Rule of 3 [Hellbreaker/invite]

Taz's eyes widened as he stumbled into a trap. Uh oh...Wincing as his character was slammed with twin lightning bolts, he tried to recover, but didn't have nearly enough time to do so before Diana flowed into a absolutely brutal combo. Giving another wince as the guantled girl was taken down, Taz nodded. Well, that had definitely stung. He should have been more careful. Taking a quick swipe just after Diana glided out of reach, the boy gave a thoughtful hum. He was definitely on the backfoot...He couldn't just get in her face like he'd tried doing a second ago. He had to play it a little smarter than that, and hopefully earn a little respect for not just giving in. With that thought in mind, Taz would try his own rough variant of hit and run, dashing in to swipe at Diana, then dashing out and trying to avoid whatever attacks and traps she might have in store.

"Annie you always do this! Just actually fight Taz instead of poking him down and going in when he's hit stunned," Ally whined, having plenty of exprience with Diana playing video games generally the same way. This was much harder for her in first person shooters, and that's why she preferred fighting games like this.

"Ally you get too into these things. This isn't like sparring with a friend or anything to Diana. She's playing to win," Charlotte chimed in with another sip of her wine. She was actually getting a little more invested in this than he wanted to admitted. She was secretly rooting for Taz because he was the underdog... and Diana's smug ass needed taken down a peg.

Steves continued to watch with rapt attention, shifting their bets around as the action continued!

Diana would notice that he was changing his approach, he WAS down a character now. But Diana got slightly more aggressive. She had an extra character in the wings, and both of them had projectiles- one becoming traps after hitting or missing regardless of what she did.The only thing she was concerned about was his burst gauge, which when it was activated, would prevent her from calling in her partner IF he hit her. As long as she didn't, get too eager with ending him, she had this in the bag. But she was so close...

Taz quickly moved across the screen, trying to avoid the projectiles and traps as his opponent went on the offensive. The boy knew that it was likely to be over soon. His other fighter was out, and if he tried to rush Diana now, of all times, he'd be put down quicker than even he could react. Aggressiveness wasn't going to help him now. But this cat and mouse game was only going drag things out...And that filled gauge seemed like it might be something useful! He managed to figure out how to, and activated the burst gauge. 'One last shot!'

Steves had more or less started getting more vocal about the game, as if trying to tell Taz something. Unfortunately, nobody here Spoke Steve so it just came off as background noise as the game played out. But then Taz activated his burst gauge at just the right moment, giving his character a brief moment of invincibility against one of Diana's attacks. If he noticed and was fast enough, he could totally go in on the exposed character. Ally and Charlotte meanwhile would continue watching with apt attention, with only Ally knowing anything about what was going on.

Taz gave a sigh of relief as he just narrowly avoided an attack with the activation of his Burst Gauge. That had been close...One more combo would see him done with, for sure. Wait...Invincibility! He gave a excited grin. He could close in on her now! Had to do it before it wore off! Taking advantage of his temporarily safe state, Taz rushed forward, attempting to begin a combo before he became vulnerable again.

At least one Steve would make excited Steve Sounds that roughly amounted to "yaaaaaay!" "Oh there you go taz!" Ally cheered him on as what Diana had been dreading started to come to pass. Charlotte smirked as all Diana could do was wait until he either messed up the combo, or could just get out of before he could finish off her character. But neither of those things happened, and she ended up losing her first character.

But now another problem quickly presented itself, there was an option to delay the entry of your next character, and that's what Diana did for as long as she could before her gunsctyhe character came crashing in... and then she clicked on her burst mode. OH NOES! Diana was very good at this game...

The Spooky Steve above made happy Spooky Sounds.

Taz grinned happily as he finally managed to take down one of Diana's characters. He had done it!! As Ally and at least one of the Steves cheered him on, the young halfling bounced excitedly in his seat and affectionately bumped his guardian with his shoulder. He was happy that they were being so supportive of him. Now came the tricky part, though. He focused on the screen as Diana's next character crashed onto it, only to give a squeak when she activated her own Burst Mode. Oh, this was going to be unpleasant.

