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Rufus's attention was instantly diverted away from the truck explosion towards a beautiful four-legged creature that happened to be gliding about the smog-thick city sky. His jaw dropped at the sight, for he never once in his entire life as a zoanthropian thought he would see one of the mythical zoans that were part of urban legend. It was a pegasus! The pegasus! He had read about it in the books; one of the few books that had been saved from the flame. This was it, he knew it: this was his calling, for in his wild dreams he saw the mythical ones in his own retelling of the Garden of Eden. A future for the Zoanthropians!

Once he checked if the door was fully locked, Rufus sprinted through the maze of the city below the roads. He had forgotten entirely about the possibility of a rebel and his crash, for he had to find the pegasus. Who was it? Who changed into it? What was it doing in Gridlock, of all places? Too many questions, and his answers were too little.

Bystanders cursed him as he barged past them. Out of habit, Rufus would slow down slightly to apolgise profusely before running off again. He regularly shot his gaze towards the sky, desperate to keep track of the pegasus and follow its flightpath. He was certain he wasn't the only one to see it, and he highly expected the GOLIATHs to be hot on its tail. He knew if he searched for it, he would be risking his life to the wrath of the government; but this was bigger than him, bigger than any of his gardening hobbies, bigger than his office-space - it was a mythical one, from the stars! It couldn't be anything else, for such an creature did not exist in the animal kingdom - he knew this. He was absolutely certain.

If he found her before the others, he intended to bring it back to his office. Oh, he had so many questions! The opportunity was too brilliant to pass up! He needed to know! He skidded blindly round a corner, almost losing his footing; he stumbled clumsily into a building corner, leading to the full-blown laughter of a group of drunken bums.

He tittered in return, grinning shamefacedly. He looked up again, almost losing sight of the pegasus in the sky. If it was killed, it would be a sad, sad day. If it was killed, there was nothing he could do; though, he knew he had the chance of reaching it, and catch it in human form. Possible appearances ran through his head: tall, short, slim, big? Female or male? Who was it?

A shining flash of white flew past Ariana's window with a gentle, low whistle. Ree's jaw dropped as she pressed her face against the glass to watch the graceful creature flap its wings above the grimy city. The dim light of the hot sun reflected off of the brilliant coat, and captured Ree's full attention.

Pegasus. Ariana remembered the description of the mythical creature from the stories her mother used to tell her, when she was little, to make her feel better about being a Zoanthropian. Watching the elegant flying animal zoom by, Ree felt her heart flutter with hope.

Hope.

A strange word in Ree's vocabulary. A word she hadn't used since her father crushed any chance she had had long ago. She clenched her jaw, remembering the cruel man's exact words, spitting his vodka-soaked breath at her young face.

"I'm a smart man, kid, a very smart man. But even smart people make mistakes. The one I regret most was you."

Of course, that wasn't the worst thing he'd ever said to her. But it was the one that hurt the most. It also hurt her mother the most. Mom had loved him, with every fibre of her being, and he had loved her too. But then when Ariana was born, that all changed. Disgusted at the offspring she had produced, father left mother. Mother became a total wreck.

No more.

Ariana was proud of what she was. She had something that the humans longed for; that had to be why they were treated so badly. Jealousy. A poisonous thing. Seeing one of the legendary Zoanthropians awakened something inside of Ree, resurfaced her hope. And she wasn't going to let the opportunity slip away. She decided to run, far away from home, away from the ghosts of her father's verbal abuse, and far from the protective clutches of her mother.

Ree packed everything she could fit into her bag and entered the elevator. Impatiently pounding on the buttons that would direct her to the main floor, she finished stuffing everything inside and zipping it shut. As soon as she got to the first floor, she went for the door.

She knew it would be locked. She had discovered that when she had tried escaping before, when she was much younger. A few months ago she had found a key mom had hidden under the floor, but by then she had given up on any sort of release. Now she was determined. Taking the extra key, Ree unlocked the door and escaped into the smoggy streets. Now she was sprinting after the flying Pegasus, wanting to find out where it would lead her.

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Taesha Silverhope was by no means a rash or reckless person. Even with her meager living standards, a day-to-day odd jobs lifestyle, only just managing to pay the rent in her run-down closet of an apartment, living off scraps, scrounging for old newspapers for any information on her sister. Tae liked things planned and ready, with little wiggle room. She had most certainly not planned on "taking to the sky" that night, especially not in such a crowded area, with everyone watching.

