On the run. The Xweetok sprinted down the rugged, dusty path, breathing hard, appearing in pain. Her bloodshot eyes were open wide, pupils but tiny slits. Though she was drained of most of her obvious supply of energy, there must have been something that kept her moving toward the mountains ahead, tormenting the towering evergreen trees on the perimeter of the road. She always seemed to be running from something, but this time, it was far different than her usual sly qualities. The sun was now practically gone from the scene, coating the world with a gray-blue atmosphere. Never was she active at this hour; it was much too early. The pelt on her belly was deep purple, almost jet black, and the area it covered was huge. She was simply over-saturated with energy. Temperature rising around her, making it uncomfortable in the cooling days, blasts of violet and crimson were shot in random directions from her paws, blasting the area around her to bits. She continued on in a rage, teal cloak flapping violently behind her, almost occasionally exposing her purple locks that were flying back and framing her face.

Dymungo was trying, and failing, to look unobtrusive as he padded through the soft forest floor. Brown pine needles smoked under his paws, but none burst into flame. Dy was keeping himself under control. He glanced around warily, constantly on the lookout. He heard her before he saw her, the thump of footsteps behind him. His ear, just the one that actually worked, picked up the sound with unnatural clarity, as it had been designed to. Dymungo sighed, another person? He was getting tired of seeing others on this road. He moved a bit to the side so he wasn't directly in the middle, and decided to just wait there. Fire licked up around his paws, sending strange highlights on his dark maroon fur. Bat-like, metallic wings shifted and creaked above his head, the same color and material as the strange harness that covered him on the torso and face.

Teal kept it up; she could barely see anything around her, anyways. She was pretty much blinded by her situation. Could that be flame...? The words tried to inch into her skull as her little vision was impaired by several bright orange lights. She had just enough sense in her to stop, not wanting to run into the fire, if that was what it was, and frantically fidget until she decided on a place to go. A whimper-like scream shattered the night air as her frustration grew. Letting her rash actions take over, finally losing herself, she had but one choice- to keep letting out steam. She rocketed towards the shining light, eyes watering and her body breaking down altogether.

Dymungo's eyes widened as he saw the arrival, a xweetok, that was all he knew. She looked insane, and it made him wonder if she was possessed. He stood there, frozen for a minute, watching her fidget, "What the...?" he said, his eyebrow twitching. He winced at her scream, his sensitive right ear twanged painfully. And then she ran straight at him. Dymungo's -disallowed_word-hopefully) and poured it as gently as he could into her center of power.

This new feeling. It was... quiet, to say the least. It felt as though the stars had stopped and her mind was ringing with intensifying echoes, however pulsing and fading they seemed to become. Tealite couldn't really breathe, but was sure she wasn't dying. Pretty sure. Is this what it feels like...? She asked herself humbly. The whole experience was quite sobering, thinning out Teal's emotions and constant irritation. She felt as though she had been there before, and was quite ready to stay, though she resisted at every turn.
Suddenly, she was thrust upward into space and one by one the stars ignited fresh and new as her body accepted Dymungo's aid. Up she was raised through so many ethereal realms, sharp and painful to travel, and yet at the same time it felt uplifting. Her mind collided with a huge, celestial barrier, bringing her out of the dreamlike experience in its depths, and it was then that air was forced into her lungs. Her eyes were still closed as she reached out and grabbed Dymungo's forearm, using him as something to fight for, to keep her slight consciousness, to stay out of what was trying to keep her from her life in the forest.

Dymungo started to panic. She didn't seem to be breathing, she looked....she looked...well, dead. "Oh god oh god oh god-" He'd killed enough people unintentionally, he'd seen enough people die in front of him too. And Dymungo was sick of death, he didn't want to see another, not when he could prevent it. He was positive she was dead, and jumped straight up into the air when she grabbed his arm. "HOLY SH-" he shouted, cutting off abruptly when he realized she wasn't...a zombie thing back from the grave. She was definitely alive. "Do you need more?" Dymungo asked, eyes wide. He didn't even wait for her answer, she wasn't safe yet, and grabbed more energy to pour it into her. Dymungo had plenty to spare, and the drain he felt afterwards was a relief.

The barrier broke like shattered glass as Teal was bombarded with consciousness. Weak, perhaps. But she was back, after what seemed like many years, even though it was only minutes. Taking a quiet gasp, she opened her eyes to slits and moved her arm (which had since lost its grip on Dymungo) back to her side. Majority of the pain that was associated with the slash on her other wrist was throbbing gently, definitely not as painful as it used to be. She gawked when she realized what Dymungo had been doing to save her, and how close she would have been to... Well, no need to dwell on that too much.
Incendia burst into flames and vanished in cackles and pops.
"...Hey." She said sleepily.

