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Closed Masque Carnivalia

Annie was going on about her not being fair, and then she said he was ugly. He went to say something in retort, but Logan found his lips occupied with hers. It was wonderful. He didn't even know if he could describe it.

When she stopped, he was a bit speechless. And also momentarily paralyzed. But mostly speechless. When Logan composed himself, He looked at Annie. He looked at Annie, and he kissed her. Tentatively at first. because he did not know what she would do if the first one was a mistake on her part. She did just say he was ugly, after all. After what seemed like forever, he stopped, and sat back, and looked up at the slowly rotating sky. Since kissing had been the first step, Logan figured that holding hands would be alright, and he gently took her hand. Now that he was laying on his back, he put his other hand behind his head, and sighed with content.

"So," he said, "Do this often?"
 
Connor felt completely drained of energy. Not that he planned on letting that stop him. He was prepping himself for the attack of the cloaked man, watching him charge and building up tension in his muscles when Celest jumped in. She managed to beat him away, sending him back to the ground. Connor let out a weak laugh. He watched the man stand back up with a grunt. The attack had been enough to knock him down, but it hadn't done much damage. Connor noted the red skin on his shoulder.

That has to be it. He really is another carnie, then. Fighting type, judging from his style and the effectiveness of our attacks. He let out another little chuckle as the man took another deep breath-which Connor decided was Focus Energy-and began running towards them again. Connor spread his legs a little. "Let's see if we can't get ourselves a pretty little mask like that," He whispered in Celest's ear.

The man was charging at them full force, and seemed to still have it in for Connor. At the last moment, he juked around Celest, throwing on arm around Connor's waist. Connor hadn't expected the attack, and was pulled into the air as the man jumped up.

Seismic Toss. He thought with a grimace. The man flipped over in mid-air, and was holding his arms with his feet pressing down on his stomach. This really would be painful. Connor had an idea, and ran with it. It didn't matter what type a Pokemon was, this was going to be painful. Connor spat out flames as strong as he could muster, which wasn't the column of flame he used to envision, but it did stretch a good five feet. The man cried out, and launched off of him, clutching at the places flames had leaked into his mask and licked at his eyes and mouth. Connor hit the ground with a dull thud, and bounced a little. He coughed, and tried to stand, but was too winded. He managed a grin at Celest.

The man stood up, still groaning. He looked at Celest, but he didn't move. His muscles began growing tense as energy was building up. Bide would leave him wide open, but the girl couldn't do much to him, and the boy was still coughing in the dirt.
 
So Connor was still in it, it seemed, because when he whispered in her ear what seemed to be his idea of hope, she stiffly nodded. By this point, she had noted that the man was using more physical moves, and seemed to be inclined in the field of brute strength. This left her to believe that he was not only a Carnie, but perhaps one of the Fighting type, like herself. So that explained why he wasn't effected by her attack as much as she hoped, and how he was able to jerk around her and reach his target, Connor.

She stared on in horror as they soared off into the dark sky, and almost jumped back as she saw the bright, but not overly brilliant flames engulf the other Fighting Carnie. She flinched as she saw Connor hit the ground, and on instinct rushed over to him. "A-Are you... okay?" she squeaked, helping him to his feet. She looked back over at the other Carnie, and froze as she saw him staring at her. Celest was a bit confused as to why he wasn't running at them to pound their faces into the ground again, but made no attempt to attack him.

"... Fighting is weak to, umm... Psychic and... Flying, I think," she whispered to Connor, low enough where the man couldn't hear, "but I don't think I know anything in those types... What are we supposed to do?" She looked at Connor straight in the eyes, tears swelling at her own. "What are we supposed to do?" she asked again, though her voice was cracking more as the fear she had been so closely bonded with flooded back in her.
 
(Don't worry, Ulqi~ I'm getting excited for some bloodshed anyhow)
Logan began kissing her back, and she felt her face turn a deeper red. Eventually, he stopped, and she mumbled, "Okay, that's enough." He had knocked her glasses a little off-blanance, and she adjusted them. Logan asked her if she did this often.

She let him hold her hand while she answered. "I know you certainly don't. I haven't had anyone kiss that clumsily. Ever. Guess you just need practice." She smiled at him. "... Sit up again, you look like dork right now." She lifted her head back to the sky. She wriggled each finger in turn out of his hand to weave them back together in a more comfortable manner.

