Stoking the Fire

The wolf leapt over Mae, avoiding her attack. Smirking at his remark, she jumped back up onto her feet, her pride no worse for wear. After all, it wouldn’t be much of a fight if he went down that easily, would it?

A burst of bright, hot flames caught her attention before she could come up with a snarky comeback. She turned for a better look, spotting the red Mobian in some sort of berserker rage, sparks and flames surrounding him. With a brow raised, she whistled in astonishment.

She turned back to face the wolf. Her lopsided grin still intact, she gestured towards him. “We’ve got blaze of glory over there and,” she glanced over at the feline, “the ice queen. But Fido here thinks his little, glorified can opener is impressive.”

Before the mink could cause even more trouble, the other female spoke up in response to the wolf. The way the girl spoke about death, it seemed as if she’d experienced loss of that caliber herself. Or it would’ve seemed that way to someone thoughtful and considerate.

But of course, Mae was neither considerate, nor even remotely thoughtful.

Looking the feline’s way after being addressed by her, the mink was about to politely (as politely as Mae could do anything) brush off her concern. But an idea struck her.

Even Mae had the reason to know she couldn’t just brawl with this wolf, not with his little doodads on him, anyway. She could out think him, though, especially with him distracted by the other two.

She took a defiant stance, finger held up as if she was about to mouth off. But glancing between the feline and the wolf, her posture slumped. She harrumphed, “whatever. This got boring anyways.” She sneered at the canine, “as much as I love mocking mentally disturbed mutts, I have better things to do.”

She sauntered past the wolf and into the woods, calling over her shoulder, “maybe if you do all your tricks right, you’ll get a bone. Assuming you’re intelligent enough to learn tricks, that is.”

She walked a couple more yards, before turning off into the thick of the trees. Now out of sight, she smirked, climbing up the nearest tree. She moved through the trees until she arrived in one bordering the clearing. Being sure to stay hidden in the leaves, she crouched on a limb and watched, waiting for a chance to strike.
((I feel so bad for Yukiko, she’s all stressed and just trying to keep people from being hurt, and here we have Mae all “durr hurrhurr lemme stick my nose in other people’s business”))

Flames erupted to life, catching Wilhelm's eye and causing him to turn his attention towards his robotic accomplice, to which he reacted in frustration "vat is zat infernal machine doing?! How is it allowing ze boy to just destroy his circuitry?!" He waved his hand, turning back to Yukiko "no matter. It vill be repairable. I can capture him myself."

Yukiko had begun speaking again, and Wilhelm listened to every single word, and with each syllable, his fist clenched, more and more. "Listen, girl! You have no idea how much I have seen, or vat I have been through! Lonely doesn't even begin to describe my feeling tovards zis miserable planet!" He turned away, raising one finger in the air "zere is only two vays zis can end. Either zis world vithers and dies at ze hands of zese people, or Alastor and I ensure zis planet will survive for eons to come!"

He looked down at his armoured palm, all but ignoring the mink's attempts to irritate him further. He knew it was pointless interacting with her, and if she tried anything, he was confident he could prevent it from harming him. He spoke again, this time in a more melancholic, yet oddly calm tone "Vether I vin or lose is so important. I cannot disappoint Alastor. He vas ze first von to appreciate me..." He clenched the hand into a fist, again, allowing a test tube to slip into his hand, this time glowing green. "I von't disappoint him! Othervise he vill..." He shook his head, pointing towards the leopard "zis is your last chance! Join zat mink girl, and leave!"

--------------------

Sparks flew everywhere as Caen began to dig through the metal chasis, and began to strike at some now exposed machinery, causing the robot to fall onto its back. The hedgehog knew he was going overboard, but he didn't care. He was in pure and utter rage, which was only able to be satiated through the destruction of this mockery before him.

At least, that's what he thought. He stopped when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. One single word was spoken. "Caen!" Was the sound that echoed through the metallic chassis, reverberating through the hedgehog's skull. "D-don't even try that, y-you imposter!" He replied, hesitating through every single word.

