Guiding Light

Flame kept her eyes on the coyote and the wolf as she stood up and steadied herself. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and flexed her legs a bit. It'd been a while since she'd felt the need to engage in a physical altercation and she had to admit she wasn't fond of what she'd seen of this guy's powers thus far. And yet, her blood was nearly at a boiling point. It was time to act.

The hedgehog started off in a blur from where she'd been standing. She was headed in a curved path towards the coyote, trying to come up behind him. Granted, the rapid sound of her approaching footsteps was plenty audible. The real matter was if he'd be able to react to it before Flame's fist came swinging around towards his right shoulder. There was no abnormal strength behind the blow, but the momentum from her unnatural speed was likely to add a good bit of force if she hit her target.

The coyote turns as he hears Flame approach. It's not enough to let him dodge or guard against her attack, but it is enough to throw her aim off a little. Her punch was more of a glancing blow, making him stumble a step. He then turns towards her, trying to follow her movement.

"Jackass!" Flame scolded loudly, "Don't throw people!"
Her punch didn't connect as solidly as she'd hoped, but she would make do. She wasted little time, leaving her weight on the one foot she was already standing on and then swinging her other leg around to deliver a rapid, though not quite superspeed, kick to the outside of the coyote's knee.

The coyote's leg buckles from the kick and he falls to the ground. He lands on his paws and knees, wincing in pain as his now injured knee hit the ground. He growls softly and the glow around his paws intensifies briefly and then dissipates.


Wolf had shifted back from the coyote when Flame intervened. He struggles visibly to get to his feet and get a bit more distance from his attacker.

When the coyote fell, Flame proceeded to take several steps back to avoid being too close to him during her pause. She kept a wary eye on him, though, and started speaking. "Wolf, get. Go where we were plannin' and I'll be there in a sec. If this guy moves, I'll fuckin' blast his ass into the sky," she told him.

Wolf nods slightly and continues to back away.

The coyote chuckles briefly in response.

"If I move huh?" he repeats, "You might be fast on your feet, but you're slow on the draw here."

There is another brief glow from his paws, then a moment later, a large circular area around him glows with dark energy. This area is wide enough to encompass where Wolf and Flame are each standing. A moment later, the dark energy contracted underneath Flame's feet.

She'd only have a moment to react to this before the energy there burst from the ground, likely propelling her into the air from the force of the blast if she was still there.

Flame's eyes narrowed as the coyote spoke. She crouched to bolt upon spotting dark energy around his paws, but was distracted by the same glow appearing out from around not only the coyote, but also herself and Wolf. She was just turning to run when the energy blast threw her skyward. The hedgehog yelled out in surprise, caught at something of an awkward angle and being sent into a flip about ten feet in the air before she came crashing down to the pavement. Flame landed hard on her front, bringing down most of her weight on her right side when she first hit. The impact knocked the air from her lungs and she most definitely felt a sharp pain in her right forearm as it was caught underneath her. The side of her head also came down hard against the street, dazing the hedgehog.

She remained still on the ground for the time being as, once again, her head was pounding and her mind was fogged by the aches and pain that stung all down her body. This fight was bullshit.

The coyote slowly climbs back to his feet. He limps slightly as he starts walking over towards the hedgehog.

"And I thought that this was going to be an uninteresting outing." he says, "You're not as strong as that other hedgehog... but you're not a pushover like the wolf is."

He stops near the hedgehog and clenches one paw into a fist. A dark glow surrounds his fist, gradually obscuring it. He then raises his fist, in preparation to strike the hedgehog where she lay, when Wolf came at the coyote from the side and tackles him away from her.

They crash together onto the ground, Wolf landing on top of the coyote. The energy around the coyote's paw dissipates as his concentration is broken. Wolf shifts back from the coyote just far enough to pull back his right arm and land a couple of solid punches. The coyote raises one arm to protect his head. The coyote then tucks his legs in under Wolf and then pushes him backwards, separating them.

They both climb to their feet again.

"So... you've got a bit more fight in you than I thought." the coyote says, "Shouldn't have taken my eyes off you."

