[Jaykobell]

[center]The grass wavered and the leaves rustled and fell as the figure ran by. With everyone asleep in town, the way was free. But free, in this case, was quite an ironic word, for he wasn't free at all. In fact, he was running away from someone who have best been left labeled as 'dead'. While his search had proved fruitful, it had also proved to be quite... disastrous, for lack of a better word. He was now being chased by the one he had been looking for for months. Well, wasn't this inconvenient...

He stopped beside a tree, taking cover under the small forest that was near the coast. He wasn't out of breath, but he also not interested in running until morning. Hopefully, his dark pelt would hide him from the eyes of his pursuer, and nothing (good or bad) would come out of that fortunate, yet unfortunate, encounter. Maybe, maybe he should have pursued the idea that the one he was looking for was dead. Perhaps he should have kept to that idea. But now it was too late, now, was it... He could only hope that his pursuer wouldn't see him in the forest at this point.

[Kodai]

But one didn't need eyes to find a quarry, now, did they? There were ears and noses that could be used as well. And that is exactly what the pursuer did. Snout to the ground, ears swiveling to catch the slightest noise, the quadruped Lucain ran, paws flying over the ground in hot pursuit. His prey had been here just moments before... He couldn't have gotten far. Orange eyes scanned the area for any movement, though it was getting rather dark, and his prey had dark fur... but his other senses told him that the one he was seeking was nearby. Eventually he came upon a small forest, and he smiled. This was his life's training, finding criminals who were hiding in difficult areas such as this. Patiently he sniffed about until he came upon the other's hiding spot.

"I've found you. The chase is up. Give in, or die," he growled, staring into his quarry's blue eyes.

[Jaykobell]

Ah, this was it. Seemed like he had lost the race, now had he... But he wasn't about to give in. No one had ever caught him, and no one would ever catch him. He would make sure of that. Slowly, the criminal stepped out of the shadows...


Slowly, his pawsteps calculated, Sen came out from his hiding place, keeping his head low, but his eyes glued to the one he had wanted to find for so long. He slowly rose his head, unfazed by the other. "Maybe I should have listened to her... Maybe I should have believed that you were dead," he told his pursuer, his tails wavering behind him calmly. "Coming back of the war to learn you'd been kidnapped... What to do, what to think..." Sen looked away for a moment, padding around the place nonchalantly. "What will you do now? Will you try to kill me?" Senervel turned around, his small lock of white hair fluttering along with the movement of his head. "Trying to kill me, to catch me, with your skill level? I'd like to see you try, boy," he taunted, provoked, stirred.

[Kodai]

"I don't know what nonsense you're spouting about kidnapping, but I will bring you to justice," the brown and black Lucain snarled, irritated by this male's taunts. He too stepped into the moonlight that was filtering among the trees...

"You've killed too many people to be allowed to walk freely. I'll make sure you're punished, one way or another!" Ansgar began to circle around Senervel, keeping his eyes on the other's movements. He had heard of Sen's exploits, and knew that this male was extremely dangerous. But... he had been in dangerous situations before, and had come through them just fine. As long as he kept his head about his shoulders, he would make it out of this alive. Still, there were a few things that bothered him about this particular prey. What he kept saying about a kidnapping... It was odd that they both had Shadebane and Warrior... but that was just coincidence. Right?

[Jaykobell]

Oh, was he just chasing him because he'd killed? My, oh my... No one would ever let go of this issue, now, would they? The young Lucain's words made Senervel chuckle with sheer amusement. "Bring me to justice...? But what is justice, boy?" Hmm, the boy seemed to have inherited his mother's awfully short temper. Maybe if Sen kept on pressing him, Ansgar would eventually become too emotional to even think or fight correctly. "You've been blinded by lies, boy. We make our own justice. We divide good from bad." Senervel walked over to Ansgar, breaking the other's circling, and bought his muzzle close to the other's and stared into his orange eyes. "There is no set justice in this world." Sen then grinned with amusement and stepped back. "Show me how you're going to, 'make sure I'm punished', boy..."