"Caen!" It called out again, extending out a single, robotic hand towards him. It shook slightly as it was raised towards him.

((Haha don't worry about it, Yukiko knows what's up, she just isn't too fond of what may have to happen xD)) 

Yukiko couldn't help but bite her bottom lip a little at the comment the mink had made towards Wilhelm. She was right though, the guy really was under the impression that he outclassed them all. 'Your best is only what you make it to be.' The feline thought to herself.

She dared to glance back to Caen again, only to see unbridled rage ensnaring him in the form of his fiery aura. She hoped for the sake of everyone around that he had a handle on that anger, lest the forest itself would perish in a wall of flames. But she knew the image of his father was burning away at his soul just as much as he was burning the metal of the robot itself. 

Yukiko looked back to the wolf and started to try and form a strategy in her head. She really didn't want people harmed and was genuinely only in this as back up. She never thought she would have to seriously injure someone, it just felt wrong to her. No matter how insane the situation or opponent was. 

That wasn't to say she couldn't defend herself. Oh no she was fine in that department. She just worried too much. 
She saw that the other female was leaving right after putting up a sudden bravado then dramatically exhaling and commenting that the fight was 'boring.' This perked her up a bit when she saw her figure retreating, but then her heart sank slightly as she caught her seemingly disappear upwards. 'So, into the trees it is. What are you planning?'

It was as if the fight itself had completely come to a stand still. Yukiko wasn't entirely sure on if she should act or not, so she maintained a defensive stance as she realised she forgot to reform the ice onto her hands. No matter, she could do it if the need be anytime. 

"Everyone in the world has known loneliness, you just can't get it into your head that you're not the only one who matters here. What if the planet doesn't want you as it's leader? You're just going to sentence the whole population to death because of that?" A growl had made it's way into the violet cats words. "I think we both know more than a few others out there wouldn't take the gesture very kindly. "

Appreciation. This was about appreciation? Yukiko couldn't understand. She honestly felt like she was talking to a child who's big brother was stealing the last packet of crisps. "Life is full of people not appreciating others For example, I spent years in a school where my classmates and teachers were afraid of me because of my ice." Yukiko swirled a small shimmer of frost as she waved the thoughts of the past away. "But you know what I did? Instead of wanting to change them, I tried to show them what I could do to help them understand."

She left out the parts where things didn't work out because of the way the children were raised to be one track minded, she was trying to get the wolf to understand, not to fall onto the same side as him for the love of Chaos.

Myron almost let out a sigh of relief when he spotted Mae retreating, even if he did find it a bit hard to believe. Had his cousin finally gained some sense? Hearing a distant rustle, he glanced to the direction it had come from. He looked just in time to catch a flash of ruddy brown leaping into the trees.

He buried his face in his hands, both disappointed and incredibly anxious again.

--

Her bushy tail swaying slightly, Mae watched on from her perch. The feline was attempting to talk sense into the wolf again, an endeavor she still found futile. The bit about her schoolmates being afraid of her powers had the mink’s ears perking, however. They had seriously been afraid? Kids were so stupid. Elemental powers were awesome; she’d kill to have a friend that could do that!

Of course, Mae had made a habit of sticking her hands and feet into hornets’ nests as a child, so she really wasn’t one to understand fear. Or common sense.
((short filler crap again, I’m sorry))

"Schoolmates and teachers," Wilhelm repeated, each word rolling of his tongue with more anger than the last "zat implies you had a roof over your head, nein? I vas thrown out onto ze streets by zose money-fueled imbeciles, and vat support do I get? Nozing!" He stopped for a second, raising a finger towards her "hold on. You said that tried to make zem understand. Vell, did you succeed?" He asked, and without waiting for a response, he spoke again "no, of course you didn't!"

He looked towards the trees, looking around for that meddlesome mink, just in case she was trying to try something funny. "I know zis vurld could not vant me as zeir leader. Zat is vhy I am taking it by force!" He looked at the leopard, now with a somewhat softer look in his eyes "I can see you have been zrough many hardships, and I understand your feelings. So, join me. I can make you stronger, more powerful. Together, ve can make ze vurld understand us!"

