof.

Johanna’s back collided with the pavement and let out a sickening cracking noise. The girl’s turquoise shot up and locked in on her mother who was rapidly descending on the roof, her knee extended forward. Johanna’s arms quickly shot forward and caught her mother, bringing her to a standstill. With a push, Johanna threw her mother back and then quickly rose to her feet. The mother and daughter rushed at one another and entered into a frenzy as they threw rapid punches at one another.

While the fight picked up, the flames around Johanna began to burn harsher and more uncontrollably. She was soon engulfed in a raging inferno of black flames. Her internal temperature was off the charts. Sweat ran down her face and soaked into her clothes. Her breathing became more heavy as she continued to try and push herself.

“Both of you please, STOP! You’re going to bring this whole building if you continue. And Johanna you’re pushing yourself way too hard!”

Thalia’s words would fall on deaf ears. She began to worry that she’d have to step in and break the two up before they could cause any further damage.

Jake was pretty sure his neck felt really stiff, might have been the fact his head tore into the building mid his tumble and bent at a angle it really shouldn't have. He was also now somewhere soft, and kinda metallic. Looking up, Jake saw a pair of mismatched eyes, and realized where he was. Letting out a tired, shuddering breath of air, Jake turned his head to reassure he was where he thought he was.  He didn't feel as tired as he had moments ago, but holy hell did he want to just lie down in these arms and sleep.

But a glance back to Ann bode no time to rest for him, as the girl decided to make use of her new strength. The fight that ensured brought Jake fully back to his senses and he shook himself fully awake, hands clenched. Were they planning on destroying this building? More?

He heard a voice close by him, and he saw that Thalia called out to the two, attempting to stop them, only to have her voice fall deaf to the fuel of combat flowing between the mother and daughter. Sitting himself up, Jake came to a stand and took a step towards the two, only to fall back onto his knee, his head a little dizzy. "Words. Not work. Need to stop them... Action." Jake let out the words, mostly aiming them at Thalia, hoping the demoness's clone would have a way to stop the two soon.

Even so, with Jake on his knees, he started to focus on himself in case she couldn't. No matter how tired he was, he would need to stop this before it got too far if Thalia failed to do so or they couldn't bring an end by themselves, but as he was now. There would be no chance. He would need to use whatever the hell that thing was that happened to him again. And to do that, Jake needed to focus. At least, he hoped.

Neither Madeline nor Johanna seemed to gain any ground on one another as they threw their flurry of punches. From the outside it would have looked as though the mother and daughter were evenly matched. Thalia knew otherwise, and Johanna was soon beginning to realize it as well. Madeline was nowhere near using her full power and any little increase in strength that Johanna gained, was quickly mitigated by Madeline’s adaptive battle powers. Johanna’s punches punches would sting less and less the more they connected. It wasn’t that the young girl was losing strength it was the opposite in fact.

This continual growth was impressive and would have probably allowed the ashen haired girl to beat a lesser opponent, but Madeline possessed the same power. It was easy for the demon queen to realize the change happening with her daughter the moment she realized the girls attacks started to come faster and hit harder. The way this ability of Madeline’s manifested itself within Johanna was quite unique however. Whenever this ability triggered for Madeline she never experienced the intense increase in body temperature nor the cloak of black fire. The sweat and exhausted look on the girl’s face showed Madeline that whatever she was going through was very taxing on her body.

“Just how much you got left in the tank kiddo? This whole experience is definitely taking it’s toll on you.”

Johanna knew in the back of her mind that she needed to stop. She had vented enough. Though she was still angry at the world and the whole situation, she had long since gotten over it. That being said, no matter how hard she thought about stopping, she couldn’t. It was as if the rest of her body was against the idea of it. This power flowing through her body, it was like a drug to all her systems. While she wanted to stop, she felt euphoria as her body continued to push itself. The increase in body temp couldn’t have been good for her either. She knew it had to be doing some kind of damage internally, but she couldn’t feel it. And her body was showing no signs of it.

“I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to. This feels to good. I’m, I’m losing my mind!” she struggled to say amid the heavy breathing and barrage of punches she was throwing.