Her Zoan form was not an easy one to take. While it provided her with speed, strength, and freedom, thw likes of which she could never hope to possess in her human form, it reminded her much too clearly of the night she'd abandoned her sister. She didn't change often, and when she did, it was generally to move from one place to another. She stayed a winged horse for as little time as possible, as much to prevent drawing attention to herself as to avoid painful memories.

Never before had she had free reign (pardon the pun) of the city. Never before had she flown just to fly, just to spread her wings and experience that abnormality that was her existence as a Zoan, but also as a mythical creature. Aside from thinking she was cursed, she'd never really considered what her form meant. She'd never heard of another Pegasus, or indeed of another make believe animal.

Perhaps, if she'd spent less of her life jumping (or flying, as it were) from home to home, running away from her past, she might have learned the story of the five savior Zoans. The mythical creatures meant to save a world. That she was one of them, a Pegasus--The Pegasus.

But she hadn't. And now she was flying over a city full of people who had.

Tae took no notice of them. They could shout and point all they wanted, as far as she was concerned. Once in the air, she took a brief detour over the scene of the accident, admiring her handiwork, so to speak. Sure enough, one or two regular police squadron cars waited around the burning wreckage. Through the thick smog and smoke, she couldn't see much else. Was the rebel there? Had he already escaped? Where to? Had he even caused the accident? It was of no matter now. Whether he was or wasn't there, Tae had effectively alerted the city to her existence, and now there was a chase.

Laughing (or whinnying) with unusual abandon, Tae turned sharply back toward the greater city, pawing the black night sky as she picked up speed. Her wingspan was nearly twenty-five feet in length, and every muscle in her snow white wings pulsed against the sky, seeking purchase to accelerate their owner into the night.

This freedom was unlike Tae had ever known. Helping the Zoans, she felt--momentarily, at least--free form guilt, from the memory of her lost family. There was room to glide all she wanted, as long as she wanted. She took daring dips and swerves. Every Goliath on duty would see her, or so she hoped. It was all great fun, the new exhilaration of excitement and adventure, of fighting back against the hand life had dealt her, of finally helping others to avenge her father's death.

It wasn't until this initial adrenaline wore off Tae had realized what she'd done. Every Goliath in the city would now be after her. To her knowledge, she was the only Pegasus in Gridlock. And more than that, her human appearance wouldn't offer much respite. Not with dual colored eyes like her.

Something that wasn't quite fear pushed her faster, and she zoomed around buildings, taking sharp turns and climbing higher into the sky in attempt to lose her pursuers. It occurred to her briefly she didn't know where the kid from the street was. She hoped she'd drawn attention away from him, too.

Taesha knew she needed to hide...But where? And how? Who could she trust? She needed a private place to change...hopefully, that would buy her sometime. After that...she'd have to lay low. It would be a new life again. She might have to leave the city. But for once, Tae thought as she winged around the top story of a graying skyscraper, it felt worth it.

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A sense of astonishment had engulfed Ichiro as he watched the powerful wings beat through the air.Her words about fighting were mute to him at that point. But more importantly, Ichiro had finally met somebody else just like him! A animal disguised under the skin of a human! An overwhelming grin shined upon the boy's scar covered face.

How was it to be a flying horse he wondered. And those wings...So large, and powerful. A white feather floated gently in the air in front of the fourteen year old, landing softly within his palm. With thoughtful eyes, he burrowed his ocean colored eyes on the feather. She must've been the reason he was attracted to this city! It was fate. Fate had chosen him to meet up with this woman.

Three hunting police officers soared past Ichiro, and the dumbfounded group of people with a strong gust of wind. "Tch!" His eyes glared with a sense of anger, when he realized their intentions. To attack the girl.


"Hey assholes!! Come back here!" His legs rapidly ran down the street after the three hovercrafts in a futile attempt to overthrow them, gaining attention from several police cars in the process. But it was worthless as the machines took the men higher and higher in the air. Reaching for the hilt of his katana, he pulled the blade out skillfully with his right hand. "Where do ya think you're goin, huh?! Don't you know who I am!!? I'm Ichiro Kitase!!" As that last word was uttered, Ichiro placed the hilt of the katana within his mouth as his body formed into a large eagle. No matter what it took, he'd bring down those officers. That horse was the only one that he had to identify with. Living in the wilderness for all his life made Ichiro completely ignorant to the existance of other Zoans, and their place in the world. So seeing another like himself gave him a burning motivation.

The piercing eyes of a eagle digged within the backs of the officers as Ichiro sped through the air like a small jet. With the katana fixated within his closed beak, Ichiro eventually flew past the three hovercraft riders; flying right past the leading officer's head, only to then return back to face them all by himself. The lights of the futuristic skyscrapers flickered endlessly, as if anticipating for the battle at hand.