He was so caught up in selling his ideology to Yukiko, that he hadn't even noticed what was going on only tens of metres away...

--------------

"Caen... Please..." The voice echoed again, this time all traces of the robotic, monotonous voice had vanished, and was replaced by the same voice that the hedgehog had heard earlier.

Caen looked away, still holding one blade towards the robot's neck. "Please, father, don't make this any harder than it already is," he said, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.
"Caen... Look at me... Pl-"
"Do I need to spell it out for you?! Shut up!" He snapped in reply, his voice raised. He turned his head back when he felt the blade he was holding towards the robot jolt forward. As he looked, he saw that the robot was holding the end of blade, pulling it towards his head.
"I understand, Caen... Please, just... Just end my miserable life..." Xavier spoke, the 'eyes' lit up on the monitor in place of his real eyes seemed to flicker out. Had he closed his eyes?

Caen shook his head "Don't say that! Your life wasn't miserable! You didn't deserve any of this!" He looked away again, his voice growing quiet "I did... For the worst sin of all... Failing you..." Suddenly, Caen's blade felt much heavier, even though no forces were acting upon it. Realising that this brought the blade closer to his father's head, he moved it away, before sitting down beside the pile of tattered scrap metal. He felt a hand on his shoulder, before motors began to whirr as Xavier attempted to sit up next to him. Soon, the hedgehog helped him up, using his arm to support the robot's back. "If this is a trick, please, just make it quick. I don't think I can take any more heartbreak..." He said, his tone becoming more and more disheartened by the second.

For a moment it felt like the world came to a standstill. She had always been under the impression that those she had tried to get to understand through her methods of talking would get it in time. That one day they would realise a Mobian with abilities classed as unusual wasn't to be feared, but to be accepted as a living being as well. 

Was Wilhelm making sense to her? 

"It's true I had a roof over my head... " Yukiko began slowly. "But do you know the reason why? My parents. Family. The ones who brought me into this world. Yes, not everyone gets them and not all can get along with theirs, but when you have one person who believes you can do good? You take it and you make it a reality."

The purple leopard looked down at her hands and took off her gloves to look at her hands as if they were very interesting all of a sudden. "You've been led astray Wilhelm. Can't you see that? You've led yourself to believe that nobody can understand you, that everyone is against you...but you do have a point... "

Amber eyes darted over to the messy area of where Caen and his robot father had been brawling, only to see the red hedgehog spilling hot tears and the bot itself holding one of his blades to it's head as if it meant to end it's life. She didn't dare listen in to what was probably a personal conversation, as the robot had ceased it's destructive mannerisms all of a sudden, meaning the fiery Mobian had sparked something inside. 

'Why has he stopped fighting me? Does he really believe I would fall to his side like a dog just like that?'

Yukiko couldn't help her curiosity as she took a risk and turned around to see in case the mink had re-appeared to distract the male wolf again. She really hoped she would stay back for her safety, but by the tone she used before it was apparent she went to the beat of her own drum no matter what the circumstances. 

"The world is an unforgiving place. Do a million good things and never be heard of again... But do one thing considered terrible and you have infamy for many years to come... "

Mae glanced over to the scene surrounding the red Mobian (who she’d guessed to be a male hedgehog). Her ears swiveling, she could barely make out what was being said, but she could tell that the robot’s monotonous voice had been replaced by a more natural one. Well that’s weird, she thought. Hearing the hedgehog’s voice, her eyes focused on him.

She was beginning to think her brothers may have been right about her being too nosy.

She tuned in to what was being said, and.. Wait. “Father”? Had that hedgehog just called that robot his dad? She’d had to strain to hear what he was saying, but yeah, she had definitely heard him say father. But, how did a robot even.. y’know, let alone actually reproduce something?

… Mae decided that was one thing she really didn’t need to know.

She returned her attention to the wolf and feline, just in time to catch the tail end of the canine’s sob story. She didn’t even try to hold back the eye roll. Ugh. Dude, shut up already.