The whole situation was a peculiar one and Madeline shared Thalia and Jake’s concern for her daughter’s well being. She’d have to end this soon, though she was hanging on false hope that the girl would tire herself out instead. Perhaps she could try to talk Johanna through getting over the intoxicating draw of battle. She could use this to try and get the girl to get a firm grasp on this brutal power. “I understand how much you’re wanting this right now. How good it feels to be in the heat of battle. Your body craves this self destruction like a deadly drug. It runs in the family. You need to learn how to get a grip on this. You can’t let it control you. Fight it!” Madeline commanded before suddenly going on the offensive.

If Johanna couldn’t get a grip on this, then her mother would be in a prime position to bring this all to an end.

Jake looked up to watch Madeline and Johanna, the fight seemed to be on even grounds, seemed. Jake too, knew that Johanna's power might not have been enough to match the goddess just yet. This was a first time, if her body adapted too it, maybe she might have stood more of a chance, but for now.. He closed his eyes and went back to focusing, something seemed to be too difficult to manage.

Soon enough, he heard Madeline, attempting to calm the girl down. It was enough to make Jake realize how freaking useless he was right now. He hated that. He was on the sidelines once more, letting exhaustion take him over. Standing, Jake began walking towards the two battling warriors. His breath evened as he focused on his power. He needed to gain what he had been before... No. He needed more. Whatever that was, it was no where near the level he was use too when the red energy was focused into one area.

With narrowed eyes, Jake let out a growl before bringing the red energy out, letting it consume his body. The first thing he noticed was the fact he wanted to sleep. Wanted to just drop right there and now, maybe even return to the arms he had been resting in before. But the boy pushed past those wants to the need to stop this, not just for the people down below, but for Ann. The red energy would vanish, and Jake would be there, his skin and eyes once again red. Well, that was a lie, they were even redder then before, the sparks that bounced off his skin seemed to be bigger as well. He felt stronger then before, much much stronger, and all that told him was he needed to be quick.

Not risking a jump, Jake ran forward for a second and found he was already stopping himself into a skid. Carefully trying to control his strength, Jake ran towards the two. And not long at all after, Jake used his new strength to push himself between the two. Madeline was Johanna's foe, her battle focus would die if her foe wasn't here. Using that logic, Jake used his new strength to forcibly push at the goddess, attempting to push her away, before turning his attention back to Johanna. "Anne. You can always fight another day. So for now. Calm down so you can bloody look at me and tell me what I am. Come on Spider. Do it."

While saying this, Jake attempted to grapple her by both her arms to snap them to her side while also trying to force the girl to her knees, following along with her so he could stay on her level, going as far as to butt his head against hers lightly, even if his strength maybe made it less then light. He hoped that if he could restrict her movement, take away her reason to fight, then force her to call him a damned exhibitionist. She'd calm down, and damn it did he hope she did it soon, because he was pretty sure he was going to collapse atop her if he didn't stop soon. At least, that was how he felt, what he felt like doing.

Madeline had her daughter right where she wanted her. She knew it would be impossible for the girl to reign in this power of hers right away. The only option was to incapacitate her. The goddess reared back her metal hand to strike the final blow only to be interrupted once more by Jake. He managed to push her back with a great amount of force. So much so that she had not expected it. Johanna on the other hand, had managed to avoid Jake all together. Her body instinctively reacted to the incoming presence and quickly leapt backwards.

A loud growl of anger came from Madeline as her attention went from Johanna to Jake. While she was ok with the previous interruptions, this one was unwarranted. She had the situation under control. Now there was a new problem however. While the boy may have had the thought of shielding Johanna’s objective from her, he instead had the opposite effect. Now instead of seeing Madeline as a potential enemy, she now saw Jake as one as well. She didn’t want to. She could tell he was trying to help, but her body on the other hand just saw this as a challenge.

