My first thought was to help Clang in his fight against the hulking Lure. I trusted Clang could hold his own, but figured the faster we made the odds three-against-two the better.

The brawl between Clang and Lure continued in the adjacent room. I caught a glimpse of Clang being thrown across the room into the wall before I sensed something roaming in fast towards me in my periphery.

I threw my head back and narrowly dodged what looked like a bone-spike the size of a dagger. It landed deep into the wall just off to my left and behind me.

At the top of the stairs Chips began to throw yet more of the bone-spikes, growing and flinging them off the tips of the back-appendages.

Not only were the spikes thrown fast, they were thrown with the kind of precision one would expect from a machine. Even experiencing everything around me in a slowed-down state, I was forced to move as fast as I was able to avoid becoming a human pin-cushion.

I dove forwards and entered into a forward roll.

TOK! TOK! TOK! TOK! TOK!

The spikes stabbed into the floor behind me. And I knew the next flurry wasn't going to be an instant-behind like the last ones, because Chips was going to attempt to predict my next move and throw accordingly.

I had a choice between making a move to the room where Clang and Lure were fighting, or to continue on to the kitchen ahead where it was possible Miss Toontastic and Soaks were continuing with their fight, though I wasn't sure if they had moved away to elsewhere in or out of the mansion since the fight had started.

If Chips turns his attention from me to Clang, then that'll put Clang at a major disadvantage, I thought, I can't let that happen. I need to take Chips out of the fight – fast.

I decided to go with the third option which occurred to me. I charged through the cupboard door which was beneath the stairs, pulverizing the wooden door off its hinges. Then, beneath the stairs, I willed more sinew into the slip-suit's legs, and braced myself for a froggish leap up and through the stairs from beneath.

Thankfully, I hadn't overestimated the sturdiness and overall protection of the slip-suit. The powerful leap, which for a fraction of a second made me recall back to all the times I had leapt froggishly travelling for hours through the night with Xandra, had been enough to get me halfway through the stairs. I came to a stop, using an arm to keep myself from falling back through the hole I had just forced through the stairs.

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Chips had already spotted me, and was driving down several of his back-limb appendages to stab at my head.

I grabbed hold of the ankle of Chips's dark and leathery-skinned right foot, and yanked down as hard as I could. I fell back down into the little open section beneath the stairs, doing my best to ignore the dust, sawdust, and splintered wood trying and failing to get in through the slip-mask.

Chips let out a hellish screech as I brought him down so that he was stuck up to his waist in the stairs – but with the addition of his back-limb appendages it wasn't so simple for him to wriggle out of the hole, or to continue falling through it. Instead he tried kicking at me, which was mostly ineffectual, though each kick would have snapped the neck of a normal human being in an instant.

Using my right hand to keep hold of his ankle, I then found myself faced with a dilemma.

I could use the vibration technique and punch Chips like this whilst he's trapped, I thought, but the damage might be too severe – I could kill him.

No, I thought, so long as I don't hit his head it won't be an instant kill. He'll survive.

I had to will more strength and sinew into the whole of the slip-suit, particularly in my back, neck, and right arm, to keep Chips from wriggling away. He'd sunk his appendages into the wall and stairs above, using them as extra leverage in an attempt to get himself out of being stuck.

Knowing I likely only had the opportunity for one punch, I threw my left arm back, and willed the power to make it vibrate.

I felt my whole body take on a strange heaviness, rooting my feet to the ground. It seemed to be an unavoidable necessary counter-force to the intense vibration which, were I not strong enough to maintain it, would have likely thrown me off-balance.

"Vibration!" I yelled, "Punch!"

VVVVVVVVRONK!

I drove my fist into Chips's waist, and the hit was devastating. The super tough leathery skin tore, and the blood and organs within, as well as the bone, gave to the penetrating fist.

For fear I might kill him, I relented the attack earlier than I first intended.

Chips thrashed and kicked, but more from the pain than from trying to kick me away. I relented, and bounded back out of the stairs through the broken cupboard doorway. Once out and back into the hallway, with a full view of the stairs, I saw Chips continuing to thrash and struggle like some giant dying insect.

A pang of sympathy hit me. But I forced the feeling down, and reminded myself of all the injuries I had taken in the abandoned textile factory, which I managed to heal bit by bit. And the damage both Xandra and Azad had undertaken yet still survived. The fight had only just started, and Chips likely had plenty of willpower to spare. Which, even better, he would need to use up to heal the major wound at his stomach.

"There's nothing worse than a tummy ache, am-I-right?" I said, the cheekiness of my words coming through clearly alongside the deep resonance of my voice, "Concentrate on healing yourself. And if you have any sense you'll stay out of the fight."

Chips just continued to screech unintelligibly, probably in too much pain to pay me much notice.

I gave a quick salute and hurried off.

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