The mink heard the snow leopard speak up, throwing more reason at his BS. Of course, with the nature of that particular brand of nonsense, all the reason in the world wouldn’t have an effect. But something the cat said had Mae raising a brow.

He had a point? What? No, he had an ego the size of a planet, but not a point. That would require some form of logic. However, what she did next nearly had Mae shouting at her. The feline had turned her back to the enemy.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, was she loco? You couldn’t just turn your back to nutbags like him! The thought that the cat was planning something did cross the mink's mind, but..

You know what? No. She was jumping in. Mae was sick of all this stealthy business anyway; it required too much quiet and sitting still.

Eyes on the wolf’s back, she inched closer. Careful not to make any noise, she leapt from the tree limb, about to land on his shoulders and dig her claws into him.

(Hey I know this is very late, but can I roleplay with you guys?)

Wilhelm slowly walked forward, sighing "I understand. I have only von person who does believe in me. Zat is vhy I am trying to make our vurld become a reality. I may have been led astray, but zis is all I feel I can do..." He spoke, turning away for a few moments, before turning back "from vat you have told me, you must know better zen anyone how you feel when you only have von person to rely on. You must do everyzing to make zem proud, nein?" He continued. While he did feel sorry for the poor leopard, the same couldn't be said for Caen.

He breathed in, deeply and slowly, before he spoke again "I can see you are gut friends vith ze boy, vich is vhy I haven't told you zis before, but... Zat boy, he... He is vealthy, but I have been told that he openly detests any and all charity. 'If zey are to eat, zey must earn it zemselves,' he says." Wilhelm said. The tone implied that he believed these words, even if they seemed to have come from someone else. "I have no personal vendetta against you, just ze boy. I only planned on using a basic anaesthetic to stop you from fighting."

He had noticed that Yukiko had turned her back to him. Was she... Searching for something? Before that question could be answered, the wolf felt something sharp dig into his shoulders, and he yelled out in pain. Immediately, he reached up to claw at the mink upon his shoulders, not realising that he still had a test tube in his hand. If the mink did not move in time, this tube will smash against her. It is filled with a weak acid, not enough to cause any lasting damage, but enough to cause pain and burn through fur and clothing. Not fun, to say the least.

---------

The hedgehog closed his eyes, waiting for the seemingly inevitable backstabbing before he shuffled off this mortal coil, but time kept passing and still, nothing. Both of them just sat there, motionless.

"How long has it been since the fire?" Xavier asked, shifting his head slightly towards Caen.
With his eyes still closed, he answered "nearly eight years." Before long, the hedgehog broke the silence again, asking a question "how was mother, the last time you saw her?"
The robot seemed to move slightly, before he made a scoffing sound "Wilhelm probably removed that memory long ago," he said, sounding as though tears were forming in his eyes, even though he had none.

The robot moved his arm up, taking something off of its left lapel-like protrusion. He held his arm outwards, seemingly trying to give it to Caen "I had meant to give this to you, once I knew if you had inherited my power," he spoke, still holding his arm outwards.
Caen opened his eyes, seeing something that glittered under the faint moonlight. It looked to be a pin, or a brooch of some kind.

"This has been handed down through generations of the flare family. We don't know what its made of, but, if you just make a motion to snap it, this allows you to do much more with your powers, without tiring. At least, that's what I was told. I'd hoped you could get more use out of it than me."

The sudden attack of the female surprised her to say the least.
Yukiko snapped herself around again to catch the mink in question grabbed onto Wilhelm literally seconds after his speech about the fact that money seemed to be a big problem, all because he didn't earn it? 

