As the dust cleared, the dragon looked down, curling his lip. "Aw shit," he said, "I think I broke his neck."

"Tony, you fuckin' dope," the black furred creature sitting on the hood of the sedan said irritably. The car's frame creaked as he got down off of it.

The next second, Hawk's foot shot up and connected hard with the dragon's jaw.

"You--you just couldn't leave me alone, could ya?!" Hawk sat up, rubbing his neck with one hand. A strange pale noise ran from his eyes like tears and hissed away into the air. "That hurt, too," he complained, his face contorting in fury. "Now I'm mad."

Yoshi and Vlad had managed to follow the action, but had come up against a dilapidated fence line, buried in unkempt grass and brush. Beyond it was an empty lot, and they could see some distance away where Hawk was struggling with the dragon and the black-furred creature.

"Oh shit," Vlad breathed, peering through the fence.

"Is--is that him??" Yoshi asked, pushing vegetation out of the way so she could see. "Hawk?"

"Yes." Hawk seemed to be doing all right, considering he was outnumbered--he pushed the dragon's head down into the dirt and launched himself bodily into the black-furred creature, winding him. The dragon rose up again, angling himself towards Hawk's back. "Oh god. Stay here, Yoshi," Vlad ordered.

"What? No!" Yoshi said indignantly. Vlad had found a spot in the fence line where two of the panels had been bent apart, secured only at the top by some wire. Ignoring the 'no trespassing' sign exactly beside the break, he began to wedge himself through. Yoshi argued, "That's Liya's brother! I can help."

"Oh, don't be stubborn," Vlad snapped. He got through and began to jog across the lot, but didn't get far before realizing that Yoshi was following him anyway, hiking up her skirts and huffing irritably as she did. Vlad didn't try to stop her, but muttered, "Shinobu's gonna kill me."