Crouching Tiger, Hidden Souls

Wolf looks towards the echidna as he departs, then looks to Sandy after he poses his question. Wolf shrugs slightly.

"That's not really what we're here to do." Wolf replies, "I suppose that we can if you'd like to though. At least if there's no rush for us."

The echidna continues to walk along the trail, once again hoping that he'd be able to get out of sight, but with the distance he would able to travel before reaching the conservatory, it became difficult to pull it off while still not arousing any suspicion.

And the fact that Sandy and Wolf had managed to follow up on him just before he was out of sight, made it even more difficult to try it again.

"Uh...."

This is bad, Sandy isn't good at making decisions. His tail curls around his legs as he twiddles his fingers in thought. "...I suppose he can perhaps take care of himself for now..."

He turns to make his way back into the woods with the occasional head turn to check on the echidna until he was well out of sight.

"I guess... We'll have to look around for tiger tracks now."

With one last glance in the echidna's direction, Wolf turns and follows Sandy into the forest.

"Maybe it would be best if we could go to one of the places the tiger has already been and start the search from there. It might give us an idea of what to be on the lookout for." he says.

Once again, the echidna reached a point on the trail that he believed to be out of sight, at least from the other two. And this time he did not hesitate to enter through the treeline, beginning to walk through the rather eerie forest, trying to make his way back to the two of them, but with the small exception being the cover of trees.

He took the small charm that Sandy had given him out of his pocket, it's rather hastily, yet elegantly drawn protective ward having no meaning to the ignorant echidna. He didn't believe in demon spirits, but what the Wolf had said about it suddenly bursting into flames was reason enough for him to worry.

He dropped the small piece of yellowed paper into the forest, completely disregarding any chance of a forest fire starting as a result of his complacency.

He hoped that he'd be able to reach them without getting lost, this wasn't the ideal location to lose one's tracks and with a tiger on the loose the situation could become quite dangerous rather quickly, if it wasn't already dangerous enough.

Sandy flicks out his phone and opens up a map of the island, with several sections of it circled in red. "The red parts are where the tiger had been spotted, we are here right now.... so perhaps we should try this spot first." he taps on one of the circles closest to them. As they prepare to move into the forest a strange, haunting sound rings from somewhere deep inside. It's an odd sound; something like a cross between a bird's spring song and a roar. 

It continues on for several seconds and slowly fades away, but just as Sandy's about to comment on it, a cacophony of very similar calls echoes throughout the island. Sandy frowns as his ears flatten; it's too loud for his sensitive ears. 

"....Don't sound too good. I'm sure they evacuated the more dangerous animals..." He murmurs and dives deeper into the woods with his rifle in hand.

"Alright, so long as we have a destination in mind." Wolf says in response to Sandy pointing out the areas that the tiger had been spotted previously.

Like Sandy, Wolf pauses to listen to the odd sounds that seem to come from all over the island for a short time before falling quiet again. Sandy then leads the way into the woods. Wolf wastes no time following after him.

"Any idea what other kinds of animals we might run across out here?" Wolf asks, keeping his voice down as best he can.

((Hi all, a friend of mine would like to say Hi, so I said sure and here he is typing the word "hello" Sorry about that.))

As his footsteps led him back in the direction he believed to be of the Squirrel and wolf, an eerie silence had taken hold of him, a cold trick running down his spine, as if a bucket of ice-water was being poured down his exposed back. Then, as the sensation disappeared, a echoing sound rung out across the island, over to rooftops and through the canopy.

His greatest mistake by far was the decision not to bring his trusty Sheffield. The knife being his weapon of choice, but with his intentions to have been spending the afternoon at the Jade Sea Teahouse, he had neglected it.

The echidna looked back at the charm he had discarded, wondering if there'd be any merit to keeping the thing. In reality there probably was good reason to keep it, but in his mind it was nothing but a danger to him if the Wolf was right.

He shook his head, continuing to make his way stealthily back to the group.

It is as if something has changed the moment the three mobians went on their separate ways; the forest has become restless, active. Strange noises and whistles fill the spaces between trees and roots. 

Sandy pauses for a long, long while. It feels like the problem now is more than just a rogue tiger, did the authorities lie to them or did this fester in the few mere days he spent travelling to Nan-Wen? He'll have to call his elders down whether they like it or not after he returns. 

