A rainy day in the city of angels (Shifter)

Artemis had missed every shot. The annoying boy dodged them all. But the last was still close enough where it affected him. Or at least it seemed. The boy plummeted down into the ground and after recovering. Although she seemed to be off. But to be fair after a fall like that most would. Artemis hovered about 15 feet off the ground, smoke bellowing from her nostrils. She let out another roar and embers flew from her mouth. She gathered up fire in her mouth and fired it off as a steam towards John. She would make quick work of this boy.

John leaped clear of the steam as it hissed against the ground, then ran back into it. It stung his skin, but it would mask his scent and keep him out of sight. He hid behind a car in the mist, catching his breath.

"Lady, if you can hear me," John shouted from behind the car, breathing heavily and wiping his face, "I'm not trying to take away your children!!! But if you're going to rage around in the streets and hurt people, I've got no choice but to knock you out!!!"

He gulped at the thought of fighting a dragon, but he had a few tricks left up his sleeve, and if he could avoid being burned and engage in a physical brawl, he might at least have a chance. But, lacking the desire to fight, he kept talking.

"Look, we've all lost someone! But drinking and numbing yourself up, and then lashing out at people isn't the answer!!! What if Shael was watching you now?

Shift stood, and looked up. He could see the dragon looming overhead. "I know you miss him, and have regrets, but be a mother to the daughter you have left!!! You're the only person in the world who loved Shael enough to get like this, so respect his memory, or I'll knock some sense into you!!!" With that, John lifted his fists, and got ready to fight a dragon.

This boy was now lying to her! What kind of fool did he think she was? The boy was just trying to save his own hide at this point. Well Artemis would have none of it. She simply roared at the boy again. Embers flew out of her mouth. The boy was only delaying the inevitable. Artemis charged up another fire ball and shot it at John.

Thinking quickly, John increased the musclemass in his arms, and lifted the back end car in front of him, getting underneath it to shield himself. The fire melted the hood of the car, and heated the air around him as the car was splashed with caustic flames.

Shift, however, came out just fine. He rolled out from under the flaming car, and looked up at the dragon. If he was going to fight, he needed to strike back effectively.

He sprinted towards a sewer-cover, and yanked it off the ground, snapping its hinge. He stopped, and hurled the heavy, wrought iron sewer lid like a Frisbee, aiming for the dragon's snout.

Some how the car didn't explode, in fact it just melted. It wasn't long before John had picked up a man cover and threw it at her. Artemis took off higher in the air to dodge the molten mass. Apparently this man looked weaker then he was. Artemis never knew they could be removed.. Artemis dived bomb down towards john, breathing fire in in front of her to cover her body in her own fire. It was warm and did hurt a bit. But if she could tackle John the fire would probably hurt him more.

Shift moved to dodge, avoiding the worst of the attack, but Artemis's attack was not a miss. Her wing clipped John's arm, wringing a cry of pain from the polymorph. "AAH!!!" The impact dislocated his shoulder, and the fire around her singed his skin. He rolled, his back thumping against a hummer. He stood, pressing his palm to his shoulder and shoving it back in the socket.

I KNEW this would be difficult to win, but even if I fight at full power and try to KILL her, which I absolutely cannot do, she could still rub me out with her fire breath. If I run away, will she calm down, or should I attack her with all I've got and try to subdue her? John grimaced, clutching his sore arm. If I keep half assing it like this, I don't know how much longer I can last...

Artemis landed on the ground. She had miss the boy but it looked like the fire still got him. THe fire around her slowly burnt out. Her scales didn't really give it much to burn. She turned around to face the boy again. Smoke bellowed out of her nose and she roared again, sending embers everywhere. She breathed out a stream of fire at the boy. She was slowly getting tired of his games.

Sprinting to the left, Shift avoided the stream of fire, trying to move into the dragon's blind side.

If I run, she might burn the whole city down. I gotta knock her out, or die trying!!! He bulked up his muscles, lifted a small volkswagon, and tossed it towards the side of Artemis's head, getting ready to move.

Artemis turned her head to follow John. She shifted her body to face him but when she did she noticed a particular object flying towards her. Artemis tired to move out of the way but wasn't fast enough. It hit her right in the side and Artemis was temporarily knocked over. She stood back up, a bit dazed. Was that the best this kid could do! Artemis began to scan the landscape, trying to find this annoying pup.

As Artemis rose, reeling from the blow, John made his move, sprinting behind her. He stretched his arm to grab hold of a lamp post, and yanked himself up towards her back, his arms turning into massive pythons of muscle.

NOW OR NEVER.

He swung his arms around and around her, attempting to wrap his arm around her mouth, neck, and forelegs. His plan was simple: he was going to get the dragon in a headlock until she calmed down, and keep her mouth closed and stay on her back, to avoid being clawed to pieces or burned to a crisp. A risky gambit.