The black fire around the girl’s body began to rage. Steam almost seemed to come off of Johanna and the immediate area around her began to grow hotter and hotter by the second. “YOU FOOL! I had everything under control! Now look what you’ve done!” Madeline’s amber eyes almost seemed to sear right through the selfless boy. “Instead of quelling her thirst, you’ve only just made it stronger.” The goddesses metal hand clenched tightly into a fist. It was taking every ounce of what little newly discovered love she had for her daughter to not strike this child down where he stood.

She so desperately wanted to back hand the unholy hell out of him, but managed to rise above her vengeful feelings.

Johanna on the other hand wasted no time in re-initiating the fight. Her hand shot forward in a similar manor as it would have if she were going to use her web shooters. A thick strand of black energy shot from her wrist and latched onto her mother’s chest. With a mighty tug, the ashen haired girl pulled the goddess of her feet and pulled her in.

Madeline’s heel slammed into the roof to slow her advance, but the momentum behind Johanna’s tug was quite impressive. Before she knew it, Madeline found herself being kicked in the side of the head. The force of the impact sending out a small shockwave. Madeline stumbled around before finally regaining her balance. In the immediate aftermath of kicking the hell out of her mother, Johanna rotated her body in mid air and attempted to fire another strand of the shadow webbing at Jake. If she made contact, her body was primed to do the same thing to him that she had just done to her mother. However, as the strand fired out, a very large sword came crashing down out of nowhere and cleaved the webbing.

Thalia stood between Johanna and Jake, her massive claymore embedded in the ground. There was a strange tint to her eyes….they almost looked bloodshot.

“Oh for the love of me! Not you too!” Madeline said, recognizing the signs that said Thalia had just consumed a demonblood pellet.

Crap. Crap! Jake lowered his body to all fours after his failed attempt to grab the flame covered girl, his mind settled on forcing him to rest. And maybe it would have won out, if not for a few factors.

The first of these factors, was that for some reason the boy could not describe, he cared far too much for Johanna to let his body rest. He had broken limbs, more. For others. He would strain himself for her rather then rest like a selfish bastard. The second factor, and maybe the one the drove him more then anything, was his hatred.

And the smile he had when Johanna made her attack, the way his muscles didn't move, but stayed right where they were as he didn't make a move to even help the goddess. Helped to show that hatred.

He had come into this fight to try and stop the pain Ann had been suffering. He at every chance to stop that, failed. He had done so little to actually stop it, because inside, he wanted to punch Madeline. She just, drew that out of him. With this whole situation, how she carried herself and talked, the aura of challenge she brought. And the one time he did try to stop it all, he was too late. He could have never known because he was a damned idiot, but this time, Johanna needed to be hurt, and as much as he hated it, he now saw that.

But that didn't stop him from looking at Madeline with the utter intent to hurt. His angry glare could be seen from miles with the way his red eyes seemed to burn intent. Maybe a little of it was uncalled for, this was a stressful situation, and Jake himself wasn't exactly in the best mindset, but still his glare existed. Also, he hated the way she considered herself a god, but he couldn't voice nor care for that reason of hate right now, as a tuft of red hair blocked his view and stopped an incoming shot of that black fire like tendril.

Deciding to try and let this be the last time Thalia saved him from something, Jake had a plan in mind. From his position on the ground, Jake pushed to the left, skidding along the ground and once more, tearing up roof with how his fingers and toes dug into the gravel to keep him from moving too much, his shoes and socks having torn not too long ago to allow this. When the ashen girl was in sight, he quickly pushed forward, quickly skidding across the ground, before moving into a roll so that he had now moved himself close to Johanna.

He didn't trust his strength to try and stop Ann, he didn't even know how much he had at that moment, so when he got himself close to Ann, he threw himself at her all the while purposely missing, his fists moved with speed and power, but he knew as long as he purposely missed, and with Ann's ability to dodge, he would not hit her, but she'd hit him. While trying to move around so the fire clad girl's back was to the two demons, he was willing to be her punching bag so that Madeline or Thalia had the chance they needed to stop her. He made a mistake, he was angry at people, himself for that, this was his chance to at least fix that. But they would need to be quick, cause no matter what, anyone could see Jake was getting slower as the seconds passed, and no matter what, he could not stay in this form forever, that limit was closing in ever so quickly.