[Mojave]

Vega was right in that the taigra understood the mocking tone, though not the words. However, the only reaction she gave was for her fur to rise on end and her claws to sink silently into the mush beneath her. As the black taigra was aware of her, she was aware of him. Though she certainly didn't want him around- if he was of a mind, he could track down her cubs, kill them, and force his own spawn on her. This was looking bad.. but she was hungry and her cubs starving. She would deal with him if he revealed himself as a problem.

Deciding the female wasn't going to give her a good target, the taigra began to slink closer to Rezoxu.. perhaps she could lure the female into a compromising position.

Rezoxu noticed the foliage stir just the tiniest bit in front of Vega, the leaves bending toward him. His frill on end and his wings opened as much as they could, he began to fear it was she, the dusk taigra.. the one he had fought for years now. "Vega... in front of you, heading toward me. Watch it for me, I'm going to look at something." He moved to where the second taigra was, though he didn't know it. He had a mind to crush some of the underbrush- a minor destructive action- to see if they could move in any direction. While it put him in danger, he'd have rather faced an enemy head on by surprising them than stand cornered by puny cats.

It was at that moment, when Rezoxu had turned his back on her, that she sprang. The dusk taigra leaped for the exposed place where his neck met his back. Though she could not bite, she'd certainly claw his spine apart. She hadn't understood the words passed from him to the female, and she believed her to be watching the spot she just inhabited. Midair, she roared, claws extended and ready to sink into his vulnerable flesh.

[Flame]

Vega’s patience was running out quickly: It took a considerable amount of self-control not to raze the forest around her for the sake of seeking out the slinking predators which undoubtedly were hiding in the shadows. A low growl rumbled in her chest as her eyes continued to survey the foliage around her, determined to seek out her stalkers. Her head didn’t turn towards the male Paragon as he spoke, although she did glance at him briefly before fixing her gaze once again on the dark underbrush in front of her, where he had indicated that he had seen movement. Was that a faint outline she could just make out amongst the leaves?

The question was answered for her a moment later as a dark feline came rocketing out of the brush, jaws parted in a feral roar as the dagger-like claws stretched towards her quarry. Ah, finally…the wait had paid off. It took Vega a brief fraction of a moment to realize that the Taigra was not after her, but instead, Rezoxu’s unguarded back. Springing into action almost as quickly as the cat, a set of deadly claws flashed out at the huntress mid-spring, aiming to catch her squarely in the side and at least swat the danger away from the unsuspecting Rezoxu, if not pin her. Now, this was where the fun began. Glittering fangs were bared in a rippling snarl as the larger female Paragon bore down on the predator-turned-prey, looking for a weakness or opening through which she could overpower her adversary.

Seeing the female take the initiative and make the first move, the black male Taigra sprang into action as well, hoping that the smaller, unscaled Paragon would be sufficiently distracted by the female’s attack not to notice his. His offensive though, was silent as he sprang for the male Paragon’s throat, claws and fangs outstretched. The female lizard he could deal with later: Hopefully she would be too preoccupied with the mother Taigra to pay him any heed. There was a ferocious, single-minded intensity in his dark eyes as they locked onto their target, determined to bring at least one of these intruders down for disturbing his territory and scaring off his prey.

[Mojave]

The scream from behind froze Rezoxu in place- he couldn't help it, the terror that had been building in the stretching silence and the sudden attack over-ran his ability to think. His head turned slowly to face the female taigra, though his brows were furrowing as he did so.

Before he was fully turned around, Vega had intervened- saved his life, it seemed. He was by this point, snarling and his frill would have been standing taller if it were possible. Inside his rib cage, his heart was pounding and he wished the trees were farther apart again so he could spread his wings. He wasn't sure if he would fly away or if he'd only fly the short distance to murder that horrible feline, that cat that had tormented him for so long in this forest.

He needn't have worried, one swipe from Vega and the dusk taigra was bleeding from a large gash in her side. She had misjudged and before it cost her her own life and the lives of her young, she flattened her ears and retreated sideways and as fast as she could. It seemed she only had two choices tonight: die trying to feed herself and young or live but go hungry. She chose the latter and would soon be gone provided Vega didn't follow her.

