Pursuing Shadows

"Well, you're going to have to take time to warm back up." Wolf says, "I know it's uncomfortable, but it never passes quickly. You're probably going to have to bear it for a while longer."

He glances towards Tangerine as she offers the hand warmers to Chutha.


(OOC: Sure. Feel free to join. Maybe read back over the last page or two of posts to get an idea of where things are.)

(Okay, thank you C.S.O. I have just finished looking over the last few pages and I was wondering, what is the order of commenting now? I just don't want to be rude and comment at the wrong time.)

( OOC: You may enter as soon as you are ready to. I will then formally state what the posting order is at that point. )

(Okay, thank you C.S.O.)

The black and blue hedgehog wore a long sleeve, hooded red jumper and his hands were in his pockets. He was on a long walk from boredom and was a long way from home. He knew there was a supermarket the way he was walking and stopped on front of Tangerine's truck to cross the road.

However, unable to see the speeding semi truck zooming down the road Shade gasped as his body was thrown from the semi truck, making a loud bang, onto Tangerine's windshield, making another thud, and across the roof landing on the road. The driver of the semi truck didn't see or feel Shade and kept driving.

Chutha accepted the offer for the hand warmers from Tangerine, and had started equipping them but they wouldn't fit correctly over his wings.

"Thanks....I guess." Chutha said while inching very close to the trucks heater, "I guess I'll just take a nap then and hopefully when I wake up I wont be as freezing."
Chutha replied after hearing Wolf.

Right after replying to Wolf Chutha had suddenly remembered something Tangerine had said right before entering the truck.

"Wait a second . . . Miss when we were talking earlier before I had got into the truck you asked was I in any trouble too . . . Were you implying that you are in some trouble?"

(( Pssst, Chutha, I mentioned that they're just pouches. Not gloves. Something like this. :] ))

Tangerine shrugged her shoulders. "Me, personally? No, I'm not in any trouble. But I am apparently a magnet for troubled teens toda--"
She wasn't able to finish her sentence before movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. From the road off to the left of her truck, something came flying at them at high speed and... slammed right into her windshield, sending a web of cracks around the point of impact, before tumbling across part of the roof, then landing on the ground on the other side of the truck.

Tangerine had no idea what had just hit the vehicle, but the tuft of hair at the end of her tail visibly stood on end as she tensed. Seeing as Wolf was also closeby in the backseat with her, he might also note the feeling of static electricity potentially making his fur stand up a little on the side of him closest to her.
Instead of looking at what had just come at them, Tangerine looked in the direction it had come from. Nothing unusual there, just other vehicles going by on the road.

"Stay here," she ordered Chutha and Wolf firmly, whether they had started to move from where they were or not. The dragon was already climbing back into the driver's seat and exiting the truck. Her tail just narrowly missed swiping across the duo there in the truck as she jumped back to the ground and slammed the door shut behind her. Keeping on the alert of the surroundings, she started around to the other side of the truck to see just what the hell had hit her windshield...

( OOC: Okay post order is now: Me, Shade, Chutha, Froshana. )

*Troubled teens... That's one way to put it.* Wolf thinks as Tangerine replies to Chutha.

He considers adding his own reply as Tangerine trails off, but then is startled by the sudden impact of something hitting the windshield of the truck. He tenses and quickly looks around, immediately worried that they had been found and something else was about to happen to them.

After a few moments, when nothing actually happens, Wolf relaxes ever so slightly. But he can still feel his fur standing on end, even though that's not really because of him.

He glances towards Tangerine just before she orders him and Chutha to stay where they are, implying that she was going to check out what had happened. He offers no reply to her as she climbs back into the front seat of the truck.

Wolf moves closer to the passenger side window to glance out, unsure of what he might see there, if anything at all.

"Did you see what that was?" Wolf asks Chutha, since Tangerine was already outside.

Shade's head felt sore and dizzy. His eyes were closed but he could kinda remember what happened, "I was hit by a car?" He mumbles, his eyes now half open, he chuckled a little, "didn't think THAT would happen."

