Oh, there's a river that winds on forever

[Ito Nozomi]

No escaping this easily now, that was blatant. There were wolves all around them, and Nozomi had a feeling they weren't the simple minded predators one might normally find. He was a sort of shifter himself, despite the difference in type. The difference was something he could feel himself.

He wasn't about to let them hurt the kid.

They needed to get through the wolves and get away, the quickest way possible. He looked back at Lyle in the corner of his eye when he started to speak. Magic? Yeah, that light was clearly a type of magic, and it helped somewhat, but that snarling one wasn't giving up so easily.

Nozomi steadied his footing, facing the furious wolf. He brought his arm up and in front of his face with swift fluidity, a cloud of dark grays following the motion as something black appeared in his hand. Sweeping towards the wolf, the sound of something hard making impact echoed through the air, and the wolf yelped, knocked back. With a flick of the wrist, the tessen opened with a loud snap!, vibrant red orange blended into the yellow at the base of the fabric, a contrast from the black iron ribs.

As the wolf was recovering-- and quickly at that-- another shook off the light Lyle summoned and bit into Nozomi's other wrist while he was focused. He winced, but shook it off, too attentive to watching the big one and keeping an eye on Lyle.

"We need an opening..." Or a longer moment with them all distracted-- including the feral-- so he could shift. He saw Lyle had magic, and they were in a desperate situation.

If they had to fight their way out against a pack, he'd rather do it in his true form, whether Lyle had more aggressive spells to help them or not.

[Lyle Duffy]

Rin? Tsukiko Lawson?

"Wha--okay!"

It seemed as if they weren't completely boned out here, then. Nozomi had some kind of ability to summon a weapon and that at least seemed to keep the wolf coming for him at bay. Not for long, though. He had friends, and they weren't taking too kindly to the pair of them stepping into their territory.

"Yeah... yeah... we do."

Lyle looked Nozomi over, a little... worried. He'd been bitten. He hoped to hell they weren't werewolves now. Especially feral ones. Not that he had anything against werewolves or anything but... he had heard how bad it was for the feral population. And these guys weren't exactly friendly.

"We don't want any trouble!" Lyle tried, as if he could reason with them. If they were just normal wolves, well then. He looked like a frigging moron. But if they weren't... "We're just looking for a pack, that's all. Lawson? Do you know her? Tsukiko? Anyone?"

Crap.

[Tsukiko Lawson]

Tsukiko followed the scent she had picked up, which had led her to Pebble Lake. As she had gotten closer she sensed she wasn't the only wolf. They were most likely members of a pack, and she was only one. Yet it was too late to turn back. She jumped in front of the two males, her teeth bared, snarling at the other wolves. They were the biggest threat to her at that moment.

One lunged for her. She swiftly dodged and bit them, hard enough to leave a mark. A warning. Whether or not they got the message and backed down had yet to be seen. Focused on the wolves, she had forgotten about Lyle and Nozomi.

[Ito Nozomi]

He noticed Lyle looking at him-- probably because he was bit-- but didn't think much of it. Ferals weren't so likely to transfer their sickness to him... his kind. (If any of them were ferals, anyway.) Not only the fact that he was a dragon, but a youkai. Nozomi wouldn't know anyone to tell him whether he was correct or not, however, he'd hope the former, for everyone's sake.

These wolves really were out for blood. They didn't at all seem ready to back down, while normal wolves might have. Sometimes, simple minded animals were better. Shifters had that human side, the one where they could be swayed by an agenda more than staying alive, not always the benevolent side of humankind, who could empathize and be reasoned with.

They weren't willing to reason, clearly.

Ah. Another wolf leaped out and ended up blocking the others. Whether it was a wildling protecting them or not, those other wolves were distracted.

There was his opening.

"Sorry... if this freaks you out." he said warily to Lyle, apology in his soft tone, too.

Breathing slowly inward, more clouds of varying grays manifested around all of them, slinking rapidly toward Nozomi. Eventually he was engulfed, and the clouds began to form shapes where he once was. The figure of a dragon, molding out of darkness. With vibrant white eyes, large wings tucked away, and flesh and scales almost cloud-like to the touch through the dark shadows tightly veiling him, Nozomi was no longer recognizable as the human form once standing there.

He was large enough to peek out over the tops of the trees, despite crouching, but no one would really notice in this cover of night. A long tail curled around him and Lyle, ready to slash out if any of the wolves dared lunge. His head hung somewhat beside and above Lyle, eyeing every wolf.

The breath he'd taken in was exhaled out when he finished shifting, and the grass under them rustled, frazzled by the breeze created.

[Lyle Duffy]

When a new wolf entered the fray, Lyle was immediately on edge--but then he recognized her under the light of his light-ball spell.

