"You were careless," Blair stated, matter-of-factly, crossing her arms.
"Yeah...," Jack admitted, shrugging his uninjured shoulder. Her words stung his pride, but he couldn't deny them. He pulled his torn sleeve back from his right shoulder a bit and was glad to find that the wound wasn't very deep. Tearing a strip from a clean shirt in his backpack, he tied it carefully around it. He figured it would do for now since he figure that with it so close to sunset, there wouldn't be time for him to get a proper bandage from the medical team. Besides, they would probably have much more serious cases to worry about. "Let's go." They silently ran alongside each other, both keeping a sharp eye out for anymore ninjas.
A few moments, they heard the sounds of fierce fight coming from somewhere nearby, and they raced to investigate. In a back alley, they found two member of the daylight team, a Bayleaf and a Sunflora, desperately struggling against three enemies. One had bat-like wings, sharp, vicious fangs, and eyes that seemed like they could turn a Ghastly to stone, a Golbat morph. Another looked normal enough at first, but if you looked close, his body seemed to....ooze a bit. Apparently a Grimer or Muk morph... More likely a Muk. The last one had a boney, armor-like shell covering almost his entire body, a Shelgon morph.
"It's Kylie and Laura," Blair murmured, readying the leaves on her arms to strike. "We have to help them!" Both using Agility, Blair attacked the Shelgon, who was slowly pressing Kylie, the Sunflora, into a corner, while Jack raced toward the Golbat, who was licking his lips as he flew toward Laura.
Jack blasted a Flamethower at him, hitting on of his wings and causing him to crash to the ground. Turning to the Muk morph, he punched him hard with a Sky Uppercut, but when he tried to pull his fist back, he found that it was stuck fast what felt like a mixture of mud and clay but much, much smellier. Behind Jack, the Golbat morph recovered from his fall and made a dash toward him, his glinting fangs dripping with poison. At the last moment, Jack turned his body just enough to grab him under the chin to hold back his attack, and the Golbat pushed hard against his grip, gnashing his teeth together.
"Not this time," Jack growled, igniting his wrists. With a cry of pain, the Golbat morph wiggled away from his burning grasp, but the Muk stubbornly refused to let him go. In fact, Jack felt his hand pulled farther into the disgusting gunk that made up the morph's body.
"Poison gas....," the morph hissed, releasing the purple, toxic gas from his mouth. All Jack could do was turn his face away and hope for the best. Suddenly, when a loud splat, the Bayleaf morph, Laura apparently, body slammed into the top of the Muk, sending sludge flying everywhere and narrowly missing Jack's hand. Needless to say, the whole area now smelled badly of raw sewage. As soon as he was free, Jack jumped back and finished the Golbat off with one last Flamethrower. One down, two to go.
Meanwhile, Kylie was battering the Shelgon morph with Bullet Seed, while Blair was jabbing at his vulnerable legs with Leaf Blade, easily dodging in and out of his attacks. He was already bleeding out of several gashes around his face and legs.
Both Jack and Laura jerked their attention back to the Muk as the sludge began pulling itself back together, slowly reforming his body. He released a Flamethrower at him, but some of the sludge quickly separated, allowing the attack to go past without harming him. Reforming again, he shot a stream sludge at them that exploded on contact with the ground.
Worried for the Bayleaf's safety, Jack raced to her side and tried to push her out of the way. "Don't worry. I've got this," she assured, forming a wall of light in front of them both. The Sludge Bomb collided heavily with the Protect, but the wall held.
Jumping high into the air, Blair hit the Muk with a barrage of Bullet Seed before ending her attack with Leaf Blade, cutting him in half. She jumped quickly back as he pulled himself back together and shot Sludge Bomb at her. Taking advantage of the distraction, Jack used one last Flamethower, turning the Muk into a boiling heap of toxic slime. A few feet away, he could see the Shelgon lying motionless in a pool of blood.... Three down.
Just then a voice came from the communicator in Jack's pocket. It was Aisha's.... "Jack. Are you anywhere near where the Celedon super mart use to be? We could use another set of hands. And keep close to the buildings. Don't leave yourself out in the open…"
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," he replied, experimentally rolling his injured shoulder.
He glanced over at Blair, and she nodded, saying, "Go ahead. I'll make sure these two get out alright. The super mart is that way. Good luck." Without another word, she left with Laura and Kylie on her hills.
"Yeah, you too....," Jack murmured quietly before added to Aisha, "I'm on my way." Putting his communicator back in his pocket, he ran in the direction that Blair had indicated.
