Previously...

Jazz brought the dog to her chest, running a hand over his ghostly fur. An idea popped into her head. "Maybe you can help." She muttered, a knowing smile grew in place of her smirk.

...

Randy circled the eleventh floor again. "We have a Fenton to save. Standing around won't change that."

Continuing...

: Day 16, Wednesday, Danny :

"I'm not looking forward to this fight." Randy sighed, anxiously shifting his weight as the merry group of teens perched themselves in an abandoned house near McFist's tower.

"You think I am?" Danny huffed, his brows furrowing.

"So far, the only thing that I'm glad about is the fact we got away with skipping school." Sam fiddled with her favorite spider backpack, fussing with the straps. "Pretty sure our 'we all got sick thanks to Tucker's cooking' excuse was rather flimsy."

Said tech guy grumbled in the background as he placed the last thing he needed to set up. "Me and Spud are done." The entire room nodded in acknowledgement.

"We owe Howard big time." Randy smiled softly at the mention of his biffer. "Hopefully he actually takes notes for us."

Danny watched as Jake shuffled his hand across the makeshift table of boxes, tapping the cardboard. The dragon glanced to the group around him, sighing as he saw the serious faces everyone donned. "Well. Delaying this ain't gonna make it easier."

"I still don't like that Jazz refused an early extraction." The halfa frowned, worry dancing in his posture as a bright flash changed his appearance. "Who knows when they'll release their... uh, cake, potion, whatever."

"Well at least we know where she is." Randy donned his mask, transforming within the minute.

Danny frowned, turning back to the table as silence oozed into the space. The halfa'd barely slept, only getting about an hour total. When the secret trio got the letter yesterday afternoon they debated for hours on what to do and how to proceed. As soon as the sun went down Randy went to infiltrate McFist's lair, if nothing else, for the information. Danny'd hoped that he'd see Jazz when Randy returned, focusing on how to take down their operation more than safe exit paths. He fully trusted the Ninja of Norrisville to get his sister out of there silently and safely. After all, he is a ninja. When he returned without her, Danny's entire thought process was brought to a halt. He'd stopped planning a destruction battle and started prepping for a rescue mission.

Time continued to whizz by and it became clear that they needed a spot to talk that wasn't Randy's house. So the hero trio camped out together overnight in the abandoned warehouse they now occupied. It wasn't too hard to get in, saying they had a ghost, but it was a less than ideal arrangement. Non-super powered teens elected to go to bed in their own rooms, covering for the trio as they bounced around a sleepover excuse between the houses. Danny'd proceeded to lose track of time as he planned, only realizing the hour when Tucker arrived as the sun came up, begrudgingly tearing away from their makeshift table to take a nap.

Spud arrived a few hours later, joining up with Tucker for brainstorming. By that point Danny was awake again, insisting that he didn't need to sleep nearly as much after his accident. They relented after a few well-placed reasonings, mostly so that their main 'plan guy' could be caught up with everything. Sam arrived as the sun approached six in the morning, complaining about her parents delaying her. She called the school as soon as she felt it was reasonable, producing their excuse. Howard went to class, covering for the missing kids and (for once) offering to take notes, homework, etc for them. Trixie went with Howard to make sure the redhead didn't mix up his lies- or, if he did, her mission would be to fix it.

Despite all of the time he'd used, Danny still didn't know what they were going to do. Not really. After all, their first idea had to be scrapped before it could even start. The eldest Fenton child insisted that she stay on the grounds of a surprise attack. Good intentions, sure, and a decent start at a new plan, but that didn't make Danny feel any better. Tactically, if they got her out earlier than their actual battle then McFist would know something was up- if not McFist, then Vlad. Either way it seemed like a bad, short sighted move... Logically speaking. Jazz'd insisted that she was fine and that everything would work out, but Danny couldn't help imagining the brave face she'd put on for Randy in that moment. The Ninja, of course, said that he was reluctant to leave, but he eventually caved, giving Jazz a Fenton Phone so they could connect up later.