"To better answer your question, I only kissed when I felt it was time to really decide. If I decide a boy isn't worth it, I break up with him right after the kiss, and if it feels like a good kiss, which has only happened once, I stay with him." She wondered if he'd ask who the one person was. The way she'd said it, it didn't sound like she meant him.
 
Connor coughed, and rolled onto his good side, which was, unfortunately, away from Celest. He pushed himself to his knees, let Celest help him up, and turned his head towards her with a smile. "Well-" He coughed again. "I'd say we just have to beat him more than he can beat us." His back and right arm were screaming in pain, detesting every signal his nervous system sent anywhere. "Now may be our only chance. Looks like he's building up for an attack. Only reason he'd stand there and do nothing is to get some energy, but we both know from how bad he's beating us that he shouldn't need to do that unless he really wants to let us have it."

He wiped some blood off his face. His nose was leaking with the stuff, and he had to work to keep it out of his mouth. He nudged off her support so she could move. "If you happen to know how to make an Aura Sphere, we could use the cover of smoke when he does come after us."

He cracked the knuckles on his left hand with his cheek, but didn't dare to so much as twitch his right hand. "Until then, we should do as much damage as we can to him while he's building up. I think I heard something start earlier, but I need your confirmation. It must be Annie and Logan. Once he attacks, if we can distract him long enough, we can reach them and get some help."

Connor went as fast as his legs could carry him (which despite his injuries was respectable enough) while his left fist burst into flame. After feeling the Blaze Kick during his blind attack, he was really understanding how the fire worked inside him. How it was a part of him. And how it was this bastard's fault in the first place.

The Fire Punch was a direct hit, square in the jaw of the man. But the man wouldn't lose his balance, wouldn't let his move be derailed. He continued to build up energy, ignoring the bit of his hood that burned away. Connor tried some mundane techniques. Tried to hit pressure points. But he was low on energy, and anatomy meant that this man had none of the same pressure points. Eventually, Connor was back-handed by the man, who was finished with preperations. Connor flopped to the ground, coughing once more.

The man unleashed his attack, and lashed out to ram Celest with his head. Her wound was the target. He had intended to finish the boy first, but she was proving to be more of an annoyance than he.
 
Annie said he looked like a dork. He thought about testifying to how he didn't care, but he sat up anyway. After, she told him about her kissing policy, and how it only ever worked out once. "That sounds absolutely heart crushing. You're a terrible person, you know that? Oh, but I kid. I like you," He looked her in the eyes s she knew he was telling the truth about that last thing, "So," he then continued, "If you don't mind me asking, who was the one?"
 
Annie laughed a little, rubbing ankle with her free hand. "Oh, come on stupid." She punched him on the shoulder. "It was you. Don't act like such an idiot." She smiled to let him know for sure she was joking. She thought she saw something pop into the air in the distance, but she figured nothing happened, since it was gone in an instant, and the spinning ride turned her attention elsewhere.

"... Well, for what it's worth, Logan, you may be ugly as hell now, but I imagine you're quite handsome when you're human. But you have to keep your head shaved. I've decided that hair would be unbecoming of you." She leaned up against his shoulder, and stared at the dimming sky. "Oh, and get a leather jacket. It would make you look sexier." She added on.
 
"Well that's not fair," He said, "You haven't seen me with hair. Especially if I'm going to get a leather jacket, which I am totally on board with, but I don't want to look like a roughneck. Biker, I'm alright with. Roughneck, not so much. And besides, I liked my hair." He looked at her, and Annie was kind of staring into the distance, like something was troubling her, but it was mysterious. "Anyway, as long as we're talking hair, What is your hair normally like? I'd be surprised if its normally green like that."
 
Celest followed what Connor was saying, and nodded as he mentioned he heard something earlier. "I'm pretty sure it was, too," she agreed, glancing off in the distance. "I'm sure they can help... if we can get over to them." She watched carefully as Connor rushed toward the man, trying all sorts if approaches to take him down. And she closed her eyes, trying to focus. An Aura Sphere. The name, to her, sounded as though it was the only way they could get over to Annie and Logan in one piece. But the only problem was she had absolutely no idea how to make one.

Maybe... Maybe it's like all those movies, where the good guy has to let his energy or something flow through his body, Celest mused, not breaking her stare on Connor or the other man, Or... Wait, hold on a second. It's called an "Aura Sphere," right? So... what if I have to form all the aura I can into a ball? Like, not just the aura from myself, but everyone here? That sounds like it might work... But... How do I do that, exactly?

