I had started to run down the main hallway back towards the kitchen, because I trusted Clang to pull through his fight with Lure – at least long enough for me to return with Miss Toontastic as reinforcement. As deadly as Lure seemed, there was something about Soaks which scared me, and made me fear that much more for Miss Toontastic's safety, even if I did trust her to hold her own in a fight.

I caught a glimpse of Miss Toontastic at the doorway, bounding backwards, her long dress slightly torn and rippling, her black curly hair obscuring her face. She was at the doorway for a moment and then, moving from right to left, she was out of sight again.

A wave of some rainbow-hued liquid chased after Miss Toontastic, and where it fell in her wake in a thick line along the kitchen floor, a sudden and terrible acidic burning took hold.

I kicked off as hard as I could and bounded through the air as fast as I could towards the doorway.

As I reached the doorway Soaks came into view – though there was very little of his former self in his new colourfully chimeric form. Whilst still vaguely human in shape, Soaks's body had taken on extremely different aspects; his head looked to be transformed into some large-fanged were-salamander, his entire left arm up to his shoulder and some of his collarbone looked like some purple-and-blue starfish limb, layered with sharp black spikes the size of chopsticks.

His right arm, which looked like a giant wriggling worm with brown ridges, was outstretched as if trying to grab hold of Miss Toontastic (despite neither his starfish limb or his other arm no longer having fingers). Although I only caught a glimpse of Soaks leaping through the air on reptilian-looking legs, as if his lower half were part dragon, I saw that the worm-like limb was coated in the same strange rainbow-coloured liquid which had been flung at Miss Toontastic.

I landed hard inside the kitchen, and then chased after Soaks, who was leaping still further after Miss Toontastic into the main living room where Clang and Lure were continuing their brawl.

The madness of the fight kicked up a notch, because only superhumans would have been able to keep up with the rapid pace of the two-versus-three fight which ensued.

Lure was hand-in-hand with Clang, both giving their all to see who might win their test of strength, with both seeming to be in the midst of a stalemate. What advantage Lure had by her hulking size was offset by Clang's sturdy steel resilience which wasn't giving an inch.

Miss Toontastic, soaring backwards, had her gaze fixed on Soaks still in hot pursuit of her, but not Lure, and the threat she presented.

Lure reared her malformed head to face Miss Toontastic and opened her jaws wide, huge maw opening, teeth ready to chomp down on Miss Toontastic's head.

Things were happening too fast for Clang to yell a warning to Miss Toontastic. I was roaming in behind Soaks, and met Miss Toontastic's gaze. There wasn't time for me to yell out a warning either, nor for me to get in close enough to be of any help.

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Miss Toontastic must have felt some of Lure's shadow, however faint it was in the rainy midday light within the gutted living room space, inching over her.

What Miss Toontastic did see, however, was where my eyes were looking. Not at her, but above her, at Lure.

Miss Toontastic twirled backwards, falling and at the same time throwing a bicycle kick against Lure's open jaws. The kick landed hard, though not hard enough to do more than prevent Lure's jaws from successfully clamping down. No longer just moving through the air, Miss Toontastic used the purchase of her shin against Lure's closed mouth to begin a controlled descent to the ground.

She landed onto the floorboards with heavy crack with her back. In this time a second had passed, and Soaks had flung some more of the rainbow coloured liquid from his right worm-like limb towards her on the ground.

Miss Toontastic began to roll away, but Lure's long strands of hair shot down like a spear. Miss Toontastic saw the hair-spear coming, and bent her head at a ninety-degree angle only possible because her neck was made of a rubbery substance and could bend instead of break. She was, however, not going to have enough time to dodge the falling rainbow-hued acid; acid which I had seen burn holes into the kitchen floor from the slightest drop.

And there was nothing I could do. Time was my enemy, my mind far faster than my body could move. I was going to have to watch Miss Toontastic be burned to pieces in excruciatingly slow detail.

That is, if it were not for Clang.

He had let go of Lure, forgoing their test of strength and throwing himself down over Miss Toontastic.

The acid fell in huge drops across his back, burning through the hoodie with scary ease. Clang used the momentum of his dive to grab hold of Miss Toontastic and to dive away with her in his arms to the nearby doorway. Being sideways on, they were forced to come to a stop at the doorway rather than pass through it.

In this time I had two seconds with which to send a flying kick into Soaks's back, putting as much power into the kick as I could muster.

Soaks's spine crunched under the weight of the kick and he was sent hurtling towards Lure.

Lure, having plenty of time to see Soaks moving in on her, dove out of the way, crashing into the adjacent wall and driving a hole through it thereby narrowly avoiding being stuck with one of Soaks's many black spikes.

I landed on both my feet in a controlled way, and looked to my left to see Clang and Miss Toontastic climbing with superhuman speed to theirs. Clang, despite the burning at his back, didn't seem to be at the mercy of the acid like I feared.

"You okay, mate?" I said.

"It's nothing," Clang's voice rang, "What's a small burn compared to a warrior's spirit?!"

"Boy, you're tough," I said, meaning it.

Miss Toontastic looked to Clang's back, as if to makes sure he wasn't actually in the midst of having his entire spine burned away by the acid.

"It looks okay," she squeaked, "You seem'ta be resistant to the stuff."

Gold is valuable for biomedical applications, the power node of medical knowledge piped up in my head, Because gold is highly resistant to acids.

Ah, I thought, that makes sense.

"Clang," I said, "You're made out of a gold-like substance, it'll make you a better match against Soaks. We need to stick together, but we'll need you to be our main defence against him, can you do that?"

Clang raised a closed fist, "You bet," his voice rang. His hooded face veered to look at Lure and Soaks, both of which had steadied themselves, had gotten to their feet, and were standing together; with Soaks stood just a little in front of Lure, as if acting as her protection.

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