Flights Of Fancy
Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.
ChapterNineteen - Big cats, little cat...
The cloud of shapes in the sky became more defined by the second. Marina yowled loudly right close to Don's ear causing the turtle to shoot a quick glance over his shoulder to where the catafly was perched.
" Try not to do that during the battle" he admonished her sharply.
Marina gave him a look that was a cross between innocent and offended, before Don turned his focus and attention back to the cloud, he was slightly surprised to see how close the griffins had gotten in the short time he had been distracted.
Don could just make out short burst of orange- yellow light flickering in the sky and he realized that Gimod had to be making good on his promise of barbequed griffin.
Meanwhile the toshe pack was pairing off Trina stayed close to Lobo, Shea was with Traba and the last three were staying together. They paced around on stiff legs, growling ominously,with hair standing on end bristling, Dawny sat up on his hind legs and cocked his head to one side giving a plaintive whine as if to encourage the griffins to close in.
Raph had his sais out spinning them into a blur of lines, his eyes narrowed his posture seemed to mirror the toshe pack's own aggressive stance and general attitude.
Suddenly a griffin that had managed to gain the lead spotted them and it folded it's wings tight to it's body, starting a fast plummeting dive. Demon Wing let loose a scream and moved to intercept, the griffin pulled up correcting its trajectory so it could possibly latch onto the Pegasian.
Demon twisted, almost rolling over in mid air and then kicking out sharply his back hoof connecting with an outstretched leg.
Gimod came in fast making a loud hacking noise, causing Demon to lay back his ears, twist to one side and try a steep upward climb.
The griffin not acknowledging the warning felt something hit on its back, whatever it was began to burn and hurt, the griffin dropped to the ground and the toshe pack were upon it in an instant tearing it to bits.
' Watch the spit' Demon snapped.
' It is that or flame. If I flamed you would have your wings singed again.' Gimod retorted, before snaking his neck over his shoulder spotting three or four griffins coming in from behind.
The dragon gave off a volley of short sharp bursts of flame, managing to hit one of the griffins full on killing it instantly, another had a wing burned off and fell to the ground where Leonardo quickly dispatched it using his new sword. The other griffins turned enough to avoid the blasts all together.
The griffin prock was now close enough that those on the ground; could actually see what they were up against. Most of the twenty or thirty griffins in this group were the size of a lion with coats ranging from a light beige, to a dark chocolate brown, their heads were that of giant eagles, right down to the sharp far seeing eyes and the lethal pointed beak, their wings though similar to an eagle was larger to compensate for the lion body, and the claws on each paw seemed much sharper then that of an ordinary lion claw, rather they had the look of a talon.
Shanza snorted, wanting to rear up even more as the mass of griffins closed in but she held her ground, swinging her head using her horn to run the griffins through, or to bash them to the ground.
Symbia released two arrows in quick succession but one griffin snatched the weapons from the air and broke them with a snap of its beak it then shrilled a loud challenge; that ended in a grunting roar.
The griffins were for the most part not willing to get too low to the ground, so the toshe would leap trying to grab hold of a wing, tail or foot and hold on while their partner made for a quick biting attack in hopes of bearing the animal down.
Another griffin dived for Leo the turtle quickly back flipped out of the way, slashing out with the magic sword in mid jump. The griffin was wounded by the sword; though not badly and the animal tried again, this time to have its fore paws sliced off, the injury was too much for the griffin as blood loss weakened it. Symbia dropped the beast with an arrow.
Mike smashed a sandy coloured griffin in the beak with his chuks as he jumped out of way of the deadly paws, " I'm not doing a great deal of damage here," he moaned.
Then another dark coloured griffin came from behind.
Mike sensed it moments before it struck and he dived into the safety of his shell, the griffin latched sharp talons onto Mike's bandanna tails and the edge of his carapace starting to lift Mike off the ground with furious beats of it's wings.
Raph seeing Mike's air born position tossed a sai landing it just under one of the giant wings, the griffin squawked as it released Mike. Traba and Shea leapt onto the feline.
Mike popped out of his shell " man why didn't I bring a sword or even a gusari gama with me" Mike lamented.
" Probably for the same reason I didn't go for something else, we weren't really expecting this Mike" Don stated.