Artemis roared as John jumped on her and and held onto her, preventing her from moving. Artemis did all she could to try and escaped but couldn't. But this this boy believe he had won? Oh he was so wrong. Artemis would not be stopped so quickly. Artemis let out one more roar before her body quickly began to change. She shrunk about 10 feet and her limbs retracted into her body. Soon she was a Boa constrictor and began to attempt to coil herself around the boy's body. She could crush him very slowly. She wanted him to pay for trying to separate her pack.


Boa Constrictor grid:

Spoiler:

"PFFFFFFFFFWHEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE" John exhaled forcefully, the boa pushing down on his ribcage suddenly. Disoriented and surprised, he realized what he was dealing with.

She's a shapeshifter too, with super specific transformations. She's good...

Thinking quickly, John narrowed and lengthened his body, escaping the painful, crushing hold by wiggling out. He expanded his body, and stumbled away, his back slamming against a lamp post. He fell onto his backside, catching his breath.

Joshua sat down in front of his TV, eyes fixating upon the horrific visions before him - a news crew had moved to the scene of the dragon attack and were now recording the whole thing. "This is Trishy Voneromo, Actions News! The city of Los Angeles is under attack by a large fire breathing drag-" her voice was drowned out by a sudden and violent surge of flames, spewing from the monster's mouth and threw the air. Joshua's attention was really captured by the thing it was apparently shooting at - a familiar shape was darting through the air, one he'd encountered a mere week ago; Shifter! How did he get so far in such a short amount of time? Pffft, probably something super power related.

The fiery haired news lady (she was ginger, her hair was not literally on fire)  and her team were clearly professionals as they gave a very clear view of Shifter getting his ass handed to him.  Repeatedly. Come on Shifter, get it together! Joshua thought, leaning in closer to the TV - but it didn't seem to working out well for him at all. Sighing, Joshua stood up and looked behind him to his bed - or under it. Rushing across the floor and sliding to his knees he extended grasping hands towards a leather bound box and yanked it out, setting it onto his lap and undoing the buckles that kept it shut. When it's top was lifted the air was filled with chorus of gentle hums, a dark grey stone with runes engraved into it's flesh lay on a red cushion within.

Placing the Spellstone onto his belt, and wrapping that around his waist Spellstone felt it's power slither through his body. He lifted of the floor and threw both his arms out to the side his body flickering bright green for no more than a second before a dancing red cloak descended and his clothing had been transformed to a grey one-piece suit, with arms and legs painted like the cosmos. A smirk on his face, Spellstone reached behind his head and pulled the cloak's hood over it. "Awww yeah, I'm awesome." he said, to remind himself aloud, before his feet began moving and he ran towards the floor - extending his hand. A dark green light covered his body and within an instant, he was gone.




A bright green humanoid shape appeared in the sky before it dissipated completely, the red cloaked Teen left in it's place. He surveyed the situation, and allowed his eyebrow to raise. It seemed that the Dragon had vanished, now replaced with what looked like a gigantic snake. Spellstone simply watched it try to choke the life out of Shifter, before he used his own snake-like prowess to escape it's scaly coil. He didn't seem to be doing much to escape it though, sitting on the floor was not a very good tactic for battle. Swooping down in an arc, Spellstone levitated beside the monstrous reptile, and rose both of his hands above his head - lightning spitting from the Spellstone to his hands, and beginning to dance around them.

"Ok, one - what is this thing."

He put both his electrified hands out infront of him, palms facing the floor.

"And two, any idea what it wants?"

He pointed his palms at the snake and unleashed a squealing beam of lightning at the monstrous beast.


(I was given permission to join by Artemis and John)

Artemis hissed in annoyance as the boy got away from her. She would have to crush him a lot fast next time so even if he did do that again he couldn't wiggle out. Artemis flicked her forked tongue and began to slither toward John. He seemed to be recovering from that last attack. It was nice to know her last attack wasn't a complete waste. She was less then a foot away when she felt pain rack her body. She let out a screaming hiss and the electricity passed through her body. She turned around slightly to see what caused that pain.

She looked up and saw another person, floating in the air. She figured he was talking to John. Artemis hissed at him as a warning to stay out of this hunt. She then turned her attention back to John.

OH THANK GOD IT'S SPELLSTONE. John stood up as Artemis turned her attention towards him. He ran behind Spellstone, and stuck his tongue out at the serpent. "TAG OUT. Your turn, bro."

Shift pointed to the snake, looking to Spellstone. "It's pissed at me for threatening to call Child Services. Long story, but now that you're here, zap her into submission, but don't kill her. I think, if we manage to knock the fight outta her, she'll change into a human and we can reason with her."  John folded his arms, grinning. "I'd take her myself, but frankly I'm beat to hell, and trying to hit her doesn't work. This is a perfect job for someone who can shoot lightning. So make with the zapping before she changes into something else!"