Pursuing Shadows

( OOC: No Goobtron. Waited long enough. My turn. )

The bolts shot towards the tiger incredibly fast. Fast enough that he had no chance of dodging. The tiger's eyes widen as this unexpected development.

Due to Tangerine not lining up her first shot, it was close to the tiger, but it missed her intended target regardless. Her second shot was true and in a blink it covered the remaining distance to the tiger.

And then past him.

Somehow, the bolt of electricity had actually arced around the tiger, missing him entirely, and continued on. Both bolts struck abandoned vehicles beyond the tiger and discharged across them.

Wolf stands there shocked, figuratively, by the display that Tangerine had just put on. For the moment he'd forgotten that she'd ordered him to run.


( OOC: And... four days later. No post from Shade even though he's been around. Skipping him this round. It's now Froshana's post. )

((Just you and me for now then. ))

Tangerine was typically confident in the effect her powers had on any unfortunate soul who got in her way. And so, it was understandably alarming when not only did her first attack miss, but so did the second one.

The surprise showed on the dragon's features as her eyebrows raised and her eyes widened. She still had both paws extended out in front of her and she seemed to just freeze there, trying to understand what just happened. She'd seen no movement from the tiger to indicate he'd used some special power to reroute her attack. ...Unless he was some powerful telekinetic or something...?

Regardless, much like Wolf, Tangerine simply stood there in shock. This had never happened before after all, otherwise, perhaps she may have had the sense to quickly withdraw her pistol and see how well this tiger dodged bullets.

( OOC: Well... I've ignored this topic for far too long. Apologies for not posting before now.

So, with Goobtron busy elsewhere, presumably with school, I've decided to drop him from the topic until he has time and returns to the forum.

Post order is reduced to: Me, Shade, Froshana )


The tiger lets out a breath quietly as he regards Tangerine.

"Impressive." he states, "Good thing you missed."

He crouches down and picks up a couple of pieces of debris around his feet. Some stones, broken brick chunks, pieces of metal. He stands and then drops one of the stones. The stone falls towards the ground, then suddenly loops back upwards, before beginning to fall again. It's moving in a circle in the air beside the tiger, slowly building up speed.

Shade continured to retreat until he noticed a nearby, flipped over car. He thought for a minute before tapping Wolf on the shoulder, "this way," he whispered, making his way over to the car to use as cover.

There, Shade could still see the battle at a safe distance but could also intervene if something were to go wrong. "Do you think she'll be okay?" Shade asks Wolf, "you've been with her longer, you obviously have a better understanding of her."

((Sorry for the huge wait, guys. Work has been pretty brutal recently and it probably won't let up for another few weeks. -w- ))

The surprise on the dragon's face slowly melted back to a scowl when the tiger made his reply. Clearly he had something to render her powers, for the most part, useless. If only temporarily. She felt like a bit of a dolt as she just watched him crouch and pick up several somethings from the ground and she herself didn't actually do anything. Once he stood back up, however, she shifted.

As he dropped the first stone and it began to pick up speed, her legs tensed as she crouched, ready to turn and run as she could only imagine that stone was going to fly off in her direction at any moment. Tangerine also shoved one paw into her jacket and whipped out her pistol. It clicked in her grasp as she swung it around towards the tiger and fired off two hastily-aimed shots.

The tiger watches her as Tangerine draws her gun and fires on him. He doesn't move at all and her shots miss him entirely, yet strike vehicles behind him, sending the few remaining people in the area scurrying for cover. As the bullets are moving so quickly, only people with really impressive perception would be able to see that the bullets had actually curved around the tiger in the air, much like the bolt of electricity Tangerine unleashed earlier had.

The tiger says nothing in response to Tangerine's attack. The stone in the air beside him continues to pick up speed.


Wolf moves along with Shade into cover, but tries to stay somewhere that he can see what else is happening.

"I have no idea really." he says in reply to Shade's question, "This guy may have tossed cars around... I don't know what she could do against someone like that."

