[Thunder]

"Those ruins must be around here somewhere!"

"Ow! I hate these stupid thorns!"

"Shut up, Wickk! Stop complaining!"

Finally, after much struggling through the undergrowth, the trio of explorers burst out of the plants and into a small clearing in the rainforest. Unfortunately, the ruins they were seeking were nowhere to be seen. Pontus, the Ptarmie, clacked his beak in disappointment and grumbled as he stared down at the map his claw.

"Oh dear, I hope we aren't lost," he sighed wearily. "We've been stumbling around this place for well over two hours." His assistant, a tiny Mr. Wilson named Wickk, flew over and perced on Pontus's head to gaze down at the map.

"Can't we just leave?" Wickk complained. "It's getting dark, and who knows what's out here in this darned jungle? I hear there's these creepy ol' critters called Moonlings. They're said to eat Kuhnas, you know." Wicck looked over at Mikenzo, the Upei Kuhna, who rolled her eyes at him.

"Come on, Wickk," she snorted. "I'm not afraid of Moonlings. Besides, it's only the kits they eat. And if one comes along, you could scare it off with your flashlight or something." She walked over to the map and studied it. "We can't just give up now. We've come so far. It would be a waste to just go back to camp."

"You're right, Mika," Pontus said, rolling the map up. "We can't just leave. Come, let us try once more to find these ruins that everyone talks about." The Ptarmie professor headed north out of the clearing, with his two companions following close behind.

[Thunder]

After several more minutes of walking, Wickk began complaining again. "I wish I could fly up there and see where this darned temple is," he grumbled, flapping his wings in frustration. "But all these dang trees would be blockin' my view."

"Shut up, Wickk," Mikenzo sighed. "You can be really annoying with your babble, you know?"

"And what have you done?" Wickk spat back. "You just follow us around and never contribute a single thing! I have to do all the lookout work, I make all the tools, I..."

"Silence, both of you!" Pontus shouted, in a voice so loud that Wickk nearly fell off his head. The Mr. Wilson muttered something incoherent and dragged himself back on the professor. "Wickk, you shouldn't say such things to dear Mika. She's contributed just as much as you have in our expeditions." He turned his head and leered at Mikenzo. "And you, dear, should not say such words like 'shut up' to Wickk. He is also my pupil, and I will not have any bad-mouthing between the two of you." The two lowered their heads and mumbled apologies to the Ptarmie. "I know you're both frustrated, but please keep it down."

Suddenly, Mikenzo stopped in her tracks. She began sniffing the air, and Pontus stopped to watch her. Mikenzo detected some kind of damp, musty scent. Of course, the whole jungle was pretty damp and musty, but there was another smell here...somewhat like ancient stone.

"I smell rock," she announced. "Damp, wet rock! Maybe we're getting closer!" Mikenzo ran ahead, vanishing into the plants. Pontus let out a small cry of surprise and hobbled after his student as fast as he could.

"Wait for us, Mikenzo!" he cried.

[Moofius]

Slithian, that spineless, cowardly snake had fled at the first sign of proper danger, leaving her and Led to fight the moonling on their own with nothing but a basic, dollar store lighter.

Moofius wasn't sure how she and Led had survived the attack (her lighter hadn't, mangled and devoid of fuel) but the next morning she awoke to find a gallizar flopped over her, herself and her mount barely alive.

It had been a good month since then and Moofius had built herself the ultimate tree fort. He was high in the treetops, invisible from the ground. The way up was made from the branches and was not obvious, with a pulley system that was never left down and the tree was close enough to the Tengel River that nobody could see her from the river, but she could get out of her tree and get water easily, even when Moofius had been in a bad way.
Inside her fort made of sturdy, flat leaves and branches was a bed made of woven grasses. After a long day of hard work it felt a lot like clouds.

She felt like a real wild child, her clothes tattered and her hair a mess. But it was good. Each day she went to bed exhausted. Her wounds were healing (the largest gash was down her thigh was the only one that was really ever in danger of breaking and bleeding) and she was eating a lot. Led, too, was feeling better. Her temper was at an all time high and with her newly developed battle scars interrupting her sleek, elegant body the gallizar was not a force to be taken lightly.

It was Led who started their next adventure, at a time when Moofius was enjoying the cooked body of a rather unfortunate Kamee that she had caught. Moofius had been chewy on the ridge of the kamee's head when she heard it the beginning of the next chapter.

