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Seeing how Hitsu had answered Neko, Blade didn't say anything else on where all the others were. Though, he was still very much curious on the new question asked. Yuki had dodged around the question whenever he asked, but maybe Neko would be more willing to shed some light on the situation.

"I'd like to know the reason as well, if you don't mind sharing with the rest of us."

---

After he had initially created the darkness, Shun cast the supplementary spell to allow him to see. Though, being able to see or not wasn't his biggest problem, as carrying around a body, along with the pain in his hand were starting to wear away at him.

The assassin knew he couldn't stay still for long, but he had to take a quick breather. So he did, resting against a brick wall for a few moments before pressing on. His horse wasn't much further away, so it wouldn't be too much longer before he could at least ease things up for himself to some extent. Even then it'll be some time before he could really relax, but he figured that the guy would stop chasing him at some point to return to his party.

"Crap." Riyo knew her calls would go unnoticed. She just had to keep track of him. Surely he'd tire of running and stop...

Then, darkness. Riyo paused at the orbs of pitch black and grinned. "Cute. Real cute." Her eyes gave a soft glow as she practically jumped into the dark. If she couldn't follow him by sight, she'd do it by scent. It was now quite obvious that he wasn't running for the hell of it, but chasing something or someone.

For a brief moment, there was panic. When Yuki had carelessly leapt into the darkness, that was the only thing he could see. Nothing. Blackness. For several excruciating seconds it felt as though he were completely blind, and it was not a very enjoyable experience. He'd looked around frantically, heart pounding and breathing shakily. Once his eyes had finally adjusted to the intense darkness, he still took a moment to determine what direction he had been running in. The area was much harder to navigate, but he had lingered in one spot for too long, if only by a minute.

If he didn't stop this guy from taking Poke, who would?

The spell effects, he discovered, really were a limited space. He emerged from the other side of the 'bubble' of darkness, and shielded his eyes against the blinding light of the sun. Though, this time he continued to press forward.

-----

Neko's answer gained a suspicious stare from Hitsu, she clearly didn't want to believe what he had just said. Though, she didn't say anything against it, but there would be no holding back if the battle started up again once the two had seen one another again. If Yuki, or Neko, decided to begin the argument again, be it physical or otherwise, she'd be sure to get to the bottom of this.

She watched him get up to head to the bathroom, but from there returned her attention to Mitsu and Tobi. "I hope Yuki doesn't take long, I'm getting hungry." The night before had went from relaxing to stressful, so a proper meal still hadn't settled too well.

Too bad today wasn't going to be any different.

Riyo looked around for a moment, the complete darkness engulfing her line of sight. "Which way... Which way..." As her eyes adjusted, she caught sight of someone's, probably Yuki's, clothing disappearing into the abyss. "That waay.."

When she was finally out, it looked as if she'd almost caught up to him. "Yu-" Crash. If she hadn't been paying so much attention to where HE was going, she probably would've noticed that stray brick. But instead, she got to kiss the cobblestone.

"Ow." She glanced up, cheeks lovingly scraped, to see his shoes getting lost in the crowd of people. "s**t."

Carefully, she picked herself back up and ran in the general direction she saw him traveling in.

"I'm hungry too," Mitsu said softly as she finally got to her feet allowing Tobi to move around the room again. Of course, as soon as the dog was free he took to laying on the bed again. "And Poke hasn't come back either."

Absently Mitsu looked to the door as if at any moment they would both walk through it. "Do you think they are having a hard time finding a place to buy food?" It seemed like a silly question to her even as she asked it. She could remember the restaurants and shops with food that they passed on the way to here. There were many within walking distance. Perhaps they were looking for something....unique?

Having made it to the bathroom Neko closed the door and let out a sigh of relief. He felt a little safer here with the door closed, maybe they would leave him alone for a little while. Taking advantage of his current solitude Neko stumbled over to the bathtub and began to run the hot water. A nice hot bath sounded good, he had one yesterday but after the events of last night he felt like he needed another one.