Steves in the background were doing Steve things, one was cheering Taz on with little pom poms it somehow had totally this entire time, with the others cheering Diana on with little signs. Spooky Steve continued to watch and cheer on Diana aswell.

Ally was happy they all got together like this, she had missed spending time with her sisters like now and was happy to share it with Taz too... and the odd assortment of little masked creatures that she found herself with. "She's probably going to try and spam proejctiles at you or dash at you a lot," Ally tried to warn Taz hopeully as they were both in the end game now. But there was another small issue that Taz (and maybe Ally) wasn't aware of in the form of the other small gauge by the burst mode bar.

Besides telling you how much gauge you had to use certain specials, it would also fill up based on the number of clashes and times you called in your patner to help out. This meant nothing if you never lost a character. But when you did lose a character and entered into burst mode, the number that normally capped at three or something usually would go up to nine. But assuming everything went well, the surviving character would get access to an "instant death" move.

Diana didn't need to really try for the instant kill move, it was more just for style as she could just as easily finish Taz off with a good combo. But for now she would definitely try getting a combo, mixing it up with a gun-rifle dash approach with a projectile or two. But her gauge wouldn't last forever and if she was going to try, she'd wait until the last possible moment before doing the button combination needed to pull off the instant kill, or "Astral Heat."

Taz nodded as Ally warned him about what Diana's probable gameplan was, giving her a quick, grateful smile before focusing on surviving. With all the excitement, Taz's canines had become lengethed once again, and his ears almost seemed pointer, though he seemed to be too into the game to notice. This was it, after all...Within the next few minutes the match would be over, one way or another. He had to wait until Diana's Burst was over, then he'd be able to fight back. With that in mind, Taz continued playing the hit and run game, though his attention was primarily on running until he could land hits that would actually count.

Though it came very, very close,the young halfling's reflexes kept him alive. Unfortunately for him, his opponent had one last skill up her sleeve, and she launched off a final move. As the scythe weilding girl charged his cat with a powerful looking drop, Taz's eyes widened, and he attempted to move out of the way. Unfortunately for him, that was the wrong choice, and the Astral Heat lands, ending the bout with a flashy finish.

And all the Steves backing Diana went "yaaaaaaaaay." With the one Steve for Taz losing his jelly beans sadly. "HOW'D YOU DO THAT?" Ally said after watching Diana finish Taz off with like that.

"Secret," Diana said letting out a deep breath. That had been, fun; actually.

"You really thought she'd tell you? That'd increase your chances of beating her~" Charlotte teased them.

"Needs partner use," Diana said simply, giving a vague clue before she enjoyed some more of her dr. pepper.

"So is this all you were going to do? Or can we maybe watch a movie or something?" Charlotte asked boredly.

"Could find a different game for all of us... you have any Party games on this thing Annie? Maybe Just Dance or something?" Ally asked, asserting herself to look.

"Yes, and don't touch my stuff..." Diana said curtly as The Spooky Steve floated over and shooed Ally away, looking for a moment and findining it.

"Ally's not going to break your things just by touching them," Charlotte scolded.

"I'm still missing a pair of headphones..."

"I told you I was sorry! I've tried finding the same ones but I can't find them any where!" Ally whined as Diana brought up her accidentally breaking a pair of headphones she borrowed a long time ago.

"Try the internet," Diana said starting up the game.

"You know how expensive computers are?" Ally whined, returning to her seat.

"You know she does," Charlotte pointed out, sitting up more in her seat. Finally, a 'game' that she could get into.

Taz let his head flop backwards as he gave out a groan and light, slightly rueful laugh. Despite the flopping, he had a wide, happy grin on his face. That had been pretty fun! It was definitely one heck of a fight. Hopefully he'd be able to play that with Diana again sometime. As Charlotte asked what they were doing next, the young halfling raised his head curiously, and perked as Ally suggested Just Dance or another party game. Yes! That sounded like a really fun idea, and it would be nice to play with everyone as well! He watched the three siblings bicker at andtease eachother,. Heh,it kinda reminded him of his cousins. As Ally returned to her seat, Taz straightened up in his, smiling excitedly. This was going to be fun!