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"WAUGH!" Doro cried as Avenger caught hold of the belt on his shuriken pouch. "WHAT are you DOING?!" He screamed as Avenger took hold of his collar "CAN'T YOU SEE THAT WE HAVE OTHER THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT THAN FIGHTING AMONGST OURSELVES?!" He struggled, and finally freed himself with a swift wingbeat. Flying higher to make sure that Avenger couldn't strike at him again, he hovered in place, watching the wispy snake's movements. Something about it pricked a tiny spot in the back of his memory. Something... He couldn't quite place his finger on it. The longer he stared at the snake, the more transparent it got. He knew that THAT was just an optical illusion, but... What was that still-solid orange shape? Sudden realization shocked him and he straightened out quickly. His vision returned to normal, and quickly he shouted down to Avenger, "THE GEM!! THE GEM ON ITS FOREHEAD!!" Assuming that he would know what Doro meant, he swooped at the gigantic spirit's face.

[I don't know why, but I feel like somehow I'm godmoding... Am I? Should I edit my post? D': ]

Doro coughed as the smoke cleared, then shouted down again, "It's beginning to crack! Again!" He backwinged to clear out more of the smoke and whipped a shuriken at the shining orange jewel.

[yeah... I dunno, but thanks!]

Doro hovered, panting as the smoke dissolved with the immense spirit. "YES!" he cheered, backwinging away from the lingering smoke puffs.

"Huh..." he breathed, looking at the place where the spirit had just been. something didn't seem quite right. He couldn't solidify the feeling into logical thoughts. It was just... intuition, he guessed. He shook his head, and thought he saw two figures up on the rise to the left, but dismissed the creeping fear quickly. There's no one there... Doro told himself, gritting his teeth, trying again to dispel the thought of spies, intruders, assassins, even. But with another glance, he couldn't deny it anymore. The bat was SURE that he saw a shock of brown amongst the clouds. The fear that had until then been just a feeling in the pit of his belly erupted and choked him with panic. Breathing deep, trying to keep his cool, Doro floated slowly up in the direction that he had seen the mysterious movements. He was moving slowly enough that he thought that they presumably wouldn't notice right away, but he could never be sure. Swallowing deeply, the young bat braced himself for a potential fight.

"MOOOOOOOMMMM!" Called a small butterfly as she ran into the room that her owner was in.
Falina glanced up at her from her book, and, slightly irritated, raised an eyebrow. "What, Rithey?"
"Doro's not back yet, and there's a ton of smoke coming from the eastern part of town, and that's where Doro was headed!"
This caused the dark-clad cat- woman to immediately rise, setting her book down forcibly. "MY GOD!" She cried, her voice quivering as she gazed fearfully at the puffs of smoke in that area. "Come on, Rithey, we have to get there as fast as we can!!"

[Edited! ^w^ ]

Doro's breath grew heavy and tense as he fluttered slowly up, preparing to charge through the cloud and surprise them. He nervously swallowed, knowing that he couldn't turn back. Not now. Not this close. they'd kill him. Placing a hand on his shuriken pouch, he glared up determinedly. Just before he burst through he gave a shout."RAAAAHHHH!!!!"

"Mommy, what if he's DEAD?? What if Doro DIED??" Rithey then proceeded to sob, taking gasping breaths in between.
"Shh, it's okay, Rithey," she attempted to comfort her sobbing little butterfly, "We just have to be strong, and get there as soon as we can!" She cast another worried glance at the billows of smoke, but quickly tossed her fears aside. "Besides," she added, looking Rithey in the eyes and gripping her arms assuringly, "Do you think Doro would just let himself be killed that easy?" She smiled at Rithey. "I don't. Now come on, let's go!"
Rithey smiled weakly, feeling much better, but still teeming with worry. "O-okay, momma! Let's go!"
The two set off through the streets, Falina running, but holding Rithey's hand and pulling her along. By then, there were more people running away from the smoldering sky than to it, so Falina fought through the crowds as best as she could. Screams pierced the air every now and then, and the crowd running away grew larger and larger. This was not going well.

"Uh?!" Doro exhaled, eyes widening. "Xan?! Why're you here?!" He struggled for a few moments, then gave up and looked back up to the fox spirit, "D-don't tell me YOU'RE attacking?!" He asked; frantic, shocked, and, more than that, confused. aren't spirit foxes neutral? he thought, and went back to struggling again. If Xan WAS attacking, he had to free himself soon; spirit foxes weren't creatures to pick fights with.

As Falina finally arrived on the scene she immediately saw two things: One was Doro being fastened to a cloud somehow; the other was Avenger and his crew just standing, watching. "I should have known you'd be involved," she said to Avenger. He always seemed to be. "Don't just stand there!" She told him, "We have to help Doro!"
When he just chuckled, Rithey glared and told her owner, "Mommy, I can get us up there!" She pointed to the cloud. The young butterfly began to flutter her wings in haste, and lifted of the ground a couple feet.

The blue bat gasped as he hovered with the two Rishmans. "Stole a dragon egg?! But- who would do that?!" Horrified by the thought of his own people stooping so low, Doro burned in shame and anger.

Avenger caught Rithy and Falina before they got too high. "relax. There is nothing to worry about. that spirit fox will not attack us, nor will it help us. it is a neutral force, and there is no need to go after the little bat..."he said calmly.

Kratos laughed at Xan. "hey! ur huge!" he yelled happily.

Venix simply shok his head with a grin. "well...another spirit fox, but this one is neutral, huh?" he said, much calmer than normal.