Hi.

Hey there!

Yo.
So, what's on today's agenda?

Same as usual, probably. I don't have any plans until we skip to morning.

K. I hope king brings in Mia today. Kinda miss that character.

Yeah, Mia's pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see what happens if she ever meets Crowley again. XD

I think I was waiting for your reply, so if you want to start, then go ahead.

(K)

{Dianne didn't answer Ivy this time. She thought the answer was obvious. Within a minute, she exited, dressed in full armor once again, hurrying outside.}

{Vitis heard Crowley and scrambled to slither up a building, away from the centaurs. Once there, he shifted back, but Titian and the centaurs were closing in quickly.}

As soon as she got outside, Ivy spotted Wendigo flying back towards the city. As he landed, she yelled, 'Hey! I thought you were keeping guard!'

'I was bored!' Wendigo bellowed back. 'I just went out flying for a few minutes. Why? What's going on?'

While they were talking, Frederick came hurrying over from another street. 'Dianne, Ivy - I don't know if you've heard, but there's some sort of fight going on over there. It seems to be between the centaurs and an unknown serpent dragon.'

Crowley swooped down as fast as he could, evading Titan. Reaching Vitis, he landed on top of the building and yelled, 'Get on my back, quick.'

Dianne: "I knew something was fighting my centaurs, but I didn't know who. Where are they, Fred?"

{Vitis leaps onto Crowley's back as centaurs start closing in.}
"Go, GO, GO!"

'They're over on King's Street, in the noble district,' said Frederick. 'It's where most of the high-ranking and important citizens live, though it should be empty now, after we evacuated. I only took a quick look, but I didn't see anyone fighting your centaurs except for the serpent.'

Crowley leapt into the air, flapping furiously and losing several feathers as he tried to lift both himself and the extra weight of Vitis. He managed to get out of the centaurs' reach just before they closed in, but it was obvious he was having trouble flying. He swooped over the building he had landed on, and began to fly away from King's Street as fast as he were able.

"Then let's go. If anyone from Sargon's Army survived, we need to deal with them."
{Dianne then shifts, waiting for them to get on.}

{Vitis looked back with horror as Titan bounded after them and took to the skies as well}
"Jeeze, am I that fat? Can't you go any faster?"

'I guess you are that fat, 'cuz this is as fast as I can go!' said Crowley through gritted teeth, though he was exerting all his energy trying to fly faster. He glanced back at Titan following them. 'Buuut... I bet I'm still more agile than that giant freak...' He then began to fly through the city in a purposefully erratic manner, weaving in and out of buildings and making sudden changes in direction, trying to throw Titan off his tail.

Ivy and Frederick bounded up onto Dianne's back as fast as they could. Before Dianne could take off, she heard a telepathic message in Armin's voice. //Fred just told me what's going on. I'll follow you in hawk form.//

Wendigo looked at everyone in turn. 'So, uhh, we're gonna kill some people? That's fine by me, I guess.'

{Titan knew that he couldn't catch Crowley at this time, but he also knew that Crowley couldn't sustain flight with his passenger forever. Instead of trying to follow his erratic paths, he just flew up and followed them from above.}

{Dianne took off, hearing Armin and expecting Wendigo to follow. She flew across the city towards Titan's massive shape flying after a tiny dot.}

Frederick was watching Crowley with a puzzled look on his face. 'That's not what I saw. Where's the serpent dragon? And why is Titan wasting his time chasing something so tiny?'

Meanwhile, Crowley was rapidly exhausting himself. 'Vitis, you'd better have a plan to get us out of this, 'cuz I can't carry your fat butt around for much longer,' he panted as he continued to twist and turn through the city.

{Dianne looked at Crowley in the distance.}
"Look, it's that birdbrain. He's tiring quickly, that's why Titan's maintaining pursuit."

{VItis was trying to think. Seemingly coming to a conclusion, he speaks.}

"Er, find an area of the city that's all narrow alleys, quick! He won't be able to fit."

//Wait, that crowdragon guy?// said Armin. Fred must have been relaying Dianne's words to him telepathically. //But he wasn't with Sargon... was he?//

'He'll just knock the buildings down on top of us!' Crowley yelled scornfully. However, by that point, he was so tired that he had no choice but to attempt Vitis's suggestion. Spotting a thin alleyway below them, he dived down. Due to his exhaustion, instead of landing gracefully, he crash-landed, throwing Vitis off his back in the process. 'Ooff.'