[Kodai]

Argh! He had had enough! "I'll show you!" Ansgar snapped, trying to go for Sen's throat since the two of them were face-to-face. His anger ran through him, electrifying his senses and pumping him up for battle. Hopefully for him, it wouldn't blind him, though, for that would be a fatal mistake in this fight. Still, something kept nagging at the back of his mind, something from a long time ago. A certain scent... This male smelled somehow familiar.But he had never seen him before in his life! That wasn't possible... The other Lucain's words of a kidnapping rang through his mind again, but he shook it off again. They were just words, meant to rattle him and get him to make mistakes. Instead he went back to focusing on where he needed to focus, which was his opponent's movements.

[Jaykobell]

As Ansgar charged for his neck, Sen stared at him, his grin still plastered on the killer's face. Right as Ansgar was going to grab the soft and fragile flesh of his throat, Senervel moved out of the way nonchalantly, leaving the young other to stumble away. He turned to Ans and provoked him even more. "Show me, then," he asked, his confidence probably choking the black-and-brown Lucain by now. "Show me your supposed justice. Show me how I was wrong to hope that you were still alive." The kid wasn't used to this sort of fighting, it was obvious as day. For one to be successful in battle, he has to let go of his feelings, he has to forget about these emotions. The battlefield is no place for feelings. "My, my. Inexperienced," he called to Ansgar as he waited for Ans to come at him again. "You may have been able to track me down... but I think your luck has ran out." Sen wouldn't counterattack though. No... he would let Ansgar tire himself out, and then Sen would strike. Just as he would do with any victim.

[Kodai]

Oh, this was infuriating! The cockiness of his foe was really getting to Ansgar. But then, thinking about it, he had reason to be a little cocky, didn't he? He had committed so many atrocities and had never once been caught. In fact, he didn't even try to hide from the world. Still, it was angering him, the way Sen felt that he was so high and mighty. Realizing that Senervel was not going to attack first, Ansgar stood, snarling and thinking. Maybe if he tried that... Rushing at Sen again, Ans made as if to latch onto his throat again. However, at the last possible second, he would lower his head and bite at Sen's leg, intending to crunch down and break it. Hopefully Sen would be taken by surprise, though with his knowledge, he would probably be able to see through such a ploy and would simply leap away again...

[Jaykobell]

Analyzing. The kid had started analyzing the situation. And Sen, for that matter. But Ansgar was still letting his feelings get in his way (the snarl was a giveaway). How long would the kid be able to fight while struggling with himself? Surely there was this little voice in Ansgar's head, telling him to do this and that... Surely his feelings were telling him something, a little something that was keeping him from fighting effectively. Yes, surely something was keeping the kid from fighting well. But Sen would let Ansgar have his little fun.

He came latching for Sen's throat again. He was repeating the very same mistake as earlier. Adopting the same avoiding technique as earlier, Sen turned around and prepared to jump away...

But then, Ansgar changed targets and latched for Sen's leg instead. While it wasn't exactly painful, the pain made Sen wince for the shortest second. The war had toughened him up... Even if the kid could be strong enough to bite through his flesh, he probably wouldn't be able to crush the bone (or not completely). Nonetheless, the outcome made Sen chuckle. "So maybe they didn't only teach you nonsense, whoever it is that kidnapped you." The kidnapping issue seemed to be a soft spot with the brown-and-black Lucain. Maybe if Sen continued to 'spout this nonsense about kidnapping,' it would hit a nerve... But then again, he had already hit a couple of nerves, hadn't he?

[Kodai]

There it was again, that talk of kidnapping. Why did he have to keep bringing that up? It really bothered him for some reason... Why did it? He knew it wasn't true, right? He had been raised by the police force since... Well, since as far back as he could remember. Ever since his eyes had opened... but what about before then? What was that scent that seemed so familiar? Maybe what his foe was saying was true, that he had been kidnapped... But why should that matter? Ansgar was happy with his life, serving the police corps in the pursuit of justice. He wouldn't want it any other way, and so he bit down, grinding the other's flesh between his teeth. This Lucain had killed too many others to be allowed to walk free, and so he would make sure that, somehow, he would pay for his crimes. Still, the question remained.

"Why do you keep bringing that up?"

[Jaykobell]

While the actual hadn't been so awful, Ansgar's teeth grinding on Sen's bone did hurt, but if he would try to get his leg away, Sen would probably get more damage than relief out of it. Ah, what to do, what to do... Ah, but then he noticed Ansgar wasn't paying attention... His neck was right there, ready to be grasped.