Led had been out hunting for prey, stepping quickly and trying to keep low as she tried to find her next meal. Ahead something crashed through the forest, many things in fact. many small, stupid things. The gallizar had to clench her teeth to keep from clicking out her own version of laughter as she tried to slip closer to the group without making a sound. But there was a sound wiggle room with them shouting and stomping through the forest

as they were.

No matter what the circumstances the gallizar was still red, white and black. At some point she felt she was close enough that they hadn't seen her but would soon. Now that she was 10 or so feet from the group she charged through the underbrush, her time spent hunting in the Tengel giving her an advantage. She had a good sense of what undergrowth she could run through, and which areas were to thick for the attempt. Luck seemed to be on her side as her

long legged strides brought her closer to her prey.
Led was so sure of the kill that she hissed loudly, eager to inflict some fear on her dinner. It made the blood flow so deliciously fast.

Soft, bovine ears lifted up and swiveled towards the familiar sound and Moofius sat up, orienting herself towards the sound. She was not concerned, nor aware that things were about to get interesting as the strange girl stuck the boney, crispy ridge back in her mouth, turning back to her woven grass blanket. She was still a sloppy weaver, but Moofius hoped to change that before she left the Tengel.

[Thunder]

As the trio navigated through the jungle, Mikenzo suddenly stopped to sniff the air again. Her hackles suddenly rose, and she let out a small, quiet hiss.

"Oh, what is it now?" Wickk complained.

"Shhh!" Mikenzo held one paw to her lips, and her sudden tension effectively shut up the Mr. Wilson. Pontus walked to her side, looking concerned. The Upei Kuhna angled her ears back and forth, picking up a strange, rustling noise.

"Yes, Mikenzo?" Pontus prompted.

"Something's coming in our direction!" she whispered. "And I don't know what it is..." Now, all three of them were clearly nervous. Wickk quickly dug through the small bag of tools slung around his shoulder, getting out a tiny lighter that he had made from spare machine parts. He hopped off Pontus's head, hovering next to the others as they bunched together more closely.

Suddenly, a hiss rang through the jungle.

"AUUUGH!" Wickk screamed, in a voice alarmingly loud for such a tiny bird. He panicked and zoomed off in a random direction, not watching where he was flying.

"Wickk!" Pontus cried. But now the Mr. Wilson was out of sight, although Wickk's screams could still be heard nearby.

Unfortunately for Wickk, he just happened to be headed in the direction of the Gallizar...

[Moofius]

Led had been noticed, even over the racket of sound her prey was making. It was a little disappointing but she wasn't going to give up so easily, her direction and speed not changing in the slightest.

One small, plump bird flew over head and she stood up tall. If they hadn't caught sight of her by now, there was no avoiding the sleek neck topped by Led's small, pointedly predatory head. The ridges around her neck and the back of her head were raised as she looked between the running Mr. Wilson and the two who seemed to stand their ground.

The ptarmie looked pleasantly plump and delicious but the kuhna would require a fight. The (also plump) Mr. Wilson would be easy. With an easy swing of her body and a few excited clicks Led turned towards the one that was flying and screaming away from her and already almost out of sight. Not that it took much distance for one to lose sight of something in this jungle.

Moofius would not have been able to see any of this, with or without a window. The tree tops were too thick, the coverage too perfect for there to be any hope of it. Moofius had left out the window in her tree house design. It was impossible to keep all the bug out, but she didn't need to invite them in, either.
No, what finally incited action on Moofius part was the intelligence of the cries coming from Led's hunt. Or perhaps lack of intelligence.

Animals without brains would often time bray of cry out a little, but once they were firmly caught they were quiet and complacent. Whatever Led had found was screaming bloody murder. Not to mention there was at least one shout that sounded much like a word, perhaps a name.
She stood and trotted to the leaves that acted as a door, parting them before she stepped out onto the first branch of her ladder.

"LED!" Moofius cried as she made her way towards the ground, "DON'T KILL! STOP!" she doubted very much that Led would listen to her at this distance (if she could even hear her) but Moofius would try as she hurried down the branches as fast as she could.

[Thunder]

As Wickk flew blindly ahead, he passed by a black, white, and red blur that he immediately perceived as the enemy. He let out another scream of terror and started flying in another direction, brandishing the lighter in case the creature gave chase....which it did.

Pontus and Mikenzo both gasped as the Gallizar came into view. They stood there tensely as the Gallizar looked at them and at the direction Wickk fled, but even when the Gallizar chose to target Wickk, they were not relieved.

