Out in the Night

Night had fallen over the quant small town. One by one the lights of the miscellaneous shops turned off, cloaking the small town in darkness like no other. The few villagers who had heard the news at some point in the day hurried home through the darkness with a flashlight tucked beneath their arms. A few people have taken it upon themselves to try and beat the monster themselves, they crawled through the streets armed with baseball bats and trash can lid shields. And yet still some people were exiting bars completely drunk and swaying side-to-side like the slightest breeze would be the end of them.

Michael stood nearby. His hands were ready on his bow as he watched the drunkards and the wanna-be heroes alike scramble about in the darkness. He tightened his grip as he surveyed the scene for anyone acting out of the ordinary. He paused for another few seconds as he caught sight of Ash moving silently through the streets, blending into the crowd as much as he could. Michael took note of him and began to look around and find Melody. He couldn't find her as quickly as he wanted to so he dropped the issue, but still made sure to keep an eye out for her.

He didn't actually see the news so he was a bit lost on what to keep an eye out for. He just knew there was supposedly an Evil Human on the loose around here. Since this was his home town it meant that he had a duty to defend it and he would uphold that duty until the day he died. He brought his bow around and took careful aim at one of the drunkards who seemed to be drunker than the rest of them. He paused as he kept it trained on him as he watched him approach a couple of girls, ready to let the arrow fly as a deterrent to the old man. Luckily for him, the old man stopped and moved back away and into the bar for another drink.

Michael lowered his bow as he returned to looking around for the Evil Human. It hadn't been night for too long, but something was wrong. Three murders to take place in the same night seemed odd to him. Seemed…manufactured. It was almost as if someone was trying to make fools of them. Michael shook the thought out of his head. That was even odder. It had to be an Evil Human who got carried away; maybe there was more than one of them. That was a possibility.

He finally caught sight of Melody. She blended well into the crowd of the people who were busying themselves trying to race home. She had her own flashlight and the like, probably figured she could lure whoever it was out by acting like a decoy…or bait. She probably didn't like the notion, but figured it would be their best bet to get him out. A young girl like her whose only tool was a yo-yo and a flashlight was perfect bait for a homicidal maniac. Michael made a mental note to keep a close eye on her to make sure her plan to act like a target didn't take a turn for the worse.

He scanned the area once more with his bow. He didn't see anyone acting suspicious. His shoulders went lax and he sat down on the ledge of the building as he kept a careful eye out. Once more he couldn't help but think how much it seemed like a normal night in the village. He sighed as he dropped his head into his hand and kept scanning the small town. He couldn't believe anyone would do a prank that involved killing three people, so that must mean that an Evil Human was out there in his town and he intended to find it.

(-With Ash-)

Ash had a baseball bat in his hands. He didn't want to seem out of place in the large flowing group of people, so this was what he decided to do to blend in. He had messed around during the day, so he lacked any information that could prove helpful in finding the whereabouts of the monster. He really wished he would've stuck to the research a bit more and tried a little bit harder to find the monster during the day where they wouldn't be stuck out here at night. He mostly blamed Xander for distracting him, but he accepted some fault was his.

He moved through the streets, a careful eye darting from alleyway to alleyway. He kept pace with the rest of the group as they split up and checked the alleyways or other vague branches of town. Once or twice they stopped at a sewer, opened the manhole, and looked in. Whenever they did so it almost made Ash lose consciousness. He felt faint just at the smell of the sewers and the sight of the sludge covered manhole cover. He doubted that even a rigorous cleaning would restore such a disaster instead he just focused on keeping pace with the group.

As they came to another alleyway split the group broke off into three groups one for treading on forward through the streets and two to go down and into the alleys. Ash was supposed to be in the main group, but as he took another step forward. He could've sworn he caught something in the corner of his eye, behind him. Ash spun around and immediately went racing off in that direction. The group wouldn't miss him they had already gone charging off in the opposite direction.

Ash stopped, skidding to a halt at one of the alleyways. Almost immediately he caught sight of another figure quickly skirting off and onto one of the side streets, disappearing from Ash's view by rounding a corner. Ash signaled to Michael before chasing further after the possible culprit. His signal caught Michael's attention, who in turn sent a signal to Melody. The whole group moved over to follow Ash's lead. Michael stuck to the rooftops and other out of the way paths with Ash and Melody covering the ground.