Flame could hear a voice closeby, but couldn't quite understand what was being said. She finally managed to inhale again before letting out the breath as a soft groan. Her ears flicked a little when Wolf tackled the coyote and they had their scuffle on the ground, but it wasn't until a few moments after that she stirred again.
The hedgehog managed to slowly and quite unpleasantly roll more onto her side, then her back, in order to get her particularly sore arm out from underneath the rest of her body. The landing had scraped several areas on her, primarily her knees, as well as her hip, and elbow on her right side. She'd likely have a good bump on the right side of her forehead as well.

For the time being, she just remained lying on the ground, idly listening, but otherwise waiting for some of her aches to fade and her sense to return.

( OOC: Big post here. You have been warned. )

The coyote springs forward off his good leg and towards Wolf. He throws a pair of punches, with a dark glow around his paws. The glow is not as intense as when he'd attacked earlier though.

Wolf dodges out of the way of the first punch and manages to block the second one. As he blocks the coyote's punch though, the energy around his paw crackles out and jolt's Wolf's blocking arm, making him yelp and stumble back. The coyote smirks and tries to press his advantage.

The coyote follows with another punch, aiming for a body blow. Wolf has no choice but to block that and suffer another jolt, but he's already throwing a punch of his own in retaliation. The coyote catches Wolf's punch with his free paw. Wolf tries to pull back, but the coyote holds firm. Then the coyote releases another jolt of energy into Wolf's trapped paw.

Wolf howls out in pain briefly and is then silenced by a kick to the midsection that forces the air from him, and makes him drop to his knees again.

"You're little more than a foolish child, thinking that you can outfight me." the coyote taunts as he looks down at Wolf again, "I could have killed you at least a few times by now if I'd wanted to. I suppose I'll have to hold off at just knocking you unconscious."

The coyote lifts his free paw, clenching it into a fist and draws it back.

Then he suddenly releases his hold on Wolf and quickly sidesteps to his left, dodging a crowbar that had been swung at his from behind by the squirrel who'd driven Wolf into town earlier. He swings wildly at the coyote several times, as the coyote backpedals to stay out of the way of this unexpected attack.

"Huh... Here comes a new challenger..." the coyote says in the midst of dodging another swing.

Wolf looks over at them once he's had a few moments to compose himself and regain his senses from the energy discharges he'd experienced. His eyes widen.

"No... stay away from him!" he calls to the squirrel.

After avoiding over half a dozen swings, the coyote finally steps forward and catches the squirrel by the wrist of the paw he was holding the crowbar in, right in the middle of his latest swing. Then drives a knee into his midsection, winding him.

"Your wolf friend is right." he says, "You should be away from here... Far away."

The coyote had been holding his free paw away from the squirrel, and within it he was holding a ball of energy. He swung his paw forward, slamming the ball into the squirrel's chest, while releasing his grip on the squirrel's wrist. The squirrel let out a cry when the ball of energy burst against him. The squirrel flies backwards with enough force to crash through the wall of building there. Several screams from people inside quickly follow.

The coyote is admiring his work when Wolf lets out a roar of anger and charges forward. He rams his shoulder into the coyote's midsection, doubling him over and driving the air out of him. Wolf carries the coyote along like this and runs him backwards into the passenger side door of the squirrel's truck, causing the glass to break as the coyote hit it. Wolf moves back and just starts pummeling the coyote with punches, forearm shots and elbow strikes, battering the coyote's head and upper body. The coyote struggles to protect himself until he's able to force Wolf backwards with a burst of energy.

The coyote has blood trickling from his mouth and nose and is not happy about that.

Wolf comes at him with another punch which the coyote catches. He retaliates with his other paw, charged with energy, only for Wolf to catch it as well. A brief white flash is visible right at the moment of contact.

"W...what?" the coyote stammers out in surprise, as he stares back at the teeth baring Wolf.

Wolf suddenly headbutts the coyote in the muzzle, sending a spray of blood into the bed of the truck and forcing his head to the right. Wolf then bites down on the left shoulder of the coyote, drawing out a cry of pain from him. The coyote only takes a moment to gather his wits and then knees Wolf in the groin, robbing him of whatever focus and momentum he'd gathered, as well as causing him to stagger back a step.

Gritting his teeth through the pain he now found himself in, the coyote grabs hold of Wolf by the shirt and manages to spin towards the truck, lifting Wolf off the ground in the process and slam him back first across the door of the truck before letting him fall to the ground.

The coyote then steps back to take stock of his current condition after Wolf surprising and effective attack.

((You can't scare me with your wall of text! I will reply with a smaller one of my own!))