Shade's eyes were now fully opened and he looked around. His back was against Tangerine's truck and he was slouched over. His legs were spread out like a star and he could barely feel them. His right arm lay there on his torso but his left arm was... Shade gagged and looked away; his left arm was bloody and in a twisted, unnatural position. Shade could now feel the pain, "ah!" He screamed, grabbing his arm and pulling it close to his torso.

He gasped at the sound of a door opening and closing. Shade leaned to try and look around the corner, wincing from the pain, "hello? Ow! Hello? Can you help me please?" He looked at his legs, he could tell they were bruised and sore but he could probably stand.

( OOC: phew after reading and speed browsing some 200 posts I'm ready to ask. Got room for a freelance rouge reporter?... Being the presumptuous person that I am I'm going to throw my post down there. Just to give you guys some time to re-cope and collect yourself though, this won;t require anyone to directly respond to me, I will however gladly comply to the post turn list)  

Reports were buzzing around of some odd noises and happenings in the forest. Probably some kids with fireworks or something, but strapped bare for a good story lately, Walter Whit, freelance journalist and sometimes bender of the law, was forcing himself to trudge his tired car to the "site" of suppose disturbance. 

The tips he had gotten were a day or two old and frankly he was probably just wasting time and gas money. But hey, it was living. Some random DJ on the radio yammering about some "threat to destroy the world" or something buzzing in the background, as Walt suddenly realized he was there. 

Or at least he thought he was, the road had appeared in a forest, and as luck would have it, bam, there at the side of the road was indeed some signs of action. Hoping out of his car, with perked interest, his camera pulled to his eye as he took several snap shots of the area

"Well well, something certainly happened here..." he mumbled between camera flashes "but what?..." he wondered a bit deeper into the forest, pulling out the flashlight he kept in his "reporter" kit. Consisting of a flash light, crowbar, various lock picks, cigarettes, some extra cash, and some forged I.D to boot (not those ever came out mind you, just there for happen-chance circumstances). 

The light bounced off the white snow as Walt poked around for some news. Sure enough some trace signs for further struggle and action were found. More pictures were taken. And more questions were asked "What the heck caused this? Cultists? Aliens? Gang violence? natural Occurrence..." he shook his head and chuckled "Been listening to one to many late night crazies Mr. Whit..." 

Rubbing his eyes as he gave one more look around "Alright, well we got something here... Just a start but its something." he talked to himself, almost looking for conformation of his progress "Maybe just a few more pictures... and then the next town I guess..." he had to act quickly or the trail would go cold before he even began. 

(OOC: Sorry about that lengthy post... and any errors I may have made, I tried to reference as much of the earlier posts as I could, anyway looking forward to this!)

'Troubled teens?  Who does this lady think she is calling me troubled I'm the exact opposite of troubled I'm....UNTROUBLED!' Chutha thought before Tangerine could finish the last word she had said.

Chutha was just about to say something to Tangerine, but before he could he got scared by the sudden impact of something hitting the windshield of the truck. "AHH!" Chutha screamed at the top of his lungs while slapping the lock button his door, then dropping down and hiding under the dashboard of the car.

After Tangerine had exited the truck Chutha slowly came out from under the dashboard to sit up normally but when he got in his seat fully he heard Wolf asking something.
"Did you see what that was?"  Chutha replied with. "No I missed it because I um...dropped something." Chutha said to Wolf lying because he didn't want him to think he was a coward that got scared easily.

((Occ: I'm not sure what that little floor part is called for cars I think its a dashboard if its not then I meant this http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56feae0ab6aa60ebb6039bf3/56feb2c074e8d6373306a533/56feb32974e8d6373306b9d3/1459532585350/Under-dash.jpg?format=original
)))

The dragon stepped around her truck, one paw raised slightly by her side for some reason. She'd heard a pained screamed before she'd even rounded the back of the vehicle, implying a person was there...?

She was surprised enough to find a dark-furred hedgehog already somewhat upright as he was slumped back against her truck rather than sprawled out across the pavement. There was no time to fully consider the physics of the landing, however, as her eyes narrowed at the sight of a bloodied injury on the teen. About this time, he had started to call out for help and she quickly moved over to his side, dropping to her knees on the ground.

