Enter: the Hermit

[Kerythia]

Kerythia's joke had turned into a life-threatening action, and she cursed herself throughly for that. Kamui was rushing off the waterfall with what she thought was little experience dealing with the rushing body of water. It was time to do something heroic for once, instead of sitting back in a corner playing. She was still humanoid, but she would never be able to lift the great creature with her otter form. The girl found a rushing current and jumped into it. Maybe it was stupid, but being in the water half her life told her she could jump off waterfalls. She had done it before, after all.

For some reason, Kery was glad that his life line was in the hands of a human. Maybe that would stop the racial rants. But that little quirk in his personality always put a smile on her face, and that little quirk wasn't going to end anytime soon. She drew upon her best friend in the whole world and put a gentle hand on his pelt. Her strength was full and she dug the balls of her feet into the sand. With one mighty push, she kicked off from the bottom of the stream, pulling Kamui up and into the human's arms. Now was the trick.

Kery never did like waterfalls, especially since a deep gash down her back reminded her of the too-close jump. She swam freestyle with all her might, letting the currents carry her as she shifted. Soon, an otter flew off and out of the currents. The wind in her fur, she flew vertically downwards like an arrow from a bow. Paws behind and ears laid back, she hit the water like a dolphin. This was what it was like to fly.

[Balthazar]

It smelled something. There was no time now for Cilam. This creature would have to wait, the creature that now had control of Balthazar had the scent of prey...

Some instinct that drove it to capture its unknown snack also knew exactly how to transform Balthazar's useless body into a much more usable one; what Balthazar called his "werewolf form".

It charged across the plains, heading directly towards running water, the scent of some small marine animal flopping around growing stronger as it ran. It didn't know what was ahead, but it wasn't much of a fighter, and would taste delicious.

It was no more than its lust for warm, fresh flesh kept its senses sharp, helping him detect the presence of several other bodies. There was a four-legged animal, a two-legged human (it assumed it was human), some other animal in the water that posed no threat to it, and its prey.

It closed in on the river bank, and before anyone saw it coming, it leaped at the falling otter before it could splash to the water below. It opened his arms as it neared her, and once its prey was directly in front of it, it closed them, hoping to snatch her out of the air and make a meal out of her once it landed safely in the water below them.

[Kerythia]

As they were falling, Kerythia quickly devised a plan. 'What to do if you were caught in a log' her teachers use to call it. Quickly, as soon as she hit water, she shook with all her might. The otter was grateful for her sharp teeth as she bit in several places, some very unpleasant ones too. The water made her fur slippery, and she continued to claw and bit her enemy. This was the time of dire need, though. Kamui, if you ever want to save me, this would be the right time to do it. She wasn't sure how strong her foe was, but finding herself not free from this creature was definitely not what she expected.

[Kamui Shiro]

He felt himself get lifted up slightly which impressed him but as soon as he was up he felt fur rip from his body. Someone had grabbed his fur as he was moving but without an amazing feat of strength, there was no way they would have been able to lift him and so he continued to fall. Suddenly, as he edged near the waterfall, he noticed an otter being attacked. Suddenly he snapped awake, his senses back in his possession now, he remembered everything. Kery was ok, but she was an otter and as he watched her fight back he desperately wanted to help. With that, he let himself fall from atop the waterfall and land in the water at the bottom, where upon he painfully swam back to the surface. His side had sharp pains and he couldn't feel his right front paw. As he shifted into human form the damage became apparent and he tried to catch his breath. Broken ribs, a sprained wrist, and maybe a concussion. His world was spinning but he found the strength to stand. His concern, no, this was what fear felt like. Anger drove him and with his left hand he drew his scythe. He would die protecting her. And with that, he charged at the beast...

[Mia]

Miella gasped as Kamui slipped from her grasp. With a quick movement, Miella flipped herself towards the river bank and landed softly on the earth. She ran to the edge of the waterfall and looked down, trouble was brewing below. Miella pulled her rifle from her back and looked through the scope to see what was happening. A shifter was attacking the young girl from before, and now Kamui was facing the beast.

"I guess I have no choice." Miella took aim at the large creature and shot, only to miss. Miella once gain took aim and fired... BANG came the sound of the second shot, but would it hit the rampaging beast.

[Balthazar]

The creature landed with a large splash. It had only moments ago had the slippery otter in its hands, but it had managed to wriggle free of its grasp when they hit. It roared in anger and proceeded to grope blindly for its lost prey. It had escaped the beast once, but such a defenseless meal would not be so easily missed.

It turned its attention away from the otter-girl when it heard a gunshot. It looked up and saw above a human woman pointing a rifle at it. It bellowed in rage, and then noticed the second attacker. A huge wolf, close to the size of the creature that was once Balthazar, but rather than being bipedal, seemed to move on all fours.

Another gunshot rang out, and this one clipped the beast's shoulder. It roared in pain and fury and turned its attention away from the otter completely. It preferred meals against whom it held a grudge, anyway. Besides, a flimsy human girl would be an easy kill. The shifter on the other hand, might prove more troublesome.

It began scaling the wall that it had just thrown itself off, it would reach Miella even if it took a hundred bullets to the gut. It offered a sinister lupine grin, a true horror of facial expressions.

[Mia]

Miella smiled as the creature turned its attention to her. This would be the perfect time to use some grenades. "Watch out below!" She yelled to the others. Pulling the coil she waited a second and then dropped a frag towards the beast. She released two more, and waited.

[Cilam Quanou]

After the wolf-like shifter, possible a half-breed between a human and a wold shifter, had quickly disapered from hissight he had gne looking for Miella, without much succsess. Luckly for him, he hear her voice right before a grnade blew up. "Mia!" Not knowing what was going on, he rushed towards her voice and shifted into his well know wolf form.