Dymungo just sat down abruptly with a loud thump. Fortunately, he didn't drop her despite his shock. The bright yellow color of his flames was another indicator of his surprise. "Hey? HEY?! You almost DIED and all you have to say is HEY?!?!" he shouted, eyes wide as saucers. "I don't BELIEVE you!" Dymungo exclaimed, leaning back against the nearest tree with a groan. He noticed Incendia burst into flame out of the corner of his eye, and sighed with relief. That seemed to be a good thing. "Don't do that again ANYTIME SOON." Now that his outburst was over, Dymungo fell silent again.

...Wow. That hurt. A lot. (Phrase blocked for some weird reason? o_o) Obviously he didn't understand that, because she was almost KILLED, she couldn't say much after just breaking free from death's clutches, plus the fact that she was sore and half asleep. It was just her attempt to say she was okay! He misinterpreted, and it made her feel sick, like she took his help for granted. "No. It was a... sign." she sighed as she caught her breath a bit. "I wouldn't... do that to... you!" She explained. She clambered up to rest her weight in a relaxed position on her elbows. She bit her lip nervously. It wasn't... UGH. She waited a few moments before speaking again. But before she could, her maroon-glazed eyes fell diagonally downcast, and her ears fell. It just wasn't her to do something like that to anyone. She knew how precious strength was now, and she felt terrible about Dymungo's outrage...

Oh god. He was a complete idiot. She probably thought he was a total jerk now.... crap. If he didn't care then he wouldn't have gotten angry! ...On second thought, maybe manners were important. Not as important as saving lives, but...still. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like...well, not like that, but...ugh." Dymungo mentally whacked himself over the head. He had no idea what to say- at all. He failed horribly at making people feel better. "I got upset because- I was...uh, in shock?" Nice. Really eloquent. Somebody should just shoot me now. "You really shouldn't pay attention to what I say at those moments. I get worked up." ...Understatement. Major. Understatement. And he knew it. "I'm sorry." he apologized again. How he hated feeling guilty! It was such an unpleasant feeling, and it turned his flames to a darker shade of red.

Teal opened her eyes a bit more. Her breathing was beginning to regulate as well. It wasn't perfect, but it would produce a full sentence or two before tuckering out for a moment. Looking up, but to the side now, she shrugged sarcastically.
Puffing out a steady sigh, she turned to him and gave a weak smile, appearing slightly forced. 
She felt like becoming irritated... she almost wanted it. But realizing that this man saved her life, she brushed the feeling abruptly away as if it had never crossed her mind. Instead, she nodded lightly in reply. It was serious, but it had enough practical sense of acceptance in it that you just knew she understood.

Actually, wait. His thought about how she thought he was a jerk? Scratch that. He WAS a jerk. Way to ruin your self esteem again. Dymungo was feeling even worse now that he was starting to realize just how bad her condition was. What had he been thinking, that a little magic could just make her perfectly normal again?! ....Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Good lord he needed to control his...moods. All right, temper tantrums. At least her shrug indicated she was still all right, even if she couldn't speak. ...What came next after saving people? The first thing Dymungo thought about food. ....Food? What's so important about food. ...Well, I guess it does keep you alive. But she's in bad shape, I don't think I'll be moving anytime soon. "Do you need anything?" he asked, completely unsure of what to do next.

She scrunched her nose. Her whole respect deal was coming through her. "You just saved my life. Why would I ask you to do ...anything more for me?" A pause. "Of course... I don't want you to just leave me here like this. Obviously. That was stupid to say..." Another break. Her eyes sparked as reality finally grasped her. Of course she couldn't be left here; she could barely move her legs. She would most probably die. "Actually," she said, starting to contradict her previous statement, "night will fall soon. Do you know where a nice place would... be to rest? It'd need... light. I could get some strength... that way. ...Aghh!" A sharp pain surged through her body, taming her back and discouraging further activity.

Oh dear. He was responsible for her life now. Don't mess up now, don't mess up now! Dymungo waited for her to finish what she had to say before replying, deep in thought. "Well," he began, shrugging. "I don't know this place extremely well, but I guess there would be some areas at the top of the mountains where you could get a lot of light. I'd have to fly you there though...I can do it, I'm fairly strong and you're pretty light, but I'd need to make you some kind of metal stretcher. Does that sound like a good plan?" Dymungo frowned, she was still in pain. This could be worse than he thought...and he was no medic!
...After all, doctors were scary.

…Better than what I'd come up with." She whispered. Guilt stabbed through her heart like a hot knife through butter after a moment of thought.
"I… I can't believe I got you into this. I've been such a..." But she couldn't find the words (or the breath) to finish her statement. "I'm gonna… pay you back for this. Just… you wait." The fire in her eyes told the same story. 
Suddenly self-consciousness took the better of her as she realized that her hood had been down all this time. But seriously, she thought. She trusted him enough to not worry about her identity. Then a thought slapped her in the face: It didn't matter. Now was the time to be cooperative, for both of their sakes.