Celest thought for several more moments, then gasped. Immediately she closed her eyes, entering the aura vision, and saw Connor. The blue figure was back-handed by the cloaked man, but she tried to stay focused. ... I got it, she thought, opening her eyes again. After watching over the two for a while, she believed she had found the way to subconsciously collect faint amounts of their aura, and even if she didn't get a lot, it was still a good enough amount to cause some smoke upon impact.

And then the man was coming right towards her. Celest stepped back, holding her hands out in front of her chest, and opened her eyes. I hope this works... And a small, bright blue sphere started forming between her palms, illuminating her pale face and revealing the tears of hopelessness running down her face. It grew larger and larger, an eerie quanity swirling around it, until it was about the size of a football. The man was not even a foot away as she pushed the sphere into his chest, and it connected beautifully.

The man, though it pushed him back more than dealing any real damage, groaned as the sphere exploded on his chest, sending smoke everywhere. Celest, seeing the small window of opportunity, quickly ran over to Connor and pulled him to his feet. "Let's go!" she said in a hushed whisper, starting to sprint off with his arm tightly in her hand. "I sensed Logan over this way. We need to go now!"
 
((Insert Different music here.))

Connor laughed with joy when the Aura Sphere connected. Celest was quickly on him, pulling him to his feet. She told him, "We need to go now!" He was only too happy to comply.

"Going." He muttered in agreement. Without looking back, he quickly followed her. He ignored his pain as best he could, wondering where exactly she sensed them. In this direction, obviously, but that wasn't a very good answer to him. Where the hell were they?

"Hey, Cel!" He panted. It must've been the survival instict that let him move this fast, because he still felt completely drained of energy. "That was real good and all, but how far are they? That dude can haul ass a lot faster than two past-half-dead kids can!" He checked behind his shoulder. He could see the smoke beginning to clear, and the man's gaze resting on them. He saw the body tense, and saw the man start to run after them. He turned his head back to the front. "Okay, faster!"
 
"I didn't say it had to be a Harley Jacket. Hell, Bomber Jacket would look pretty snazzy, but, hey, if you want to go Harley, that's your choice. And whatever you dress like, your face screams 'I'm a giant teddy bear.' So there." Annie pretended to examine her nails. Logan asked what her hair had been like.

She answered as though it were obvious. "Red. Not like the kind that makes you think 'ginger,' I mean red red. I never put it up like this before, but I'll be damned if I wear my hair the way a Gardevoir does when I'm already dressed like one. I can't stand that kind of stuff. It feels so unoriginal." She puffed some air at a strand of hair in her face.

There was a dull exploding sound, and she saw a cloud of smoke rise up. It was in the same place she'd thought she'd seen something fly up. She stood up on the ride, walking against it so she could focus on what it was. "What was that?" She asked, a worried look worming its way to her face. "You think it's Connor and Celest? It's kind of close to the Ferris Wheel..." She looked over at Logan. So much for stargazing. "I think its them. I saw something earlier, but thought I was imagining things. Whatever's going on, I think they might need help." She bit her lip. "Come on, we have to get down." A thought peeped in her brain. "Don't turn this thing off." She ordered him before jumping down. It wasn't far.

She stood in the center of the path that lead in the direction of the explosion. She couldn't decide whether or not she should run toward them or wait for them to come to her for help. She knew nothing of the situation, and if it was really bad, she knew nothing about controlling her psychic powers...
 
[[:D Yoshi, You and your awesome music choices. And AW CRAP, ninja'd. D:]]

Celest kept her gaze on the path ahead, well aware that the cloaked man was hot on their trail. "They're nearby," she answered, her voice alarmingly monotonous as she quickly jerked to the right, changing directions. Though her stomach was crying out in pain, she kept running. The thought of the Throh morphed man killing her and Connor was more than enough to keep her going.

The Lucario girl blinked as she saw a Merry-go-Round come into view, and knew instantly that Logan and Annie were on it. "There!" she called back to Connor, nearing the ride. She slowed to a stop as she looked up to the two. Panting, she rubbed the back of her hand across her chin, wiping off the blood, and blinked as Annie hopped off the Merry-go-Round. She let her eyes wander up to Logan, but she looked over her shoulder as she sensed the man nearing closer and closer, hardly even two hundred meters away, if Celest were to guess. "He's... coming," she warned Connor, trying to let her breaths even themselves out again.
 