"We have to go after him!" Mikenzo cried, running after the lizard.

"Oh, goodness!" Pontus huffed, fluffing up his wings. "You youngsters are all so fast!" He too, began giving chase, although the large amount of feathers on his body and his short little legs did not provide for much speed. As they ran, they heard what sounded like a human cry, muffled by the thick growth in the jungle, but they didn't pay attention to it and focused on finding Wickk.

[Moofius]

Long strides made the gallizar a formidable beast in speed and her adaption to the foliage that tried to trip her up was make shift but more or less functional. Led lifted her legs high as she ran after the terrified Mr. Wilson, neck sticking out towards the bird, but sitting quite high in the air. Her tail too was up, the tip twitching ever so slightly, unnoticeable to all but Led who could feel it as she ran through the jungle.

She could hear the other two running behind her and wondered if she should just turn around and take them instead. Bigger than the bird flying AND chasing her. She could turn around now and take them. The idea flashed through her brain but she didn't so much twitch in the direction, Led would go after this Mr. Wilson. If she got greedy she would end up with nothing. Led would, at the very least, get the smaller, panicked bird.

Moofius was making her way through the jungle, cursing like a sailor under her breath as she moved blindly towards the rukus. She would kill that Zu'hai forsaken gallizar; hopefully before the gallizar killed whatever poor creature she was hunting.
"LED!" She called again, hearing the screaming and talking closer now (She had definitely heard somebody say "goodness"), "STOP! I WILL KILL YOU! STOP!"

Led heard her master and the spines along her neck flattened, but her run never slowed and her direction did not falter. No, she would have this prey, Led was intent.

[Thunder]

(OOC: Really late post x_x Sorry!)

Mikenzo lost sight of the Gallizar. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to run even faster, wincing as branches and leaves smacked into her face. Behind her, Pontus began to wheeze, trying to keep up with her, but too old and plump to do so. "Goodness!" he gasped again.

Wickk could still hear the lizard running after him. He fumbled around with the tiny lighter in his claws, trying to turn it on, but in his nervousness he accidentally dropped the object. "Curses!" he shrieked. He couldn't go back to get it, as he'd just run into that dreadful Gallizar. He worked his tiny little wings as fast as possible. Wickk turned left, hoping to throw off the Gallizar a bit, but as he zoomed out of the plants he saw a human girl running towards him.

"AUUUGH!" he screamed, trying to stop himself. Unfortunately, with his momentum, it seemed he was going to crash into the girl.

[Moofius]

Curse all you want, Dinner; Led would have you soon and she would enjoy tearing those pesky wings from your body, Dinner. Or that was the plan Led had as she zipped through the thick, almost overwhelming foliage. He wouldn't last much longer, even running on Adrenaline. Led wasn't even going at a sprinting speed.

Fortunately for the Mr. Wilson he did run into Moofius, both figuratively and literally. The luck in that was just as he burst through the trees so did Led. She'd had no trouble following him poor attempt at losing her but it would prove effect as Moofius automatically wrapped her arms around the fluttering bird.

"Ack!" Moofius cried, the sound drowned out by Led's hiss which had been delivered straight to her riders face; to enraged at having lost her prey to the cow to really factor in the consequences of her actions.
"Led..." Moofius snarled, barring her non-threatening teeth at the gallizar, "Sit... Down... Now."

And while all of this was going Moofius held fast to the Mr. Wilson in her arms. She was trying not to crush him but it was unavoidable to become tense when trying to enforce your dominance over the gallizar who would, quite often, challenge her place in the hierarchy. Moofius was master over Led, but Led didn't like it at all.

[Thunder]

Wickk flailed his tiny, gray wings as the girl's arms wrapped around him. She was holding onto him rather tightly, almost suffocating the fat little bird. "Can't...breathe..." he wheezed. His beady eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. He supposed, however, that being squeezed to death was a lot better than being eaten by that dreadful Gallizar...

As Pontus and Mikenzo drew nearer, they could now hear what sounded like a human girl. They glanced at each other before heading towards the source of the voice. A few moments ago, they had heard Wickk screaming as well. Did the Gallizar get to him?

Finally, the two came upon the girl, Wickk, and the Gallizar. They could see Wickk trembling in the girl's arms, while the Gallizar, who the girl was referring to as "Led", seemed most displeased.

"Wickk!" they both cried at once. At the sight of Led, Mikenzo's fur bristled, and she lashed her fiery tails back and forth.