Lowering his head and gripping onto Ansgar's neck, Sen sunk his teeth deep into the youngster's flesh, up until he could feel blood pouring out of Ansgar's flesh. "Let go of my leg, and I'll let go of your neck..." he proposed, his words muffled through Ansgar's fur, but still understandable. "The more you grind, the more I bite... But I got a better target," he reminded the police dog by bitting tighter. But he refrained from bitting too hard. While he was fighting for either his life or Ansgar's... something kept telling Sen not to kill the kid. Why? What was that little thing? Well... really, it all had to do with that kidnapping issue. But... now wasn't quite the place to talk about kidnap things, was it?

As expected, the kid had caught up to Senervel and was now trying to get him down. But things got out of hands rather quickly... And yet, hadn't he trained that Lucain so that he would be able to take Senervel down? Ah... But if Ansgar could get away from Sen's dangerous grasp, then maybe Ansgar would be able to turn things around again... But would things get any dire, he would step in and take it from there...

[Kodai]

Oh, shiitake mushrooms. Ans had managed to get a hold on his opponent's leg, but Senervel had gotten a hold on the back of his neck. If he wasn't careful, Sen would surely snap his neck. Grr.... How annoying... To get into such a situation as that was simply embarrassing. Well, at least he had managed to inflict a wound upon Senervel, even as minor as it was. Grudgingly he let go of Sen's leg and stepped back, glaring. True, the police had trained him well as an attack dog, but... they had focused more on attacking humans or human-form pets rather than quadrupeds. Humans were so much easier to take down... He'd have to think harder if he wanted to bring down Senervel. He shook himself, sending blood flying everywhere from the wound in his neck.

[Jaykobell]

When Ansgar let go of his leg, Senervel, in turn, let go of Ansgar's neck, just like he'd said he would. He then licked his injury and analyzed it. He could still put some pressure on his leg, but it end up broken if he wasn't careful. But it was fine for the time being. They were back to square one. For a moment, Senervel thought about making the first step and attacking Ansgar first... but then a strange, yet familiar scent got around, and Sen froze.


The small Magma Creeper stepped out of the shadows and stood beside Ansgar. "That was quite fine, Ansgar..." he praised, taking a step forward to stand between Ansgar and Sen. "I can... take it from here," he ordered the younger Lucain, the Creeper's claws shining in the moonlight. Ansgar's wound wasn't terribly serious, but if he wasn't careful... it could get infected, or worse, the cut could get even deeper and become dangerous.


Not too far from the scene, Anthanaric tried to locate his father and Ansgar. Despite Sen's warnings, Ric had disobeyed and followed his father, but he had had to step back for a while when Ansgar had started chasing Sen. But now that he had found their scent tracks again, he would probably be able to spot them... But oh, the dark... how did he hate the dark...

Crick!

He'd stepped on a dead twig. Uh. Hopefully they wouldn't spot him. ... Hopefully.

[Kodai]

Hearing the Magma Creeper's voice, Ansgar stepped back obediently. This was one of the ones whom had raised him, and so he had to obey. It was odd that Orreck was here, but Ans didn't pay it too much mind. After all, since he had helped the police raise him, surely Orreck was interested in seeing justice played out as well? Sitting down, Ans sighed and watched Senervel warily. Suddenly he heard the sharp crack of a twig breaking underfoot. Swiveling his ears and then his head around, Ans picked up the scent of another Lucain in the darkness.

"Who's there?" he asked in a low voice, wondering who on Evelon could be out in the forest at this time of night. It could be backup for Senervel, or it could be an innocent bystander... Best not to attack before finding out.

[Jaykobell]

Uh-oh. They had heard the twig snap. Well, it wasn't surprising. They were Lucain, after all, so their hearing was much better than that of humans. And it was dark, too, so it's not like the daily city crowd was there to drown such a little sound. Well... no use dwelling on it now.

Ric carefully walked forward, bumping into a tree or two along the way. Gah, this was one of the many reasons why he hated the dark. "Ow..." he would mutter when he would hit a tree, shaking his head. He eventually reached Ansgar, but the black-and-brown Lucain wasn't the first being that he saw. Ric spotted Senervel and Orreck in the background, and he desperately tried to reach them. "Pa!" he shouted, bouncing away from the trees to try and catch up with Senervel and Orreck, forgetting that Ansgar was even there...