"You got a better idea?"{Vitis yells before the crash landing. He rolls as he hits the floor, stopping at the end of the alleyway. Painfully picking himself up, he motions for Crowley to follow.} "This way."
{He begins to hobble down the street}

{Titan stops a the alleyway and lands. However, he knows that the city residents wouldn't appreciate it if he just went around knocking over buildings on a whim. Instead, his ribcage swings open, freeing all the abominations he was carrying. From there, they enter that part of the city instead of Titan}

{Dianne sees Titan land and swoops down to land next to him}
"He's not, but Titan would not attack without reason. I'll get to the bottom of this."
{Landing, she speaks to Titan.}
"Titan, what happened?"
Titan: "That Crowdragon and Great Plumed Serpent attacked and killed a patrol of soldiers. They must be apart of Sargon's army."

Crowley hurried to catch up, not knowing that more draugrs were following them. 'Uhh, just so you know, if there's no way for both of us to escape, then I'm teleporting away and leaving you here. I'm not dying for you, snake boy.'

Armin swooped down, landed on Dianne's back, and shifted to human form. 'Well, that does sound like something he would do. I haven't seen him much, but I seem to remember him picking fights all the time.'

{Vitis just frowns.}
"I know, even though it's your fault we're in this mess. Look for a manhole cover, or any entrance to the underground. Those centaurs can't fit through that."

'Oooh, someone's salty,' Crowley muttered under his breath. Then he said at normal volume: 'So, we're gonna hide in a sewer? That's fine by me, I guess.' He skipped on ahead, determined to be the first one to find a manhole.

Dianne: "Well, they're not apart of Sargon's army, but they're still a nuisance."
{Dianne thought for a moment.}
"Everyone get off. We're going in after him."

Everyone jumped down from Dianne without argument. 'What are we going to do if we catch them?' Ivy questioned. 'Lock them up like Sargon?'

(Might be slow from now on.)

"Actually, we're going to use it to move to a different part of the city." {Says Vitis while inspecting his wounds.} "And then maybe escape from there."

(Ok)

"Or kill them, if they don't surrender."
{She says after shifting. She enters the part of the city, drawing her shortsword.}

'Suuuure...' said Crowley doubtfully, not believing that Vitis knew how to navigate through the sewers. 'Oh hey, I think there's one over here!' He hurried over to a manhole cover in the middle of the alley.

Ivy stayed quiet as she hurried after Dianne. Armin and Frederick also followed, Armin drawing his longsword, and Fred producing a pistol from somewhere.

{As Crowley approached, a centaur rounded the corner in front of him and charged, forcing him away from the cover. Around them, more abominations began to appear.}

{Dianne began walking for the sounds of her creations, as it was obvious they had found something.}

'Woah!' Crowley jumped backwards, then bristled as he realised how many creatures were showing up to surround them. 'OK, hold on a minute. You all seem to think we're working for that Sargon guy, but we're not. He's a freak and a loser, and I'd rather cut my own wings off than work for him.'

The others all followed behind Dianne, not really saying anything, just waiting to see what they would find.

Dianne: "Perhaps not, but you still killed those soldiers."
{Dianne walks into the alley where Vitis and Crowley were standing.}
"Which means you're still no friends of ours. We have more important things to deal with than you two dicking around. Your only real option here is to surrender. You're surrounded, and your teleportation has a range, so no matter where you end up, we'll keep finding you, till you run out of power. What's it going to be?"

Crowley stared at her for a long time, frowning slightly as he tried to think of a way out of this. Then he grinned. 'Catch me if you can!' he exclaimed, and with that, he teleported directly into the sewer underground, bypassing the manhole cover.

As soon as he was underground, he began to run in a randomly-chosen direction. He knew that Dianne might follow him through the manhole, but he didn't think she would be able to outpace him.

{Dianne sighs, then turns to Vitis.}
Vitis: "...I surrender. I'm not dying on account of that jerk..."
{The centaurs move in to subdue Vitis while Dianne walks over to the manhole cover, lifts it, then jumps down.}
Armin, come down here with me. Fred, Ivy, follow from above the best you can. Look for the drains to know where it goes."