Shade watched as Tangerine continued to strike at the tiger, but continued to miss, "I have a bad feeling..." He mumbled. Shade looked over at Wolf, "we need to do something, or else who knows what'll happen." Shade slowly moved away from the car and to different one.

Shade would continue to make his way from cover to cover, slowly making his way around the tiger. Shade would try to stay hidden but it didn't help that his leg was still sore. If all went well, Shade would be hiding behind a chunk of a building, safe behind the tiger.

'Okay okay, projectiles aren't gonna work here.'

Tangerine huffed out a white cloud from her nose at this thought. So now it was a matter of deciding whether she was going to try and get in closer to fight or go ahead and retreat. Shade and Wolf surely were a safe distance away by now, right?

Movement from behind some debris off to one side of the tiger drew Tangerine's gaze. She squinted as she was certain she'd seen a certain limping hedgehog trying to be stealthy. Her fists clenched in frustration. That had to mean there was probably a particular wolf hiding not too far off as well. Retreat no longer seemed as easy an option with her attempt at being a distraction having gone to waste.

'Close quarters it is, then...' The reptile had only taken her gaze off the tiger for a moment or two. '...Damn, this is probably gonna hurt.'

Counting on her tough scales to offer some protection against the projectiles she was sure would be coming her way now, Tangerine started forward towards the tiger. She wasn't moving overly fast, but instead she was more ready to duck to one side if attacked.

((Would it be okay if I rejoined?))

The tiger holds still, watching Tangerine as she approaches him. He smirks slightly at her. The stone circling in the air shifts its arc gradually. The circle it's traveling in grows and then it begins to orbit around the tiger quickly.


From some distance away, Wolf watches as Shade heads off to try and help. He then glances back towards Tangerine and the tiger as they remain in their own stalemate for the moment. He gets a bit more concerned when Tangerine approach the tiger.

( OOC: I don't know if I'm going to let any more people join or rejoin this rp, Leon. I'm looking towards just finishing things off here since activity has been spotty for months. Having more people just feels like things will drag out even longer as things in real life come up. )

Shade was now safe sitting behind a broken down car, behind the tiger. Shocked, Shade still was smirking from the fact that he sneaked, barely, past the tiger even though his leg was in mediocre condition, at best. He sighed and pushed himself back onto his feet.

Shade watched as Tangerine approached the tiger, "don't do anything stupid," he mumbled before looking at himself, "practice what you preach, Isaac." He decided to stay hidden but was ready to attack the tiger at any point.

Tangerine hesitated as the stone began to circle around the tiger. It would be hard to get a blow in now with that thing swirling around him. The dragon was starting to feel more and more outmatched in this fight and it had just barely begun...

Standing still wasn't going to help to keep any of her escaping body heat, though. Throwing caution to the icy wind, Tangerine continued her charge, lunging at the tiger once she was close enough as though to throw a punch straight towards his jaw.

It was a false attack, however, as she didn't actually swing and instead made a duck back to see how the tiger would respond.

As Tangerine darted in close to the tiger, she'd notice that he'd seem to change positions on her. Instead of standing in front of her, he then appeared to be standing more to her left. When she pulled back though, the tiger then appeared to be standing back in front of her as he had been before.

The tiger though, hadn't moved at all. He remained perfectly still, standing in his ready stance.

If Shade and Wolf had been watching, they would have seen that Tangerine had appeared to move to the tiger's right side before pulling back again.

(Sorry I posted a bit late. Busy holidays made me forget.)

Shade was confused when Tangerine seemed to hit air rather than the tiger which made him raise an eyebrow, "maybe she meant it?" Shade thought to himself, not really believing that reason. 

Instead Shade concluded that the tiger must have used either some Jedi mind trick or telekinesis to make Tangerine miss.

Shade looked down at his leg and sighed, it was healing but it still was sore and Shade was tired so that wasn't helping the Lazarus DNA self-heal.

Shade looked back up and took a deep breath in. He was now crouching behind the car, on the alert, ready to attack if need be. He concentrated and exhaled.

