|
Post by Red Charge on Sept 27, 2013 4:13:53 GMT -5
But even as Selenia nodded towards the nightmare, she noticed it was already gone. Taking the time to charge her spell was not a bright idea, it seemed and gave the masked nightmare the chance he needed to elude them. But where did it vanish off to? Sunspire and Nova Blast halted their attack, wondering why Selenia wasn't doing anything, by the time they realized what had happened, the nightmare emerged from the tip of the shadow the trees were casting, firing off a bolt at Selenia while instantaneously throwing several of his gem tipped bolts at the unicorn partners. The bolt for Selenia was unavoidable and exploded at impact, reacting with Selenia's already charged concussive spell, the end result was devastating. Selenia soon found herself staring helplessly out of a hole in a building, without being able to move at all. It took her but a moment to realize that half of her no longer had skin. The force of the gem's explosion in reaction with Selenia's pent up ethereal energy ripped the skin and flesh off her left side, leaving her not only completely helpless, but also dying. Even with medical care, what was left of her had slim chances. Her only hope was to receive urgent medical care.
Sunspire used telekinesis to hurl back the gems at the nightmare leader, unaware of what had just happened, but Nova Blast, who had blinked behind the cover of the trees saw it all too well. What a stupid unicorn, what was she doing standing out in the open like that and charging a spell? She had the perfect opportunity to attack and not only wasted it, but possibly gave up her life as well. There was no helping it now, he had to try and teleport her to the palace for medical care, even though she might not survive the teleportation. But the Nightmare was still on the loose, could Sunspire hold the masked nightmare on his own while Nova went after the injured unicron? He had to make a quick decision, whether to neglect his mission objectives, or save a life. This was just the sort of thing they were warned about by Big Axe, they had to make mission critical decisions in split seconds that could determine the fate of ponies and sometimes, all of Equestria.
Gleam and Birch Bright dodged and ducked to try and avoid the Hammer brother's wild swings. The pony was fighting on two legs, making it hard for them to come close, for fear of another good bucking. Eventually Birch Bright decided on a course of action, he feinted a charge, holding back just out of range of the pony's hammer swing and immediately turned to launch Gleam at the nightmare. The maneuver succeeded, Gleam was able to smash his front hooves right into the hammer brother's face.
"If you can, knock them out!" Gallop called, retreating backwards slowly, "They're good ponies, just corrupted, but if you have no choice, go for the kill." The other hammer brother was getting back into the action, there was no time to hesitate, Gleam could try and knock the nightmare out, but if he failed he would miss a chance to take one of them out. Of course, a pony as strong as that would be a loss for the Equestrian military and like Gallop said, he was a good pony, just corrupted. What would Gleam do?
The long reaching nightmare progressed forwards, Lightning Dust and Scimitar retreating with every step it took. The pegasus mare sighed to release the pent up tension and took to the air, flying in wide circles beyond the pony's reach. She had to be faster than ever, go again and again... the world started spinning, she could barely see anything solid anymore. Everything was a blur now, her gums flapped back against the wind resistance as she grit her teeth. All that was left of the nightmare was a red blur, the wind bellowed in her ears, she could just create a tornado right now and spare herself the risk of getting hurt. But a circle that wide would create a tornado too big to control, it would more likely knock down the tower than help save it... she ignored her instincts, she was a slayer now, she had to take risks. And plunged towards the nightmare, veering right past his sword range. She could hear the swing and the miss behind her, she knew she had done well. The slayer trainee pulled up and slowed down, everything slowly returning to normal. Scimitar clapped his hooves with understanding. He got it. He had a plan.
|
|
|
Post by Gleam Lucre on Sept 29, 2013 10:51:27 GMT -5
In the distance, Gleam heard the odd sound made by the spell backfiring. Since it wasn't anywhere near him and the tower wasn't the source of the noise, he disregarded it. His focus was all on double-teaming the nightmare alongside Birch Bright. The other Earth Pony was a bit older and had a bit more muscle and raw strength to him than Gleam did, but Gleam's reflexes and speed was just a little bit faster for the same reason.
And together, this helped make them a very good team. The nightmare learned that first-hoof when Gleam and Birch Bright tricked him into leaving a hole in his defense - a pony-sized hole that Birch Bright literally flung Gleam through.