"Y-you don't understand, sir." Why was the stutter returning now of all times? "Just because he has the money doesn't mean he's any different as a person!  I... "

Could she really spill her secret out here? Then again, it really was just a scientist with an agenda to kill, and a femlae who was determined to get said scientist to shut up about his revenge story. What of that chao she heard before though? Surely it was still nearby? Or perhaps it got away and was safe. 
Yeah, she could risk it. Nobody would say anything... Hopefully. 
"My parents passed away coming up on eight years ago now. My father was someone most know who are in the property market. Crescent Properties is my legacy, but I chose not to take it and instead wanted to follow my own path. The money is all still there under my name, but I CHOSE not to take it. Just like Caen CHOSE to pursue his dream of being an actor instead of taking his family's money and wanting to earn his way. As for the latter statement about turning away a charity? I seriously doubt he would not help out someone in need of a meal."

The last of her sentence came out a lot more hostile than she intended, but it did hit a sensitive area for her. She always felt so horrible for seeing those out in the streets with nothing but the rags on their back. That was why she had contacted the CEO back in the company to organise a charity fundraiser last year to help those in and around Soumerca as a whole by helping those who were in need by opening small kitchens for them. Her inheritance would only go to her if it was an emergency. 

Yukiko continued to hold up a defensive stance, albeit a little lacking as it wasn't just her that Wilhelm was dealing with anymore. It was as she was talking that she spotted the test tube, no doubt with something quite dangerous inside still in the wolfs hand. 

"Careful of that tube, miss!"

(That a yes?)

((oh, yeah, completely forgot to answer you! Of course you can join, provided you can find a way to do so!))

(May I just get a quick summary? I'm kind of lost.  )

Somewhere, away from where they were, stood a cyan hedgehog, on top of a car, in a robotic suit. There stood 7 children, 3 holding cardboard swords, while the rest hold cardboard guns. This hedgehog wasn't evil, and it certainly wasn't in an actual robotic suit, but was rather playing with children, with a pathetic excuse for a pretend Eggman mustache. But the children enjoyed it, shooting at him, pretending. The hedgehog fell off the car, to symbolize his death, and played dead, with his tongue out. The children laughed.

"It's time to go!" A mother shouted, while the children, helped him up, gave all the things he made, and went all the way to their house.

"That was fun." He told himself, taking off the cardboard robotic suit, and mustache, putting it in his bag. He put his backpack on, and waved to the kids. He probably wasn't going to be in this neighborhood ever again, but it was a good time. He sped off, looking at all the cool statues, buildings, etc. He eventually came to a stop, because his backpack was falling off, so he slid it back on. He looked over and saw Caen, and the others.

"Wonder what they're up too." He asked himself, still standing there, being very noticeable.

((um... Well, I'm guessing you know the gist of what is going on, considering the description for the RP requests that, so I'm just gonna point out that, well, it's currently, like 1 AM in the RP, and they're in the middle of a thick, dense forest, so I question if your post will work. As I said, just pointing it out.))

(ok, thanks for the help!)

The wolf yelped, and a wide grin curled on Mae’s lips. Letting out a loud laugh, she dug her claws in deeper to secure her grip. She was about to deal a quick swipe to his eye, but she heard the other female cry out. The warning enabled her to catch the metallic flash in her peripheral vision just in time.

She kicked at his elbow to keep his claws away from her face, but she was forced to use her hand to keep the tube from smashing against her knee. She felt the glass crunch and dig into her palm, the acid eating through her glove and fur.

The pain was enough to send a shock through her system. She tensed and hissed in through her teeth, following with a low growl. Her muscles clenched to hold on tighter, and she breathed out an angry chuckle. She attempted to rub the acid off on him, about to anchor the claws of her injured hand into his shoulder again.

With a quick glance to the leopard (and wondering if said feline was ever going to attack this moron), she opened her mouth. The mink was only a half second away from chomping her sharp, little canines down on the wolf’s ear.
((Sorry for the bit of a delay; I was a lot busier today than expected.))

The wolf was unable to respond to Yukiko, as he struggled, attempting to yank the mink attached to his shoulders off of him. The glass of the test tube made a satisfying crunch as it entered this mink's palm, causing droplets of acid to spray over her. What surprised Wilhelm was that, after yelling in pain, she laughed. Her hand touched his head, the leftover acid immediately eating into the fur on top of it. He barely noticed it. After all, he was a scientist, and chemical burns were something he had grown accustomed to. He tried to bring up his elbow to knock her off, now that she had let go of one of his shoulders. In the struggle, a button on the device he wore on his arm was pressed, causing a sharp, barely visible object to eject from his wrist. In a bizarre twist of fate, this object was travelling straight towards Yukiko's arm.