((Not a worry, Shade. It's just like that at this time of year. Thank goodness it's almost over! :P))


The tiger's apparent change in position made Tangerine draw back a couple steps more. When she did, he was back where he'd been, as though nothing had happened. The puzzling look on her face was easy to see, but she squinted again before long.

"What.. what the hell are you?" she asked.

'Is this some kind of illusion?' the dragon wondered. Her eyes briefly darted off towards where she'd last seen any sign of Shade and Wolf. 'Or a distraction?'

( OOC: A lot of that seems to be going around. )

The tiger smirks back slightly at Tangerine.

"Trouble for anyone in my way." he replies, as he releases a couple more pieces of small debris from his paws.

These other pieces fall into a similar, but not quite identical, arc like the first one, and soon all three are in motion around the tiger.

Shade slowly sits himself down and peeks around the corner, "I'm just going to need to use as much time as I can," Shade grunted a little, "so my leg can heal," he turned around towards his hurt leg and hovers his hands around it. He breathes slower and takes bigger breaths and his hands send a purple wave towards the wound. 

The wave is visible as small purple threads, similar to spider webs, as they sparkle and twist and turn before landing on the leg. The sparkling now acts more like a train with it zooming from Shade's hand to his leg and then repeating.

Right now, all Shade needed was time. But no matter what he could do, in this moment, time was of the essence.

The dragon scowled a bit. This guy was obviously just toying with her and, until Shade and Wolf took a hint and left, running off herself was a poor idea.

Frustrated by all of these factors, the reptile suddenly snarled and swept both paws up. The gesture brought with it a series of electric bolts, this time from behind the tiger. They were, again, aimed to hit him, but with there being more of them this time, she was also trying to zap the stones and debris out of their orbit around the tiger. Tangerine also took a step back as she attacked, putting just a tiny bit more space between them in doing so.

The numerous bolts streak towards the tiger like the first ones Tangerine had used. They have about the same effect this time too. As the bolts get within a few feet of the tiger, each one of them arcs around him, almost as though they were tracing the surface of a sphere.

Once they reach the other side of the tiger, the bolts then streak off in their original directions.

From his hiding spot, Wolf yelps out slightly as one of Tangerine's electric bolts is heading in his direction. He quickly gets to his feet and dashes aside, barely avoiding a shocking experience.

(A shocking experience! Oh my  that made me laugh more than it should have.)

Shade continued to speed up the healing process as much as he could, but it was making him tired, not very tired but he would feel it in a couple of hours if he continued. He turned and watched closely as Tangerine's bolts seemed to move around the tiger again.

"Weird, why does that keep happening?" Shade thought to himself as he looked closer at the tiger. Only out of the corner of his eye did he see one of the bolts heading towards Wolf but Shade only reacted once Wolf had evaded the bolt. 

Shade gasped and had no idea if Wolf had been cooked alive but he decided to turn back towards the tiger and he focused. He stopped trying to heal his leg and was now partially visible as he peeked around the side of the car.

Shade held out a hand towards the tiger and attempted to use his powers to detect what kind of forcefield or charm the tiger was using.

Tangerine took note of how the electricity's path bent around the tiger. Her eyes darted towards the crystal on his neck. Experience had taught her that not all accessories are just for looks...

A yelp from Wolf nearby made her glance away towards the sound. Now there was an idea to get these teenagers to scram.
Returning her gaze to the tiger, the dragon thrust one paw out in the vague direction she'd heard Wolf and then waved it to where, out of the corner of her eye, she was semi-certain she could see Shade peering out from behind a vehicle. Lightning sprang forth from her clawed fingertips and in the direction of the pair. She was most certainly not aiming to strike either of them, but debris and the ground near them to give them a scare? Definitely.

"Get outta here, dammit!" shouted the orange-scaled reptile. Her attack towards Shade and Wolf had only lasted a moment, but she'd made sure to keep her eyes on the real enemy here. And as soon as one attack ended, she charged forward at the tiger again, moving in close to make another attempt to strike him with a clenched fist. Her aim was towards his chest this time.

The tiger did take his eyes off of Tangerine upon hearing Wolf's yelp. He then smirks slightly as Tangerine follows with a blast of her own toward the source of the yelp and another off in a different direction.