Of course, now that Gleam was in close range, General Gallop's words range out. Don't kill the nightmare unless there was no choice? Right, because this nightmare had been a pony before his corruption. But so had the other nightmares out there, right? They were corrupted ponies, all of them, and if the corruption was reversible...but if it wasn't, the only result of sparing the nightmare from death was to prolong the hideous fate some poor pony suffered. That would make Gleam the real monster of the two of them...
...One thing was obvious, the nightmare would have plenty of time to recover from the surprise blow while Gleam dithered over the sudden decision he had to make. No time to think! Gleam just had to decide, and act on it: either knock the nightmare out, or kill it.
'What would I want somepony to do for me, if I were in his shoes?' Gleam thought.
And suddenly, the answer right was in his hooves and clear as diamond: if Gleam were turned into a monster like this? Into a killing machine who would attack innocents, who would tear down a city's defenses, and who would, could not be reasoned with?
Gleam would rather die.
Hoping beyond hope that he was doing the right thing - and praying inwardly for forgiveness from the pony whose only real sin was getting corrupted in the first place - Gleam aimed his sword for the nearest exposed vital point. A quick death was the kindest thing Gleam had to offer.
|
|
|
Post by Selenia on Sept 30, 2013 20:33:48 GMT -5
Selenia gave her nod, and was about to launch her spell, but she never got the chance. One second she was about to launch her teleport next to the nightmare, but when she went to blink, the nightmare was nowhere to be found. She hesitated- and held her spell on her horn. She didn't even get the chance to look around before a sharp pain jabbed her right at the tip her charged horn and her vision was filled with blinding light and a wave of burning pain ripped through her left side from tip to tail. She couldn't see a thing, but the impact that followed was rough enough that she knew she had been sent careening into- and through- a solid stone wall, and into a solid stone floor.
Her eyes were open, but she couldn't move them. The wind was knocked out of her and she was challenged for quick, weak gasps of air. She had taken quite a hit, but she had a knack for getting up after a beating and still running. All her muscles ached- and her head felt like it was split open, so she gave a few seconds for her head to rearrange itself before she tried moving again. When she did- her body didn't follow. She couldn't look around to see her surroundings, she couldn't even shake the disorientation out of her head. A few seconds later- the adrenaline wore off.
And everything was pain. Pain. Pain everywhere. The most excruciating pain from everywhere on her left side. So much that she couldn't focus on anything else. She bit down on her lip so hard her teeth cleaved right through it, but even that was but a pinprick compared to this. She couldn't see how injured it was, not that she could give any attention to her sense of sight at the moment, but she assumed it was so bad that she'd rather not see it anyway. Her body twitched a couple times, an involuntary reaction to the pain. She wanted to scream, but she still couldn't move anything she wanted to, her lungs refused to compress any more than for her consistently shallow breaths. She was laying in an ocean of pain and she couldn't do anything about it. She had immense reserves of willpower to draw on- combined from her training with Red, and her devotion to her friends, family, teacher, and country, but sooner or later she would have to give out- the mind can only take so much before it cracks under the pressure. She just hoped somepony had seen and could help her, she still had so much to live for, and dying wasn't one of her top priorities as the moment.
|
|
|
Post by Red Charge on Oct 4, 2013 13:30:32 GMT -5
All Gleam heard was a loud whistling sound before everything went completely white. He suddenly felt as if he was floating as all sound around him slowed down to a near stop. Suddenly he felt like he had no concerns in the world, everything was peaceful, he was blissfully resting on air. The sensation ended when suddenly he felt the cold, hard floor against his back. The whiteness slowly began to fade from his eyes and he wheezed out a cough. The next thing he knew was that his whole body was shaking. He felt a stinging in his eye and realized that blood was trickling in it. Soon his vision returned, at least partially and he had realized what happened. The second twin had thrown his warhammer at Gleam, hitting him directly in the head, though how he wasn't dead was anyone's guess. The hammer was now zooming back towards the nightmare's expecting hooves. So they could throw their hammers like boomerangs... great.
Birch Bright sprinted over to his fallen partner, yelling something that sounded like gibberish at first, until Gleam could finally make out words. "..re lu..y tha. S.ns.ire was a.le to cush..n that ham..r throw!" He said, helping the pony up, he was far better off than one would think, but his legs were shaking and he lost his sense of balance. General Gallop took the opportunity that slipped from Gleam's hooves and charged the still laying hammer brother, knocking him out with a foure hooved stomp on his face, eliciting a strong 'crack' as the pony's snout was fractured.