Ivy spared Vitis a slightly sympathetic glance. She knew he had killed people, but from what she'd just seen, he seemed to have been deserted by a person he'd trusted.

Meanwhile, Frederick nodded. 'We'll try our best to stop him if he comes up through some other entrance.' He set off along the alley, beckoning for Ivy to follow.

Armin peered cautiously into the manhole, then jumped down after Dianne. 'Ugh, it stinks in here.'

{Vitis just marches away with the centaurs, looking disgruntled.}
Dianne: "I know. The sooner we catch the bird, the better."
{With that, she bolted after Crowley with great speed. Above the ground, other abominations followed with Fred and Ivy.}

'Only a few hours ago, we were flying off to the mountains, confronting a powerful dragon tribe, and capturing our worst enemy,' Ivy muttered, 'and now, we're chasing some weirdo through a sewer.'

'Be grateful that we're not the ones in the sewer,' said Frederick darkly. He spotted another manhole cover up ahead, which told him he was travelling in roughly the right direction.

----

Armin ran after Dianne, easily able to keep up with her due to his vampire speed.

Up ahead, Crowley heard the two of them climbing into the sewer after him. 'Crap,' he muttered, pausing and looking around. There were no crosspaths or alternative tunnels; it was just a straight tunnel as far as he could see. He kept running.

(I'm gonna go after my next post, just a heads-up. It's getting quite late here.)

(OK)

{Dianne kept running as well, gaining on the shifter, due to his shorter stride. Once he came into view, she accelerated further.}
{The centaurs spoke to Fred and Ivy as they went along.} "Listen, you can hear their footsteps in the echo below."

Crowley glanced over his shoulder as he ran. 'Geez, how are you that fast? Are you a superhero or something?' Just as he spoke, a crosspath came into view up ahead. There were three tunnels; one going straight on, one going left, and one going right. Crowley changed direction and headed up the right tunnel. He was able to turn corners quickly, due to his small and agile build.

----

'I don't hear anything,' said Ivy. She listened intently for a moment, then said, 'Oh, I hear it now!'

Frederick nodded. 'Crowley seems to have changed direction. I was sure he would eventually - there's a network of tunnels beneath the city.' He continued to follow Crowley as best as he could from above.

(Alright, I'll be going for now. See you!)

(Ok, Bye! :D)

(Just a note, Dianne was able to catch up due to two factors: The straight path and her physique. Remember how Dianne's ref mentioned that her human form was dense? That's because she's basically "all muscle". That, coupled with her long stride and the straight path of the tunnel allowed her to close the distance. However, now that the tunnel is not straight, she's going to have a harder time keeping up.)

(Ahh, I see. X)
And yeah, Crowley is pretty good at turning corners quickly. I imagine him to be less fast when running in a straight line, so it's not a surprise Dianne could catch up to him.)

(On an unrelated note, she also shouldn't be able to swim in human form due to this density. She would just sink. : /)

{Reaching the cross roads, Dianne skids to a halt before turning and going down the tunnel after Crowley.} "Hey, Birdbrain! Didn't you once say you wanted to fight me, one on one? Well, I don't have any draugrs here! What are you scared of?"

(That's sad. XD Would she be able to swim in dragon form?)

Crowley stopped for a moment and looked back. 'I'm not scared of ANYTHING! Especially not you!' He turned to face Dianne, grinning, waiting for her to catch up.

'He's crazy,' Armin muttered.

Above the ground, Frederick halted. 'I don't hear him anymore,' he said softly. 'I only hear Armin and Dianne running further back up the tunnel.'

'Maybe he got tired?' Ivy suggested. 'He WAS exhausted before he even went down there...'

(I think so. The ref mentioned the Law of Conservation of Mass, which would account for the "cellular close packing" exhibited in her human form, but I think her dragon form would have better spacing, and therefore a density that would allow for swimming. I think. XD)

{Dianne caught up and slowed, smirking.}
"Just you and me, as.shole. No draugrs, no help, not enough room for my dragon form."
{She assumes a fighting stance, drawing her shortsword.}
"If you run from me now, well, you're just a coward."

(That all sounds way too complicated for me, so I'll just assume that she can. XD)

Crowley let out his signature cackling laugh. 'Oh yeah? You think you're so tough?' He suddenly charged at Dianne in a lightning movement. Just before he got into her sword range, he skidded to a halt and then began to walk around her in a prowling manner, just beyond the distance she could strike without moving from her current spot.

