The instant that Beta saw the doppelganger sprint away, it gave chase, thundering across the ground and tossing up bones in its wake. Dammit, it should have been sneaking when it approached to not alert her of its presence!

Some ways away, however, it realized that something was missing. It could no longer smell the cat, even though it was following her trail perfectly. It slowed to a halt and narrowed its eyes, turning back to the pile of bones that the cat had emerged from. Some kind of magical trick, huh? She was good! Definitely a good training partner. With one more glance at the disappearing doppleganger, it turned and stalked back to Wilder's actual hiding place.

She tried to calm her breathing as Beta went flying past. She couldn't stay here, now - if it figured out that it was a double, then it would come right back here. She'd find a new place to hide and find some other way to trick it. Carefully, she slipped out of her hiding place and sneakily made her way across the bones, diving down into the next place she found that would work as a little hideaway.

Ruby-Beta was smart enough to know that, as soon as it gave chase to her double, she would have went to a different hiding place. So now it just needed to find her new hiding place. But it hadn't seen her slip away - time to catch the scent trail again.

Its nostrils flared and it sniffed around the hideout until it caught two trails. One leading back towards the path she'd taken to get to this place and one leading the other direction. It paused, now, deciding to prepare itself before it went after her.

She waited, quietly, in her new hiding spot, waiting for the sound of its pawsteps to alert her to its approach. She tried to see through little holes in the bones to see if she could catch sight of its approach, but she couldn't see anything, or, at least, she just couldn't see it. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Too nervous to sit and wait, she closed her eyes and tried to see its actions, what it was going to do in the future. She saw many things - Beta stalking towards her hiding place, hidden, in the shadows, and causing it to collapse on top of her. She saw it sprinting up with no regard to its noise, and her fleeing, disappearing into Canis again for another chase. And, finally, she saw herself slipping out of the hiding spot, one future where she successfully made it out and found a new place to hide, and another where Beta saw her immediately and followed her to her next spot.

The visions ended, then, and she opened her eyes. But when would they happen? She could either try and find a new spot...or go and chase again. Either way, this was exhausting. It was certainly persistant!

It began to stalk forward, quietly, slinking towards the place it had pinpointed at what was most likely Wilder's next hiding spot. It didn't know for sure, but she couldn't have had time to move too far away and the trail was leading in that direction. Quietly, lightly, it began to creep forward, careful not to alert the cat to its approach this time. If she thought she was safe, then perhaps she wouldn't have some other trick up her sleeve.

Wilder decided that she'd rather not go running this time and she had no idea if Beta was already outside of her hiding place by now. She needed to take a risk and try to trip it up. Because she had the idea - maybe if she left the cave, she'd technically escape and win the game! Beta hadn't exactly spelled it out for her, but she would consider it a victory.

She turned and slipped out of the back of her hiding spot and paused on the ouside, looking around for the right way to go before picking a direction. She slipped quietly into the next good hiding place she found, this time a small tunnel next to a boulder that must have been the den of some creature long ago.

Unfortunately, as soon as Wilder appeared out of the back of her hiding spot, Beta had its eyes on her, crouches and hidden, watching her scamper away and pick a new place to hide. Ah, perfect - now it knew, for sure, where she was hiding. Unless it was another duplicate, in which case it would feel very foolish for falling for the same thing twice.

It snuck towards her hiding spot, quiet and careful, until it was right outside of the hole. There, it crouched and waited, careful not to let its shadow cast into the hole for the cat to see. When she tried to come out, it would have her then.

She waited in her sanctuary for a time, but everything was quiet out there. A bit of rustling, but it could have just been a rat or something. She steadied her breath. It was okay, everything was okay. She could do this. But now she needed to find a way out. She'd probably thrown Beta off of her trail now, so it might be safe to make a mad dash for the exit of the cave.

Deciding that it was her best choice right now, she began to climb out. But right as her head emerged, she saw it, just sitting there, waiting. She screeched and immediately smacked it with a hurtling force of magicka, grabbing its body and just...throwing it. Far away, so she could run. But the suddenness and violence of the action, as well as all the other magic she'd performed that day, suddenly had her head knocking and exhaustion crawling over her limbs. Man she was tired.

Beta was fully expecting to catch her, then, but with a single spell it was thrown back with a cry. It crumpled into the bones many feet away and instantly leaped to its feet, furious that she'd been able to outsmart it again. But then it realized that she was still there. Just standing there, exactly where she'd been before. It strode forward, then, easily catching up back to her. She tried to turn and make a run for it, but, exhausted as she was, she didn't get far before Beta lunged forward and grabbed her scruff, pulling her back.

"Got you," it hissed with a short laugh. "I win!"

She was so tired, she could barely move at all, her limbs aching from the running and all the magic and hiding. She hadn't quite noticed it until now, the adrenaline keeping her going, but the final spell had completely drained her of energy. She certainly tried, turning around to run when Beta came scampering back, but she barely got a few steps before it had caught her.

She slumped on the ground in front of it, tired, ready to sleep. "Yeah..." she mumbled, blearily. "Yeah you....you win....you got me...." She could barely stay awake, but she managed to lift her head just a bit and give Beta a congratulatory smile and say "Nice job...good....game..." before her head fell and she passed out.

*exit