PURIFIED [Event]

Today was rather stressful as it is, ever since he got the hidden information about a possible dragon attack today. Because of that, he spent most of this time observing from the roof of the tall building, watching to see if any sign of the dragon could appear. He watched until night fall on the city, and until people started to went to bed. He was about to call it a night, thinking it might just be another rumor, when he felt the rumbling. Quickly turned to where he believe the sound of the rumbling came from, he could sort of see a large shark-like fin protruding out of the ground as it make its way across the city.

The whole city soon erupted into chaos when the beast finally revealed itself for a brief moment before burrowing down once again. Smokes, fires, and building around the creature’s path started to collapse, and Anonymous could only guess the civilian casualty is slowly climbing. From what he had learned so far, he can only guess what happen to Seaside, and what cause the quarantine to take effect, if those reports are right.

Without a moment to lose, Anonymous quickly make his way across the rooftop, hopping from one roof to another. If he could follow its trail of destruction, he can easily locate its position. Looking down on the street, he could saw what he believe was a huge bulldozer making its way around the neighborhood with amazing speed. Soon enough, he could already hear the radio chatter from one of the Bulwark to another an order of evacuation.

Anonymous ignored that; there’s something that he, and probably Azoth if she’s smart enough to put two-and-two together from their information trade, know about this creature. He needs to hurry before this town becomes nothing more than a desolate wasteland.

He had to admit: this is going to be the best adrenaline rush he ever felt since that faithful day. He is not planning on getting himself dead, not today, not when there’s much more he can do to this wretched city that he called home.

There were a few things Aurora took seriously no matter what, and dragons were one of those things. She had yet to personally see a dragon in person, but she knew what they were capable of. Dragons attacked Emerald City in the past, she had just lucked out the past couple of times because she was out of the country on vacation with her family. It was still obvious what happened though if only due to the sheer amount of devastation she returned to each time. Aurora expected the information Sanduleak had was little more than speculation and was hardly worth listening to, but she wasn't going to take the chance that his source was right. This simply wasn't something to mess around with, and this wasn't some random internet rumor. Because of that, she took the time to inform as much of the horde as possible, and when July 1 came she made a point of being available. All day she waited, taking care of various things around the horde, preparing for the inevitable fight herself, trying not to aggravate the bullet wound she sustained recently, and researching things not related to the dragon once she felt prepared enough. The day came and went, and soon it was evening, and then night. She was getting ready to go find Sanduleak when the ground started to shake. Earthquakes weren't common place here, so this must have been it.

Aurora wasted no time in heading towards the direction of the smoke, despite her body's protests. Her aurora was already filled with her usual supplies as well as several large things she found laying about. There probably wasn't much need for her to worry about gathering materials to fight with on the way there. There would likely be more rubble around the dragon than she knew what to do with, but even so she felt the need to pick up anything that looked useful along the way. She wasn't sure exactly what she would be up against, so it couldn't hurt to be too prepared. These monsters after all were one of the biggest reasons most supers didn't live to see 30.

She had no illusions about what she was trying to do. These fights were only winnable with a massive horde of supers attacking it at once, and even then it wasn't exactly guaranteed that all of them would live to see the aftermath, or if they did that they wouldn't be permanently disabled. Not once did she hesitate to charge into the fray, even with a wound that would heavily limit her mobility. Aurora had a duty to this city, to her city, she wouldn't let anything happen to it. That said, she was grateful when Dullahan was offering people a ride. Running all the way there was going to be slow and painful, and she was still having a little bit of trouble breathing. She suspected she would until her ribs healed, and who even knew how long that would take? Aurora grabbed onto the ladder and slowly climbed up, being careful about her footing as to not fall, and holding on tightly in case her side decided to be disagreeable again.

Aurora sent her aurora into the sky as always, lighting up everything around her better than any streetlight could. Normally that would be a warning, but this time she hoped that seeing that would be quite welcome to the other supers for once.

"Hey, Big Martin!  Wake up!"

Mmm...

"There's a fishy!  Big fishy!"

Oh really?  And how big is it?

"Real big!  Come see!"

Dragging himself out of bed, the master of felines and terror of Emerald City blinked wearily, opening his window and staring outwards.  He couldn't see much, just distant clouds of dust and debris and... holy hell, was that a dorsal fin?

He turned towards the excited cats who had woken him.  Wow.  Very big fishy.

"Can we catch it?"

Absolutely not!  That thing is far too dangerous for a force of our calib-

...

What?  Don't look at me like that!  This is for your own good!

...

Fine.  We'll catch the big fishy.  But you all have to be very careful, and do exactly as I say.  And right now, that means giving me a moment to get dressed.

---

And thus it came about that an army of cats charged forth from the suburbs, swarming towards the dragon from behind.  Each and every one of them screamed the same battle cry:

"WANT FISHY!"

The monster would now know true fear- for its natural predators had arrived! 

