Guiding Light

"Huh, okay. So you can do that..." he says, "Your name makes a lot of sense in that regard. Maybe your mother knew that... somehow."

"Well, I can only... kinda do that," Flame admitted, "I don't know if what I do has a name, really. As for Mom knowin' that, I doubt it. I think maybe she kind of expected me and my brothers to have the same powers she does, but it sooo didn't turn out that way."
The hedgehog smirked broadly. "We must have some seriously crazy genes in our family."

"Wow. Sounds like you're from quite an impressive family then." Wolf replies.

"Yeah," Flame agreed with a shrug, "I guess that could be a word for us."

She began to look around at the area of the store they had come to, searching for anything that might match what Wolf seemed to be looking for.

Much of the food didn't seem to be things that were meant to be preserved and immediately edible.

Wolf looks around with Flame as well.

"This stuff doesn't really look like food..." he says.

He glances back towards the bins.

"I guess the fruit and vegetables would be good for a day or two though." he adds.

Flame peered about as well before finally stopping in one place and resting her paws on her hips. She nodded again. "Yeah, this isn't exactly what I was thinkin' either," she replied, "But we can always ask an employee where to find stuff like that here in town, too."

Wolf nods in agreement.

"I think you're right about that." he says.

"So back this way then." Flame turned on her heel and started off towards the front of the store again, this time seeking out an employee to direct her query to.

Wolf starts to follow Flame back towards the front of the store.

There were a few people milling about in the store. Some of them appeared to be looking around at the food on display. A couple looked to be moving some things around.

Flame took note of other people around, looking primarily for some sort of work uniform so she knew she'd be walking up to someone who did work here. Her step didn't falter, though, and she promptly chose a target and approached one of the persons moving items about.

"Hey, 'scuse me," she greeted with a smile, "We're lookin' for some stuff like dried meats and fruits. Any idea where we'd find somethin' like that around here?"

The worker pauses and glances over at Flame.

"Hmmm? Dried foods?" he replies, "I think that there is a store a few minutes walk from here that sells some items like that. They cure meat there so it's good for long term storage."

"To get there, you'll want to head out and go left down the street, turn right at the intersection. It'll be a few minutes walk in that direction."

Flame listened to the description and the instructions of where to go. The hedgehog glanced towards the door before nodding.

"That sounds about right. Thank ya much!" she said before turning and starting off for the exit of the store. Flame looked to Wolf. "See, that was easy," she commented.

"Of course." Wolf replies, as he follows her back towards the door, "The difficult part is finding the right person to ask."

"Ehhh, we probably coulda asked anyone on the street," Flame pointed out. She smirked at Wolf. "You just happened to ask the only other tourist nearby."

She made her way back out of the store and began heading back towards the street.

"Perhaps. My observation is still correct though." he says as he steps back outside.

"A little," Flame replied, taking a sip from the cup she was still carrying. She didn't say anything further on the matter, once again looking around for anything interesting. As she expected, there wasn't much to see.

Wolf follows along after Flame without further comment. He glances around as well, while they walk. He doesn't see much of note, with only a few people making their way along either side of the street. And for the moment, there didn't appear to be anyone close to them.

Upon reaching the sidewalk again, Flame started off to the left as they'd been instructed. She looked ahead at the intersection they'd be turning at for a moment. The hedgehog had apparently run out of things to talk about for the time being and was content enough to walk in silence.

Wolf continues to walk along, a few steps behind Flame, casually glancing around.

As they draw close to the intersection, Wolf suddenly senses something unusual nearby. He's unable to frame what it is or where it is coming from, just that he has a sense of it, whatever it is, as well as the impression that it was drawing closer.

He glances around again, as he and Flame move past a couple of pedestrians heading the opposite direction. It's then that a voice speaks up from just behind him on his left.

"Excuse me sir..."

Wolf turns towards the source of the voice, and at about the same moment he feels that whatever he'd been sensing was right there as well.