They moved swiftly through the streets like a complete unit. Their long lasting friendship had been strengthened throughout their recent challenges and only made their unity even better. Ash took the lead, making sure his eyes were always were latched on the criminal. Melody was in the middle trailing behind a bit, but she kept her eyes on Ash following him and thus following criminal. Michael took a much more leisurely distance, perfect for his weapon, but he made sure to always keep Melody in sight to make sure he didn't lose track of the criminal either. It was a tricky chain since if Melody lost track of Ash then Ash would be alone as Michael would lose him too.

It was a tactic that was well worth the practice though. They kept track of each other and the criminal whoever it was and they were hot on his trail. They dashed through the city and soon found themselves at the edge of the small town. The criminal pulled off one more disappearing trick behind one of the few trees dotting the otherwise barren landscape.

Michael paused, hesitating to leave the sanctity of his city. He looked back over his shoulder at the small town that stretched out behind him and with one final sigh. He descended down off of the building and further in after the criminal. He quickly caught up to Ash and Melody, both of whom were positioned around the same tree, their weapons in hand.

"Let's crush him," said Xander, still in his weapon form, an evil smile forming on his face. Ash nodded, he stepped forward and with a quick swish of his arm, brought the little tree down. He stopped for a second eyeing the piece of nature he had just destroyed and what was behind it…nothing. Despite Ash knew that he clearly saw the figment dodge and dance around until it came to a rest behind this tree, right now in this very instant there was nothing there.

"Either he disappeared into thin air or Ash was seeing things," muttered Shi, being ever so helpful and trustworthy in mirs teammates. Ash shot him a demonic look, he knew what he saw, that much was a fact and he saw something running away to this location. He didn't need to voice his opinion, both Michael and Melody trusted him and his sight well enough to follow him here.

"Well, then why did he lead us out here and THEN ditch us," brought up Melody, despite her trust in Ash she was still a little perturbed at all of this. She was acting like a decoy for a murderous maniac to come get and she wound up running all the way out here for nothing. "It was obviously capable of ditching us at any time, why wait till we were out here?"

"Why kill people?" asked Xander, bringing the topic to a screeching turning point. "I mean it is an Evil Human we are talking about it, obviously it's a little demented if not worse." Xander's point was valid, but still it didn't seem right. Would an Evil Human even run away in the first place? "It probably just did so for the thrill of the chase and as a cruel practical joke on us." Xander's reflection turned around on the blade facing the wide-open space in front of them. "You got us!" he shouted to the Evil Human wherever it was hiding. "We looked like fools chasing you!"

"'Praise thy enemy' isn't really one of the Ten Commandments," condescended May, her reflection was shaking its head at his stupidity. "We're supposed to be hunting it, remember? We're not playing tag."

"NOT IT!"declared Shi, forgetting all about the Evil Human matter in favor of a game. The crew redirected their gaze to mer. They shook their heads and decided to ultimately just ignore the outburst.

"I'm just saying it ducked all three of us, a little praise never hurt anyone. Besides I'd rather be completely duped by someone praise-worthy than by some idiot," defended Xander. Although he had half a mind to mention that it was entirely possible that Ash just saw a shadow of a rat or something and had chased it all the way out here to the hicks, however, throwing his own partner under the bus hardly seemed nice.

"Shut up," said Michael stomping his foot and garnering all of the attention. "Forget why he ran away from us! Why did he run away from town to this barren landscape? There's nothing out here! Which meant he wanted us out here! Or better yet not in town!" Michael's words hung in the air for a few precious seconds while May, Ash, and Xander tried to put them together. Shi busied hirself with other thoughts. The monster's real target was inside the city.

(-in the city limits-)

Zhavio chuckled to himself, a small cup of tea rested in his hands. He was enjoying himself. The one thing he liked more than the kill of his targets was the chase…ordinarily he preferred to be the one chasing, but this was just as good as just invigorating. They were going after a figment of his imagination just as they should. They bought his story hook, line, and sinker. They went after one of his decoy and it worked perfectly. He settled down, the thrill of the hunt hadn't ceased yet. The hunt wasn't over. Noelle still needed an hour or so. Michael's dad did a great job with the security system it would definitely keep her at bay for another hour then she would have to figure out the way to break her out. One challenge after another, it was a difficult job, but it was one he would enjoy doing.

His eyes traveled to his side. To the body of beheaded young woman. His hand went down and picked up her head. "It is such a shame. Killing you just for the joy of it would've been fun, but killing you for this reason almost makes it the same as a chore. Oh, well, make it so you don't die in vain, okay?"

It appears that Zhavio is outsmarting the group. He has them chasing their tales while he sits back and does nothing.