Que current time. They were waiting for that moment right now. For several hours. They should be close enough to connect with her (as proven by multiple diagnostic sessions with Tuck and Spud), but it seemed like she'd been caught up in something all morning.

The halfa brought a hand to the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily as he applied pressure.

So much could go wrong here.

They had a bare bones idea for the fight. Danny, ironically enough, wasn't the best at infiltration so he planned to rely heavily on Randy for that. Jake wasn't very stealthy, but he provided a pretty good distraction. With a dragon busting down the door and Randy getting Jazz out, Danny hoped to get to the cake itself. He had no idea how to destroy it, but he guessed that he could disintegrate it with a ghost ray, or at least, get it in position for Jake to put it up in flames. Reasonably, if the cake wasn't completely done to perfection, it would be useless. The ideal scenario would be that it's in the middle of baking. If the stars aligned then Danny could just turn off the oven or something.

That was the issue though. This was all guesswork and luck. Jazz hadn't provided additional information when Randy visited her last night, other than she thinks they're preparing it in the topmost section of the pyramid. When Danny asked, Randy further clarified the structure of the building, naming off four different sections of 20 floors (all of which had names that screamed "evil lair!"). So it turns out that Jazz wasn't simply on the 11th floor, but rather the fourth version of the 11th floor, which meant that she was really 71 stories above ground. Which, in itself, was confusing for Danny to wrap his mind around. Why did the floors reset numbers every 20th? Who knows. That was neither here nor there. The halfa was mostly glad he thought to ask that before they charged headfirst into battle.

"Hey guys, you there?"

Danny jolted from his thoughts, momentarily flickering out of the visual spectrum in his surprise. He cleared his throat as he caught the other's curious or amused eyes, reaching up to the side of his head to turn the mic on for his Fenton Phones. "Yeah, we're here Jazz."

"I can hear the worry in your voice little brother."

Said teen's cheeks flushed, turning a rather neon green at the comment. "I'm not worried!"

Jazz chuckled, but didn't comment any further. "McFist held an announcement today for all the bots. I'm back in my room now, but I was forced to go since my guards were required to attend. I told them that I was going to do some homework, so we should be in the clear."

Danny glanced over to Randy as he switched his mic on, his voice echoing twice thanks to his proximity. "What was the announcement about?"

Jazz's tone shifted to weary. "He's hosting a party later tonight." She paused before continuing, her voice once more changing, but this time to a more grim one. "I hear through the grapevine that the chef's baking a special dessert for the occasion."

Danny felt everyone's serious eyes fall onto his form. He swallowed, taking a deep, calming breath as he changed his attention to the plan in front of him. "We have an idea what to do, but Jazz..."

"I know Danny. Don't worry too much, I have a few weapons on me thanks to Randy's visit last night and I've been practicing mom's self defence lessons while I've been here!"

The halfa took another deep breath. "Let's hope that you won't have to use them." He paused, then shook his head. "Randy'll be the first one in." Danny glanced up, returning the ninja's confident nod. "We have to get you out before anything else happens."

"It should be pretty quick, saying we already mapped our route." Randy pitched in as he quickly opened the nearest working window and hopped out of the house. ["I'm on my way."] Voice barely above a whisper, it was now exclusively digital.

Danny's stomach did a flip as he realized what was going on. It's happening. Right now. Roughly two weeks of frantic bonding, fear, and determination all boiled down to this one event. It was wild, really. How much yet how little the trio'd actually done together. He did find solace, however, in his complete and utter trust of his allies. He didn't doubt them for a moment. The halfa shook his head, turning to Tucker and Spud as they turned on their mics.

"Tuck and Spud'll monitor you guys as you go."

"We can't do much other than see where you're at though my dude and dudette." Spud's lax voice drawled into the mic, starkly contrasting yet perfectly fitting the mood. Somehow. "So ya gotta rely on Randy's skills for the exact location of the AI."

["Heh, no pressure, ey?"]

"It'll be fine. Seriously guys, McFist isn't that smart."

["Well, yeah, but Viceroy is."]