--------------

Caen reached out, taking the pin from Xavier's robotic hand. It was a solid, heavy object, cold to the touch. He moved it across his palm, flipping it gently. He looked over at his father, who had barely moved his head to look at the hedgehog.

"How does it work?" He asked, his voice quite quiet.
"That, I do not know, Caen. All I know is what it does. I barely got to use it, when I was alive..."

A faint beeping seemed to echo from Xavier's chest, causing him to chuckle "it appears my batteries are running low. You did pierce them, after all. I doubt I will remember this when I next awake, but Caen?"
"Yes, father?" He replied, tears welling up in his eyes, again.
"I'm proud of you. Keep fighting Alastor, and Wilhelm, and all who do these unjust things. That is all I ask of you."
"I will do just that. Goodbye, father."
"Goodbye, Caen," and, with that, the faint glow of Xavier's eyes faded away, and his metallic body fell down, again, this time completely unmoving.

The fight between mink and wolf was certainly unexpected, but Yukiko mentally wiped the sweat from her brow. She really didn't want to fight and cause harm to the male canine unless it was completely necessary, and now that this mink girl had decided to read join then, she may well not need to. 

The cry to her about the tube had obviously grabbed her attention and with it bursting all over the place, the female began laughing of all things when the substance made contact with her. 
'Is she the one we should be worried about?' Yukiko thought to herself. 'Surely that must hurt like nothing else would.'

The next thing the mink had grabbed on to Wilhelm with a powerful crunch, sending goose bumps up and down her body. The two began flailing aimlessly around with him trying to remove her iron jaw from him, but she was relentless. The violet female couldn't help but let out a slight giggle at how ridiculous the scene looked. It was more like a father trying to get his child under control rather than a full fledged brawl in the middle of a forest. 

Yukiko perked her ears as she saw the mink girl look to her as of she was waiting for her to do something, but before she could respond, a flash of something sprang from Wilhelm's arm. It was so tint and insignificant that if she didn't have her keen eyesight she may have not spotted the gleam at the last second. She managed to move, but not far enough in time so the object pierced her arm, but didn't embed itself in her. Rather it ripped right through the outside of the arm and continued though to the tree a few feet behind her. 

Yukikos orange eyes widened considerably as she felt the sudden wave of pain. Then came an overwhelming lightheadedness. All the while she took a quick glance to where Caen was with his dad,  robot, thing, she couldn't exactly tell what it would be best to call it, only to see the eyes had dimmed down to lifelessness, and Caen himself just sat holding a small object in his hands.

He watched, but only then did he run behind a tree, making a loud noise, since he stepped on a branch on his way to the tree. He never usually payed attention to his surroundings, but now would be a great time to do so.

"Shozes." He muttered. He would usually say random things when he failed at doing something. Sometimes those weren't even words. That, was indeed a strange thing to do.

He must of muttered to loud, because some of the critters woke up, and looked. It only was a matter of time before they would notice him, he knew it. He grabbed out a cardboard gun, for distraction purposes. He started thinking about the cardboard gun. How should he use it as a distraction...

With her bared teeth locked down on the wolf’s ear, Mae glanced to the leopard once again. She was just in time to see a metallic glint fly past the feline. Apparently struck by whatever it was, the other female reeled back, her eyes now on the red hedgehog and his.. robotic dad.

So help wasn’t on its way, then. Well whatever. Mae would have to finish this on her own; she’d just have to compensate for his weird gadget advantage by being particularly nasty. That’s all.

Releasing the wolf’s ear (and taking a split second to spit out the fur she’d gotten in her mouth), she ignored the couple of scratches he had managed to deal to her arm. The pain only blended in with the throbbing from her palm, all of it dulled by the adrenalin pumping through her. She used her grip on him to hoist herself up and plant her feet firmly on his shoulders. The mink pushed off of him to perform a flip in the air, landing right in front of the canine.