However, he didn't see the other taigra, and in the split second that he had half turned and Vega had dealt with the female, the other taigra had pounced silently. He didn't know anything else was afoot until the claws sank into his flank, easily tearing through his flesh and causing him to bellow in surprise, agony, and fear. He whipped around to see the common taigra latched onto him, and he began the struggle to reach it with his fangs, claws, and tail. Anything to get it off with as little damage as he could cause the blasted cat to cause. He vowed, that if he survived this double team attack, he'd fly Vega the rest of the way and to hell with this part of the jungle. He'd rip enough trees up by the roots so that they could get airborne and flee safely.

[Flame]

The skirmish with the female Taigra was suddenly over, and much sooner than Vega had anticipated. She blinked mildly with surprise as she saw the wounded cat slink off warily, rather disappointed that it hadn’t put up much more of a fight. And really, she was just starting to get warmed up too. Snorting lightly at being denied a kill, she eyed the retreating figure, half-tempted to go after it and finish the job properly. She was on the verge of tramping off after the injured Taigra to dispatch it when she heard another commotion behind her, whipping her head around to fix all eight glowing gold eyes on the source. It turned out that there had indeed been a second cat lurking in the shadows, and while Vega had been occupied with dealing with the first, a male had managed to latch onto Rezoxu’s back, and was digging his claws into the Paragon’s strangely soft flesh. In a blink, she had whirled the rest of her large frame around – with surprising alacrity for a creature her size – and closed the gap between her and the two tussling beasts.

The taigra, currently oblivious to, or simply ignoring the second Paragon, had his sights set on trying to bring down his quarry, despite the huge fight it was putting on. He was smart enough at least not to use his jaws on this strange, slimy skin that the beast had: It seemed just plain unnatural. It also made keeping a foothold, even with daggerlike claws, extremely difficult, and several times, he almost slipped right off of the writhing Paragon. Digging the claws into the soft flesh, he clung on resiliently, trying to inflict as much damage as he could with those alone. He snarled softly as a wild blow from Rezoxu’s claws raked across his hindquarters, causing blood to trickle out of the newly-opened gash there. It only served to add fuel to the fire though, and in retaliation, he simply shredded at the flesh beneath his paws even harder. All of a sudden, he was ripped clean off of his prey by a merciless pair of jaws that clamped down on neck and lifted high into the air. Then, he felt nothing at all.

Vega had wrenched the second cat from her companion’s back, and with a quick snap of her head, broken its neck, ending its existence quickly and cleanly. Now, she dropped the limp, still-warm bundle at Rezoxu’s feet, her jaws smattered with blood as she grinned triumphantly in the half-light, fangs flashing in what moonlight still filtered through the canopy. ”Dinner is served,” she said mildly, sounding completely unphased by everything that had just transpired. A serpentine tongue snaked out from between her jaws to taste the blood on her lips, looking thoughtful as she did. ”Hmmm, not bad.” Glancing over at her “guide”, she eyed the wounds that the taigra had left on his back and flanks. ”So, think you’ll live long enough to get me out of this forsaken place?”

[Mojave]

Rexozu's roars had begun to change to screams of agony, the claws slicing mercilessly through his flesh. He could feel himself weakening as he lost blood, the coppery smell only driving him more into a frenzy. However, just as quickly as the entire ordeal had begun, it was ended with a loud snapping noise. His roar as the cat was ripped from his back echoed painfully in the night, sending any resting animals fleeing into the night in terror, their calls adding to the moment's cacophony.

Once the cat's body was dropped unceremoniously at his feet, he began to tremble, the adrenaline that had kept him going- had kept his heart pumping and thus pumping the blood out of his wounds- beginning to fade. His breathing was irregular, shallow, and mixed with moans of pain. He attempted to get away from Vega, the pain bringing up his personal walls and once again sinking into his solitary habits, but his limbs trembled to the point he collapsed, knocking over a tree as his body fell onto it. His wings lay useless at his heaving sides, blood pooling around his hips and his eyes glazed with pain.