"I'm pretty sure he grumbled about taking a break while the cake's cooking. Not much for them to do but wait at the moment."

"I'd prefer to be overly cautious rather than surprised." Danny jutted into the conversation, simultaneously relieved and hating the fact that he wasn't supposed to do anything right now. He knew that staying here was the best thing to do and that it meant all was going to plan, but his core screamed his need to follow the ninja. He hated being on the sidelines. The thought dragged Danny's guilty eyes to Sam's position, wincing as he watched her shift in her spot, peering out the window for any intruders. He sighed.

The halfa tore his sight away from the screen, making his way to one of the many boarded up windows, aiming to watch the ninja as he moved. Scenario after scenario toiled around the room, simultaneously bring his attention towards and away from the what ifs. Butterflies fluttered, disturbing the ectoplasm in his veins, his mind fuzzy as he fought off a blank spell. The exhaustion that riddled his brain certainly didn't help. His heart pulsed in his chest, way too slow for a human, but incredibly fast for his ghost form, saying it usually didn't beat at all.

"God I hate silence." Jake growled from his seated position across the room. When Danny glanced over he saw the dragon's head buried into his intertwined fingers, eyes pressed shut.

: Randy :

The Ninja assessed the building from a shaded tree, carefully scanning the location for information. Nothing seemed out of place. Well, okay, there were admittedly less robots than usual, but he took that as a positive sign. For now, at least. It was always possible that the main force was stationed in the inner maze-like floor plan. But future Randy could worry about that. At the moment, it was a blessing, and he was going to take it as such. He nodded, following the movement patterns of the guards, waiting for his opening.

"There-" He whispered to himself, "Ninja sneak-around-the-bot!"

The teen barreled towards a lone bot, footsteps falling silent on the pavement. He rotated around the ape's vision, tiptoeing past the lookout and grappling the wall in one smooth motion. There should be a panel here somewhere that leads to the vents.

/"Ninja dude, the vents are two panels to your left."/

Randy flinched at the sudden voice, but remained verbally silent, recognizing the source of it as Spud. It sure was strange having a voice in his ear with a map to the McFist pyramid. He shook off the surprise, deciding to follow the advice. He took out one of his many Ninja tools, prying open the innocuous panel, sighing in relief when it led farther into the compound. Not bothering to hesitate, he crawled into the space, contorting strangely to replace the metal behind him, smothered in darkness instantaneously.

"Okay I'm in." He confirmed on radio, smile crossing his expression as he imagined the faces of his companions. "On my way to Jazz."

His nose scrunched as he blocked out the smell of aluminum, shuffling forwards as quietly as he could. He took his time, feeling out the size of the vent with soft hand movements, pressing a tinny bit on the locations he planned to crawl on before doing so. He knew that he entered on the fourth floor, which meant that he'd have to find a way up. While he could take this shaft the entire way, he knew that speed was essential here, and navigating the vents took far longer than ideal- even with his slightly better than average night vision. A mental map formed inside his head, automatically routing the best path.

He blinked, resisting the urge to sneeze. "Boy is it dusty in here." Randy flicked his attention to his direct left, placing a hand on the wall. "Should be it." He hesitated to allow his helpers a moment to correct him, then brought out his tool once more when they remained silent. It wasn't hard to disconnect the piece, nor was it difficult to squeeze out of the darkness and reaffix the panel. Legs and arms pressed to the walls starfish-style, he grinned in success when he recognized the strange architectural layout. "Bingo."

It wasn't a big area. Maybe a foot in each direction, the vertical-bound tunnel was lined with concrete, unpainted and clearly rough. Randy'd discovered the hole on one of his many bored explorations of the pyramid. There were several others like it, lining the outer shell of the building. He could only guess what they were built for, mainly hypothesizing an error in construction that McFist was too impatient to fix. Wouldn't be the first thing the villain overlooked in his home base. Either way, it offered Randy an express lane all the way to Jazz's floor. The Ninja glanced below him, eyes narrowing. Even for Randy, four floors was a long way to fall.