"Geez, where the hell did you come from?" she asked, although her focus was on his arm. It wasn't pretty and it rather made her stomach turn, but she was certain it wasn't something she could fix with bandages in the back of a truck...

((Yoooo, kudos to actually reading the whole rp! 8U))

Wolf glances away from Chutha and back out the window trying to see what Tangerine was taking a look at, but from his angle he couldn't see the person she was now talking to.

-----

Meanwhile back at the location of the battle that had gone on earlier, the wolf who was now exploring what still remained there, would find many small details that would give an idea of what might have happened.

There were several places across the ground where snow had been displaced by shockwaves, impacts, and at least one case of the ground being broken open itself. There were some small traces of red through the snow, a sure sign of injuries that had occurred to the people involved. And speaking of people involved, there were many trails of footprints through the snow. Some led out from the forest, a couple followed along the road. Several of them eventually met around the tracks of a vehicle that had clearly come through earlier on. Through the entire area, there were broken rocks and pieces of torn fabric.

Of real note though was a vague outline in the snow a short distance from the road, almost in the shape of a person, that was filled with a thin layer of ash. Another smaller feature of interest was a fist size hole in the ground, apparently made by something within the ground heading upward, which was very close to a portion of the ground that appeared to have broken open along a line at some point and then closed again.

If someone headed off into the forest, to back track the trails of footprints that had emerged from there, they'd eventually come across damaged trees and similarly displaced snow, most of it appearing to have been cause by blunt impacts.

All of these details amounted to some sort of traveling conflict that eventually came to a head near the roadway through the forest. But it didn't really give any idea about who was involved or what became of the winners and losers of that encounter.

His camera quickly filling up with pictures, he had even picked up scrapes of the clothe from what he could only assume was a fight. It had to be, the blood not to mention the various impacts on the ground, the evidence was... well evident. But of course this lead to more questions, who were the fighters, why were they fighting? Where did they go?... 

Obviously, unless that ash pile was a former being, there was no body, just a scene of chaos and violence. Scratching his chin, and putting his camera away finally, having taken pictures of nearly the whole scene, he pondered on what to do.

His curiosity was most certainly peaked, but was it really wise to go chasing after an unknown party who had partaken in a conflict of this magnitude? 

Well, no it wasn't wise to. But then again, Walt as the one carrying a crowbar and false I.D around. 

"Ah who am I kidding, if I don't go I'll regret it..." he heaved a sigh at himself and jogged back to his car. He was now determined to follow the tire treads to the next town over. Try to find someone who was part of all this, maybe help them resolve the issue if he was feeling real brave 

With the turn of the ignition, the car stalled briefly and then lurked forward, finally sputtering back onto the road "Who these guys are... they could have at least left a note or something..." 

(Sorry there wasn't a relisting of the order, but I figured since I really don;t affect anyone at the moment I could go ahead and post. Also thank you Froshana, it was a pleasure to read and I'm exciting to throw my own two cents into the mix!)

Shade's arm felt even more sore. He wiped his face with his tight arm, "where the hell did you come from?" A mysterious, unknown voice spoke. Shade looked around and eventually noticed a dragon, "oh you're a... a..." Shade felt dizzy, queezy even, "a dragon," he then spurted.

Shade looked around more and finally realised what had happened. He then had a moment were he felt okay, "I flew over the truck. Is it your truck?" He asks the stranger.

Chutha was relived that Wolf looked away, but soon after he did Chutha started to hear talking from outside the truck "What the heck...i..is she talking to someone?!" 
Chutha said getting a little on the edge  "Hey....um how long have you been hanging with this lady man?" Chutha asked Wolf then quickly adding. "Because I think she might be plotting something against us."

Tangerine could see this hedgehog was out of it. She didn't yet reach for him in case he responded defensively, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, she just blinked as he pointed out her species to her.
Huh. Well, better than someone gawking at her rainbow hair sticking out from under her hat. As he didn't respond to her question, she didn't say anything in response to his first words.