Her left arm held up to guard her face, she swiped upwards with her right hand, aiming to scratch his eyes.

--

Something had struck the tree Myron was hiding behind, causing the marten to jump. Shaking, he stole a quick peek around the trunk to spot a tiny pin sticking out of it. He took this opportunity to check on Mae.

Oh god. He really needed to stop looking. What was she doing? He curled up back behind the tree, wondering why his cousin seemed to have a death wish.

But he spotted something, a break of cyan among all the branches and leaves. Squinting, Myron managed to make out the form of a hedgehog Mobian, holding a.. What was that, even? Did it matter? It was some kind of weapon; it had to be.

The frightened marten curled into a tighter ball. This only kept getting worse.
((I hope Turquoise is outside the clearing, like I think he is? If not, I'll edit this. Also, Red, what's the turn order now, if you don't mind me asking?))

The wolf still struggled in getting the mink off of him, with her even biting at his ear. At this point, he had noticed that something of his had pierced Yukiko's skin, as a small amount of blood shot away from her. He gasped at seeing this, before the mink landed in front of him.

Clenching his fist, he glared at her, before speaking "stupid girl! Do you not know vat you have just done?! Zat is an incredibly potent poison that you have just injected into zat snow leopard! Out of my way so I can administer ze antidote, now!"

--------

Caen stood up, picking up his swords and sheathing them. His head dropped downwards as he placed his right hand on his chest. He closed his eyes, before speaking "I promise that one day I'll free you from this," he muttered, before looking towards the commotion ahead.

He began to walk, slowly and calmly. "Yukiko... I'm coming!" He said, his demeanour unchanging.

((now that Smooki's joined, I believe the turn order is...

Me
Foreva
Seraph
Smooki))

"Zat is an incredibly potent poison you have just... "

The rest of the sentence began to seemingly fade away as the world around Yukiko began to grow strangely dark and blurry. She could hear her heart beating in her ears as it was now carrying this, whatever it was around her system. 
The violet feline dropped down onto a knee as she held onto where the wound was before an idea struck her. 

She held her hand out in front of her and focused on her fingers. Before long, one of her fingers was glowing a faint blueish colour and she took a deep breath just as she did the unthinkable. 
She dug her finger as far into the wound as she could, hissing loudly as the pain was unbearable. Everything around her was a dark grey now, sos she tried to work as fast as she could. 'Why is it always me who has the rotten luck?'
A faint light began travelling up her arm as she attempted to use her powers to freeze the intrusive serum in her body, but it was almost as if it was sapping her of her power. 

Yukiko panted slightly as she gave up and just sat on the ground. "Funny... I'm supposed to be the back up and now I'm the damsel in distress... Remind me... To stay away from... Needles in the... Future... "

Though her attack had missed, Mae couldn’t help but laugh right in the wolf’s face. And she was the stupid one? “Really, dude? After that whole ‘I vill rule the vurld’ spiel, you really think I’d believe that you’d wanna save somebody?” She chuckled, a smirk on her lips, “good one.”

A faint thud sounded from behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder to see the feline had fallen into a kneeling position. An eyebrow raised, the mink began to turn back to her opponent when she witnessed something that had her eyes widening.

The leopard was digging her icy finger into her wound. She was obviously in pain, and the sight sparked a twinge of guilt in Mae. Except that would mean that stupid wolf was right about something. And he wasn’t. She wasn’t the one carrying around deadly, poisonous darts, so she had nothing to feel guilty about. Right?

Right.

Still, she never wanted anyone to die, especially not someone that was innocent.

Mae whipped back around to face the wolf. She grabbed him by the lapels of his lab coat and snarled in his face, “try anything funny, and there won’t be enough left to bury ya.” She all but dragged him over to the fallen leopard.