"Alright." He huffed, starting his ascent. As his confidence grew, his speed increased. Even with this, it took maybe 30 minutes to climb just as many floors. "Thank you Nomicon for the endurance training." He muttered, pausing to catch his breath. He shook out his limbs, cursing at the soreness he'd surely feel tomorrow.

A line of static broke Randy out of his thoughts, Danny's voice cutting through the dead air. {"How's it going?"}

"Pretty good, surprisingly enough." Randy responded, nodding his head as he reached up, starting his climb once more. "It'll take a bit though before I get to Jazz. The outer chutes aren't exactly elevators."

{"How much longer?"}

Randy sighed. "40 minutes, give or take."

The silence was all Randy needed to hear to know the frustration in the air. He shook his head, starting his movement once more. The ninja kept his mind clear and ears peeled as he traversed the chute, puffing out breath when he finally reached his destination. He leaned against the concrete, staring intently at a metal panel while allowing himself a moment to gather his energy. "71st floor, here we come."

With that, he opened the panel, crawled through, and replaced it. The teen brought his hand into his suit, bringing out a set of strange looking claws, equipping them hastily. Scrambling to the ceiling, Randy paused to -again- assess his situation, claws gripping into the surface below (above?) him. The chute left him in a rather large hallway, lined with windows on one side and sturdy-looking walls on the other. While he couldn't see any patrolling guards, he heard the tell-tale footsteps of one making their way to him. "Where to?"

Randy blinked as instructions were brought to his head, memorizing them with a nod. He followed the words automatically, comfortable in the space despite the fact that he'd only been in this corridor once before. When he neared Jazz's door he frowned at the two guards that protected it. He knew it was a possibility that they'd be there, but he'd hoped that they wouldn't. With a very light sigh he turned his head to the wall nearest to him, carefully repeating the same process he'd been doing for the past hour.

Randy did a sweep of Jazz's room before he landed on the carpeted floor. Everything, while grayscale, seemed to be pristine and orderly. Even the bed was made and the sole chair was pushed up next to a table. Amusement ran through him as he realized that all of the books on the bookshelves were arranged alphabetically by title. His sharp sapphire blue eyes caught Jazz's teal ones as she tossed a messenger bag over her shoulder. "Alright, I've got Jazz" Randy confirmed to his currently-digital friends, nodding in greeting to the elder Fenton child. He temporarily muted his mic and raised a playful eyebrow at Jazz, dramatically offering out his hand. "M'lady, your ticket out of this pyramid has arrived."

Jazz scoffed in reply, shaking her head, her words deadpan. "How noble." After a beat she continued, her tone shifting more serious. "What're the guards like?"

"Oh, uh." Randy straightened his posture, unmuting himself. "Guards are sparse outside but are patrolling the pyramid regularly. While not normal, I think that staff is a bit on the sparse side today."

Jazz nodded, reaching up to unmute her own mic. "They could be gathering them around the cake."

A slight static sound heralded Danny's voice. {"Sounds to me like I just need to find the party."}

"Oof. Glad I'm not searching for it. I've only ever been invited to one popular kids party. Can't recommend." Randy quipped off of the halfa, glancing around the room again to try and find their way out. When he visited Jazz before he went out the way he came in. Which, theoretically, he could do, but a second person would make that ceiling crawl a tad difficult.

|"Same. I brought a soul-sucking nyx to my school dance. Not the best party trick when the moon reaches its peak."|

"...Yikes bro." Randy cringed.

Jazz sighed. "Guys, focus?"

{"Last time I went to a party the host's computer tried to kill him."}

"McFist tried to find me using my snot."

|"That's just nasty."|

"Mhm." Randy shivered at the memory, turning his attention to the walls.