"Just one now!" Gallop said excitedly, retreating back with the other two, "Just one left, soldiers, make me proud, slayers."
"I see, now," Lightning Dust grinned, "So he's been made a blood-bearer and the blood on his sword is his," She repeated, Scimitar nodded, "So all we have to do is wash the blood off his sword and he won't be able to use it to give it that extra length." Scimitar nodded again, to which Lightning Dust replied, "No problem sir, I'm on it." At that she took off in the air, spinning around gathering clouds into a clump at top speed, once she felt she had enough she wrapped her hooves around the large cloud mess she's made and with much effort was able to condense it further and further, sweat was pouring from her brow, but she had to do it, just a little bit more. The clouds rumbled under her efforts, but eventually gave to her will, forming into a pony sized mass. Lightning Dust breathed out, but her job wasn't done yet. Scimitar was below, distracting the red armored pony, but he wouldn't hold on for long. The pegasus slayer dove down with the pony-sized condensed cloud in hand, she was going to dive bomb this sucker and SPLASH. At the last moment Lightning Blitz pulled out, letting the water-filled cloud crash into the red armored pony before it could realize what was going on. She was surprised to find that his armor beneath all of the blood was still red, although much brighter. The blood washed clean of his sword and armor and was washing quickly away from him and away from the tower. Scimitar used his surprise to push in and buck him backwards, buying them more time.
"The Slayer initiative may be morally sketchy... but if you're just trainees... it pays off... big time." Scimitar admitted, impressed by the results achieved by the small band of slayer trainees that had come to their assistance. One of the nightmares was already out, one was weakened and the leader was still being held back.
Sunspire had suddenly turned, Nova noticed, Gleam's head had almost been taken off by a flying hammer. Good catch, he thought. But the Nightmare leader was now rapidly approaching the tower. Nova had no choice. He charged up a single bright orb above his horn and cast it some distance in front of the nightmare. He never wanted to use this spell again, but it was either that, or let the unicorn die. This would at least buy him some time.
The orb landed in front of the nightmare, who sled into a halt, trying to determine what threat it posed before it imploded upon itself and then erupted in a large explosion, throwing the Nightmare leader in the air and straight back down the street, into a big wooden cart. The blast disturbed the earth beneath them and it began to tremble with the force of the spell. Where the masked nightmare was just standing, was now a large pit, Sunspire's jaw dropped as he saw it. He had nearly forgotten that Nova Blast was previously a major in an Everfree unit... and far above his own league.
Running over to the half dead unicorn, Nova nearly slipped as his hoof landed on a round object and crushed it. A snap of lightning suddenly threw him back, a trap! No, it was a pony, his horn aglow with magical lightning. Nova recognized him, the same pony he had once spent months looking for.
"Ally!" Nova called out quickly and the large unicorn's horn subsided. Red Charge looked over the carnage, assessed the threats and then turned back to face Selenia. His eyes went wide with concern and shock. He imagined the Nightmares were ruthless, but he didn't imagine this. There was no time to spend. "Get back out there!" He called to Nova as he turned his full attention on Selenia, his horn beginning to glow as he began focusing on a spell. He couldn't teleport Selenia out of here in her state, but he could do something to stabilize her, get her vitals up and heal her enough to be able to survive the transfer. It has been long since Red Charge saw a pony in such a desperate state, enough years to kill a dozen ponies and yet the sight of such injuries again were still all too soon for the unicorn. His spell continued to charge as Nova Blast joined up with Sunspire again as he advanced towards the cart, taking back a lot of the ground they lost earlier.
|
|
|
Post by Selenia on Oct 5, 2013 13:14:00 GMT -5
Over the course of Selenia laying in her own little world of rubble and pain, the ringing in her ears had begun to subside, but she still got nothing from her left ear. Her body had started to feel unnaturally cold, like the kind of nippy, biting cold one would get during the winter without a fleece, or the feeling of open air on a skinned knee. It was hard to place, but her aching body decided that shivering was the way to go. Each jitter brought newfound fire to her head and left body, just as she caught a flare of light that cut through the dust and the ground rumbled in response. 'Oh no. Don't let that be the tower.' She could only hope that her- incapacitation hadn't ended up jeopardizing the success of their objective to defend the artillery tower. Wouldn't that be up top with irony, trying to defend the city but ending up securing its demise.