Dymungo sighed. "Now's not the time to feel guilty. I'm the worst possible guy to end up with your life depending on. I could accidentally kill you easily if we were attacked, or anything like that." He paused, and noted her -disallowed_word-the wounded one) had no such luck; it refused to do what she wanted, besides stretch. However, she soon learned that she could rotate her feet around, digging them into the earth; her legs still felt like she had just ran five miles weighted. Teal continued to stretch in frustration, wishing more than ever to just get up and move... It wouldn't be too long now before she could; in a little more than a half-hour, she decided, she could move. Not perfectly, but normal... enough. After all, energy was basically being pumped into her with the intensity of the sun. She swiveled her head around. Something felt... odd. And misplaced. But as far as she could tell, they were still the only ones in view.

As Dymungo paced back and forth, he saw something- something move. Something dark, in the rocks below. There was a flash of yellow eyes....Dymungo stiffened. "Teal. There's..something. Something down there." He didn't want to stop and ask questions, Dymungo was tempted to burn the hillside into ash right then and there. But there was always the off chance it could be some innocent xweetok on a picnic...all though he SERIOUSLY doubted that thought. "SHOW YOURSELF!" he shouted loudly, snarling. "Show yourself or I ATTACK." The fires on his body lept up and burned with a white hot intensity that scorched the grass around him. Dymungo moved between where he guessed the location of ..whatever it was to be and Teal. Hopefully if it decided to attack it would attack him. There was another flash of yellow eyes as the thing scuttled around behind a clump of bushes.

Ah-- Teal froze. Her eyes, however, darted this way and that, now blood red. At Dymungo's words an adrenaline rush had activated in her system and her healing rate must tripled momentarily, because she was now squatting, much like a ninja might. After a brief moment of backlash she almost fell over again, especially when she put her weight on her injured arm. "Where?" She hissed (not that she was angry at him) quietly in a whisper-like tone. She was still pretty weak, but she couldn't show it. Not now. She needed to keep up her act... The markings on her arms and belly grew a tad smaller, but made up for it by deepening to a murky purple-black. She reached for her hood and pulled it over her once-exposed head.

...What. Dymungo swiveled his head around at her. "What are you doing?" he said flatly. "Defend yourself...yes, but let me handle this. You aren't ready to fight yet." he growled, still impressed by her fast recovery. Dymungo's head snapped back to face the location of the sinister, eyes narrowing. He summoned heat to the area, about to ignite it all with searingly hot flames, when a shadowy figure in the shape of a dragon 'flew' up into the air and streaked towards them both like a jet. It was absolutely disgusting, dark, but with reddish tints here and there, it seemed to be made out of shadow matter or some such but wasn't an actual shadow itself. Fire shot straight into the air in a pillar twenty yards wide, hissing angrily as it torched the sinister. There was a shriek as it fell to the ground and glared at them with hateful eyes. "GO AWAY." shouted Dymungo at it, face contorted into a terrible snarl.

Teal suddenly realized what she had done. Stand up. Stand up? No... She couldn't do that without regretting it afterwards. But she didn't realize that she had actually crouched and cloaked her head until Dymungo had told her; afterwards, it clicked. She blinked a few times. And then she saw it. The Sinister.
Just its looks made her want to vomit, and her face probably reflected that thought. Then it just happened all to fast... It was getting warm, even for her... "Whao...!!!" She gasped.
She had rolled away to escape the heat, which had brought pain to her sides... A bloodcurdling screech... This was it now. A real battle. Life or death... Winner takes all.
Her face contorted into the calmest form of malice, which, in turn, could be argued as the scariest kind. She scrambled to a position she could make an easier fight with, once again positioning herself adjacent her ally. Teal was only half aware, paying sharp attention to the impression in her mind of flame that had shot up from the ground… Her paws ignited weakly, her injured arm weaker still, with a violent pulse, like it was a struggle to do so. Weird… She pondered, thoughts flying through her mind. It was like she only had short bursts of energy now and anon. 
"Watch OUT!!!" She wailed quickly, fearing a backlash from the Sinister.

Dymungo staggered as he felt his magical demon rake his mind with fiery fingers, it felt like flame inside his skull. No. I will not go possessed, not here, not now. With a huge and visible effort he managed to cast it away, but if things got too intense could he manage to suppress it? Dymungo cast away that thought and hearing Teal's shout, instinctively turned in her direction. Bad idea. The sinister let out a roar and lashing out an abnormally long extended arm with long, shadowy claws on the end, raked said claws down Dymungo's side, leaving a nasty gash. Dy snarled as he swiveled his head back and lashed out with a fire covered paw at the sinister. It backed off a few steps, while Dymungo clutched his side and glared at it. He retaliated by sending a fireball whizzing towards it, but the sinister leaped to the side easily.