The night was never for mere sleep, a long-held tradition that Awenydd had for followed for years. Though word had spread of strange occurrences and deaths on the news, her life had continued on, and tonight was no different. The cheers that filled the open air at the concert invigorated her, energized her and reminded her what excitement used to be.

Then the earth started to shake, and fires that had nothing to do with stage tech lit up the skies. Even from here, she could feel the ground shaking, and as the props began to totter and collapse, mayhem washed over the crowd. A giant eye on a fin could be seen, then the rest of the creature that terrified so many, Awenydd included. Her blood turned to ice in her veins as her gaze remain transfixed to the spot it had emerged. She felt the dread in her bones, remembering tales when she first met other supers.

Dragon.

She slipped backstage amidst the chaos, legs weak as the realization hit her of just how bad this could be. You never heard about these things, not out in the open, and as she stepped back into the area with the other props, she found herself leaning against a wall. Her breathing was ragged as her eyes darted around the room. She had left that life behind her, after all. Or thought she had.

She pushed herself away, knocking over a bin of costume bits. For a moment, the world revolved around only that box, specifically the thin leather mask inside it. It wasn't one she typically wore, but it would do. Her hand hovered over it, hesitating. Did she want Awenydd to return? What would that even mean? What if she failed?

The ground shook again, reminding her that there was worse than mere failure on the line. Of course she would go – there was a dragon to slay!

“Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and go well with ketchup.” She chuckled dryly at the popular phrase and put the leather mask on, flipping up the hood of her vest as she adjusted the grip on her guitar.

Chaos reigned outside as she stepped out and off of the stage. No one noticed the blaze of fire that sent her off, but she was okay with that. If she had to choose between dying alone and doing nothing or the chance to do something, she knew what she'd pick. She would not be a bystander. Determination gives her strength as she heads off towards the dragon.

Crunchy and goes well with ketchup, huh?

Looks like it was time to give this bad boy indigestion.

Given how little sleep Unhallow had been getting lately, they'd been sleeping in later and later now that school was out. Today was an exception to that. By some miracle, Unhallow slept peacefully through the night and was actually able to get up at a reasonable hour. With in about thirty minutes of waking up they were greeted by Azoth and informed that a dragon was supposed to attack today. The first thing that entered their mind was that this would have been nice to know last week if she'd known that long, but the second was a mix of apprehension and excitement. Their power wasn't good for much, but if it there was one thing it could do it was kill things. Killing dragons might legitimately be one of the few things they could actually do; it might be the only thing to make having this god forsaken power worthwhile. Dragons did massive amounts of damage with every attack, even the ones where the beast was eventually killed, so being able to actually eliminate them might make it so Unhallow could prevent more damage than they cause for once. That was the hope when they decided they would try to fight as many dragons as possible at least. There was no way they could turn down Azoth's request.

Waiting for the dragon to appear was torturous. The anticipation was killing them. Unhallow made sure to keep a fair distance from Azoth for obvious reasons, and so nothing would happen to some of the more delicate explosive weaponry, so while Azoth could talk to them, Unhallow couldn't really say anything back. Instead, they just took to pacing back and forth in the area they were guarding. They were careful not to lose sight of potential threats in the mean time, but nothing ever seemed to happen in the suburbs. This area was always so quiet and today was no exception. People rarely even entered their sensory range just making the whole situation even more boring. There were no threats here, and while that was a good thing, it also meant there was nothing to do all day long. Until the ground started to shake.

There were certain downsides to intentionally blinding themselves. Even though Unhallow could clearly feel the shaking, they couldn't see what was causing it unless it was with in their sensory range. In this case, the dragon wasn't, meaning they had no hope of seeing what was an absolutely massive creature not too far away, nor the damage it was causing. Given a little bit of time, they could probably locate it based on the earthquakes it was causing, but that would take way too long. They needed to get to the dragon now. It seemed like such an absurd question given the circumstances, but none the less, it was one they had to ask.

"Which way is it?"

The dragon wasn't too far away. On the one hand that was good because it meant it wouldn't take forever for them to get there even at the speeds they normally moved at, but on the other hand it meant the dragon was appearing in the middle of the residential area in the middle of the night. So many people would undoubtedly be dead before they even knew what happened, before they could even hope to know what happened. Dying in their sleep at least seemed like a more peaceful way to go, but it still hardly seemed fair.

It didn't take long for the dragon to enter their sensory range. The devastation it caused was something else entirely, enough that Unhallow could barely stand walking in it. It was so much easier for everyone else to ignore because they could only see the outside. They suspected that none of the other supers could actually see what was inside of those buildings. The gore was indescribable, and they couldn't even look away. It made them feel a little sick and dizzy enough that they were glad they were walking instead of running.