The tiger took a quick glance in that other direction as well, but didn't see anyone there. When he turns his attention back to Tangerine, she had already closed the gap towards striking distance. She had appeared to have caught him off guard.

Once she got within a couple of feet of the tiger, she suddenly found that he wasn't in front of her anymore. She'd likely experience a moment or two of disorientation as well and would then find herself off to the tiger's left with her back to him. He appeared to still be standing exactly where he had been before.

To anyone else watching, Tangerine would have appeared to charge towards the tiger, then suddenly veer to her right just before she reached him.

"Missed again." the tiger tells her.

He then swings his right arm forward, in a wide arc out from his side to out in front of him. One of the pieces of debris that had been circling him shifts from its arc, follows his paw along, then shoots off towards the startled Wolf, who was just regaining his composure from the pair of electricity attacks that had sailed in his direction.

Shade had found it, it seemed that a charm from a necklace the tiger was wearing created this forcefield that Shade could now see as a purple haze surrounding the tiger. Shade was confused as to where he could get a charm like this but that wasn't important right now.

Shade was still in the middle of thought when he seemed to see lightning head straight towards, "oh shit," he gasped before rolling behind the car and barely missing the bolt, "the hell Tangerine?" He thought before hearing her tell Wolf and Shade to leave.

Shade nodded and almost instinctively got to his feet before realising what he was doing. Shade sat back down, still behind the car but a little away from it, and looked at his hands. They were bloody, bruised and filthy. Shade his his face and his hands and closed his eyes. 

If anyone could see Shade, which was unlikely, they would might think he was crying but they would have been able to figure out that Shade was really praying. He mumbled something about getting strength and doing the right thing but even he didn't really know what he was saying.

Shade suddenly clenched his fists and looked up, "thank you, I will not let you down," he stood up and opened his eyes. He turned towards the car and stretched out his hands. He telekinetically grabbed the car, his only hiding spot, and said, "I'm sorry Tangerine, I can't leave, please don't be mad," Shade then grunted loudly and with a lunge sent the car telekinetically flying towards the tiger, and Tangerine.

Shade gasped realising the stupid mistake he had made but it was too late. Shade covered his eyes for a second to avoid looking if Tangerine got hit by the car. Best case scenario was obviously the tiger got hit but Tangerine wasn't. And the worst case was the opposite.

The punch didn't land and Tangerine instead found herself stumbling away to the tiger's left. She heard him taunting from behind her and her body tensed visibly. The dragon whirled around, raising both arms to defend her head as she seemed to expect to be attacked. She braced as she could see the tiger's arm gesturing outwards.

Instead, she spotted a piece of debris go flying from around its orbit around him. Her gaze followed it and she realized it was heading for Wolf. The dragon lashed out with one paw, sending out another lightning bolt in an attempt to knock the projectile off course. She was rushing, however, and missed her mark, letting the electricity dissipate into the air.

Before she could see if the tiger's attack hit, however, movement out of the left corner of her eye caught her attention. Something big was moving. Tangerine turned her head sharply, only to see an entire car flying in her and the tiger's direction. Her eyes widened and she insinctively dropped to the ground. The dragon heard glass and other debris scatter around from under her, but she was hardly concerned about that as she instead brought both paws up to cover her head.

Wolf looks up in time to see another bolt of electricity heading his way, distracting him from the debris the tiger had launched. He turns away, to start moving, and gets struck in the upper back by the chunk of brick. The impact sends him forward and he lands heavily on the ground.

The tiger doesn't have any time to appreciate his marksmanship as he hears the groaning of metal as a car is lifted off the ground by some unseen hand. This actually makes the tiger's eyes widen in concern, especially once it starts moving towards him.

He turns and dashes away from the car, moving in the same direction as it was. He quickly scans the area. Off to one side, he spots a gap between a pair of buildings. He pivots suddenly then disappears and reappears several feet closer to his destination a moment later, then does the same thing a second time getting to within a few feet of the gap, then he disappears a third time but doesn't reappear again.