When he started to look around, she followed his gaze, as though looking for who had thrown him over here. She saw no one, but looked at him again when he asked a question. It was hard to not give an immediately cynical response, considering he smashed into and then tumbled over her truck more than flying over it, but the dragon merely nodded.

"Yeah. It's my truck," she said plainly.

Her eyes over the rest of him, searching for further injury. The broken arm seemed to be the worst of it for now.

"Look, you need a doctor or something. Can I help you stand?" she asked, meeting his gaze again, "We're gonna have to get you in the truck."

( OOC: Oh my bad. I forgot all about updating the order. I did recently, but not since person five [technically seven] joined.

So, Me, Shade, Goobtron, Chutha, Froshana. That's the order from when Goobtron first joined, so we'll stick to that for now. )

"Yes... I assume she's talking to someone out there. Of course, maybe she is just talking to herself. She seems to have plenty to deal with and may not want to talk to us." he tells Chutha, "As for how long I've been with her... Maybe an hour."

He then glances back at Chutha.

"I doubt she's plotting against us." he says, "She wouldn't be spending her time tending to me in that case. You just sort of showed up a little while ago. I don't see why she'd be plotting against you... unless you've met before."

Shade could begin to hear better and looked directly into Tangerine's eyes, his voice had returned to normal again, "I'm sorry. About the truck."

He then gave one last glance at his broken arm before his eyes darted back to Tangerine, "could you help me please? Help me stand."

Shade heard talking from behind him, presumably from inside Tangerine's truck, "I could see you look stressed. I saw it in your eyes."

Simultaneously, Shade strarted to stand by supporting himself with the bumper of the truck. It was a little tricky but he was managing to do it.

Walt pushed his car along into the surprisingly tranquil city, as he pondered how he would find those he had began to track. And how he would find them without raising suspicion. He didn't want to harm them, or get them into trouble, he really just wanted to talk. 

No really, that's all I want to do... he thought to himself as if he was having some sort of imaginary conversation with the strangers. 

He pulled his car to a stop with a bit of a whine, the brakes were in ill repair, but it was a free vehicle so he tried not to complain much. Looking about the city street, he rubbed his eyes. "How to do this, how to so this...Lets see at least one of them was injured, hopefully at least one of both parties, and assuming they want to remain hidden, as there hasn't been any story about them yet, they wouldn't be in a hospital. So, if at least one of them is injured they would have to purchase medical supplies...hopefully." he vocally worked out slowly and thoughtfully 

It was a shot in the dark, but it was a good place to start. Turning his car off and walking out he plodded over to the nearest convenient store, flashing his press badge in plain site, and walked up to the counter 

"Hello excuse me, I'm a freelance reporter and I'm covering medical supplies sales. If you could perhaps explain your latest sale of of medical supplies for the record?" he pulled out his pen out from behind his ear and his little writers pad from his jacket, a polite smile on his face, totally innocent in every sense of the word

Chutha starts getting comfy in his seat and said back to Wolf. "No I have no idea who she is, but you never know maybe she started plotting this when I got in the car.  You never know when you're dealing with psychos."

((OCC: Sorry it took me so long to post guys, It was my birthday and well I got a new baby kitten so I have lots of care taking I need to do.))

Tangerine bit her tongue as he mentioned the damage to her truck. It took a lot for her to not make a sarcastic reply, but she let out a breath and shook her head. "Just.. don't worry about it," she replied as she moved around to the opposite side of Shade. She was careful to not jostle him too badly as she got one arm around under his good arm and helped him rise to his feet.

The dragon paused when he told her she looked stressed. Despite the brief distraction of knowing how one of her work associates would have reacted to such a comment, she snorted softly, sending out a white cloud of her breath in doing so.

"Yeah, well... It's been a weird day," she replied, "Now c'mon."

With Tangerine now holding up most of Shade's weight, she began to guide him back over to the passenger's side door of the truck. As she went, she knocked on the side of the truck with her free paw to get Chutha and Wolf's attention.

((Oooh, happy late birthday, Chutha! Yay for new kitten!! owo I'm gonna be really shameless because C.S.O. is my friend and he can fight me if he has a problem with me linking you to the pet topic! If you get a chance, share a picture or two with us so I can get a dose of kitten cuteness.))