As they continued up the destroyed row of buildings to get closer to the dragon, they noticed something off. The way these particular streets curved, the way the intersections were, the shapes of some of the rubble, the shapes of some of the trees...there was no mistaking it, this was the street Unhallow lived on. This was the street their family lived on. At first, they thought that maybe the dragon just hadn't gotten to their house yet and that maybe they could stop the beast, but this simply wasn't the case. It had even gone nearly two blocks past it in fact. Unhallow recognized the remains of the flowers they planted last year and the large willow tree in the front yard. On the inside, they recognized some of the unusual sound equipment they had, and even the little recording area they setup in their bedroom closet even though it was crushed and in complete ruins. If that wasn't proof enough, smaller trinkets weren't destroyed completely, managing to find their way into the smaller cracks in the rubble. They quickly recognized a small charm bracelet that they made for their younger sister two years ago. She rarely left the house without it and always kept it on her bedside table while she slept. There was no mistaking it. Like everyone else here, their bodies were nigh unrecognizable smears in the rubble, enough so that they couldn't even count the limbs to see if any of them managed to make it out. And as always, Unhallow couldn't look away. As long as that building was in their sensory range, they would be forced to look at it.

Their speed slowed from a brisk walk to a near stop as they took the situation in. Unhallow couldn't believe what they were seeing. There was no way it could be real right? All they could do for a moment was stand there in shock. All she could see for a moment was the remains of their neighborhood, the remains of their neighbors, the remains of their own family. Then their focus changed. The only thing that mattered was that creature wiggling under the surface.

"Azoth, make sure no one gets near me under any circumstances because, for the first time since I got this power, I'm not actually afraid of what I might do."

Unhallow's voice was cold with no hint of emotion. Unusual even with how heavily distorted it was. Without waiting for a response, they started walking again before breaking into an all out sprint towards the dragon's dorsal fin.

Sanduleak was exhausted, no ifs ands or buts about it. Spending an entire sletchinf and planning new designs and new shapes to able to use on command tended to do that to a regular person... Throw in severe physical and emotional trauma and drama, then he was an exhausted and grumpy super in every term of the word. His source had given him the warning about this day though, and he was at least able to spread it to three others, one of which he hoped wouldn't come, and knew aurora had spread the message much more effectively than he ever could. This was a day he had the most mixed feelings about, anger though was slowly consuming and overwhelming all others. He had been having a shitty week and he intended to take full revenge and pent up rage against this destructive force. He had heard the rumors about these beasts and hell even witnessed one's wrath first hand in one of the most horrible ways. So that's why he was heading towards the destruction, after escaping his parents attention as usual. Thankfully he wasn't alone this time at least, as he wandered through the wrecked streets on a small disc of light, he saw the familiar behemoth of a vehicle that was Dullahan's signature. With a flick of his head, his mini ride floated up and into the back with a few others. It appeared he wasn't the only one who didn't want to walk to their death alone. Giving a small wave to them with a hidden grimace of pain, sanduleak looked over his suit, the sole reason for him being able to make it here. At that moment he was more puppet than human, using his suit to force his body to move. It was gonna hurt like hell for the next week but it would be worth if he could put some kind of dent in this raging mass of death.

"Break through...destroy the inside...."

A small mantra he had been muttering left his lips once again, hopefully those nights of designing weren't wasted.

Dragon's were the epitome of evil.  Beings of pure destruction that did nothing but consume and destroy.  Everything in the path of a Dragon could be washed away in an instant.  Lives extinguished, love snuffed out.  Hopes and dreams shattered and scattering like dust.  Things of nightmares they struck without warning and with malicious intent.  When the first rumbling started and the first glimpse of the beast he knew what he had to do.  No matter the cost he needed to act as a shield for the people and city that he loved.  Preparing for battle as he made his way to the fray as quickly as he could.

He'd find that he wasn't alone as Supers had already begun to assemble for this last ditch effort to protect their home.  From the front lines of the Bulwark ready to hold the beast at Bay to the Hordes of Pandemonium trudging along en mass.  What was noticeably absent at his first glance were Peace and Passion.  He couldn't imagine either of them being afraid to face the Dragon, to put their lives on the line to do what was right.  He knew the strength of both of their characters, and the nobility of their hearts.  Then it clicked.

Oh no....

The front line was here yes, but the hospital was surely chaos.  If it was undamaged or not.  He couldn't imagine the amount of people that may pour into it tonight.  Or what would happen if it crumbled.  To the city... To his dearest friends.  He was convinced that is where they had to be.  It was the only thing that made sense to him.  

He had to push the worry away from the front of his mind however.  If they were doing their part he would do his.  He would tend to the front lines.  And he would do his best to drive this creature of destruction and corruption away from his home and his friends.  It was hard to imagine that he could do something against a being so massive.  Not on his own.  But what he could do is support everyone that had the courage to fight tonight, and he could believe that together, with all of their hearts beating as one that they could look into the face of destruction and say "No!"