That...sinking feeling..[Hazama/Mia/ask to join]

[ellebelle]

Instead of his attack landing, Spike was met with an unexpected blow. Yes he had braced himself for possible counter-attack, but Spike had not exactly been expecting something like this. With a powerful collision of the energy fueled attack against his chin Spike was sent spinning high into the air. Not that he was even aware of the joy ride, dazed as he was from Hazama's kick. With the inevitability of gravity he soon slammed back into the ground with a large crack. *Yup, gonna feel that tomorrow.* Was the vampire's thought as he tried to recover from some of the shock. Spike was plenty used to such powerful hits. He dealt with superhuman strengthed vampires such as himself and even more powerful demons on a daily basis. But it was the force of energy in Hazama's attack that he had not really expected.

"Bloody hell! What kind of sodding stuff are you on?" Spike coughed as he wiped some blood away from his chin. Not wanting to experience that attack again he jumped to his feet after a moment. Then he heard Anya snarl something to him in that rare tone she used when she really meant business. Spike turned in the direction of her voice, confused because it had not came from where she had just been standing. But he soon remembered her nifty teleporting trick and was able to abandon his confusion to listen to what she was saying. Spike was a little bit surprised upon hearing how dead serious and angry she sounded. Even that might have shook him from his own rage if her words had not. One thing Spike knew was that Anya was not one to say things she didn't mean. And he knew she was right. He knew he should have fully acknowledged Hazama tryin to provoke him. And he also knew that he needed to calm down and focus on this.

"No worries, pet." Spike managed to say after he let some of his seething anger deflate. Spike tensed again when Hazama addressed Anya. His anger almost rising again before he realized Hazama was not yet making any attempts to attack her. But Spike didn't want to give him more of a chance to do so. "Just having a bit of fun is all." He told the demon sheepishly even as he lunged for Hazama again, and made an attempt to grab him by the shoulder. If that worked, Spike would try to aim a kick of his own. Or more like a knee to Hazama's stomach.

[Anya]

Anya had seen a whole helluva lot in her eleven-hundred years. Demonic ascensions, rituals to bring back the dead, hell itself...but she was pretty sure she'd never seen a flying vampire. Momentarily stunned out of her angry ranting, she tracked Spike with her eyes as he was flung up into the air by Hazama's attack. Oh...yup, he was comin' down. Maybe she should...teleport over there and try to catch him! Except, demonic strength be damned, something told Anya that this 'bright idea' would not work out well. So she merely winced a bit as the vampire collided with ground, looking slightly dazed as he scrambled to his feet. Okay. Well. Maybe that would teach him to wake up and smell the roses, Anya thought as her irritation began to ebb back again.

By the time Hazama began to address her, the vengeance demon was wearing a full-on scowl once again, and the instant he started to speak she snapped her glare over to him. Clearly not amused by his sneering words, and with most of her former fearfulness replaced by her current agitation. She was really starting to get pissed. Pissed that Hazama seemed to know exactly how to provoke Spike, pissed that the vampire had actually let him do so, pissed that this fight had even broken out in the first place. The question now, was...what was she going to do about it?

"HAH. That's...that's really cute. You know what, Hazama, I have had..." With another soft pop, the vengeance demon teleported again so that she was now standing considerably closer to the green-haired man, though still on the opposite side of Spike. If she could keep hoppin' around like this, she figured, perhaps she could distract or at least irritate Hazama enough to keep his attention away from Spike and actually allow the vampire to land an attack this time. "...just about enough of all this. I. Am. A vengeance demon. Key word: VENGEANCE. You wanted mad?"

Another teleport, this time once again directly behind Hazama. Reaching out, Anya tapped him lightly on the shoulder just as Spike made his move. "You got it. DEAL with it."

Okay, at least this crankiness was helping with some of her panic. But really, Anya wasn't sure how long she could keep up all this zippin' around before either it started to wear her energy down sufficiently, or Hazama just got fed up and swatted her into a brick wall or something...ugh. Hopefully this would be over fast...

[Hazama]

This time, Hazama was painfully aware of Anya's obnoxious teleportation, and while he was glad he was starting to get to her, he wasn't really interested in getting burnt to a crisp. He sighed as he heard the 'pop' of Anya's abilities. As she spoke about how she was mad, Hazama seemed outwardly pleased at her frustration and anger...but then she paused hostily at the end of her sentince...that meant another teleportation-- likely behind him, with a fiery daemon-y attack. Suddenly, he jumped upwards, once again in his inhuman fashion, leaping up to the height of two and a half stories, as he forced a chain to charge directly down...but then, Spike charged just as he jumped...and if he tripped like he thought he was gonna', then chances were the chain would tear a rather large gash in the fella's neck...which was rather bad for Hazama.

'Goddamn! Fuckin' idiot vampires!'

As it became apparent that William Pratt might get skewered, the chain stopped mid-way, as another appeared to the side of Hazama, throwing him to the position the others were previously...damn! His quick plan was simply to kick Anya in the face and use the 'Venom Sword' technique to protect him as he continued to poke at the duo...but now, he was starting to realise that if he continued playing like this, he might end up having to turn it up a notch...and if he did that, there was a very very very good chance one of these new 'Ragna-seedlings' might kick the bucket, which would more or less destroy the entire point of him coming here.