{"Alright, alright. Our timer's set Randy, get ready for chaos."}

A smirk crossed said Ninja's face as he addressed Jazz, muting himself in preparation of the plan. "How're you with tight spaces?" Randy moved to the other side of the room without hearing her response, whipping out yet another tool. "Good. Let's go." He unscrewed a panel, repeating the process a few times as more layers appeared. Eventually, a second multi-floor chute showed their exit. "Okay. We'll take the faster route." The teen turned to Jazz, holding back a chuckle at the confusion on her face. He reached into his suit, producing a sturdy rope and affixing it to one of the bed's post. He gave it a quick tug before nodding, coiling the rest of the rope in his hand. "This is our safety line. You'll follow me down, I'll let you know if I hear anything wrong while we move. One tug is stop, two is move. It's a small space, so we won't tie the rope to ourselves. If you fall, I'll catch you."

Jazz took a deep breath, closing her eyes briefly. Her knuckles turned white against the bag she held. When she let out her breath, her eyes opened with determination and fearlessness. Randy returned her nod, making his way over to the chute. With a quick toss, he absently watched the rope fall into the gray void. In a controlled movement he vaulted the small half-wall, sliding a few feet before he snatched the rope. He tugged the rope a few times, twice to test its strength, then twice more to signal to Jazz that he was far enough away.

He briefly tensed when he felt a second presence on the line, preparing for the worst. When nothing happened, he nodded. His eyes focused on what was below them, his ears now straining to hear any noise that seemed out of place. The descent was a bit on the slow side, but overall rather easy. He mentally snarked at the ease of their exit compared to his entry. 20 minutes flew by, Randy only calling for a stop once along the way. He softly landed on the floor, instantly crouching down to feel for the hatch at the bottom of this chute. It freaked him out a little bit that this specific tunnel was used for maintenance, but with the lack of security, he wasn't super worried that they'd be found. A downside to this particular escape, however, was that the ground floor exit was in easy view thanks to its historical purpose. The ninja reached up to tug once, gesturing for Jazz to pause. He waited until her movements stopped altering the rope, then reached for his tool. Now all they had to do was escape in the cover of chaos.

: Jake :

Jake flicked his gaze to his phone, impatiently tapping his finger on the nearest rock. There were seconds left before his turn. Draconic chi toiled around in his chest, expecting his transformation any minute. His heart beat a million miles a minute, adrenaline kicking up before he even went into battle. He took a deep breath, forcing his attention to do something other than panic.

"Eye of the dragon."

There were three apes stationed at the doors. Two were standing at the door handles, giving friendly nods to passersby on the street, directing any that wanted inside away. The third one was directly inside the full glass wall, cleaning the material. He couldn't see any more from his position, but he couldn't make the assumption that there were no more. Randy did report that security was lax today, but Danny's paranoia gripped his impulsive thoughts, shoving them away from his main thought process. The dragon took a half a second to scan towards the halfa's position. Danny was very clearly coiled, ready to sprint as fast as he could, his form hyper focused on the task at hand.

Jake turned back to his own mission, freezing as he felt the phone buzz.

A whoosh informed him of Danny's instantaneous response, snapping the teen out of his momentary stun. "Okay. Alright. Here we go. Let's do this. I got this. DRAGON UP!"

Flames engulfed Jake as he barreled out of his bush, his teeth clenched tight as he summoned forth fire. He brought a fist back, closing the distance between himself and the startled robo apes in a matter of moments. "Yo guards! Surprise!" His first punch sent metal through glass, effortlessly shattering the silence of the pyramid. He let out the fire he'd built up, proudly watching the ball of condensed magic sail into the center of the floor, constricting once before it violently exploded, hungrily lapping up any empty space it touched.

Heat rose as the dragon assessed the area, briefly spotting an invisible Danny dipping in then out of the space. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, registering a black and red suit land silently on the floor. Jake sent a second blast of flame Randy's way, perfectly obscuring any vision that McFist might've had of him. His ear twitched, telling him to bring up an arm in defense. Something he didn't hesitate to do, whipping his head around to face a roboape. It said something, but the synthesized voice was washed away by the sprinkler system's activation and metal shades clinking the location into secrecy. The dragon cursed as water descended from the ceiling, his tail lashing as he sent a punch to his attacker, the robot collapsing on the ground. He tossed a look to where Randy was, relief fluttering when he failed to see the Ninja. Okay. we're good.

