Solis's head shot up, clean despite the meal he was partaking in. Only enough for him- enough left for Mother. As it should be.

The main hive required assistance. He was lethargic in his motion, at first, but stuttering control was ripped from him and he sprinted through the plant-life of Eridanus. Would he be fast enough? He had to be.

Spit was summoned, generated up from the bowels of whatever remained of his body and his mouth hung open to let it drip onto him, magical or not. He didn't have time to worry about the semantics. His plan- he had to coat himself, didn't have time to get them safe, didn't have time-

His mind went blank. There was no use worrying, after all, and his feet carried his silent spirit to its destination, paws drumming on the cave floors back to home.

Solis will be arriving from Eridanus. And also drooling on himself. Gross.

Dread - and Dragon - were coasting along in his periphery one moment, and gone in the next with several ear-splitting war cries and gouts of concentrated fire. They steamed through the misty atmosphere of Cetus without delay, uncaring of direction except to cover the greatest amount of distance possible. Even with the wetness of the swamp, a fire began to roar, spitting great plumes of smoke into the air. Aure circled away from the black clouds forming, diving lower and trying to assess the shadow-laden chaos.

Pride's call arced through the air as he swooped overhead, a request for much-needed light.

He might not be able to go on the offensive yet, but he could try to wrench away the shadows, the darkness cloaking them all from one another. It was no longer necessary, but endlessly persistent. The wyvern carried his downward momentum upwards, holding his breath as he dove and climbed through burning-hot smoke and made to circle back.

emetophobia warning??

Fire lanced overhead and across the water, and Phlegethon instinctively dipped its head beneath the swamp's water. The pop where its - byproducts had diluted into the water were deafening through its palpable fear. It waited until the first streams of fire had been delivered mercilessly onto the ground below, then inched out of the swamp some amount. Gears were churning in its head, but it had to work quickly.

The oilslicked beast retched, rolling its tongue onto itself and pressing against the bottom of its jaw. It was a rather cat-like affair, hopefully aided along by magic. Phlegethon drifted down the shore, spilling its actual guts into the reeds.

Phlegethon is yarping up lines of pyrogel onto the shore to make a wall of fire later.

Panic flourished in his mind, and he stood perfectly still while everything processed. He saw through the others' eyes- attacking, dangers- darkness. That was perfect.

But, when his head craned up, fire swathed down and he leapt from his perch, fur poofed out. Fire needed to be combated. Fire was not good for Mother.

'Lamia. Your water would assist us greatly. Help us protect this hive. Show them that they cannot hunt us like they did before.' The last part was directed to the others. To Shoko, though- and to the children, a thread of caution was given. Shoko did not know how to fight. Solis was charging- Daughter may be as well. 'If you can not fight, run where they can not grab you.' The feline's mind was a wall, but the rest he hoped the message would come across. 'If you are wounded, or if there are too many, there is no shame in saving yourself for Mother. Save Mother. Mother is... Priority.'

His mind dulled as he projected his last words, body drawing forward in the dark. There was no breaking it, not with the orange and smoke billowing out, not with the intensity of love he felt for his family. He would save them- save these fools who thought they could attack them.

A piece of Mother was grabbed by Pallas's jaws and he darted through the muck, more accustomed to it than others. This was his home, and they had to get off his lawn, or walk through the door. His head swivelled- even if he was nocturnal, this magic was thick, clogging his eyes. But not everyone's. A dark shadow- one deeper than the others- pinged out, and he charged forward to find wherever its face was and shove Mother into its system.

Claws wrapped with fungus reached forward, aiming to slip over the unsuspecting victim, to find their way into any entrance they could find. Nose, ears, eyes- nothing mattered. Not to Mother.

Pallas is attempting to slip Mother into Nassir's face.

The moment two sides met, Alpha let loose any grip it may have had on the magicka that shrouded its glow. It challenged Sergei's bellowing roar with its own admittedly undeveloped roar - more of a shriek than anything with depth and bass. A second passed where it nearly thundered forwards to meet the shaggy brown mass fast-approaching, but several coherent thoughts passed through its mind.

Most notable of them was that it had, unfortunately, been assigned to defensive duty for Giggle.

So, it braced itself, taking the impact chest-first with such force that it was lifted up and stumbled back several feet. Alpha planted its frontmost limbs against the bear's barrel-chest, a lukewarm attempt at keeping snapping teeth and flailing claws at bay while the glow of its quills grew brighter and brighter, an acidic taste blooming in its mouth.

Alpha's tryin' to prep some funky paralytic venom, babey!

And then it was dark.

