A/N: I am finally done chapter two. I know, it's a miracle. No idea how long chapter three's gonna take with school starting and two other stories on the go. Oh well. It will come when it comes. And thanks to CalicoKitty13 for reading this over (even if you only did get half of it).
Chapter Two: The Hunt
Rylie stood outside in the crisp morning air, stretching her cramped muscles. Dawn had arrived and it was time to get on with her day.
She didn't have any food that morning but she didn't need any; she had eaten yesterday. Not that hunger would stop her. Besides, it was time to begin the hunt.
Crouching, Rylie studied the ground at her feet. She had been following a vague trail for a while now. She was pretty sure she knew who it was; the one she had hunted for several years now. She didn't have much to go on, but her skills as a tracker were surpassed by none.
Today's advanced tracking methods were useless to her. They never worked on her target… they were just too good at this game. She didn't have time for those malfunctioning pieces of junk people have the nerve to call 'radars'. She had the knowledge, but not the time or equipment to make one herself. Her skills worked better than any other tracking method. Rylie's way was down in the dirt the old fashion way.
Rylie stood slowly, brushing off her jean-capries and gazing at the distant outline of Acmetropolis. She was almost positive she knew where her target was heading but she wanted to make sure.
The land around her was silent in the half light of dawn. With a final glance at the lightening sky, she crouched back down to the damp earth and set back to work.
Random beeping, buzzing and whirring noises greeted Rev as he entered Tech's lab. He wasn't really supposed to be in here, but the fast-talking road runner couldn't help but annoy his overly annoyable coyote friend.
He zipped left and right, looking at this and that, trying to find the new 'toy' Tech had supposedly been working on. Then again, that science-obsessed canine was always working on something.
Without warning, Rev bowled into something and in a flurry of limbs, found himself on the floor. When he looked up to see what he had crashed into, he found Tech glaring back at him. For some reason, he seemed rather annoyed by Rev's presence.
"Rev!" he barked. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't come into my lab without my permission!" He seemed very irritated.
"Sorry-Tech-I-was-just-looking-at-all-your-cool-inventions-and-I-didn't-know-I-was-going-to-run-into-you-Hey-what-does-this-dohickey-do?"
"No! Don't touch-"
Too late. Tech was cut off as Rev pressed a button on an invention that had caught his eye, sending a blue ray straight into Tech's snout. His black nose was now half its original size. He actually looked kind of funny.
"Oops," was Rev's only reply to his actions. Tech snatched it back, turned a dial on the hand-held ray gun and shot it at himself, returning his nose to its original size.
"That," said Tech with an edge in his voice," is my molecular rearrangement device. It emits a high frequency magnetic wave that disrupts the magnetic field around the molecules of the intended target and rearranges the shape, size and density in the desired manner. I finished it last week. Now please, stop touching every thing you see."
"Sure-thing-Tech-I-was-just-wondering-what-this-thing-does!"
"No, Rev! That's my-"
Lexi, who happened to be walking by the closed door of Tech's lab at that time, was witness to a loud explosion followed by smoke seeping out from the bottom of the door. A curious expression crossed her face and she walked over to the door and opened it to peer inside. She was greeted by a small cloud of grey smoke. Coughing, she squinted and waved her hand in front of her face to try and clear away the smoke.
Once the smoke cleared and Lexi was able to see again, she saw Tech growling deeply at Rev who was standing over an unfinished and now charred invention. Rev gave a small, nervous giggle before saying a quick goodbye and dashing out the door past Lexi. Grinning, she shook her head and walked over to the once again tinkering Tech.
"He didn't mess it up too badly," he mumbled to himself. "At least I don't have to start from scratch."
"Well that's always a plus," said Lexi. She was trying to peer over Tech's shoulder at his new invention.
Trying to sound as patient as possible, he asked "Can I help you with something?" He wasn't overly succeeding.
"No, that's okay." She switched over to his right shoulder, still trying to get a look at the slightly charred piece of machinery. Tech's patience snapped.
He whirled on Lexi and started shouting. "Okay, that's it! Out! Let me work in peace!"
Lexi raised her hands in mock defense. "Whoa. Okay there Tech. I'm going." When Tech started growling she decided she better leave and let Tech get on with his inventing. When the door closed behind her she thought she heard a sigh of relief coming from the resident genius.
She walked down the hall from Tech's lab, deciding to go and talk with the others in the kitchen or where ever they might be. She ended up finding Ace and Duck in the rec- room.
Ace looked up as Lexi entered the room while Duck just kept on rambling about something or other. Possibly another get-rich-quick scheme.
"Hey Lex." He raised a hand in greeting. "Did Tech blow something up again? We thought we heard something."
Lexi sat down between Ace and Duck. "Well, technically it was Rev." Ace laughed a little at this. Of course it was Rev. This was always the situation between the two of them.
Duck suddenly piped up beside them. "Hey! Are you two even listening to me?" The indignant look on his face made Lexi giggle a bit.
"Of course we are Duck," replied Ace. With that he turned back to Lexi and they started talking again. Duck glared at their backs for a moment. Yes, they certainly seemed to be listening to him alright…
Duck was just about to set his beak flapping at them again when Rev dashed in. "Hey-guys-there-you-are-c'mon-Zadavia's-calling!" And he dashed out again.
Ace leapt up from his seat and started towards the door. "C'mon guys. Let's see what Zadavia's got for us this time." Lexi followed close behind and Duck sat still in a hug for a moment before following the two rabbits out.
When the three entered the communications room, they saw Slam, Rev and Tech already in their seats around the table. Ace, Lexi and Duck sat down and awaited the appearance of Zadavia's hologram. It came quite abruptly with the usual glowing eyes and crazy flying hair.
"Greetings Loonatics." Her voice had a very weird echoic quality about it.
"What's up Zadavia?" Ace asked. There hadn't been much going on in Acmetropolis for the last couple of days. It was nice to have a break but they were starting to get bored.
"There seems to be a disturbance in the sector of Acmetropolis." A series of images appeared in the holographic projector, showing the current situation. "She is a berserker and her only objective seems to be destruction. As you can see, she is doing a fairly good job of it." The Loonatics looked to the screens and saw the rubble strewn across the ground as the berserker continued down her destructive path. "You must stop her," Zadavia continued, "before she destroys too much or she switches her target from buildings to people"
"Don't worry sister," Duck cut in. "We'll take care of miss psycho."
"Good," she replied. "Zadavia out." As her hologram faded Ace stood up and addressed the others.
"All right Loonatics. Let's jet!"
Rylie Wolf had traveled closer towards Acmetropolis as she tracked her prey. It was now close to noon but she would not stop until evening. Perhaps later if she was getting close.
The boarders of Acmetropolis were in sight now. Her prey had probably gone in there. In the city, her prey could disguise itself and disappear. But now from her.
Or her prey could go berserk and start killing. You could never tell with some one like her prey.
About fifteen minutes later, Rylie found what she had been looking for. A partial footprint.
It was about the right size and the footwear was the same style as her prey would wear. As well, it was barely there. It was obviously made by some one who knew how to hide their tracks, and who knew they were being followed.
The final piece of evidence was there as well. A single reddish brown hair. It was the same colour as her prey.
Rylie Wolf bared her teeth in a wolfish grin and raised her grey eyes to the now close Acmetropolis. She clenched her teal paw around the hair. Finally, she had found her prey. The hunt was over. Now the kill could commence.