A kick? This crazy guy. It was almost funny how harmless the guy seemed now. Demanding for him to unlock his cuffs, and childishly kicking his leg. "Bossy are we?"Grumbling as he sank his teeth on the key, he struggled clumsily. What kinda crap is this? "Why won't this damn key go in!?" After a few horribly failed attempts, Musa had succeeded in his task. Maxus' hands were now free.

Oh man...Envy was taking over. "Yo" He spoke with the key clamped within his teeth, "Isn' it kinda my turn?" When a man does a favor, isn't it honorable to return it someway or another? I'll scratch your back, and you'll scratch mine kinda deal?

For some reason, this kid looked like one of those stereotypical delinquents who would kick you in the nuts, and steal your wallet for shits and giggles. So of course he was doubting his intentions! But on the flipside, Musa wasn't the most trustworthy guy either.


The super loud sound of people screaming, cars honking, and the gargantuan engine of a Goliath tank vehicle screeched through Musa's head. The metallic demon was obviously coming to get him, and the rebel. Figured. He had to be grouped in with the rebel. With a lowering head, Musa began to sweat, "Ahhh shit...You know what," Musa chuckled timorously, "You don't have to unlock me." He spat the key to the rebel, hopped off the police truck, and made a run for it down the streets. The complete opposite direction the Goliath carrier was coming from.


Too bad he didn't get very far. The cuff's electric shock activated whenever the wearer was out of a certain distance from the key. A quick electric jolt ran within Musa's body. A comical yelp, and the man fell to the ground on his face. Was he doomed? Oh yeah. Death was not one of his plans for the night. What he had planned was a nice little visit to the nearby strip club, or maybe even get so drunk to the point of throwing up, or..OR...Enjoy a nice pepperoni pizza. A man could dream right?

Apparantly not when you're a Zoanthropian. Hunted down like a animal. Well, they kinda were animals. But in a way, they were superior to humans. Being treated like shit by the likes of them was kinda backwards. It totally should be the other way around! "Honestly, why do we deal with this bullshit?!" For some reason that little jolt reminded him how lame the whole situation was. How lame Nova Varick was. Over the pass years all Musa has ever done was waste his life away, throwing it out of the window. Drowning in the mist of smoke, women, and gambling. Eventually he had forgotten what it meant to be a Zoanthropian. But now...He had gotten a rude awakening. He felt like retaliating in some way. Why was he here in the first place anyway? For some false hope? He lost that hope several years ago. Replaced with anger, irritation...and a nasty rash.

Theldur stood bored in the farmacy, and did his job. He systematically put away the medicine in its right place, swept the floors and took over the desk when needed. He almost liked his job now, after four months with employement. The building was big and white. It had two storries, with the desk and perscription meds downstairs, and medicine which didn't need perscription upstairs. Though the job was pretty boring, he felt more welcome in the Pedric Farmacy than anywhere else.

Theldur Baldersson walked up the stairs, and sweeped the floors. Suddenly, something flew past the window. He glanced towards the flying winged horse. "A pegasus?" Theldur said silently. He realized it had to be one of the zoanthropians. The legendary ones. He of course couldn't leave the farmacy. He looked down, and saw lots of Goliaths chasing around after Zoans. He managed to controll his rage. Theldur looked at the clock by the staircase. 16.05, five minutes until he was done. He ran down the stairs and left five minutes early. No problem, they said.

When he came outside, Theldur saw lots of police-folks and Goliaths. They seemed to gather around a crashed vehicle on the highway. Theldur saw the Pegasus fly around the tops of skyscrapers. The zoanthropians were beeing hunted, again. The anger started boiling in Theldur. He managed to take a taxi. "Just drive north-west" Theldur said. Theldur could see lots of people looking at the ruccus, confused. He saw some scar-faced idiot stalking the Goliaths, running. After 15 minutes, he was out of the danger zone, and he hopped out of the cab, and payed. He walked towards the empty highway going north, when he saw a man laying in the ditch. He ran over, and saw the hand-cuffs on the man.

"Hey, are you there? say something!" Theldur said as he leaned over him. Theldur took his 9" knife, and lock-picked the hand-cuffs. The man seemed to have a pulse, but he was knocked out. "Has to be a zoan" Theldur said to himself. He dragged the man under the bridge in the north-west highway, hiding him from the Goliaths. He waited for the man to wake up...

