"I wish we could practice in a park," Emily said. "So we didn’t have to keep worrying about bouncing into the ceiling."
"Or through it." Pan grinned up at a circular impact mark. "Too much pixie dust, Tink."
"I think I’ll nap before the next challenge," Madeleine added. "And take the late night watch."
"I’ll take early–" Nash began.
"Down! Move!"
Noi, eyes wide, hurled herself from her lookout position at the westernmost ventilation shutter. They scrambled to their feet, hurrying for shelter behind pillars and cars.
Too late, and pointless beside. The glowing thing which leapt against the entry gate clearly knew exactly where they were. It made a huffing noise which had something of the whine of a jet engine to it, and the metal bars shuddered
"The Hell is that?" Pan asked, abandoning attempts to hide.
The thing huffed again, and scrabbled. It stood a little taller than a person, the head long, tapering and bony, topped with two trailing streamers of light which suggested ears. At the front it had streamer-fluffed claws, but its rear was elongated, and curled on itself: a sea serpent’s tail.
"Let it in," Fisher said.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Min asked, backing rapidly away from the gate. "We can’t let that thing in here!"
"We can’t let it go away either."
"He’s right," Noi said. "Maddie, brace yourself against the rear wall so it sees you first. Everyone else to either side. Try not to force punch wildly or we’ll have the building down. Nash, close the gate after it, then stay back."
Nash, nearest the controls, gave Fisher and Noi a sharp look, then pressed the manual release.
"Oh damn," Pan said, then ducked to one side as the gate tried to lift, and slowed as it hit the glowing creature outside. "I don’t think we’re ready for this."
Madeleine was sure she wasn’t, but seeing no other option she dashed to the rear wall of the garage, and set her back to it. She’d barely turned before the gate had lifted enough for the thing to duck under. It raced straight at her, a galloping motion made strange by the twining tail, which undulated above the ground as if it swam through water. She hastily brought up her shield, unwilling to rely on any automatic response, struggling for control. This was impossibly different to mock duelling with Blue Musketeers.
As it neared her the thing reared, mouth gaping, then pounced forward, the impact driving her into the concrete even as the shield bounced it away. Immediately it surged at her again, at a slower speed which didn’t produce the bounce reaction, and she gasped at the weight of it, pressing both the shield and her into the wall.
"Try knocking it down with shields while it’s occupied with Maddie," Pan said, racing up.
Fitting action to words, he immediately shield-smashed the glowing creature, but rebounded from the contact. Then the coiling tail lashed toward him, a crunching slam only avoided by frantic rolling.
"Everyone stand to this side of it," Min said. "Then all low-level punch at once. That might do it without sending it through a wall."
"Hold fast, Maddie," Noi called, as they scrambled. "If it gets too much, try to knock it back."
Maintaining the shield for a long period required concentration, and Madeleine was starting out tired from training, but at least its interest in her gave everyone a chance to gather together out of tail-lashing distance.
"Get ready to move if this doesn’t work," Fisher said. "Go."
All the punches together made a whoomping noise, and the creature did seem to feel it, twisting sideways. But then, glowing brighter than ever, it leaped back at Madeleine, its jet engine howl increasing in intensity.
"I think you made it stronger!" Madeleine gasped, as she was again slammed backward into the wall, not daring to cushion with a shield in case it bounced her forward. Unable to stand the weight, she pushed out with the front shield, glad she’d put a lot of practice into not paralysing herself, and took a relieved breath when she succeeded in jolting the glow-monster a few feet away.
"If shields cause rebound when struck quickly, move in slow," Fisher said rapidly.
"Surround it and all press in," Noi agreed.
"Nash, come when we have it pinned," Fisher added, and Madeleine couldn’t understand why, but had to focus on keeping her shield up as the glow-monster came at her again.
It seemed to be trying to knock her to the ground and with its increased strength Madeleine was not only being pushed into the wall, but she could feel the glow-monster getting closer, making gradual progress through her shield.
"Set your feet," Min warned, and then rocked backward as his attempt to pin the thing’s tail was only partially successful.
Nash ran up. Madeleine still hadn’t understood what he was expected to do, since, while he could shield and punch a little, he was vastly weaker, and tended to collapse almost immediately. He couldn’t use the precious energy he drew from them to fight.
But that, of course, was the answer, and Nash had thought through Fisher’s reasoning quicker than Madeleine. Squeezing between Noi and Pan, he set both hands to the thing’s heaving side.
The reaction was immediate: frantic thrashing threatening to hurl them in every direction. Fisher and Pan, the weakest among them, stumbled, but pressed in again.
"Hold firm," Noi gasped as the thing’s howling cry scaled up to painful intensity, enough to make them want to stop everything in favour of covering ears.
"Too much." Nash was blazing, his palms and the stars which covered the back of his neck burning pinpoints.
"Vent," Fisher told him tersely. "Go outside and punch over the water."
Nash ran, the necessity of re-opening the garage door slowing him down. But once he was out, he had a clear shot east.
"Hurry!" Pan called, as the glow-monster heaved back from Madeleine, trying to escape, to push against the weakest shields. Emily and Min fell, and the tail lashed, swiping Fisher, who ricocheted into the nearest car, and Madeleine gasped aloud, but saw he’d managed to shield himself against the impact.
Noi and Pan dived on the tail, pinning it to the ground between them, but they weren’t usefully braced. They’d been able to keep it in place when it had her against the wall and they’d surrounded it and pushed in, but now that it was loose there was no way any of them could hold it without being knocked away.
"Push down on it and use another shield against the ceiling!" Min was already attempting to put his words into action, but it was definitely something easier said than done. With a startled shout, he ended up bouncing sideways, and water began spraying from the fire sprinklers.
Not trusting herself with such a difficult manoeuvre, Madeleine ran for Nash, barely beating the glow-monster’s attempt to run right over him. With no time for explanations, she simply spun and shield-punched the thing toward the car with the Pan-sized dint in its side, the impact catapulting her backward.
"Pin it! Pin it!" Pan ran forward, and the others joined him, holding the creature against the car so Nash could risk approaching. Madeleine ran to join them, keeping it still as it frantically tried to escape Nash’s touch.
It collapsed.
The transition was so swift that most of them went down with it, falling to puffing heaps around a thing which now glowed no more than a paper lantern. A lantern the size of a small car.
"Is – is it properly dead?" Emily whispered.
"I think so." Nash, stars bright, pressed his hand against the thing’s neck, then started back when his fingers sank into the glowing surface. "It doesn’t have – it’s like it’s turned to mud. Less than that. Fog."