A/N: This one's real short, cuz I think the last paragraph made for a decent stopping point. Prolly gonna be the only one that doesn't come near the 1k words mark for a while.


Ruby asks King if she could borrow the pen nib and the crown polish.

"Sure, just as long as you remember to give them back later. I need my crown polish."

Ruby then hands her large book to Ren, since the only thing he seems to be carrying is a note. At least the book is better than nothing.

Ask King about Tick-Tock Square Escape.

What are its strengths and weaknesses?

"King, can you tell me more about this creature you call Tick-Tock Square Escape? What are its weaknesses, what are its strengths, anything that may be useful information?" Ruby says.

"The Tick-Tock Square Escape...Eh, TTSE, if TTSE has a weakpoint, it has to be that woundon its arm. Pyrrha must be a good fighter to wound TTSE. Maybe she's got some kind of weapon."

King placed his chin (questionable) against his hand in a thoughtful manner.

"We need to be quick when dealing with TTSE, as it is powerful and has strong jaws - strong enough to crunch bone. It would be smart to get out of reach before it grabs anyone."

Cut open its arm more.

You need something sharp.

Use the pen nib.

Use the crown.

As the thoughts flurry through her mind, she must have spoken the last one aloud because King gives her a grumpy look.

"Do NOT use my crown as a weapon. However, I am willing to sacrifice my pen nib, and some of the polish. For Pyrrha's sake. I doubt there is a sneaky way to do this. But maybe the monster is focused on Pyrrha. Maybe it won't pay attention to you and the others."

Ruby decides to go for it. It's now or never.

The group silently approaches the monster from behind. Ruby looks for Pyrrha and finds her standing across from TTSE, she's down on one knee and looks exhausted. There's a small, bloodied combat knife on the ground before her, and a pool of blood is steadily spreading at her feet.

The red haired warrior is terribly wounded, as it appears her entire left arm, just before the elbow, is missing. Blood is seeping between her fingers where her hand is trying to suppress the flow. Pyrrha is looking directly at Ruby, and their eyes meet.

Pyrrha sees you.

Motion to Pyrrha to be quiet.

Try to tell her not to give us away.

Proceed with the nib-and-polish plan.

Ruby brings a finger to her lips to tell her to be silent. Pyrrha nods her head slightly in acknowledgement.

Ruby uncaps the lid to the crown polish with a pop.

Blake shimmies over to her and whispers, "I'll hurry over to Pyrrha and try to escape with her, while you do as planned."

Ruby thinks that's a good idea. They tell Ren and King to stay back a little, but be prepared to fight in case it goes badly. Then the two disappear in a flash of rose petals and shadows.

Ruby appeared near TTSE, splashing its open wound with the crown polish successfully. Blake swoops in and quickly picks up Pyrrha, as well as her knife, and carries the injured girl in her arms while running away from the creature. Ruby waits only for a second before retreating, watching as the strange green substance of the polish fizzles on the entity's cut. She soon joins Blake and Pyrrha in their escape.

The monster released a resounding roar in pain. The monster seems really angry. It doesn't follow you when you run. King and Ren are back there too, coming after you. The monster's wound is smoking green and sizzling.

It seems Ruby and her friends may have lucked out on this one.


A/N: Whoot! They rescued Pyrrha, seems that Ruby's luck is looking up atm. Pyrrha's not looking too good though, very worrisome. Thanks for reading!