These past three weeks had been a storm of chaos for the guild; tension was already taut made worse each time the guild members that set out came back defeated and empty handed. An incident the guild leader had hoped to keep secret and handled quickly as possible but the firebird's wings proved far more difficult to clip though mostly expected such results as the few willing to actually attempt such a dangerous capture kept ending in failure. So it was no surprise such news spread throughout the guild with talks that they always knew the bitch was a traitor while others held doubts; finding it too much for even Kali to go doing something so extreme.
Confusion, doubt and fear. These three terms best described what the guildmembers were feeling and were unsure how to proceed from there. It took everything from the guild leader to ensure such talks did not get out and using connections to keep back the rune knights or the council from acting, wanting to try and handle this personal issue themselves and save face. Yet, with the four that either returned or reported their failure left the guild master little choice but to send the only person remaining foolish and willing enough to try and take down such a wild card and it was one he most wanted to avoid sending. But, none of the others were willing while the S mages were either too busy or didn't care to get involved with such a troublesome case and thus was left with no other choice to relent and finally accept Izushima's offer.
The guild master hoped the fox would hold his damn tongue for this one quest. May the heavens have mercy if that mouth of his causes this sensitive time bomb of a situation to go off into disastrous results and instantly regretted it after seeing the masked figure float off with a snicker.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How cumbersome to be turned down and made to wait so long after his insistence on accepting possibly the most interesting and amusing quest since joining the guild. While the others were whimpering and pissing their pants, he found this as a great opportunity; how could he possibly refuse a chance to not only take down the hot headed bird but to rub in the fact she was now a hated criminal. He always knew Kali was going to blow up and fuck herself over with the one regret that he wasn't there when it finally happened.
It annoyed him being rejected such a chance to bring down the woman well disliked by most and a most interesting human specimen to him. Though it was equally amusing seeing each guildmate that set out after her return injured and defeated having him simply wait and bide his time for when the guild master saw no other option but to give him the quest.
And now the white robed fox floated his way through the forest; hot on the phoenix's trail and in this case literally in thanks to his far more potent nose following her scent. As even among the guildmates hers was especially discernable and easy to pick up and months of memorizing each of their scents had him well familiarized with the smell of lilac and aloe. True that these two scents weren't uncommon in nature which might normally make discerning Kali's from the flowers in the surrounding woods but it was that hint of ash mixed in that helped him separate and pinpoint the direction she had been traveling. While at times the trail become very faint, forcing him to search around the general area at times until he was able to find a point he could pick up and continue on.
Only days after Izu set out before he found himself arriving at the town of Sakura, where it would of taken any other of the guild a good week or more just to find where she had fled to and by then would likely be long gone. She certainly might of had plenty of time to think and plan her next action, but the fiery woman found herself unlucky to have the best tracker now nipping at her heel.
The round metal disc slightly bigger than that of a garbage lid crackled with static which repelled against the ground, giving the appearance that the fox could fly though he would tell it was closer to levitating. As he could not go high up into the air as his static needed a physical base to repel against to keep him afloat and could go as high as a two story building; perfectly fitting height to let him touch down on the nearest resting on the outskirts of the small town as the haori robed figure lifted his shoeless feet from the disk and stepped towards the edge to peer off over the countless roofs of houses and businesses.
His long sleeved right hand lifted to rub the clawed index finger against the fox mask adorned over his face, the light scratch of wood having those fox like ears flicking atop his head. The wind had his white haori billow and lightly flap while using a bit of effort to keep those three long fluffy fox tails of his from swaying too much, not wanting them flapping about when inspecting the town before him.
"
So this is where you chose to come nest for the time being? What about this town brought the birdy here, hm?" He pondered and mused aloud to himself, words slightly muffled due to the mask. Amused and intrigued on what Kali's thought process had been like these last couple weeks as he could imagine how stressed and wary she must be."
If only that idiot guild master hadn't hold me back that this whole thing would of been settled long before it got this far. By now I already would of had her behind bars." He spoke in slightly annoyed and disappointed tone with a shake of his head, hands on his hips then gave a shrug of his shoulders moments later."
Ah, but I suppose this makes for a more interesting hunt for me so perhaps I owe them thanks? Well, either way I will bring down the firebitch and this time, she won't be rising back up." A playful smug smirk crooked his hidden lips, confidant and excited to bring down the phoenix.
Holding out his right clawed hand forward to make a cherry picking motion in each possible direction, sniffing the air as he went."
And...you...are....hah!" Letting his finger spring towards where her scent trail was strongest making both his ears and tail flick, showing his excitement."
Here I come......try to make this fun!" He exclaimed his challenge while holding his left hand back and with a static crackle the disc shot to his hand, ready to set off towards Kali's hiding.