The sounds of the fight continuing nearby made Flame's ears twitch and swivel. Her brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of what she was hearing, but much of it seemed almost.. muffled. She cringed at the sound of a howl and her fingers curled in towards her palm. She also noted a significant ache in her right forearm that pounded just a little harder when she moved her fingers.

'Dammit, Flame, wake up! Get up! Stop being Sparky!' she cursed mentally.

Things seemed to grow quiet nearby, but her hearing was clearing up. Flame got her eyes open, squinting at the sun overhead for several moments before she raised her left arm to shield her face. Her head turned to the left and she could make out one shape on the ground and two others farther away still on their feet. She blinked in surprise as one of the figures suddenly went flying back into a wall--Oh geez, no. Through a wall.

The hedgehog lowered her arms to push herself upright, but a sharp pain from her right arm drew out a loud hiss from between her teeth. "Shit!" she cursed, immediately cradling the injured limb to her chest. Her left paw lowered to the ground for support and she slowly sat up, looking down at her aching arm through watering eyes. Aside from dirt in her fur and scrapes along her paw and elbow, it appeared alright. No swelling to imply anything major was going on. An experimental clenching of her fist brought out another wince, though. Something was definitely delicate here.

The sound of glass breaking made her ears perk up from their flattened down position and she turned her head sharply towards the source to see that Wolf had managed to back the coyote up into the side of a truck and was currently beating the ever-loving hell out of the guy.

'Serves him right...' the hedgehog thought crossly.

She glanced away to get her stiff body moving again. Her feet were slowly folded back underneath her and the hedgehog shakily rose to her feet. She stumbled once when she turned her head to look back at the fight and saw the two canines catching each other's punches. Some little flash caught her attention and seemed to take the coyote by surprise as well. She cringed at the headbutt and biting that followed, but remained where she was. It seemed Wolf had a handle on things now.

Or... well, he did. For a bit. Once the coyote had slammed the wolf into the truck, Flame narrowed her eyes. She glanced to her injured arm, considering her options briefly. The ridiculous amount of aches and pains that covered her had knocked away her usual need to hold back and keep from doing anything lethal. Her left paw clenched. She just had to end this fight without causing any wolf casualties...

'Okay, get clear of wolf guy, then blast the douchebag. Let's try this.'

She did her best to relax her right arm at her side, then took off into a blur, heading around to again approaching the coyote from behind. She was moving just a bit faster this time as well, if one were to judge by sight or even by the sound of her shoes beating against the pavement. As soon as she was in range and whether he took note of her or not, Flame stopped and, with the aid of her running momentum, swung her right foot up around towards the coyote's side in a powerful kick.

The coyote was blindsided by Flame's attack, as he was regarding Wolf where he was lying on the ground in front of him. He was knocked over and tumbled away, cursing loudly as he went, before coming to a stop. The coyote starts to climb to his feet, spitting out some blood and glancing back towards the truck.

Flame braced her feet against the pavement and lifted up her left arm, her palm facing out towards the coyote. When he managed to get up, she squinted her eyes.

"Yeah, let's see how you fuckin' like it!" the hedgehog spat.
Her words were immediately followed by a fiery blast seemingly just appearing from the air in front of the coyote's torso. It seemed primarily intended to hurl him farther back from them, but was likely to cause some potential concussive damage and fire damage as well. Either way, it would no doubt be a very unpleasant experience for her target. The sound was quite loud as it echoed through the area around them, too, while the minor shockwave from it blew back Flame's rather mussed bangs from her face. She was done getting tossed around.

Even after the attack, Flame remained where she was standing and kept her paw out and ready to see how the coyote emerged from the explosion.

The coyote is tossed backwards by the blast, crashing into some bystanders who had been busy watching this encounter unfold. The group of them land in a heap against the wall of the building there.


Wolf meanwhile was coming back to his senses... and an enormous amount of pain. He knew that he was going to have to learn how to better protect himself from crotch shots in the future. They were extremely unpleasant.

Flame cringed as the coyote landed on some civilians nearby. 'Oops. Didn't see them there.' Then again, she figured most people had fled from the immediate area, too...

With the coyote down for the moment, Flame turned to look over towards Wolf. 'He's not lookin' much better himself,' she thought as she approached him.
"Hey, you still in one piece over here? We gotta move," she said, carefully crouching down closeby. The hedgehog cringed a bit upon having to bend her scraped-up knees. She still felt plenty stiff and sore from her last two falls, after all.

