Roleplay:Poacher's Intrigue

Plot
Mobius is home to an immense variety of fauna, many of whom have supernatural properties, such as Elemental manipulation. However, in the wild, there is no such thing as complete safety, and many of these creatures fall prey to an unnatural threat; poachers.

Hunting is not an uncommon practice on Mobius; meat and pelts are valuable, especially to those who live outside of cities and towns. But poachers take things an illegal step further and typically target vulnerable species, killing them either for sport or for monetary gain. They may even capture live specimens and sell them for money. Quite a few species on Mobius have become endangered or close to it thanks to the works of poachers.

Things are not all grim, however; there are many conservationists who have tirelessly fought back against poachers, and have managed to thwart some of their efforts. Unfortunately, there may be a rise in more powerful groups of poachers...

Rules

 * 1) Stick to the plot. Do not alter it to revolve around your character, do not change it drastically, etc.
 * 2) No Godmodding. You should all know what this means; no auto-hitting, no random attacks, no constant avoidance of damage, etc
 * 3) No Trolling.
 * 4) No picking random fights with others.
 * 5) Do not just randomly jump into a scene. Either ask, or build up your arrival accordingly (I.E "Suddenly, such and such and such" or "Meanwhile, somewhere else blah blah blah")
 * 6) No hogging all the glory.
 * 7) No controlling other users' characters without their permission.
 * 8) Put effort in your posts. I mean it; none of this "Person: Shadow Ball! *uses Shadow Ball*" crap.
 * Acceptable method: (Person: Shadow Ball! *charges up a concentrated ball of shadow energy, and then fires it at Person 2*)
 * Preferred method: ("Shadow Ball!" Person yelled. Cupping his hands in front of him, he began charging up a concentrated ball of pure shadows. After a few seconds he threw the ball at Person 2.)

Current Participants
''Moderators are the peacekeepers of the RP (their names are in green). Listen to them if they tell you that you broke a rule, and don't throw a hissy pissy fit if they give out constructive criticism on how you RP.''
 * green - RP Owner/Moderator
 * Strikes: 0
 * Saren the Dark Lynx -
 * Strikes: 0
 * Awkwarddingo -
 * Strikes: 0
 * Lunari64 -
 * Strikes: 0

Banned Users
None so far. Let's keep it that way.

Heroes

 * T.S.E.P - A small, nonprofit organization that focuses on environmental concerns. Played by Ryu and anyone else who owns a character that is a member of this group.
 * Saren Arcturias - Not much of a hero, more of an asshole, but still has some interests in keeping poaching down. Played by Saren.
 * Rowan the Squirrel - A zoologist who is staunchly against poaching. Played by Ryu.
 * Conner the Squirrel - Played by Ryu.

Neutral

 * Io the Cat - Played by Lunari64. A quiet, multisouled cat. She isn't interested in tracking down the poachers themselves, but would rather take care of and protect the wildlife.
 * Cooper the Squirrel - Played by Ryu. The cowardly younger brother of Roland the Squirrel, Cooper more often than not acts as unwilling bait for his older brother's hunting trips.

Villains

 * Roland the Squirrel - Played by Ryu. A Moebian who only cares about the thrill of big-game hunting and the money he gets for selling the valuable parts of his kills.
 * Saul The Bobcat - Played by Dingu. A former warlord with some cybernetics, he decided to retire to play The Most Dangerous Game. He came to hunt the wildlife and stayed to hunt the conservationists. Oddly enough, he traded most of his lethal weapons for tranquilizers...
 * Xavek - Played by Saren. An alien war droid who runs an arms manufacturing and R&D firm as a front for his schemes to destroy all organic life, he has come to capture some specimens for genetic splicing and cybernetic augmentation. Oddly enough, Xavek seems to find joy in watching these creatures before making his move.

Part 1

 * The Roleplay starts here.

It was mid-day in the jungles of the Mystic Ruins. Two Mobian squirrels were making their way through the dense underbrush; the slightly taller, rust-colored member of the pair was holding what looked like a small tracking device.

"Okay, explain why we're out here again? It feels like a sauna...!" the younger squirrel complained. His older companion frowned but didn't turn to him, instead focusing on the device.

"I told you, we're checking up on the Plumed Sylphs that got microchipped," he said, looking upwards now, towards the trees. Normally they were alive with the sounds and sights of the jungle's rich ecosystem, but today things seemed silent, and that unsettled the rust-colored squirrel. He held the device up, brow furrowed.

"...this isn't right...there should be some kind of signal...!"

This particular stretch of the jungle was home to a colony of Plumed Sylphs...at least, it normally was. But there didn't seem to be any sign of the creatures. This colony in particular had about half of its members microchipped about a month ago by members of G.U.N's Soumercan Wildlife division, to keep track of them, but he wasn't getting any of the microchipped individuals on the radar.

Where were they?