"American Dragon! What a pleasure."

Jake flinched at the voice, pivoting until he saw a speaker. "Yo McFist, how's your day been?"

"Well, I was watching my favorite show eating a victory pie, but now I'm deploying the bots."

"Ah, so bad I take it?" Jake snarked, his attention snapped to the ceiling as he heard a whurr. The dragon's eyes widened as the ceiling opened. Panels systematically folded and slid away in a flashy, symmetrical fashion. He watched as several sections of the above floors repeated the action, resulting in a few tall, large holes leading to who knows where. "Um."

"You like it? Had it installed last week." Jake could imagine McFist smugly adjusting his suit, "direct access to the factory from the ground floor! Donno why we didn't think of it before, but ah well, bygones and all that."

"It certainly is flashy." Jake shuffled his back claws, subtly positioning himself on an edge of the square area. He brought his hands up, preparing to fight. He needed to at least last until Danny got to the potion. That'd only take a minute or two, right? With McFist's scarce participation in the baddie's fights, surely he wasn't a big threat.

"Right? Viceroy said we should've made it more subtle. But what's the point of an evil lair if it isn't flashy." The billionaire's voice shifted to something more sinister at the end of his speech, sending a worried shot through Jake.

His ears twitched once more as he heard a creak, followed by displaced air. He tensed all of his muscles as a robot landed with a loud thud, cracking the tiled floor upon impact. Jake gulped. A full story in height, the robot stood on four strong legs that ended in large claws, fully plated in heavy-looking metals layered at least two sheets thick. Its head resembled something canine: large, sharp fangs forcing the bot to keep its mouth open at all times. Its neck was sturdy but mobile, mirroring the torso in its maneuverability. Though it lacked a tail, Jake could see the beast was inspired by wolves and tigers.

A second bot landed next to the wolf-tiger, smaller in stature, but not in quality. This one balanced on six legs, a second section attached to its front reared upright, showing off another four arms. Its head was bug-like in appearance, though Jake couldn't seem to name what one specifically. Every limb looked like a blade of sorts, it's constantly-shifting back hiding what he could only assume were more knife-like appendages.

Just as Jake glanced towards the third thump his ears caught an incoming attack, forcing the dragon to flap his wings, successfully skidding sideways and out of harm's way.

"I call them-" McFist's voice faded for a second, a much quieter, sarcastic voice following the quietness. The villain then cleared his throat, raising his volume once more. "I call them Robo-Lupris, Robo-Mantis 2, and Robo-Equus!"

Jake opted to dodge instead of respond, eyeing up the third bot while he could. Also settled on four limbs, the Robo-Equus was far more fluid in its movements, thin metal coating what was surely a complex mechanical system. He could see its speed from here, momentarily watching as it reared its horse-like head and stamped a hoof.

The dragon puffed out a breath, taking his stance once more. He could take these. It looked like a classic tank, assassin, and support setup. If he took out the Robo-Mantis 2 then the other two would lack damage. Jake had no doubt that this was going to be a hard fight. But he sure as hell wasn't going to back out now. He lifted his chin cockily, smirking. "Whacha waitin' for, bots? I dare ya to land a hit."

Without so much as a warning Robo-Equus darted forward, clearing the space with a few gallops. Jake launched into the air, narrowly dodging the ram with practiced finesse. He sent a strike as he sailed over the bot, successfully forcing the machine to the floor. He took a moment to celebrate the damage he did before pivoting around a Robo-Mantis 2 strike, catching one of the limbs sent his way. A screeee followed as he bent the robot's arm, doubling the bend as a twirl away from a second blade. He tensed his legs, leaping over the mantis' back, landing in a sweeping kick. He smirked as he watched the bot fall, only to drop it as the horse recovered and charged again. He spun to avoid Robo-Equus, focused on crippling the mantis more than disabling the horse. He slid to the floor, narrowly avoiding a swept blade, following his movement with an uppercut. A limb fell to the ground, briefly catching his attention as he took a few steps back. While he was good at close combat, he knew that the bug would be able to strike from multiple directions all at once. He didn't particularly want to get skewered today.