"Hmmm, deer, wild goats, some small animals... a couple of foxes.... we might need to be careful if we see anyone else other than that echidna." He brushes away some stray leaves off his shoulder with his tail while still consulting the map on his phone.

"Someone else? Like another person or do you just mean anything other than the echidna?" Wolf asks.

As he awaits the response from Sandy, he looks around as best he can through the plant life surrounding them. Knowing that any wild animals they meet might be a danger was concerning, especially without knowing exactly what they were dealing with and what it could do. It was enough to keep him on alert.

With the forest lighting up with the cacophony, the echidna found it hard to convince himself that it was all simply Superstition. He'd seen this sort of thing before, only once, and that one time shattered his perception of reality, but surely something like that couldn't be the case here?

It certainly was the case, but the arrogance of the large figure would be putting him in more trouble than he expected here.

Weaving his way between the trees, he had begun to hear what he though to be the voices of the Squirrel and Wolf, it was hard to tell with the almost pained wails of the forest.

He tried to stay low, out of sight, that is, if there was anyone nearby to see him.

"Like... Any other person, be they human or not. They might be-"

Sandy stops in his explanation and snaps around behind him. There's rustling behind him and heavy footsteps, they sound like the echidna... Was he following them? This is the opposite direction of the main trail!

"...Did you hear that?" he whispers. His tail whips around into a defensive position around his legs.

Wolf turns and looks past Sandy. He lowers one paw down to the hilt of one of his swords. He just nods to Sandy in response to his question, then he continues to watch and listen in case anything else moves nearby.

((I'm so sorry for my late reply, been piled with assignments, hopefully I'll be able to get back into the RP flow))
The Sound of the forest was too loud for him to hear the already quiet movement of the other two, and he probably wouldn't have heard them even if everything had been still. His footsteps however had become rather complacent, as he'd assumed the sound of his heavy feet would be muffled by the echo ringing through the trees.

His own neglect and poor choice caused him to continue pursuing the Squirrel and Wolf, making his way through the forest, perhaps even passing by the two of them without knowing.

((sorry, had been sick for nearly the entirely of this week. I'll post when I'm feeling better))

(That's okie, I hope you get better soon!)

A cold wind that only the echidna can feel blows; the haunting sounds of the forest starts to thin out for him and him alone as he strays further away from the duo. Another high pitched roar rings out, but much louder this time.

Almost as if the sound came from behind the echidna.

One icy hand clutches at his heart, while one icy hand grips on his mind. The echidna would feel himself quickly slipping out regardless of how he feels about the matter. Someone's voice whispers in his ears, "I'm alive."

Meanwhile, the blissfully ignorant Sandy waits for a simple fraction of a second, then spins around as his tail swings out in a wide arc, slashing through the foliage like a sword. Nothing in sight, except for a couple of branches and leaves scattering about from that attack and three sets of decidedly mobian footprints.

"The echidna is following us." he concluded.

Wolf steps over towards Sandy.

"I'm not so sure about that..." he says.

He steps past Sandy as he sees the sets of footprints in the ground. He notes that two of the sets lead to where he and Sandy were, so they were obviously theirs. The third, which was some distance away to start with, went off in a different direction since there was no one else there. Wolf crouches down to examine the unknown prints and determine which way they led. He glances off the way he thought they went, then he looks back towards Sandy.

"That echidna might be out here, but it doesn't look like he's following us..." he says before trailing off.

His ears perk slightly. He suddenly stands and starts to run, following the footprints.

"Something else is definitely out here." he calls back to Sandy, "And we need to be there now!"

The echidna turned around, startled by the sudden temperature drop and the deafening roar from around. It seemed to cacoon around him, coming from every direction, originating behind him, much like the cold, but eventually wrapping itself around his body. 

He'd seen this before. And it was exactly as he feared. The one thing he thought would never be possible to happen again. 

Too late to do anything. He realises that the cold beginning to wrap around him is almost like a mass, piercing through his chest and skull, reaching into his heart and mind and clenching tightly upon his form, both mortal, and immortal. 

He feels a whisper tingle in his ear, and is able to do little about it. Until he realises that it is no longer a whisper. His own mouth screaming those same words, over and over. He didn't know how long he'd been like that. Time seemed to stop for him. Something else had the wheel.