(Lol k)
{Dianne was ready for him, but when he stopped, she tensed, seemingly expecting him to keep going.}
"What's the matter, having second thoughts? I thought you wanted to 'rip out my eyes and shove them down my throat'?
{She begins to pace around him as well, keeping him in front of her at all times and switching her sword to reverse grip.}
"You sure squawk loud, but you've got no substance to back up your screeching."

When the pair had started their fight, Armin stayed respectfully back, but ready to intervene if he needed to.

'Oh, I sure am gonna rip your eyes out,' Crowley grinned. 'I'm just deciding on the most painful way to do it. I like to make sure my prey dies SLOW.' He continued walking around her for a moment, and then suddenly spun around 180 degrees and aimed a claw slash at her stomach.

{In response, Dianne stepped back and pivoted, putting the blade in the path of Crowley's foot, cutting it deep. But, Crowley claws were long enough to reach, making a scraping noise against her armor. }
"You fight like a raptor. It's a shame you don't have the brain of one."

Crowley jumped back after delivering his attack, and returned to circling around her, not seeming overly bothered by the wound in his foot. 'You talk too much,' he said. Then he sprung forwards in another lightning movement and closed his jaws over the wrist of her sword arm, preventing her from hitting him with the sword. From there, he attempted to slash at her face with his front claws, albeit clumsily due to his awkward position.

{Dianne pulled back, keeping her face out of reach and using her other arm to stave off his slash attempts. Grabbing one of his arms, Dianne pulls Crowley forward and promptly slams her knee into his throat. As she grips his arm, it's beginning to decay in her grip.}

Crowley teleported a few feet away to escape her grasp, as he had no other way to do so. As soon as he reappeared, he staggered and started coughing and retching, due to the blow to the throat.

'You... piece of... crap... I'ma gonna... destroy you...' he panted.

{Dianne took his staggering as a sign of weakness and lunged at Crowley, slashing at his face.}

Crowley saw this coming and jerked his head backwards. He avoided the full force of the blow, but the blade sliced deeply into his muzzle, exposing bone. Snarling in fury at what he considered to be a cheap attack, he teleported right behind Dianne and jumped onto her back, wrapping an arm around her neck and attempting to choke her.

{Dianne wasn't quick enough to stop him. As he tried to strangle her, she grabbed a hold of his arm and choked out a word. }
"..Ch...Checkmate..."
{Switching her sword to reverse grip, she stabs Crowley in the side and begins to drain his energy. Her hope is that he'll run out and won't be able to teleport anymore.}

Crowley attempted to teleport, but couldn't due to the sudden drop in energy. Instead, he clung on and tightened his arm around her neck as best as he could. 'If I die, I'm taking you with me,' he snarled through gritted teeth. He was able to ignore the pain of any damage done to his body, but he was rapidly becoming exhausted.

{Dianne held on for as long as she could, draining as much of his energy as possible. Before she could pass out, she became a smoke-like mass to escape Crowley's grip. She rematerialized a few feet away gasping for air and coughing. She turns and leans against the wall, trying to catch her breath while looking to see what state Crowley is in.}

Crowley fell to the ground as Dianne turned into smoke. He lay there, bleeding from multiple places and struggling to get to his feet. However, a moment later, he muttered, 'Crap,' before promptly passing out on the floor.

'You all right?' Armin asked concernedly, looking over at Dianne.

{Dianne looked up, a pained expression on her face.}
"I'm alright..."
{She says hoarsely while rubbing her throat.}
"For a scrawny bastard, he has a hell of a grip."
{Pushing off the wall, Dianne looks around.}
"Well, normally I'd kill him now, but...Killing idiots around here seems to make people pretty unhappy..."

Armin walked over and nudged Crowley with his foot. 'Let's just take him back to the prison with his criminal friend,' he said. 'We can decide what to do with them later.' He then glanced up at Dianne with a slightly amused expression. 'Heh, I think that's the first time I've seen you struggle to beat someone. I thought you'd kill the guy in five seconds flat.'

{Dianne shoots him an annoyed glare.} "I've tried killing him outright. Several times. He just refuses to die and ends up running away. I had to take a different approach.this time around. At least this way he won't be able to bother us anymore."