Jake sucked in a breath as he fell to the floor again, not daring to flinch as he heard a mechanical snap inform him of Robo-Lupis' failed bite attack. The dragon flipped onto his back, hurling a fireball at the beast. When it lifted its head in surprise Jake raked his back claws on its stomach, cursing as he struggled to get more than a scratch off. Momentarily freed from the pin, he rotated onto all fours, securing his wings to his side as he briefly leaned back, launching himself at the mantis for his followup round. Struck right in its chest, the mantis staggered. Taking advantage of this, Jake brought his arms up, slamming both hands straight onto its head. Victory briefly blossomed in his chest as the bot crumpled to the ground, its various parts no longer moving.

He opened his mouth to toss out a snarky comment, only to have the breath knocked out of him. The dragon tumbled, turning over multiple times before his momentum stopped. Blinded by the sudden pain, Jake relied on his hearing to roll to the side, a spine-chilling slam landing right where his head was previously. He wavered to his feet, blurry eyes struggling to focus on Robo-Equus. He silently swore, jolting backwards as Robo-Lupis swiped a foreclaw at his chest. Jake attempted to get his eyes to cooperate, blinking roughly. He brought his hands close to his body, keeping light on his feet as he was forced into a series of dodges.

"Ninja slice-the-bot!"

Jake's hope soared at the sound of Randy's voice, taking every opportunity the ninja just gave him to take breaths. His eyes finally returned, allowing him to see Randy's attack bounce off Robo-Lupis' hide, mimicking his own failure from moments ago. Compelled to update his friend, he shouted: "Tank: Robo-Lupis, support: Robo-Equus, down: Robo-Mantis 2!"

"Roger!" Randy flipped to avoid an attack, neatly landing on the ceiling in a way that allowed him to push off of it, landing squarely on Robo-Equus' back.

Jake turned his attention back to the wolf-tiger hybrid, ignoring his pain. Mental note: Don't get hit by a charging horse. Flames licked the back of Jake's throat, his body preparing for his counterattacks. The dragon charged forward, landing a hooked punch to Robo-Lupis' head, and let loose his fire breath. The beast let out a strange, metallic sound at the retaliation. Jake shifted around to the side of the creature, striking again. Unable to recover, Jake swung the battle into his favor, landing blow after blow. He eventually managed to yank the beast's teeth out and bend its claws, rendering its slashing attacks useless. Jake swerved out of a particularly spirited head swing, reaching out to grab the creature's upper and lower jaw. As soon as he felt his grip hold, he widened his stance, a guttural grumble rumbling in his chest as he fought the machine's bite force. In a battle of pure strength, the two were locked in place. Muscles straining, Jake felt the moment that Robo-Lupis' mechanics failed, taking no hesitation in pouring everything he had into his final blow. Metal screeched as his arms steadily widened, violently jerking when the beast's lower jaw detached from its skull, tossing the discarded piece as their foe fell to the ground in a heap.

"Woah dude, that was metal."

Jake huffed, turning to face Randy. The ninja was casually sitting on top of a defeated Robo-Equus. He smirked. "Hell yeah, bro. I've always wanted to do something like that."

"Very impressive, dragon." Both teens whipped towards the new voice, eyes widening. "Why, I ought to applaud you." Floating a few inches off the ground, Vlad Plasmius strut his way onto the battle scene, a sinister smile on his face. "Regretfully, your friends will never hear of your valor."

...Was that fight any good? I hope,,, it wasn't too dense,,, Man trying to figure out the balance between action and description is hard,,,

Also, did you know that the word "nervous" only appears in this fic 7 times? It's kinda fun to find these things out xD

You know what? How about you guys give me a word and I'll search how many times it shows up...? Would that be fun? Meh, lemmie know if that interests you haha

There aren't many chapters left... #hype!