He caught a glimpse of a dark brown fur covered person standing there... and the next moment, Wolf was sailing backwards across the street, landing on the other side of it. He hits back first, with his backpack absorbing the brunt of the impact, then rolls backwards and hits the side of the building there.

Wolf falls over onto the ground as people turn and look back to where he'd come from. There, a dark brown coyote stood there, smirking slightly at his handiwork, with a dark glow emanating from around his paws.

Flame was only idly paying any attention to other people walking about. Her mind was wandering boredly, considering what all she might do later on that day. When a voice came from behind her where Wolf was walking, the hedgehog's ears perked up. She glanced back over her shoulder, slowing her step briefly. However, sudden movement made her turn more fully as Wolf went flying across the street, evidently due to a blow from a coyote standing there.

Flame's eyes widened and at first followed Wolf's form as he hit the ground and then rolled into a wall. Her brows furrowed and she was visibly tense upon looking at the coyote standing about where Wolf had previously been. The glow around his paws caught her eyes first, but then her gaze lifted back up to his face.

"Okay, what in the absolute fuck is going on?" the hedgehog demanded as her quills bristled out behind her.

"You were leaving." the coyote replies without even glancing in her direction..

He swings his paws out to either side. Another burst of energy from him hits everyone in a ten foot radius around him. It would effectively throw everyone in that area out away from him, if they didn't have some way of anchoring themselves.

Flame was about to make another retort when the coyote's gesture sent her flying back as well. She was caught completely off guard and was thrown down the sidewalk several feet before landing on her back. Her little backpack helped to take some of the impact, but it wasn't large enough to keep her quills and her lower half from scraping across the concrete on impact. That was definitely going to hurt.
Even after hitting the ground, Flame rolled over sideways a short distance before coming to a stop on her right side. She was heavily dazed and only groaned out quietly as she tried to clear her mind and make sense of what had just happened. Ooh, but when she did regain her senses, she was going to be pissed.

On that note, her coffee cup had been thrown out of her paw when the energy first hit and had splattered onto the ground nearby. She'd be especially miffed about that now.

The coyote makes his way across the street smirking at his handiwork with the handful of people he'd scattered. Many others were quickly withdrawing from the area, either fleeing or looking for help. The coyote steps over to Wolf and pauses to look down at him.

"On your feet wolf." he says, "It's time to go."

After a few moments of waiting, while Wolf remains prone on the ground, the coyote reaches down to grab hold of him by the collar of his shirt and haul him back up. He's quite surprised when Wolf slugs him across the jaw, snapping his head back and staggering him. Despite that, he remains on his feet. He turns to face Wolf and smirks, then he side steps Wolf's next punch and delivers one of his own to Wolf's midsection, lifting him off the ground in doing so. Wolf drops to his knees, hunched forward and holding his midsection with both paws. The coyote looks down at him smugly.

"Care to try this again?" he taunts.

While the wolf and the coyote were starting to exchange blows, Flame was only just getting her eyes open. The more her mind unfogged, the more livid she was feeling.

'Hell no did some motherfucker just deck me outta nowhere...' she seethed mentally as she finally lowered one paw down to slowly inch herself off the pavement a little. The hedgehog's quills were already in a mess from the tumble, but now as she started to pick herself back up, they were bristling dangerously.

She managed to get herself mostly upright, supporting herself with one paw and reaching back to rub her rump with the other. No bleeding. That was good at least. She took note of a voice in the distance as well, but couldn't understand what was said. By the time Flame did look over, Wolf was already kneeling on the ground with the bastard who'd thrown her closeby.
Her eyes squinted and she lowered her other paw to the ground and began to push herself up to her feet slowly, taking note of any particularly sore or delicate areas she needed to keep in mind.

The coyote lifts a foot and kicks Wolf over backwards.

"Not much of a threat on your own are you?" the coyote says, "Not developing any sort of powers clearly. And not that good of a fighter either... even if that first punch you threw was pretty good."

He tips his head to one side and regards Wolf.

"So, will you be coming quietly... or should I finish beating you into submission and then drag you off?" the coyote asks.