Wolf glances up at Flame, grimacing in pain.

"One piece... hopefully. I think I'm going to be sick though... So much pain..." he replies.


The coyote was slowly coming to his senses as well among the people he'd landed on, but he was making no move to get up just yet as those around him did so.

"I know, buddy, I've got three brothers," Flame assured him, although she didn't sound fantastically sympathetic to his plight. Her gaze shifted back over to where the coyote had wound up as people there were starting to shift about. Her brow furrowed as she sure wasn't about to carry this wolf. All she could really do was keep on guard until he could get to his feet himself.

"Okay, take the time you need," she said, grunting as she rose back up to her full height. She glanced towards where the squirrel had landed earlier. "I'm, uh.. gonna check on that other guy that got punched through the wall." The hedgehog looked back down at Wolf. "And if you see douchebag over there start moving, you fuckin' yell and I'll put him the hell back down," she added, the aggression easily audible in her tone as she stepped back from Wolf to move away.

Almost like in response to Flame's statement, there is a burst of energy from where the coyote was, throwing everyone there clear of him. He then slowly climbs to his feet, showing a bit more wear and tear from Flame's attack against him. He glares over at her wordlessly.

The shouts of people being thrown back made Flame turn sharply towards the source of the sound. She spotted the coyote rising to his feet again and her quills reflexively began to bristle out from the back of her head. She returned the glare, crouching slightly in preparation to run.

"You make one fuckin' move this way and I'll make damn sure you don't get up again!" she warned as her left paw eased up in front of her once more. She kept her right arm farther back, however, determined to maintain her facade of not being in any pain from the potentially broken bone there.

"Take your best shot rodent!" the coyote retorts, as he raises his own left paw, holding it out towards her.

Flame's eyebrows raised at the response, then promptly dropped back as she growled softly. "Oh ho my gods, I'm 'bout to become a wanted criminal," she muttered quietly. Her left paw lowered however as she seemed to hesitate briefly at the sight of the coyote raising his paw.

Her teeth grit together for a moment, but the hedgehog stepped back instead of forward. She glanced at Wolf, then, in a blur, turned on her heel and darted off down the street in the opposite direction.

The coyote is surprised that Flame has darted away rather than attacked. He looks around to check the surroundings for any sign of her approach, but he doesn't lower his guard.

For now, Flame remained out of sight. Granted, with her ability to approach so quickly, she could easily be planning an ambush from any given direction...

'Fuckin' shit, good lord...'

From where she was currently backed up against the exterior wall of an alleyway a short distance from the fight, Flame was examining her arm more closely. It hurt and was proving to be very distracting. She felt along the forearm gingerly, wincing and cursing as she found exactly where the pain was emanating from most intensely. The hedgehog heaved out a sigh and leaned her head back on the wall, listening to the sound of her tensed quills scratching down along the bricks with the gesture. Hopefully Wolf could keep himself in one piece just a little longer...

Wolf meanwhile kept himself on the ground where he'd fallen earlier. No sense in making himself a bigger target by getting back up.


The coyote waits a few more moments, then he begins walking back over towards Wolf.

"Good choice in friends you have there." he says to Wolf, "She talks quite well, but then flees at the first sign of adversity. Must have been hoping her surprise attack would finish me."

Even as he speaks the coyote remains alert. Not for a second did he actually believe Flame had left... but a little misdirection never hurt.

It had been several moments since she'd fled and Flame couldn't hear screaming so she considered that to potentially be a good sign. She had to get back in there, though, especially since attacking the coyote without blasting Wolf too would be difficult if they were close to one another. The hedgehog groaned and pushed off the wall. She gave her arm one more gentle rub, then glanced around and took off in a blur again.

She kept away from where she knew the fight was, but one of these buildings closeby had to have...

'Gotcha!'

Flame came to a halt at the bottom of a ladder leading up to one of the rooftops of a building on the same street the fight was taking place. Her triumph was promptly mashed back down upon recalling that one of her arms was not in any condition to be climbing ladders. She glared at the appendage briefly before letting out an exasperated sigh and starting to climb the ladder with only her left arm for support. It was slow going, though, and she knew it was costing her valuable time.