Nu arrived at the scene of the accident just in time to see one of the criminals who were supposed to be locked up, running out of the crashed vehicle. Nu knew what was going to happen and watched with a anticipating smile on his lips as the man tried to run away. The man didnt get very far though and Nu laughed as he watched the man fall on his face after a shock of electricity. Not knowing that that man was also a Zoan., Nu decided to go check out the crashed vehicle.
Someone else can pick that electrified idiot up. Nu thought.

As he floated closer to the accident he thought he seen the vehicle move slightly, a movement that most humans wouldn't have detected. His magnified vision never steered him wrong before, so Nu carefully stepped off of his hover bike and slowly-yet-surely walked towards the doors of the vehicle.

As he got closer, he thought of the power of many of the zoans. that he had caught in the past, and how dangerous they could be. He pulled out his advanced six shooter and loaded an explosive round, that had enough power to turn a human into a bloody mush, and walked cautiously towards the front of the vehicle, gun pointed straight. With his left hand he pulled a kunai knife off of his chest strap, you never knew with these beasts- sometimes knives worked better than guns. Nu remembered the time that he and a squad of four men were sent into a four story building, not to far from where he was now, to bring down a rouge zoan that could take the form of a leopard. He had been 18 at the time, and he remembered it well. All of the men were killed by its dangerous claws and teeth. Nu had emptied all six of his normal bullets into the beast, it was bleeding profusely but it still attacked, he was forced to pull out his knife and slice the beasts throat before it would finally die.

He took no chances now. This animal was going down...

Nu spaced out his legs a little and braced himself a few feet away from the vehicle. Close enough not to miss if the beast did not want to come out peacefully, and far enough away to be out of the attacking range if the beast decided to burst out of the back of the vehicle and pounce on him. He was ready.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw, in the distance, two police hovercrafts, chasing after some white- horse?
Nu didn't really care at the moment, he was focused, he was determined, he was ready to see blood...

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J|Brandon (class A) RP masta

"Ancient! Be careful! That's no ordinary Zoan!" Another Goliath soldier shouted out from another Zephyr that just arrived at the scene. The steel crushing continuous tracks flatteneded whatever cars it toppled over with ease. On board the Zephyr was five Goliaths total, and were they well armed. Hopping off of the Zephyr, the five Goliaths stopped a safer distance from the crashed police truck, watching the dark opening of the doors carefully with their state of the art rifles.

"Ancient, you do know the penalties for acting out on your own right? Cleaning duty!" The Goliath in charge of the five men unit scolded the other cyber soldier. He was small in comparison to his allies, but he was by far one of the more experienced within this city. "Now move out of the way! We have a much more effective way of doing this. Stop it with the hero antics."

The shadows engulfed the inside of the truck, giving Maxus some decent cover; or so he thought. The glowing orange visors of the Goliaths did grant them some night vision.
His hands had been relieved of those cursed cuffs finally, thanks to that Musa fellow. He kinda felt bad for letting him run off before telling him that the cuffs were going to respond with a electrical shock, but hey, it was his fault for being a complete idiot. Whether he escaped or not didn't matter. Just another human to him. But what was more important was the matter at hand...Those damn Goliaths. "Why are they so persistent?" He said to himself in annoyance as he quickly scurried to the front of the bloody truck. Completely unfazed by the grisly display of the two corpses, Maxus took the passenger's rifle, wrapped the strap around his shoulder, and brought his foot up, and smashed the already cracked windshield down to pieces. He was going to escape into the corporate building!

"Dammit! Forget Nu, fire the CS2 gas!" Two Goliaths carried some kind of heavy launcher loaded with a shell with an enhanced tear gas agent. They aimed the large weapons, peering into the scope as red lights beamed inside the truck for guidance. They fired off two shells towards the truck with great procession.


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meanwhile

"Did you see that? That bird!" The blade gleamed within the large eagle's mouth as it past the three small hovercrafts.

"Looks like he's trying to protect the horse...Spread out! You two go after the pegasus...I'll deal with this pest." The two others agreed, and flew out of formation as Ichiro approached. "Damn Zoans! Are they planning to take over the city?"
With a pull of the trigger, a spray of bullets ran through the air from below the eagle. Capture of the Pegasus was the main objective. And this pathetic bird was interfering.

Swerving, and turning within the air, the two extra officers accelerated towards the pegasus' direction. Not too far ahead, the two officers saw her fly around a skyscraper. So they decided to split up. One quickly following suit behind her, while the other took the left side of the building.