((Insert epic uniting music of epicness.))

"I noticed." Connor panted. He coughed again, grimacing at the pain in his arm. "Alright, let's see if we can't do this." He spun on a heel, to face the rapidly approaching Throh-man. "Annie, I hope you learned how to at least throw a pebble, because there's a small chance we might die here." He grinned. The man thundered closer, and Connor could see that the explosion had knocked his mask off.

And he thought Logan was ugly. This must have been a natural ugly for this magnitude of it.

"Logan won't do much good here. He'll get the worst of it, no matter how strong he is, if he steps in. If we finish this here, we do it quick." The man was targeting Celest again, still miffed about the whole 'exploding things in faces' thing. Connor began thinking this guy was like a bull with really bad tunnel vision. So he decided to redirect the bull in the only way possible. He threw a rock at him.

The rock bounced off his head, but it sent him off balance enough to where he passed them all by completely. "Hm. Someone needs to work on their motor skills." Connor taunted. He turned around and bent over, so he was looking at the man from between his own legs, and slapped his butt with his good hand. "Bet that stings your pride, dunnit?" He laughed, coughed, then laughed again.

The Throh-morph did not find it so funny.

He ran at Connor now, seeming to have forgotten Celest at the moment. Connor straightend up again, and said, "Okay, Cel, your turn." He coughed again, a blaze kicking up around his leg just in case.
 
Annie's eyes almost shot out of her head. "What the hell happened to you two?!" She asked. Her question was quickly answered by the hulking cloaked mass charging toward them. She shrieked as he ran by. She was afraid. Far more so than Celest, probably. Annie felt powerless, useless even. She didn't know so much as how even zap the guy with some loose wires. She picked locks with bobby pins, and was a good kisser. That's what she was. This was not part of her curriculum.

He was a Throh morph. Connor was right. Logan would get destroyed against him, and if that was true, then theoretically, Annie would have to save the day, right? Well, her powers weren't exactly cooperative. She uttered an apology to Celest before she retreated behind a nearby stall. She crouched behind it, picking up things, trying desperatly to lift them with her mind, trying to use any psychic attack she could think of. To no avail, obviously.

She couldn't do anything! This was so frustrating! She struck the stall behind her with a fist. She used to just beat the creeps who wouldn't leave her alone to a pulp with her fists. Celest and Connor were proof that had no chance here. She ran through every psychic move she could think of, from healing ones to the unbelievably powerful ones. She didn't even know where to start.
 
Logan had zoned out a little after Annie jumped off, but was brought back when he heard her screaming about someone and what happened to them. At this, he looked up, and saw Connor and Celest, both looking pretty beat up. Then, he saw a cloaked figure charging at them, and decided to join the party.

He waited for the man to reach the rest, and then he jumped down, landing in with a mighty thud, which also shook the ground a little. He stood up dramatically, and got into a fighting stance.
 
Celest saw Annie run off, and quite frankly was disappointed. She could've really proven helpful, being the Psychic type and all, but no matter. Logan was there now, and—... Wait a moment. Logan? But wasn't he weak against Fighting types? ... But, then again, so was Celest, so fair game...

She looked over her shoulder at Logan, the fear draining from her demeanor again. "... Be careful," she whispered to him before turning back to face the Throh morph, and saw that Connor had already riled him up and set his leg aflame. Getting the memo that they needed to start getting ready to finish the fight they had started, Celest tried to think of some moves that could help. Close Combat, it seemed, was one she needed to refrain from using. It left her defenses low, and didn't even damage the man as much as it ought to. So what could she use...?

The Lucario morph racked her brain for moves. There was always that ThunderPunch move, but that might take more time to learn, along with Force Palm and Bullet Punch, but she needed something effective. Something worthwhile. What about that move... Drain Punch, was it? That would prove helpful, because if I recall correctly, it takes energy from the target and transfers it to the user. I wonder if I can try that... Maybe I just add a bit of aura sensing when I'm punching him, and I focus enough to where I steal his energy for myself? It's worth a shot... She balled her left fist up, taking in a deep breath, and got ready for whatever was coming her way. The Thoh morph wasn't focusing on Celest at the moment, but rather Connor, but from what she had seen from the other Fighting Carnie, you could never be too sure of yourself in battle.
 