"Kiko!" he exclaimed, both happy to see her and worried that she had come for him... only to get into trouble. Damn it. He knew he shouldn't have made assumptions and gone looking on his own. Her person... might not even be related to werewolves for all he knew. They never had a chance to discuss it before Lyle's father called him in for dinner and they weren't able to pick up the topic again.

"Wait. What?" Lyle turned to look at Nozomi. Freak him out...? What was that supposed to mean? And then... he realized as he watched what he meant. "Oh."

Lyle was acquainted with the paranormal side of Hazleton but mostly just the witches. He knew there were others, like Kiko. But this was new to him. He thought Nozomi was just a witch with summoning abilities. It turned out he was something else entirely.

"Don't hurt Kiko!" He didn't know if Nozomi in that form could understand him or if he was wild like a feral werewolf. To be honest, he was out of his depth on this one.

[Tsukiko Lawson]

That name and voice were familiar, but the vicious wolves in front of her were unpredictable. They didn't seem to be the type to listen. Thankfully the wolf and herself agreed it was a waste of time trying to talk to heads full of rocks.

She felt the air around them change, so she stole a glance. What had she just witnessed? A dragon?

She looked back at the wolves. They still seemed eager to fight. Appearances meant everything, so she let out a fierce growl. If they knew she was scared they could have used it against her. She crouched slightly, preparing to attack or counter-attack.

Three pounced at the dragon. Tsukiko pounced, knocking one over with all of her weight, and biting another. The rest of the wolves took it as their signal to charge.

[Ito Nozomi]

Yeah, he was a dragon. Nozomi was a dragon. Even supernaturals didn't see those in this area very often. There were all sorts of dragons, and as far as he knew, they were all around despite quite hidden. Youkai weren't so much a part of this area... but that was demographic, so he especially wasn't surprised by the lack of dragons of his kind.

Since the new wolf was focused on the ones who had attacked them, Nozomi hadn't planned on attacking that one, anyway. However, he noted the concern in Lyle's tone. Was this the wolf he was taking care of, then? That would... make more sense. Focused, he nodded curtly to Lyle. He wouldn't attack her.

Still wanted to fight, did they? Fine. When the new arrival-- Kiko-- lunged at them, the rest seemed propelled by the adrenaline of fight in the air. The one Lyle's friend missed bit into his neck, teeth slipping through the layer of dark matter and puncturing through scales after some effort. Nozomi raised his tail, cutting through the air to flatten under his tail the one who came at Kiko.

He was focused on protecting them, leaving himself second.

Nozomi might still bleed in this form, but they wouldn't like the taste.

Lurching his back, he curled around Lyle in a position to better protect him. Twisting his neck, Nozomi glanced briefly down at the kid, black needle of a pupil moving amongst the bright light of the rest of his eyes. With an opened mouth, razor sharp teeth the same black as his figure glistened in the light of Lyle's magic-- catching light, unlike his body.

Rather than roar, a deep rumble erupted from his throat, some strange mixture of hissing and groaning. His chest rose and fell, violet peeking out from flesh on his stomach and chest transparent enough to faintly see the glow.

With no warning, he ripped open his wings-- as much as he could in the somewhat small area. Several of the wolves couldn't dodge, taken by surprise at the sudden lack of room, and tumbled over with whimpers and yelps. Others took the hits and bit at his wings.

Dark matter seeped up from the ground in certain spots, but he gave no commands yet. It had little flecks of color sprinkled into the darkness.

Still think they'll be reasoned with? His voice was in Lyle's head, but he didn't use a malicious tone-- maybe it was a half rhetorical question. Half of him wondered if Lyle thought there was any chance besides retreating the scene.

[Lyle Duffy]

Wow. Bad idea. This whole thing had bad idea written all over it from the moment he thought about it. But here they were... Fighting wolves off in the forest.

Kiko must have followed him here. It didn't look like she knew any of these wolves. And the wolves... didn't seem to be werewolves because they weren't stopping and they definitely weren't being reasoned with. And to that question, Lyle sighed.

"No, I don't."

They were just wolves and they were now on the hunt, for both Kiko and Nozomi. Not to even mention himself--probably the weakest target out of the three. If it weren't for Nozomi's protection, he would have been mauled to dog meat by now.

"Kiko! We gotta retreat!" Lyle didn't know what else to do to help, so he did as his mother might have, and he called to the earth, coaxing the plant life around them to grow. The shrubs and grass grew wildly and he directed them to wrap like ropes around the wolves' feet. He could only do so much, though. Some of the wolves were running. Some snapped at the plants. And some weren't within his range of magic and remained unfettered.

"We have to go, now!"

ETA: It's been a month, so I'm going to say they did get out of there. Let me know if you want a continuation in a fresh thread later.