Not only did it have the wheel, it had the keys, and the license. 

"I'm alive." 
He whispered it to himself, letting out a short giggle and smiling to himself. Although, one couldn't really say that he'd wisphered to himself, as the Echidna was no longer in charge. A stronger force had taken his place.

There is the rustling of something treading on fallen leaves nearby, and the echidna turns slowly towards the  Direction of the sound, the Eerie and unnatural, not to mention uncomfortable, smile still glued to his muzzle like a dead leaf to a scrapbook.

"I'm alive!"

"I'm alive. I'm alive. I'm alive. I'm--"

That voice sounds all too familiar to Sandy considering he just last heard it a few minutes ago. But that's not supposed to be possible, is it? Did his talisman drawing skill really deteriorate that much? He'll have to check later. But now-

He ducks and hops his way around the thick undergrowth, following the chanting as best as he can. As he presses on forward, the stiffling feeling in his heart seems to get heavier.

Something-- nay, someone is waiting. And it willl strike as soon as it notices the slightest display of weakness from the two of them.

"There he is!" Sandy hisses as loudly as he can muster (not very). "He.... The charm isn't on him!!" He adds frantically upon noticing the echidna's clouded, crazed eyes.

Wolf hurries through the undergrowth of the forest around him and Sandy, moving quite easily and rather quietly as well. He follows the sound of the voice ahead. But as he draws closer, he begins to slow, allowing Sandy to catch up and then take the lead in covering the remaining distance between them and the source of the voice.

Wolf carefully follows behind Sandy as the echidna comes into view. He listens quietly as Sandy speaks, but keeps his gaze on the echidna. He wasn't sure as to what had happened, he just knew it was something bad.

"So... what do you think we should do?" Wolf asks Sandy quietly.

The echidna, or whatever it was taking place of the echidna, or whatever he had now become, was unable to see neither Sandy of Wolf. The transfer of body was yet to Ben completed, perfect synergy had yet to take place, and then the body would be his, or its, or whatever one could identify a spirit to be.

The echidna could feel the movement of the spirit, it was like being inside a vehicle, being moved around, there was very little he could do about it, and the slow turning of his head sent an uncomfortable shiver through his consciousness.

The body, whatever had become if it now, stared blankly at the place where the two onlookers stood, breathing heavily. The smile dropped from his face and his brow arched viciously. The orange echidnas head turned sharply, no longer staring at the Wolf and Squirrel.

"No, he's mine. I earned it!"

Forgetting that the two others where even on the island, the vessel bolted away from them, making it's way deeper into the forest, and into the eeiry ambiance. 

He tried to turn, he tried to stop. He tried to call for help, to scream. But all that he managed to bring about was changing the undertoned giggling of the spirit now in possession of his body into fully blown maniacal laughter, ringing out through the trees and echoing across the island as he ran.

Sandy curses softly as the echidna darts away a bit too quickly for someone his size, chasing after him (them?) before he can lose sight entirely.

"We'll have to catch him first!" Sandy hisses back and leaps over some tree roots deftly. "And... We'll have to find a lighter or something to light a fire with, but stop him from moving first!"

Wolf watches the odd behaviour of the echidna. The statement he'd made seemed to imply that there was a different individual involved.

Then the echidna started running.

Sandy followed. A moment later so did Wolf.

"Any suggestions for how we bring him to a stop?" Wolf asks Sandy as he trails a short distance behind him, "He doesn't seem to be himself, so I don't know if using force is best option. Can we put another charm on him or something?"

(I think it would be correct to refer to him/it as a they, but simply to make things easier I'll use a him)

His heavy feet pounded against the ground, the roots and the leaves strewn about. It was cold, whether this was Ann effect of the island or beceasue the body no longer belonged to him, the echidna was unsure.

Indeed, the sight of the echidna darting in between the trees was odd, and it wasn't because of the the awkward and shambling manner of the run, it was because of the unnatural speed. Surely this zeal wasn't of this earth, nor of the Echidna, it was from something else entirely.

Something that the soul trapped within its own body was trying to escape, something he could escape because it was forcing its way in with him.

He screamed, as if in pain, but then immediately broke out into laughter. Both voices speaking at once, yet neither speaking as themselves.