"You again?" Jim hissed, turning his sword warily in his hands.
The shadowy not-Jim stepped out of the shadows with a chuckle, cockily tossing his sword between his claws. The creature gave a smug sharp toothed grin, head cocked, before tossing Eclipse directly at the real Jim, forcing the boy to give a quick hop before employing his tried and true strategy: running.
"Did you use that stone again?" Toby squaked, sizing up the hammer with a flare of orange.
"No! Wait, you can see him?" he yelled, his shadow self directly behind him. Jim quickly scampered up a tree in a stunning display of bravery.
"Then what is he?" Claire said, aiming the shadow staff at the darting monster.
"I don't know! Before, only I could see him!"
Lost in his explanation, Jim barely flicked his tail out of the way as Eclipse bit into the branches.
"Little help here?" Jim yowled, dropping from the tree again and renewing the game of keep away. Not-Jim simply gave an evil laugh, landing on all fours and giving a mighty leap.
"He's too fast to hit!" Claire gritted back, forming a portal where the evil Jim was a moment ago.
"Gunmar broke part of your will and made me, now you will join me when I break all of it. Gunmar has strengthened me, you will not win," the creature growled, baring its fangs and pointing its blackened sword towards a gulping Jim.
"Uh, do I get a say in this?"
The thing merely laughed, dodging a hefty swing from Toby before leaping over Jim and rushing him with the deadly blade.
Jim backpedaled, blocking the strike swiftly, before the two began a deadly dance, mirroring one another.
While the two were distracted with one another, Claire and Toby edged forward. Toby held up three fingers, readying his hammer and counting down silently.
Jim caught them out of the corner of his eye, and he quickly doubled his effort in distraction, attempting to pin his red-eyed foe to assure a good hit.
And a good hit it was- with a mighty clash against the Eclipse armor, the combined blast of the shadow staff and warhammer to send him flying.
With a snarl, the changeling dug its hooves into the ground to stop its sliding. It touched the ground with a hand like a runner, and set lunging with a guttural screech at the trio. They quickly scattered to avoid the mad swinging, circling just out of reach, with Not-Jim becoming a tornado of swings. The blade clanged against the ground, attempting to cut each of its foes, and the trio struck back with equal success. Despite being three against one, it was an even match.
Both sides could only keep going for so long, and the trio were unused to circling like wolves around prey, instead used to a more one on one battle. They faltered first.
Seeing his opportunity, Not-Jim struck a fast and hard blow at Jim, knocking him back, before swinging at the distracted Claire and Toby.
Free of the circle, he once again relentless pursued Jim, who was clearly flagging at this point- the enemy, on the other hand, was driven with a manic, violent fervor.
The blade chewed on Jim's tail, the pair running and jumping off walls, much to the dismay of the other two slower members of the trio.
It was only so long until Jim was slowing, and he turned to give his last push. Claire and Toby had been left far behind in their long city chase, the two squaring off in the middle of the street.
Their blades clashed, giving everything each one had- their tails lashed at one another, claws swiped, and the pair even butted horns before attempting to impale the other.
It was only a burning sensation of Jim's tail that gave him momentary pause, allowing his foe to knock him back… right into the sun.
His vision was graying as he watched his counterpart give a disdainful glare at the sunlight and darting away, leaving him clutching at the shadow.