( OOC: It's no issue. Congrats on the new kitten. )

Wolf watches as he sees Tangerine eventually stand back up with someone who had been, lying against the side of the truck. He's already watching when Tangerine knocks. He reaches over to the door and finds the release on it fairly quickly. He then opens the door for Tangerine and the new arrival.

(Haps a birthsday Chutha! Is your kitten kawaii? What's it called? Tell me everything.)

Shade smiles at Tangerine, "thanks for helping," as she helps him walk over to the truck. Suddenly, another stranger opened the door and Shade looks at Wolf, "uh hey," Shade could sense that Wolf was injured himself.

Shade then telekinetically pushes himself into the truck and sits right beside the door, "sorry for the trouble," he says, turning to Tangerine. He gave her a little smile before resting his hurt arm on his lap, "you ever seen something like this before?" He asks Wolf, with a raised eyebrow.

(Wait, is the "Tremendous Tribulations Tournament" considered canon in this rp? Because Shade and Chutha fought each other in it so will they end up remembering each other?)

Froshana wrote:Tangerine was gone for several minutes. She picked up extra bandages and antiseptic but otherwise there wasn't really much to choose from in terms of medical supplies. It was just a small gas station after all. She hoped she wouldn't need much more than this either way.
After grabbing some snacks and a couple of bottles of water, the dragon made her way over to the counter and set down her items to check out. She didn't particularly think of how rather suspicious she looked with her scarf covering up her face like it was until she spotted herself on a screen showing the feed of one of the security cameras. Oops. But she knew she wasn't there to steal anything (this time) and fully intended to complete her transaction and leave.
She glanced idly out the window as the cashier began to ring up her purchase. The truck wasn't visible from where she was, though, so she just observed the dreary-looking day outside, along with taking note of other patrons out at the gas pumps.

(First. Happy Birthday! Surviving another year is always something to celebrate about and you better take care of that kitten, before you know it it'll be either an anti social cat or a attention hungry dog like creature!) 

The young cashier gave Walt a quick look over and shrugged "Ah gez man I don't know... Maybe like a hour ago?" 

Not expecting much, Walt nonetheless raised an eyebrow in surprise "That soon ago? You don't remember exactly what they bought do you?" 

"Look man, we only got so much stuff alright." he pointed to sparse collection of medical supplies "I think she bought a bit of everything... yeah thats right." 

While perhaps not the social type, this kid was indeed helping out "She, you say? Could you describe her too me? You see I'm looking for the reason she may have bought the supplies." 

With a roll of his eyes and a scratch of his head the cashier went into thought "Well, erm, well she was a dragon I think, or some sort of lizard. Had the horns and all, orange colored, other then that I couldn't tell. She had her face covered with a scarf, weird as hell man" 

"She was probably just cold" Walt reassured the cashier with a smile "Anyway, thanks for the tip." He slightly tipped his hat and without another word walked out back into the cold 

So, no injuries, or at least none that could be seen. So either she bought medical supplies for the wounded party or she simply isn't related to this story at all... but the scarf bit tells me otherwise, who is she hiding from and why?...


These thoughts ran through his mind as he scanned the parking lot, wondering where to go from here. He now had a dragon to find but in this city and an hour behind that could prove near impossible.

(OOC: So, if this is to, whats the word I'm looking for? Meta? Then I'll happy edit it,. but I figured given Walt a bit of luck and finding the same store Tangerine used would speed things up a bit for myself, but if its too lucky and you need to stall more I will)

Chutha looks in the back seat, getting ready to see the new arrival hoping in the back of his mind it isn't someone here to kill him and Wolf, but mainly just him!

(OCC: First of all thank you everyone for saying happy birthday because I think it really worked it was a great day! 

Froshana I'd be happy to share some pictures when I get some good ones . 

Shade its a Tabby cat and his name is Beerus .

Goobtron surviving other year is very hard especially as a teen,  hopefully none of my friends go jump off a cliff or I might be forced to do something drastic.

C.S.O thanks man I've been wanting one for awhile so it really is a treat to have him.)))