"No..." Hitsu murmured in response when Blade had mentioned going to look for Yuki, "If he comes back before you do, then we'll just have to go looking for you too. No use in anyone getting lost, right?"

Hopefully both of them would be back soon, and there'd be nothing to worry about. She looked up to Mitsu as she stood, and shrugged a bit. "Maybe they wanted something specific." She had the previous night, after all, perhaps this was a similar case.

Overhearing the water running in the bathroom, Hitsu assumed that Neko was at least feeling well enough to getting cleaned up again. That was good, maybe a hot bath would help him relax.

-----

Yuki was fast, but the stranger had the advantage. Before he could reach them, the horse was already on the run. "No, no, no!" He growled through clenched teeth, "<********>" He skidded to a halt, knowing full well that continuing such a chase now would be fruitless. He had to try something else, and fast.

His feet were already firmly planted on solid ground, so he didn't find it necessary to brace himself. The only thing on his mind was stopping the horse before it got too far out of range, along with one question that nagged at him and made him seriously wonder just how much he'd regret this.

Is this going to work?

In his mind, he recalled being told not to attempt anything too powerful if he wasn't well rested. He didn't know what would happen, thanks to the 'just don't do it' response he had gained when the rule was brought into question.

Surely he'd only fail to cast the spell, right? What's the worst that could happen? He'd just be tired, as usual.

Yuki set his gaze, and focus, on the ground several yards ahead of the galloping horse. He lifted a hand at arm's length alongside him, drawing it across the air in front of him. The earth several feet in front of the horse quite literally parted, a clear crack in the ground several inches wide. With this came a small tremor, meant to distract the rider and possibly spook his horse.

Then, the line Yuki was focused shifted and cracked, stone and soil bunching up into a jagged formation. It looked little different than the shield he'd thrown up earlier... Just larger, and even more hastily constructed. Of course, this time he didn't have to worry about someone breaking through, and if he made it high enough the animal would at least have to slow down in order to scale it.

One moment, he held his hands out in front of him, energy focused on blocking the man's path. The problem was, his energy had been limited to begin with, and had quickly end effectively been expended. Suddenly, an intense pain hit him like someone had just taken a sledgehammer to both of his shins at once. Yuki screamed, and his focus on the spell snapped immediately. What earth he had erected crumbled without the aid to keep everything bound together, and scattered in large clumps all over the ground.

Even when the spell had ceased, the pain remained. He hadn't remained on his feet for long, after staggering in place only a moment he'd fallen sideways and hit the ground hard. His legs felt like they were being wrenched apart in their muscular spasms, head pounding to the point that he could hardly see. Though, in a morbid sort of way, he was lucky. He only felt these agonizing sensations for a couple of seconds, before completely blacking out.

[This sounded so much more detailed and better planned before I had to post it. D; And Shun's horse can easily jump over what's left of that spell attempt, just so you know.]

Nodding lightly, Blade watched out the window, trying to see if he could spot anyone in the group by some chance. He figured it wasn't too likely since the view was limited, but he figured he would try anyway.

"Maybe. But either way it shouldn't take them too much longer I think. At least hopefully not."

---

Not sparing a single glance behind, Shun pressed onwards while trying to make sure that Poke wouldn't slip off the horse. Though as he made his way out, the ground ahead of him shot up for a split second. And for a moment, he thought he was going to need to find another way around. But luckily for him, the earthen wall crumbled down enough for his horse to leap over.

The assassin didn't know why exactly the spell had fallen apart like that, but he wasn't about to complain. All he needed to do was keep on riding on towards Suto's labs. Hopefully with as few breaks as possible too.

((Should the next post or so time skip to when they arrive? Poke will definitely wake up before they reach it I think... So I'm not sure what's happening next here. o.o; ))

((I'll leave it up to Poke. XD))