In answer to her question, he growled at her and turned his head away from the dead cat- his appetite was wholly gone. "Probably." He gave her the monosyllabic answer gruffly, retreating deep within his mind to block as much of the pain as he could. "Let me sleep..." He was out before she could answer, his breathing slowing to a more rhythmic pace. Though the blood around him was in a great quantity, the wounds were already clotting, though the flesh around them was swollen.

[Flame]

Vega eyed her companion critically, her head cocked slightly to one side as she regarded him. She might not have been much of a healer, but it didn’t take one to see that Rexozu was not faring very well, even by Paragon standards. He’d lost a large volume of blood – she could tell by the small puddle pooling around his body – as his less-resistant, unscaled skin had been mauled as easily as a knife through butter by the Taigra’s claws. The femme found herself wondering why a creature would have been born so seemingly malprepared for for a life of hunting and fighting. Then again, he’d survived this long out here…there was probably a lot about him that she didn’t know. Maybe he was just having a bad day. A very bad day.

Vega huffed a quiet, exasperated sigh. Great. This was just what she needed: to be stuck in this god-forsaken jungle for an indeterminate amount of time with a guide who had just received a thrashing, and was currently out cold. She heard his breathing regulate and slow, meaning that he had indeed gone to sleep, and she wavered for a few minutes, trying to decide on a next course of action. She could just bust her way out of this joint (which would have required some serious damage to the native flora), but at the same time, her subconscious told her not to leave Rexozu here on his own through the night. In this condition, he probably wouldn’t make it to morning, especially if there were more of those cats around. For a moment, she seemed indecisive, her head weaving slightly from side to side as she eyed the male Paragon, deliberating. Finally, she sighed again, this time a resigned exhalation. Padding closer, she inspected his wounds – they were many, but most were relatively shallow, since the Taigra’s claws could only penetrate his flesh so far. It seemed that the bleeding had slowed, although the skin around the wounds looked pink and swollen. She was not much of a healer, but she knew that most Paragon had relatively fast healing cycles. Rexozu should heal just fine, but he would be weak when he woke, judging by the amount of blood he had lost. The only thing she’d have to keep an eye on was the possible inset of infection…that and the arrival of any other predators that might see him as an easy meal opportunity.

She turned and slipped back into the forest: if Rexozu was to survive this little ordeal, he would need food, and lots of it to fuel his recovery and replace all the blood he had lost. For now, she stayed within earshot of the clearing, in case they had any unwelcome visitors. For a while, the whole jungle was silent, all of the inhabitants having been scared into hiding by the raging battle that had happened so recently ago. Her patience paid off though, and after a while, the woodland creatures began to emerge once more. It turned out that hunting here was relatively easy: there was such an abundance of prey here that she had no problem gathering what she needed. Satisfied that she had caught enough quarry, she began to drag her prize back to the clearing. None of it included cat – she had the feeling Rexozu would have lost his appetite for catmeat for a long while.

[Mojave]

While he slept and Vega hunted, Rezoxu's flesh continued to clot, his cells already dividing and knitting the torn flesh together again. The resulting itching sensation awoke him and with the rounded dull side of his talons, rubbed the scabs to relieve the itch and leave the wounds unmolested.

Vega arrived just as he finished his ministrations, and he watched her return with a wary eye. He was well aware she had every right to laugh at him- a soft skinned freak like him getting into such a predicament. He knew well his skin made it difficult for him to live in this forest, but it also made it a necessity. Half of him wished she would have abandoned him so he could salvage his pride with the assurance they would never have met again. But a deeper part of him was touched by what he assumed was compassion. However, he was still expecting the mockery and disdain and so kept silent.

However, his belly betrayed him and at the sight of the prey and the smell of their blood, his stomach growled so violently, he was sure Vega could feel it in the ground beneath her claws. He looked away from her, further embarrassed, but began the laborious process of picking his heavy form from off the ground and mess of his blood and the mud it had formed beneath him.

"Thanks... for the food." He paused, debating with himself, "And for not abandoning me." There, he had left himself open to her ridicule. Now to see what transpired of it.