Celest wasn't going to Connor's immediate help. He was glad he had prepped himself, but wasn't sure it would do much good.

It didn't.

He timed the kick wrong, and the Throh morph had plenty of time to grab him by the neck and slam him to the ground. Connor would have cried out in pain, but when his mouth opened, no sound came out. Just blood and saliva. He felt the pain in his arm spike, and squeezed his eyes shut, tightening his jaw.

The man seemed satisfied, but rather than turn to the girl, he seemed to have decided to go after the freshest face that had the most energy. The boy who jumped off the merry-go-round. He bolted at the other strong-man, his fist tightening with force to crush boulders. He threw out the fist, Rock Smash, at Logan. Better to be rid of this one as fast as possible. He was weaker to him than even the Lucario morph, but he still had more energy than any of the others.

Connor stumbled to his feet, wiping blood from under his nose again.
 
It hurt Celest reply to see Connor go down, but she let this fuel her. His pain was the only thing keeping her going, and though she felt guilty not being able to help him to take down the Throh morph, she kept letting her energy build up in her fist, bit by bit, growing with her agony of seeing Connor suffer. Her eye twitched as she saw the man suddenly change targets and charge at Logan, and decided it was as good a time as ever.

Without a moment to lose, Celest had spun on her heel and, before the man had unleashed his move on Logan, smashed her fist into his cheek, and saw progress. In the few seconds she kept her fist in his face, small, faint gold threads came from the man and moved along Celest's arm up to her chest, and she felt some of her strength returning. Her Drain Punch had actually been a success! Not only did it keep Logan from getting hurt that time around, but she managed to get some power back. She leapt back from him after that, flexing her fingers into a fist and out again as she felt her stamina become more stable, and hoped it was enough to take the Fighting Carnie down, which was a mighty slim chance.
 
Annie huddled behind the cover of the stall. That thing was going to kill them at the rate this was going, and then it'd come for her. It was like something straight out of a nightmare. She wanted to be back on the merry-go-round, back where it was safe, back where she felt all warm and fuzzy inside. But she couldn't be there! She was stuck down here, where she'd almost certainly be responsible for the death of three others and herself! She clutched at her head and squeezed her eyes tightly to try and will it all away. Nothing happened.

There was so much noise. The sound of Connor's flames extinguishing, then him being slammed to the dirt, and then the grunting of the Throh Morph... Everything seemed so loud, possibly even loud enough to be fictitious.

"Stop it..." She pleaded. She wasn't sure if she was asking the cloaked morph or some god somewhere, but she pleaded. She wanted everyone to slow down, for everyone to just have a hard time even finding anything to fight. "Everybody just shut up!!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

She would later decide that accessing psychic powers was like breaking into a room. It was a bitch to get past the lock, but afterwards you could go in and out whenever the hell you wanted, and do whatever the hell you wanted. She looked around her at the towering walls. Trick Room. Hundreds of doors, mirrors, fake and real, and twisting corridors. She knew her way around, but she figured, it must have been because it came from her.

She stood up, looking around her. She waved a finger at the wall behind her, and watched as it did exactly as she bid it. A window here. A door there. Now the wall's gone-oh wait! There it is again! Now there's a picture of me! Now there's a sculpture of the Thinker in the corner! She began laughing. Her mind had finally clicked, and she had her psychic powers. Not that she believed for one second she was a master. She probably had some kinks to work out. Practice and all. But she was a game changer, now. She was on the board.
 
Connor was taking a beating, and Logan didn't think he would mind some help. Logan quickly charged up to the assailant and threw a punch. He wasn't really thinking at the time, so it could have been anything from brick break to rock smash to a regular punch, but he was over it because his ridiculous strength would probably cause a lot of damage regardless. He threw his punch, and it hit their opponent right in the jaw. The foe staggered backwards, but came right back, and threw one glowing fist into Logan's gut. That was definitely a fighting type move. Logan fell to his knees and was gasping for breath. He coughed a couple times, and some blood came out.

He was kind of struggling to stay like this, his body wanted so much to fall down and just sleep for a while, but he wouldn't allow it. In a desperate attempt to still be helpful, Logan grabbed a fist full of the dirt on the ground and threw it. Mud slap wasn't much, but at least it would help.

((hope I'm not treading in thin ice controlling the guy a little, just wanted Logan's fifteen minutes for a second))
 
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