She squinted another look through the searing pain to the opening in the smashed structure she careened into and her spirits soared as high as they could. Nova, one of the unicorns working to defend the tower, was galloping headlong towards her. Perhaps that explosion had made headway on the nightmares and granted them a few seconds to worry about the wounded. Before she could choke out a syllable or two so Nova would know she wasn't dead, another blinding flash filled the scene with light- but this one was between her and Nova. Selenia rapidly blinked the image out of her eyes and saw RedCharge in full battle regalia shoving Nova back out towards the tower. He must have teleported down when he saw the explosion and figured things were getting out of hoof. Red's look of utter shock when he turned to her told Selenia all she needed to know. If her injuries were enough to give RedCharge pause, then she was grateful she couldn't see them for herself. She knew she was in bad shape, but if anypony could fix it, Red could, and she trusted him implicitly at that.
|
|
|
Post by Gleam Lucre on Oct 18, 2013 0:14:41 GMT -5
Gleam might not be dead, but he wasn't sure this was much better. One eye was...he was fairly sure it was still there but he couldn't make himself find any shape or sense in what it was seeing. His body was shaking in a manner he had never experienced - not fear, but just...shaking. Shaking like individual muscles were fighting to break loose and run for their lives.
Seeing the hammer go twirling back through the air with the eye that still worked properly guided Gleam to the source of the blinding white that had interrupted him in mid-strike. The hammers could be thrown. And then return to their owner like a boomerang? A childish pony in the back of Gleam's mind pouted: no fair! That was cheating!
Birch Bright was trying to help Gleam up, but Gleam's wibbly-wobbly legs were uncooperative. Only by bracing himself splay-legged, like a foal learning how to walk, was Gleam able to keep himself from fall straight back down.
General Gallop had taken advantage of the 'distraction' by rushing in and striking down the nightmare Gleam had been about to end. By the look of it, the nightmare was only knocked out...well, if that's what Gallop wanted to do, that was all well and good. But Gleam would stand by his earlier decision.
"One down..." Gleam said, pausing a moment as his voice sounded strange through the ringing in his ears, "...One to go."
Gleam's muscles gave up their attempts at escape - or at least seemed to realize that Gleam was going to ignore them until the end of the battle - and he braced himself to run. A headlong charge had worked before, sort of...it wasn't like they had any other options. If the tower fell, taking down the first hammer nightmare would be for nothing!
|
|
|
Post by Red Charge on Oct 19, 2013 16:08:34 GMT -5
Unfortunately for the ponies, the Nightmares seemed to have a lot more up their sleeves than they expected. The Nightmare Leader, unrelenting, drew Sunspire and Nova Blast's fire as he sped all over the place, blanketing the entire area with concussive and explosive bolts and forcing them into cover. He was making a run for it, sprinting straight towards the tower, when he was stopped dead in his tracks. The little filly from before, standing with teary, wrathful eyes in front of him.
"You're not my brother..." She said, unleashing a blinding series of flashes from her horn. The nightmare had no choice but to shield his eyes from the visual onslaught, but even as he did he felt the wind knocked out of him as something tackled him to the ground. A large, golden fox was now on top of him, snarling. He wasn't sure what was going on, what the filly was talking about. He had no sister, or did he? But how could she confuse him with another pony? Unless of course... the foal in the woods...
That's all the time he had to put a thought into it, as the golden fox seemed about to snap at his neck. A swift buck sent the fox flying, but it wasn't fast enough to dodge the combined attack of Nova and Sunspire. The Nightmare Leader once again found himself face first through a wall, but this time he was not able to get back to his hooves.
The pony Lightning Dust was fighting had just been bucked backwards by Razorwing, here was her chance. Diving down again she found herself sending a swift kick into a puff of smoke as the nightmare re-materialized right next to her, sending his shield into her face. She rolled backwards into the cobbled floor, unconscious. But General Gallop entered the fray, with only one more hammer brother, Birch Bright and Gleam would be enough for now.
The two old comrade in arms put up an amazing fight, half crippled as they were. But the Colonel was easily able to dodge their attacks and counter with surprising agility. This was getting bad.