The bird ruffled her feathers as she flew, squinting to try and see, glad that her Dragon was up where she could still watch him and make sure he was safe. "MAGIC!" she agreed with Dragon, echoing him, and then they could see, and they were meeting some truly monstrous Gembounds, but Dragon was there and she knew she was safe.

So she swooped up-up-up to get out of the way of the hot flames, taking advantage of one of the updrafts, still trying to keep an eye on the others.

The bear was attacking that big... whatever-it-was, and then she couldn't take a look at anything else because a big swarm of she-didn't-know-what's were crowding at the dragon's face (the big and non-magical winged one), and that could go very badly.

So she drew herself even further up, and folded her wings, beginning to drop into a dive, trying to scatter some of Legion's bugs.

Speech. Thought.

Hera is trying to scatter some of Legion!

Reign
He who is to be a good ruler
must have first been ruled

And so it started.

He inclined his head to Pride, squinting as it grew dark, his own sparks fading away, not wanting to waste too much of his limited energy on maintaining them. The alligator sprouted wings, and took to the sky, and a grin curled at the cheetah's lips, an amused chirrup fought down as he heard the true dragon's surprise.

And then they were upon them, the alligator calling out a warning before there was flames everywhere, Pride demanding light, a bear charging for one of the beasts they'd joined up with, another attacking the bear

and he'd never known such chaos before.

There was something lunging for Nassir, though, and he couldn't make out what it was but that didn't matter. So he reached down, deep down, for his magic, trying to draw it up into his mouth and spit it out at it--

but, of course, it didn't come, leaving him to bark a rare "Crap!"

Reign was trying to electroball Pallas

Ischium kept tight to Giggle's side, babbling nervously "Are we really doing this? This seems really dangerous after all!"

But, it seemed, they were, as the alligator in the sky was breathing flames, and so was the actualdragon, and so he yipped in alarm, galloping a few paces away and looking skywards, wide-eyed, tongue lolling out and dancing from paw to paw. The stag was yelling something, and he looked around, tail tucked and wild fur standing, if it was possible, even more on end, trying to figure out what to do.

The bear! The bear was attacking someone, one of the big'uns whose name he didn't know--oh, so that's what Bronx would have looked like when he was alive?--and another gembound, smaller, was fighting back, and well he could make that fight even more fair, couldn't he?

He froze, before panting anxiously, and what would Chatter say in a moment like this? He thought, thought, thought, then yapped in that funny way of a coyote, "Hey! I've got a bone to pick with you!" and charged at Sergei, teeth bared as he leaped.

Ischium is trying to grab onto Sergei's back

Warnings spread like wildfire through his conscious, and alertness flooded in as rigid control slipped enough to let him react with his own body. Howl's senses ignited, and his fingers twitched away from his frantic cleaning. His tail stood straight up, puffing up and flaring as the cave went dark. No - no matter. Mother was still here, and she guided him to her heart.

He ripped chunks of her away, plastered her onto his neck and chest and his rear - all places he could reach quickly. Desperation crawled through his being, a deep knowledge of yes, I can bring them all home. It was only a matter of time before all of the Caves were just one family. This army only needed to be shown the light! The purity of Mother! What cleansing she could offer to them in just one swoop!

Howl's nostrils flared as he ran through the muck, cantering up a tree already crawling with flame. He barely needed to search for handholds as he swung through, even if his eyes watered and lungs squeezed from the smoke and fire (fire, fire! He had no reason to be afraid of any such things with Mother!) Bravado flared through his body, any damage done wholly ignored as he hurtled towards his kin - the young wheel...

... and reached back in order to hurl a sample of Mother at the spotted beast. He did not have to submit to Aquarian for much longer - no, no... no Masters. Only love.

Howl is lobbing Mother at Serek in an attempt to infect him.

For lack of better wording, there was absolute chaos - and it was all Nassir could do to cling to Pride and Reign's sides. Although he'd trained, his magickal abilities were limited to protection and moving other things. Gembound with more offensive abilities would have to take up the task of destroying the - Hive, or whatever it was they were after. The beasts of the sky were doing a darn good job of that, he thought.

So, he could protect himself and others... prove himself to be more than an anxiety-ridden cub and surge above as a guardian, a defender. First and foremost: blocking the approach.

His tail flicked, calling upon the shared magic Pride had failed to. Pale eyes squinted beneath a furrowed brow, lifted ears - and he shuffled forwards in the muck to put up a protective bubble (and a shield, perhaps, for others to walk behind.) Energy wavered in front of him, and he pushed ahead with much more vigor, meeting the little Pallas ahead.

Phalanx time.