(LA Night)Battle Royale!

[Jessy Jackson]

I shifted back into a human. The amazing person holding me was glowing and had somehow transported me from my motel room. I looked around. Things were in a state of some confusion.

[Nicola Next]

((*Ahem* I am still here y'know. Pfft I have no idea where I am now))

'And why is Tucker unconcious? In fact why did you teleport Jessy here Ate?'

[anne]

"Demons, everywhere. Tucker was under attack when I found him and Jessy here was stranded alone. I'm not saying that she can't take care of herself, but for someone with newly aquired powers the odds weren't good. I should know!"
I let go of Jessy before placing Tucker on the floor and Checking that he didn't have any serious head injuries.
" I don't get it! I just sort of appeared and he took one look at me and fainted, I can't seem to wake him up. Oh well"

[Maya]

"Oh my god! Jessy!" I cried, rushing forwards to the teenage girl "Bugger... i cant believe i didn't think... Are you ok?"
Meanwhile, Joshua was frowning at Ate and the unconscious Tucker.

[anne]

" Josh what's wrong?"
Joshua continued to look slightly perturbed then eventually spoke,
"weren't you keeping an eye on him?"
"um, nope honey I haven't been around for quite a while. Anyway what on earth gave you the impression that I was babysitting?"

[Joshua]

"Oh, maybe because back at the Training Center, where we had our little chat," I paused to give her the evil eye, making her squirm some, "and just before the rest of us left, I TOLD YOU TO WATCH HIM BECAUSE HE COULDN'T HANDLE THE BIG FIGHTS!!!!"

Even Mai backed away from me when I exploded like that. I may be a jerk when pissed off or under pressure, but I'm pretty sure, even privately or in erased timelines I've never been angry enough to shout at somebody like this.

"Gods above! How Zeus even lets you off Olympus is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe!" I go on. "Take him back to the Training Center! It's warded and so long as he stays inside, nothing evil, demonic, or vampiric can even get to him. Jes... this is pretty big. We're not going to tell you to stay out of it, but if you think that you might not be able to handle it..."
I paused as Mai and Doc took care of the fifteen vamps and sewer demon that suddenly showed up. It took them about ten seconds total to get rid of them. "...then I would suggest going back with Tucker here to the Training Center. Our temporary home base until this crisis is averted. And since Miss Goddess here can't seem to remember her own name long enough to stay and make sure he stays safe, I'm sure that's something that you could do. We'll also be bringing any other people we find back to the TC, and we do need a guard there. And again, if we can't count on a goddess, might as well count on a really good shapeshifter."

[anne]

"sweetipie, Number one: Who died and made you Lord of the universe? Goddess honey! GODDESS!! your pathetic infantile ranting is only mildly amusing so i suggest you stop right now.
Number two: what on earth makes you think that this pathetic idiot of a human is ever going to stay put. I already found him outside, under attack and he now happens to be unconcious. Tucker needs a baby sitter and honey that aint gonna be me!
Number three: I have not been near the planet let alone the training centre in roughly fourteen hours so I suggest you see some form of head doctor pretty quickly about your hallucinations.
Finally what made you labour under the delusion that anything you say will influence me."

[Maya]

I cracked up, and actually doubled over laughing at the look on Joshua's face. What? so i kissed him, i still get to laugh at him!

[Joshua]

Instantly, despite Mai's laughter, I froze time. Then I drew the goddess closer and pulled out my amulet, reversing it so she could read the inscription on the back. "14 hours and you don't remember having this exact conversation?! Read it one more time *sweetie pie*. I'm the freaking Avatar of Kronus! You know, the TITAN, Father of Zeus, Hera, Posiedon and several other of the gods? Now that doesn't mean squat in the short term but in the long term, do you *really* want to go an make the human incarnation of a Titan angry?"

Ate froze, metaphorically, at that explosion and composed herself. "We're not dealing with the longterm here short stuff. And in the short term, don't you EVER shout at me like that again, or you will be sorry." Her eyes flashed dangerously.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I already am sorry." At her scoffing look, I added, sincerely, "Really. I am sorry. But either help us or get out of the way. We don't know you so there's no way we can trust you in a fight. Mai might, but I certainly don't. Now if you don't mind, Ate we've got an apocalypse to stop. So either help us out, or do what all the other gods do and watch from the sidelines, because with this attitude, even Mai would agree that we don't need you."

With that, I unfroze time.

[Maya]

Mind reading is not always a voluntary thing, esspecially when someone is angry. I gritted my teeth, and stepped forward as i felt the time flicker, and heard Ate and Joshuas angry thoughts.
"Josh" I said, "Can we talk?" I dragged him aside a bit, and looked up at him, "Would you cool it!?" I snapped, "Ate is a good guy! And stop waving your damned amulet around!" I took a breath to calm myself, "Look... i know you were pissed when she bought that message about the labyrinth, but that wasnt her fault- she works for the ptb. Please stop being so pararnoid! I can read minds, Josh, and i swear to you shes of the good. But... she IS a goddess, and none of us know the extent of her power... she jumps between dimensions, regularly, and dimension go at different speeds... so she can probably deal with time alterations too... I'm not saying you're not powerful, i know you are, but i get the feeling that maybe you should piss her off. She'd be a great asset in this fight, and you know it."

[Joshua]

"Mai, I know you're right," I say immediately, probably surprising her. "But I don't know her, and I don't trust her. I trust *you*. So until she comes up with a way where she can help us with this crisis without making things worse, I would much rather haver her out of the . . ." My eyes go wide, and with Mai reading my thoughts I don't have to shout the warning for her, she's already moving.

"EVERYBODY OUT OF THE WAY!" I shout, diving for the side of the street. Mai took Tucker and Jessy out of the way, Doc started to move the moment Mai did. And I just happened to be going past Nicki on my way off the street, so I quickly grabbed her and forced her along.

Five seconds after we had cleared the street, save for Ate, who had just disappeared again, a very big rock crashed and exploded in the middle of the street.

[Maya]

"What the bloody hell was that!?" I cried. I looked around, counting... all accounted for but Ate. I felt a coil of worry in my stomach- Josh might not trust her, but i did, and i just hoped that she'd ported out before that rock hit. "Everybody ok?" I asked, unable to help my eyes from lingering on joshua a second longer than on the others.

[Joshua]

"I'm all right!" I called out in answer, briefly looked over Nicki who nodded back that she was all right as well. "Nicki's here. She's OK too!"

Turning to my purple-haired friend I helped her to her feet. "Let's get out of here, what do you say?"

We quickly joined Maya, Tucker and Jessy across the street.

[Maya]

"We have to find those other people quickly, and get them to the TC. Theres more going on here than we thought..." I said. Suddenly i spun round, looking about me.
"Mai?" Josh asked worriedly. I shook my head,
"No no no... not bloody now." I murmured. There was an all too familiar feeling in the air. I glanced at Nicki, and yelled out, "Trex!? That you? Screw that- i know its you! Get your ugly demon butt down here! TREX!!"

(( welcome back))

[trex]

A tornado, and few thunder bolts light up the sky. I, the almighty Trex appeared. "Hail...to the Prince of Hell!"
"What?! Slayer! What the?! I was having a nice sun tan at California..." I looked around, unfamiliar faces stared at me if I was crazy...Blink...
"What do you want this time Slayer? You know the last time I didn't kill you because I had some business to take care of. But this time...I dont think you'll be that lucky."

(Thanks! Trex is Back! )