'What a pain! Ah well...best to make the most of it...at least I don't have to dirty up my suit now...'

"Ah ah~! I won't kill you, Spikey...not yet! Buuuuuut yeah. This is reaaaaaaaaaaal fun guys, I gotta' say, but frankly, I'm a bit afraid that one of you guys might break a nail if ya' decide to fight me any more-- and I wouldn't want that! Besides! Fighting's really not my favorite thing to do..."

[ellebelle]

Hazama leaped high into the air right when Spike attacked. Spike was taken by surprise and skidded to a halt just as Hazama shot down another chain. Right now Spike was positioned directly in its way, if he didn't move quickly it looked like things could get bad. But then the chain retracted even as he thought to get out of the way. Spike stopped to watch Hazama land a little further away instead. Right now he had to admit that he was a little bit confused. Why wouldn't Hazama just let them get hit? Moving out of the way instead seemed like a stupid move to Spike. But then he spoke of not wanting Spike dead (yet) and a suggestion of ending the fight. Which immediately brought about Spike's suspicions. What reason would Hazama have for just ending this fight when it seemed like he had almost gotten the upper hand?

Spike did not trust this. *Wouldn't put it past him to stab us in the back soon as we turn around* He thought darkly. He looked over at the man with surprise, disdain and distrust. He looked on calculatingly for a minute and then he sneered. "Don't tell me you're chickening out." Unaware of Hazama's real reasons, it would seem to Spike as if he was backing off out of either fear that he might lose or a plan to surprise them as soon as they let their guard down. "S'not gonna be that easy, pal. Fun's just gettin' started."

Ending this fight was most likely the smart thing to do here. But Spike was still angry. Once he got provoked into a fight it was difficult for him to know when to back off. His headstrong thirst for violence sometimes clouded his judgment. And besides that it looked like Hazama was trying to take the easy way out. Which Spike was going to have none of. He wondered how best to attack next as he stalked over a couple paces so he was standing closer to Anya. The vengeance demon was just about as angry as he had ever seen her. He would normally tell her to get out of here while she could, but he predicted that doing that right now would probably just make her snap on him instead.

[Anya]

It looked like her spur-of-the-moment distraction technique wasn't going to work quite as smoothly as she'd planned. As Hazama sprang absurdly high into the air, Anya gave a tiny yelp of surprise and scurried back a pace or two, now directly in the path of the still-charging vampire. Spike, however, skidded to a stop seconds later...only to find himself directly endangered by another one of Hazama's incoming chains. What happened next played out so quickly that all she could do was watch, as Spike braced himself for impact and...that impact never came. Because as soon as he'd realized what was about to happen, Hazama had immediately pulled back the chain and instead threw out another in order to land a safe distance from them.

And now he was telling them he'd rather call their little scrap off? Well that wasn't suspicious or anything! Staring at their antagonizer with unmasked disbelief, Anya hesitated a moment. What were the chances of this being a trick? Pretty high, she'd guess...why in the world would Hazama actually be hesitant to kill them? But then again, on the off chance that this really was a straightforward, no-catch offer to let them out of this fight, could they really afford to refuse?

Spike seemed to think they could, anyway. As the vampire growled something out about 'the fun just getting started', Anya spun to face him with a look that suggested she feared for his sanity. Fun? How was this experience fun in any way, shape, or form? Despite her still-boiling anger, the vengeance demon had to admit that provoking a continuation of this fight without seriously thinking things over wasn't such a good idea. But the chances of Spike willingly backing down from a fight were slim...and the chances of Hazama keeping his mouth shut long enough for Anya to calm the vampire down were even slimmer. Ugh, she was actually going to have to step up and be the voice of reason again. What was the world coming to?

In one smooth step, she swept around Spike's still-tense form so that she was positioned directly between him and Hazama. "Stop being reckless!" she snapped at him crossly, her eyes narrowed into a warning glare. This coming from one of the most impulsive beings to walk the planet, too. But while Anya could certainly be considered 'reckless' when it came to day to day requirements of common sense, centuries of manipulative, calculating destructive methods seemed to have rendered her a little more clear-headed in the heat of battle than her friend was. "Because if you so much as throw another punch, I swear on everything good and holy and non-bunny-related that I'll let him kick your ass good before I bother teleporting you out of here!" Perhaps Spike didn't deserve a full dose of the formerly evil demon's fury, but if that was what it'd take to knock some sense into him before he got himself killed...

Holding the glare for another brief moment, Anya met the vampire's gaze...and after a moment, allowed her own to soften slightly. She could apologize later for snapping at him, once they were both thinking a little more clearly. Without another word on the subject, she turned to stare at Hazama with uncertain wariness. A slightly awkward pause followed as she weighed her options here, before speaking again. "So that's it? You've decided you're not going to...I dunno, shadow-snake-ify us to death?" Her eyes darted down to Hazama's shadow and back, as if she suspected otherwise. "...What's the catch?"