Of course Mae wanted the other female to live, but she also didn’t appreciate someone making a fool out of her. If the wolf thought he was going pull something over on her, she was going to make him pay for it.

When the hedgehog saw the leopard put her finger in the wound, it was just unbearable. He didn't know what was going on, and was glad that he didn't know. His pupils shrank, his eyes twitching, with a frown that wasn't so far down. "What in the world." He muttered to himself.

But even if he didn't want to know what was going on, he saw a fight going on, and mistakenly thought that something like a gang fight was going on. He threw the cardboard gun violently at the ground, making enough noise possibly anybody in the area could hear. He scrammed to run to the top of a tree. He grabbed a branch, and it broke, luckily he grabbed onto a nearby one, that was stable. He pulled himself up. He was almost there, but the branch broke, and there was none currently in the open for him.

He fell and fell, trying to look for a stable branch. He found one, but missed terribly, and there wasn't much time left until he hit the ground. He searched and searched, until he found one. A stable one. He grabbed it and tried to swing to land on the branch. His hands slipped, and he was falling again, but this time, away from the tree. He landed smack down into the open, where everybody could see him.

He looked around, smiled and shrugged, still on the ground. Ouch, that landing really hurt though.

Wilhelm could not believe this mink's utter arrogance. She had only seen about half of the conversation, after all, so what would she know about the wolf's thought processes? "I am not here to harm anyvon, only to capture ze boy. I only vant to use lethal force if it is necessary, and zis poison is only a last resort as zis is not a comfortable vay to go," he said, still remaining strangely calm when the mink grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and nearly dragged him to the snow leopard. He scoffed at her remark, before replying "and if you try anyzing funny, you vill end up like her, except I von't use ze antidote."

He knelt down, pushing a different button on his metal arm, causing the index finger to extend into a sharp point, as a clear fluid began to flow through the tubes. He saw Yukiko's finger was stuck inside of the wound and so, with a firm touch, he yanked it out. He looked into Yukiko's eyes, speaking to her calmly "this vill sting a bit," he said before inserting the needle into her arm, injecting the antidote. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally, Caen had made it to the rest of the group. When he saw Yukiko's state, he ran over to her, shouting her name. "What have you done to her?" He asked, gritting his teeth at the wolf.
Wilhelm stood up, brushing off his lab coat, "zis is not a question for me, but razer for zat meddlesome mink. I vill admit, it vas a slip of the hand ven she decided to randomly attack me during a conversation vith your... Friend. She vill be fine."

Caen's eyes narrowed, the tone of his voice getting deeper, each word dripping with venom. "You hurt her, and that is unforgivable..." He said, before turning to the mink, pointing at her "and you! I have no idea who you are, but this has nothing to do with you!"
"Zis is vat I have been telling her! Her recklessness nearly caused ze girl's death!"
"Keep your mouth shut, Wilhel-"

Caen was cut off by another voice emerging from the darkness, speaking in a much more... Refined accent. "Wilhelm, I trusted you to get the job done." He spoke, stepping into the light. It was another hedgehog, his spines mostly in a dark green colour, with a small tuft of fur covering his left eye partially. He wore a checked shirt, and brown trousers, with brown boots and grey work gloves. "Yet, what do I see? Your best machine, lying in tatters, the boy still standing and, to top it all off, you are healing the enemy."

Caen scrunched his hand into a fist, snarling at this hedgehog "Alastor!" He growled.

Wilhelm jumped, before bowing to the newcomer "s-sir! I just zought it vould be morally vong to kill her, she is only a friend of ze boy's-"
"and therefore an enemy," he replied, holding out his arm, as bits of metal appeared to flow to his hand to form a battleaxe. "Why must I do everything myself, Wilhelm?"
"S-sir, just give me anozer chance! I vill ensure all die here!"
"Very well. The girl is weak, so begin with her."

Upon hearing these words, Caen jumped in front of Yukiko, drawing his swords and spreading out his arms. He looked at the mink, before saying one word: "run." After this, he looked over at the wolf and the hedgehog "if you want Yukiko, you're going to have to get through me first."