In an attempt to shoot her down, the officer who was chasing directly behind her fired off a storm of bullets towards one of her wings as she turned around the skyscraper. It was a complicated shot. Most of the bullets strayed, and pounded visciously against the windows of the skyscraper instead of Tae. "Dammit..missed!"
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"What?" They were going to smoke him out? Not good. With a desperate leap, Maxus emerged from the front of the truck, and rolled across the building's pearly white floor as two dark green pods zoomed through the very same opening. White trails of thick smoke followed the shells as they flew right above the kneeling Zoan; colliding with a wall and a column on the opposite side of the lobby. On contact, the shells released an intense burst of he agent that was quickly swallowing the contents of the corporate buildings lobby. "S-shit!" Within that moment, the rogue revealed his true form. His distinct black stripes, and black mane made it evident of who he was. The Liger. With a roar, the powerful beast dashed up the stairs with his rifle wrapped along his muscular body.

"Go, go, go! Chase after him!" The Goliath soldiers quickly sprinted towards the entrance of the tall unoccupied corporate building. The agent's content had spreaded quicker than the commander had thought. Excellent. Problem was...Where was the rebel? The five Goliaths carefully investigated the white clouded lobby for their target. "Dammit! He either the stairs or the elevator! You two," He pointed to two of his men, "Take the elevator to the fourth floor. "The rest of you will follow him up the stairs! Remember, we want him alive!"

By now...Gridlock City had become a battlefield...

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Thank you Sephora!

Running through the streets of Gridlock was an exhaustive task that drove all the breath out of Rufus with little to no effort. His lungs burned up fast, and his legs cramped from underneath him. He lurched lazily against a wall, lightly knocking his head against it. "Just land... please." He had almost lost sight of the pegasus again. It had flown around and about one of the skyscrapers, its pearl white image reflected off the building's glassed surface. "Patience, Rufus. It'll land. It'll land."

He slumped down, curling his knees up. He couldn't run anymore, he simply couldn't. The cramp in his legs was excruciatingly painful, and - he strained his eyes to a figure sat beside him. He never even saw him when he stopped; where did he come from? It was a frail old man with a wide, wrinkled forehead partially covered by a light-green baseball cap. Strings of greyed hair slipped from the gaps in the hat. "Chasing the winged horse, are ya?"

Rufus nodded slowly. His heavy breathing deterred his ability to speak.

The old bum grinned, shining his rotted teeth amidst a mouth of cracked lips and a dying beard. "You feelin'... sorry for the bugger? Zoanthapiananmmhhh - yer one?"

"N-no! No! What gave you that idea?" Rufus shuffled away. The smell of alcohol on the man's breath was disgustingly bad.

"Don't lie to me," The old man jabbed him with a bloated forefinger. "I can smell it. 'Cause - yeah - wha's that guy say? - oh yeah, 'got me rat sense tingling', understand?"

Rufus hurriedly stood up, brushing himself down. "Yes, uhm, understood. I must be off." He turned away, and when he heard no answer, he became thoroughly confused; that old man seemed to be one for conversations under the influence of alcohol, but what happened to him now? Did he accidentally insult the old man? He spun on his heels to catch his sight, only to find a bottle roll down by his shoe.

Perplexed by the event, Rufus decided to continue on and find the pegasus; but one thing was for sure, he was certain he saw a rat's tail disappear behind a tower of cardboard boxes. It made Rufus ask the question: how populated -was- this city with Zoanthropians? They said it was the third-most populous, but after that strange encounter, he strangely came to the conclusion that there were many more than first assumed.

By now she had lost the Pegasus. It seemed as though it was much quicker travelling above the streets than trying to wind around people and buildings and other such obstacles upon the ground. Out of breath, Ariana fell against a large glass building. Hell, almost all of the buildings were made entirely of glass. It was the modern sort of look everyone was wanting these days.

Ree glanced every which direction, as if searching suspiciously for a follower. She knew that her mother probably hadn't noticed her disappearance yet. But she also knew that eventually she would. Ariana sucked in one last deep breath, and began to jog at a slower pace than before. She no longer had the Pegasus to follow after, but she had another destination she wanted to look at. The accident at the big corporate building.

Ariana had seen on the news where the crash was. It really wasn't too far, maybe a few blocks. But, being the impatient girl she was, she decided to cut through the low-traffic alleyways in the city. That way she wouldn't have to dart between crowds of people, and she could also change into her animal form. Now a small wild cat, a black-footed cat to be specific, Ree padded along the concrete of the alleys that really weren't in that great of a condition. She took a few turns, following the smell of blood, until she was now in a straight stretch of dark alley. The tall buildings loomed above her, casting a shadow across all the contents of the narrow road. Straight up ahead the light of the city street revealed the horrific accident that left two policemen dead. Ariana sped up, curious about the scene.

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