"Hold your breaths!" A voice cried from above as the sky darkened. A pegasus was diving towards the battle, a multi-colored storm of alchemical smoke in his wake. As the pegasus dove in, the alchemical cloud behind him stuck to the faces of the conscious hammer brother and the colonel, there was no dodging this attack, no where to run to, or disappear to. In the one pass he took, Darkness Reigns was able to knock out both the Hammer Brother and the Colonel. Giving the smoke a few extra seconds just to be sure, Darkness gathered it up into a cloud of pollution and kicked it into the distance, to handle later.
General Gallop could barely believe it. He felt as though his bones were shattered, as though he was bleeding from all over his body. He was exhausted, but he was happy.
Scimitar Razorwing fell on his rump, closing his eyes in weary relief.
Red Charge was finally able to cast the spell to stabilize Selenia, it was enough to transfer her back to the palace and so he did. But her ultimate fate was yet in the balance and the odds were very grim. He was not going to join in the celebrations for now.
Nova and Sunspire high hoofed and Birch Bright tackled Gleam with a hug, "We did it, brother, we beat them back!"
The impact of the situation was quick to dawn upon all present, the tower was standing, their enemies were not. They did it. They protected the tower. They WON.
|
|
|
Post by Gleam Lucre on Oct 19, 2013 23:10:41 GMT -5
Gleam was prepared to give everything, including his life, for the defense of this tower and of Canterlot. But in a blast of disgustingly acrid smoke - which left the air it had passed through smelling faintly of sour apples for some strange reason - the armored nightmare and the second hammer-wielding nightmare were down. Seeing the skull-faced nightmare currently embedded face-first into a wall not terribly far away (with Sunspire and Nova Blast's horns still sparking to show the most likely cause for that), it sank in like a leaden weight.
The battle was over. Just like that.
...Huh.
Adrenaline washed away with the realization, and in came the exhaustion and all those aches and pains that it concealed. Still, it was heady. Their first real battle and not only had their team of Slayer trainees all survived, they'd won! ...Perhaps technically not won by their own power, but it still counted!
Gleam had all of a few fleeting moments to enjoy the feeling of success before Birch Bright cheered and launched himself at the other Earth Pony in a flying tackle. Gleam's legs chose that moment to stage a mutiny, and he landed heavily at the bottom of the two-pony pileup with a surprised grunt and a clatter of armor on cobblestones.
Birch Bright didn't seem to notice, apparently planning on hugging Gleam forever. Looking to the nearest pony for help only got Gleam a smirk from Lightning Dust.
"You look real comfy down there," she said, before making a motion like she intended to jump on top of the pile.
"I hate you," Gleam replied flatly.
Lightning Dust laughed.
Well, at least she and Birch Bright did help Gleam stand back up again.
...Eventually.
|
|
|
Post by Selenia on Oct 21, 2013 6:43:46 GMT -5
As soon as Red started his stabilization spell, Selenia felt waves of cooling numbness run down her burning left side, and sure enough, the once-excruciating pain was lessened to a disorienting, but by no means unmanageable throb. She tested her legs once more, but they still didn't respond. Red must have used enough numbing and stasis power to completely immobilize her. Much like EMS ponies strapping an emergency patient down on a stretcher, her lack of movement was probably in her best interests. She wanted to protest, to push Red aside, tell him that this was enough to hold her over for now, and that the battle for the triple-A tower needed him in the fray, but she still couldn't say a word.
Selenia craned her eyes around as far as she could to get a look at the battlefield behind Red. It was still obscured, but this cloud was not of dust, but of.. smoke and pollution? She watched from her earthen position as the cloud hung for a few seconds before dissipating, revealing both of the hammer nightmares and the armored nightmare to be sprawled on the ground. The masked nightmare was nowhere to be seen, but another massive hole in a structure across the way gave her some idea. She saw General Gallop rest on his haunches and Scimitar let out an explosive sigh of relief. The Slayer squad was also celebrating in kind. Her body choked out a short laugh that she instantly regretted, but by Luna, they did it- the ponies in front of her had held the tower and defeated the nightmares.
|
|
|
Post by Live Wire on Oct 22, 2013 23:37:58 GMT -5
"Yeah! We did it!" Cheered the filly with a hoof pump into the air - suddenly catching herself and hugging Darkness tight just below his withers. "Uh... maybe we could like land or something. Before I fall off." She clenched tightly against the stallion, afraid of slipping, especially now that the battle was over.