"This isn't good," he mumbled to himself. The two continued walking forward until the older squirrel's tracker started to beep. Ears perking up, he darted forward, following the radar. His companion groaned and took off after him, wiping sweat off his brow.

The radar led them to a clearing; a small creature was huddled up near the base of a tree, seeming to be crouching over something. The rust-colored squirrel's ears drooped.

"Oh no..."

He walked forward slowly, and the creature immediately flared its considerably large (compared to its body) and feathery wings, hissing. The younger squirrel peered over his companion's shoulder.

"Is that a Sylph...?"

He nodded.

"Yeah. A Plumed Sylph..."

But his attention was focused on the form below the defensive Plumed Sylph; it was another Plumed Sylph, but clearly deceased, its wings, antenna and tail having been removed, leaving only bloodied stumps. It's still-living companion was valiantly guarding the body.

"They had to have been mates," he mumbled. A rustling noise came from the Sylph as it rapidly vibrated its wings, as if trying to scare the two squirrels off.

"So is one of them microchipped, then?" the orange-red squirrel asked. The other slowly approached the Plumed Sylph, crouching low to not seem so large to it.

"Yeah...I don't know which one has the chip, though..."

The Sylph hissed and chattered at him again.

Then, whistling and footsteps are heard. Both squirrels turned towards the source of the noise.

"Who's there...??" the older one asked.

It was a yellow lynx wearing a hooded grey trench coat. "Me, I'm just a guy who's on vacation and decided to go off the beaten trail to sightsee. You?"

The Plumed Sylph had also turned towards the lynx, but was refusing to leave the side of its fallen mate. The rust-colored squirrel looked from the Sylph to the lynx, raising an eyebrow.

"Keeping track of Plumed Sylphs that have had microchips implanted into them, but it looks like I've...come too late."

He did his best to hide his disgust; clearly, the creature's death and defilement had sickened him.

Predictably, the lynx didn't show much regard for the defiled corpse. "What's done is done, the only thing you can do is move forward and murder the ones responsible for the act.."

The squirrel frowned, looking irritated.

"One, this is clearly a case of poaching. And two, I'm not about to stoop to their level by committing murder."

"I'd totally kill them," the younger squirrel said, shrugging. His brother glared at him.

"This one gets it." Saren pointed at the younger squirrel. "So you just catch them, get them sent to jail.. Most might have connections or a lot of money so sooner or later they get out, then start the cycle all over again. So why bother with just locking them up when a more permanent solution exists, one that will actually send a message instead being tantamount to a slap on the wrist?"

"Yeah, c'mon Rowan! Let's kill those bastards!"

The rust-colored squirrel, Rowan, stood up and crossed his arms, looking from his brother to the lynx.

"Even if I did want to commit murder, how would I exactly know who was responsible for this? It's not like they'd come out and declare it to the world that they're a poacher!"

"Observation, and as much as I hate to say it, using an extremely rare animal as a sort of bait.."

Rowan rubbed at his chin, deep in thought.

"The rarest thing I can think of is either a Tundra Reaver or a Moon Sylph, but I don't think the Golden Glade Wildlife Sanctuary would let me borrow Kholat for this. And Moon Sylphs can't be found here in Soumerca..."

'''* Meanwhile, in the Frozen Plateau Zone of Artika, two other squirrels were trudging through the tundra, dwarfed by the glacial plateaus that gave the Zone its name. They were dressed appropriately for the area, and the slightly smaller squirrel was trying to light up a cigarette. His companion's ears twitched and he turned towards the other, glaring.

"You idiot, the smell's gonna scare the prey off!" he hissed.

"O-Oh, sorry," he mumbled, ears drooping slightly as he closed the lighter and put it away. The two continued walking until they reached a more wooded area of the Zone. The rust-colored squirrel grinned.

"This is it," he said, kneeling down and pulling off his backpack, setting it in front of him. He pulled out a reasonably large, black plastic bag and stood up, walking towards a clearer area of the icy forest and opened up the bag, dumping its contents onto the ground; it was a mass of raw, unidentifiable meat. Wadding the bag into a ball, he then backed up and retreated towards a thicker section of trees, roughly pulling his companion with him.

"This would be a lot more fun if I didn't have to worry about the damn Ice Clan," he muttered to himself, crouching down behind the trees. Then he waited, while his companion sighed quietly and leaned back against another tree.

"Now what?" he asked, reaching into the pocket of his hoodie.

"Well, obviously, we wait, little bro," said the other squirrel. "And I swear to the gods, if you try and light up another cigarette right now, I'll skin you alive and use you as bait instead...!"

His voice was a hiss now as he glared at his sibling. The orange-red squirrel immediately pulled his hand away from his pocket as his companion peeked out from behind the tree to observe the pile of raw meat. A lone Frost Imp was sniffing at it.

"Tch, just an Imp," he muttered, going back to hiding. "Not worth the effort."

What looked like a burst of plasma was fired at the Frost Imp.