God of Balance

Chapter Six

This time, the ground isn't soft when Alloy falls through the portal. He hits the hard packed dirt and rolls for several feet before coming to a stop. He can already feel the bruises starting to form. His paintbrush gets flung several feet away.

      Alloy doesn't understand what's going on. Those five scary looking Monsters all seem familiar to him, but a whole bunch of different emotions are roaring around in his head. Alloy wants to hug the one with the giant knife and cook with the one that has a hole in their head. At the same time, he wanted to chase them out of Blue's AU. They're the bad guys! They really aren't that bad. Scrambling to grab his brush, Alloy finds that fear is his dominant emotion as the five of them come though the portal.

     "Alright, 'Alloy'. We can either do this the painful way, or the even more painful way", Nightmare gives him a sick smile. The crew fans out to surround Alloy on all sides.

     "I dOn't nKow what yOu want from mE, but I'm sUre that We cAn taLk this out", Alloy's voice glitches madly as he he stands with his brush held in a defensive position. The bad guys instantly recognize it as Error's, but he would never ask for mercy. Alloy faces Nightmare with an honest expression. This utter look of sincerity only makes Nightmare angrier. Those emotions don't belong to Ink.

     Nightmare's aura descends upon the area like a fog. Hate. The others use it as a wordless signal. Nightmare himself would be wary to fight Ink on his own. He is a God, afterall, but Ink can't hope to defend himself from all sides. A couple hundred years of combat experience won't make you invincible.

     Alloy's mismatched eyes go wide. Sharp bones, oversized knives, and blasts of all kinds are aimed right at him. The bad guys don't have to be careful. They only want Error's soul, and that can't be destroyed. Alloy's adrenaline spikes as he stares death in the face. His body has gone completely stiff. He's never actually been in a battle before. Luckily for him, his instincts know better. Alloy's entire body seems to liquify in an instant as he falls to the ground as a puddle of Ink. The bad guys have to duck or jump out of the way as their attacks scatter or hit the dirt. Killer lets out a loud yell when something hits him from behind, sending him to the dirt.

     "Oh God! mY bad! I'm soooo soRry!", Alloy freaks out after hitting Killer. He had materialized as a puddle of ink behind Killer before reforming. Alloy can teleport! Without thinking, he had swung his brush to knock over the other Monster. Now, he just feels bad.

     "You're dead!", Dust growls. He launches a sharpened bone through the air. Alloy is so distracted that it ends up grazing his arm and ripping a tear on his jacket sleeve. Alloy stumbles back and grips his arm. It's not deep, but it hurts.

     Nightmare had planned for a synchronized and orderly attack, but now that Alloy is outside the circle, and after he attacked one of their own, the battle descends into chaos. The bad guys are used to fighting as individuals. They don't work together. They mess up eachother's attacks in an attempt to get at Alloy. That's his only advantage.

     Alloy is not a fighter. Instinct alone won't save him. He throws himself into the ground as a Gaster Blaster goes off above his head. The deadly weapon is one that most skeletons share. Most. Alloy has none. He shifts quickly onto his side just as a bone pieces the ground inches from his chest. Cross uses Alloy's vulnerable position on the ground as an opportunity. He rushes forward and is about to swing his knife down when he collided with Horror. He had been rushing forward with his axe raised. Now they're both sitting on the ground with bruised foreheads. Alloy surges to his feet with his paintbrush gripped tightly in both hands. Nightmare uses a tentacle to roughly grab Alloy's shoulder and spin him around so that they gave each other. Alloy stumbles and almost loses his balance.

     "NiGhtmare! We doN't hAve tO fiGht", Alloy pleads. He doesn't remember ever learning the other Monster's name, but it's there.

     "Then give us Error's soul back! He's not your prisoner!", Nightmare screams back. He drives one tentacle forwards as a spear.

     Alloy barely manages to catch it on his brush. "I don't eVen nKOw who that is! This is mY soul!".

     "LIAR", Nightmare lunges forwards to snarl in the other's face. Two of his tentacles reach out and rip Alloy's paintbrush from his hands.

     Alloy feels lost and vulnerable without his brush. Even worse, the other have regrouped. They all trap him back in a circle of hostility.

     "What are you going to do now, Ink? You're defenseless without you're little brush!", Nightmare laughs.

A shiver passes through Alloy's entire body as he looks around. The situation might be bad, but he's not out of tricks. He slowly reaches one hand up to his right eye as the others watch. Black strings peel away from his cheek. Alloy does the same with his other hand so that he's wielding strings in both. He stares down the others defiantly.

     The bad guys hesitate for a moment. Those are Error's strings. All of them have seen the destructive power that the destroyer can wield. Then Alloy flicks his wrist and points his fingers at Dust. Nothing happens. Alloy doesn't know how to use his strings. Killer laughs in glee and charges, throwing caution to the wind. Alloy yelps and sidesteps out of the way. His arms move by themselves. Alloy comes back close to killer and throws his strings around the other. He pulls tight. Alloy's sting suddenly flare to a bright purple. The ends snap off one of his hands and tighten around Killer's body.

      "Let me out you stupid idiot!", Killer roars with fury, wiggling on the ground. The stings are wrapped tightly around his arms and legs. They seem to be as strong as iron. Purple for chains.

     Nightmare's crew didn't like that very much. They launch themselves at Alloy all at once. He ducks under a bone and dodges another knife. The strings remaining on Alloy's other hand turn red. He whips them to side and catches the side of Horror's face. He shouts in pain when they burn like fire.

Error and Ink have both fought for hundreds of years. They would have easily dodged Nightmare's next blow. He expected it, even, so he didn't pull his force at all as he aimed for a fatal blow. Alloy looks up just in time to see the tentacle flying at his face. Alloy is not Ink or Error. He gets hit so fast and so hard that the blow knocks him to the ground after flying back a few feet. Cross winces. All of them hesitate to see what Alloy would do next. Dust shifts uncomfortably when he remains motionless on the ground for several moments.

"Is he dead?", Killer asks, still tied up.

Alloy groans. His arm twitches, and he slowly rises up to his hands and knees. His back his facing the others. Nightmare can see a drop of blood fall from Alloy's face and hit the ground. That was easier then he though it was going to be. Alloy is hurt. Badly. Taking Error's soul back will be simple from here.

Alloy slowly turns to look at them. Nightmare isn't squeamish, but he sees Cross cringe from the corner of his eye. A spiderweb of cracks span out all around Alloy's left eye. Blood is leaking from the cracks, and a small piece of bone fragment falls to the ground. His normal star pupil is gone. How is this guy still conscious? A little harder, and Nightmare may have blow a hole right though Alloy's skull.

"Are you ready to give up yet?", Nightmare asks.