As Darkness was still in the air, Live Wire caught a glimpse of the destruction. The rising smoke, the dead ponies on the ground, the crushed and destroyed buildings. "So..." She asked sheepishly, "Is that it? Was that the big attack? Is it over?" Though young and a little naive, she knew the answer, but somehow, she just wanted to be told that was it. This was over.
|
|
|
Post by Red Charge on Oct 23, 2013 12:02:36 GMT -5
The sounds of fighting and the commotion around the city were now finally gone with the last nightmares falling before the team of ponies in front of the tower. The only sound now blowing through the city was the crackling of flames as those continued to rage after the fierce battles. Birch Bright and the others immediately went to disarm and tie up the nightmares (just in case) and heaved them in a pile in front of the tower.
"In a bit, let's make sure the coast is clear." Darkness said to the filly.
The dark Pegasus circled the area several times to make sure no more nightmares were active, when he felt secure in the safety of the tower, he finally allowed himself to breath a sigh of relief.
"We did it!" He called out joyfully, making one more round around the plaza before stopping to hover in place. "You know, this was your first battle..." He said thoughtfully, "You should get a nickname from your commanding officer..." He grinned, "Well I think you did great, 'Little Titan', those guys down there seem to have this area down. Let's clear out." Little Titan, of course, was referring to their combined Titan's Blade earlier, and though it had the word 'little' in it, it didn't feel little at all.
The Pegasus began flapping his large wings and flying in the direction of the palace.
Nova Blast shot up a green flare spell to indicate the all clear. His signal was quickly echoed by every military unit throughout the city. It seemed the other trainees and the instructors managed to fare just as well as their group had, hopefully, it was impossible to count the flares going off. Did all the trainees make it?
From the palace, two flare spells went off, one with the all clear color, indicating a safe area to teleport to and debrief and another with a blue color, indicating a containment area for captured nightmares. Sunspire and Nova Blast immediately began the work of teleporting the Nightmares away to the containment area, it was not easy with their level of fatigue, but they still managed it with effort in the end. Leaving them somewhat dizzy and causing their heads to hurt.
"Alright, I think we owe these slayer trainees something." General Gallop stated, Scimitar Razorwing straightened himself and nodded. "You just went through your first battle and more than earned your nicknames." The general looked around at all of them proudly. Everyone had reservations when Field Marshal Starling first brought to the table the Slayer Initiative. It seemed morally reprehensible to intentionally push ponies to their limits, intentionally put them in danger, intentionally pushing them to become less pony and more soldiers... but even those who did not graduate from the program showed significant ability over those who did not participate. But in the end, it was just like it was meant to be - only for the ponies who could handle it. Those who were more than just willing to agree to the training, those who were capable of withstanding it.
"You," Gallop pointed a hoof at Birch Bright, "You're Launchpad, The way you sprang into action, especially when you launched your friend through the Nightmare's defenses... great teamwork."
"Speed Freak." Scimitar said, giving Lightning Dust a hearty pat on the shoulder, she grinned back at him through chipped teeth.
"Hammerhead." Gallop snickered at Gleam, then said seriously, "Wear it proudly, magic or no magic, standing up after taking a war-hammer to the face is some thing, let me tell you."
"Sweet Celestial Divide, if it isn't Nova 'Hunter-Killer' Blast." The General said, spotting the unicorn, "Demoted yourself to private, huh?" He asked, the unicorn nodded, "Well, guess you earned your old nickname all over again didn't you?"
"Battery." Scimitar named Sunspire, "You went all out to support your comrades. I've never seen a support pony react so fast with so much going on in the field. Like they had a whole battery of mages to support them." The group quickly fell into talking amongst themselves.
"Are you getting this man? We got our nicks, we got them from the two High Commanders!" Birch whispered to Gleam excitedly, "All that manure we've been fed... it was all worth it for this moment brother, all worth it!"
"This was the biggest rush I ever felt in my life!" Lightning Dust said, wrapping Gleam in a one hoofed embrace, "My heart was beating so fast it felt like someone was using a hammer-drill on my chest!" She said, unleashing Gleam. "We were epic."
By the time the nick names were given and everyone received a traditional punch to the shoulder (which felt to each as though a hammer twin had struck them) there was only one thing left to do, return to the palace.
And then the tower exploded...
|
|