Dymungo looked quite distracted now. But he hadn't been hurt yet. What was going on?! And she finally figured it out.
He was fighting something. Mentally. And it brought her fur to stand on end; was it...? He resembled herself, when she was holding the inevitable inside...
Screw the pain.
When the Sinister had lashed, she flinched before she realized what had happened. 
It won't hurt you if you don't want to feel it. And it seemed to her what she had to do as her sore arm ignited in a flurry of ultraviolet sparks, thrashing with crimson flame. At first, the pain was instant, and the power subsided with a labored cough-like whimper. But slowly, carefully... she was able to put up with it for the time being. It would practically kill her later, but she wasn't thinking of that. It wasn't his fault that he was doing what he was...
"You leave him alone."
A low, grinding growl came from her throat as the Sinister came to her and, using ungodly speed, bit down on her unguarded arm, clamping its jaws into her flesh. The effect was immediate and explosive. Teal screeched pure torture. She was going to die. Right there and now. She knew it.
But pain is only a state of mind, child.
With that, the mage began to kick, bite, and punch (with her ignited arm) the creature, and she couldn't feel if it was going to let go or not.

As the demon resurged and Dymungo forced it back down again the whole world seemed to blur for a moment. Everything froze for a moment, and dimly he heard Teal's voice behind him. He turned to see her arm explode into flame- but then there was a black blur and he could hardly tell Teal from the sinister in the chaos. The sinister was screeching in a horrible manner as Teal inflicted blow after blow, but Dymungo could see it wasn't letting go and finally had a good idea of what was happening. He ran at them in a panic, completely incapable of using any fire attacks for fear of hitting Teal with the sinister(his control was actually not all that good.) and instead jumped on the thing's back and began to rip and tear with fangs and claws, slashing out with metal wings. The thing whipped it's- tail? Could you call it that? And Dymungo went spinning off, hitting the ground with a loud thud before leaping up again.

Now she'd lost it. Teal realized, through Dymungo's maneuver, that there was little either one could apparently do. 
It only raised her temper.
The flames shot longer and brighter, igniting every blow with a firework's explosion. Though she tried to regain her footing, she felt the worst sort of rocky resistance... And then it hit her.
It was dragging her. Though all that she'd put it through, it was pulling her away. 
That sent her into irate absentmindedness, even more so. The flame of her blackened belly began to spread, exposing it's power to the Sinister, but with the instinct of a natural predator, it began to shake her. She was too lively to go anywhere with, and so it stood there and began to shred the life out of her, grabbing her body, which was effortless to it under normal circumstances, and trying to simply bring her down. To knock her out. Anything... Before that flame got any larger!

Dymungo ran towards the sinister again, completely impulsive without any thought at all, furious at it and even more so when it began to shake Teal. Did the thing ever give UP!? Dymungo's lack of strategy put him in a dangerous position, he was fighting foolishly and not using his powers to their full extent. The fires around his feet lit up to an unbelievable temperature, blinding to look at and scorching the ground as they touched like lava, but the second he got too close the sinister directed a bolt of what looked like black shadow right at his face. The attack was unbelievably powerful, the kind of oneshot hit that was used only once- to end the battle. Dymungo was knocked backwards into the ground, hard, and completely unconscious did not get up. He wasn't dead, any normal xweetok would be dead by now but normal Dymungo was not. The sinister didn't bother to finish him off, it's energies and attention had really been focused on Teal, and Dymungo wouldn't be waking up for several hours.

A chill surged from her spine throughout her veins as something was disrupted... She could barely notice her surroundings, but knew Dymungo had been hit. What else could explain the sudden scorching air, only to die down moments later? 
Knowing its primary threat was out of the way, the Sinister stopped shaking Teal, dropping her for a moment to check and see if she was 'dead' enough to bring along. As her senses snapped into her (though they were still weak), Teal saw herself staring into the completely terrifying frontal view of the creature's head. It stared right back at her; she knew only a fool would try and flee at this point. Besides, her ability to stand had been simply knocked out of her again from the impact in the earth. ...She knew what was going to happen now. Breathing shallow and far too frequent to be healthy, Teal, using jerky, quick movements, unpinned the crimson brooch from her cloak with some effort, squeezing it tight and throwing it so that it rested adjacent to her ally. He could still be alive... And if he could track... This immediately caught the Sinister's attention, and it hissed, full of the sound of inhumane things, but ignored the piece of jewelry and snatched up the girl, who wailed in undeniable pain; it wasn't caring now. It shook her one more time, the hardest, and everything seemed to fade... the last thing she saw was Dymungo's limp body as it carried her away to its domain.