" Well, who would have thought huh? Next time Renet sends us some time travelling device she better send a list of what weapons might be useful to have." Mike grumbled a bit.
Don swiped upward with his staff to prevent a griffin from raking him with it's sharp talons, Marina yowled in protest of his quick move as it almost unseated her from her perch.
Don wondered, momentarily if he might be better off hitting the catafly just to cease the smaller felines nerve wracking howls, after all his staff ought to work against her.
" Be quiet Marina," he scolded the catafly.
He was beginning to wonder why he had been matched with her, at least all the other beasts fought in their own fashion, but Marina seemed to be fairly useless and no help in battle either.
The catafly gave an aggrieved hiss before launching into the air in a furious state. Marina like all cats enjoyed her peace and quiet, and above all hated to be disturbed; now here she was, being bothered, by all sorts of noise, then to make matters worse she was insulted for lodging a perfectly natural complaint. It seemed the only way she would gain any thing even remotely like peace and quiet was to handle things herself and teach these lower life forms just how to do things. After all nothing could match a catafly in intelligence or superiority. In a match of catafly against griffin, the griffin looked to be the odds on favourite, with its heavier size and strength, its far more dangerous natural weapons and the quick moves it was able to do both in the air and on land. The catafly would be nothing more then a snack, but Marina did have one thing to her advantage and that was thanks to her smaller size she was far more athletic and agile then the griffins.
Marina began to dart in and around two or three of the larger winged felines, the griffins snapped at her or slashed out with a paw but the most they got from it was air, for Marina had removed herself from danger before the beast had moved. In fact Marina was very much like a pesky mosquito that buzzes all around and about you, you can hear the drone of it but never really see it. The noise however can drive one to distraction. Proving that one need not be large to cause a major disturbance or be of significance.
Gimod and Demon used the distraction the catafly caused to try and force the griffins to the ground by any means possible, this meant in Gimod's case fire and his acidic venom. In Demon well aimed kicks and of course the centaur used her arrows to aid Demon Wing.
Once the griffins landed or came near to the ground one of the turtles or Shanza or the toshe were quick to dispatch it. Slowly the group of griffins dwindled and the last few turned about heading towards Griffin rock, with Marina chasing after them hurling insults simply because she knew for a fact that no cat wanted insult to be added to injury, except in the case of lower life forms meaning anything that wasn't a cat.
Gimod flapped a few lazy circles in the air, smoke curling out of his nostrils, ' I doubt that we have seen the end of it just yet.'
Leo quickly concurred " I had the same feeling that we won the battle but possibly not the war, because we still have to make it over the griffin territory, unless there is another way around."
Demon sank wearily to Shanza's side, he was breathing heavily and his coat was matted with sweat and blood from deep scratches, ' No some mountain ranges have underground passages but those are ruled by trolls, demons and other things of the netherworld' he cautioned, ' To travel that way while under a mission, such as ours, is to commit suicide.'
Mike huffed, " We killed so many of those griffins" he gestured to the bodies littering the ground "You think the others would have enough sense to stay away."
Marina snorted as she landed lightly on Don's shoulder a smug expression on her face, the catafly had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. " Don't count on it. Cats have a lot of sense you know, but unfortunately griffins happen to have bird brains."
Leo turned to look at the catafly " Where did you come from?" he asked curiously for the last he had seen of Marina was her tailing after the remaining griffins.
Marina smiled and her whiskers twitched with pleasure, as she rubbed up against Don " A cat has many secrets coming and going is just part of our mysterious appeal."
Raph snorted contemptuously " Funny I know a lot of people who'd kill a cat as soon as look at it."
Marina howled her lip curling in distaste " Canine lover!"
Don looked like he was about to add a few comments of his own but Leo turned giving him a stern look.
" Save it until later, round one may be over but looks like round two could be about to start" he gestured with a sword tip toward griffin rock where it was easy to spot many a dark form flitting around and about the mountain side.
Shanza raised her head ' We can't go on like this, they will wear us all down.' She cast a worried look towards Demon wanting to heal some of his worse injuries but knowing she would have to save her strength.
Leonardo sighed, " If going another direction is out of the question what about negotiating? Surely the problems that endanger all of Necron will affect the griffins as well." Leo pointed out.
' Griffins are large and powerful enough that they don't have to ally themselves with anyone.' Gimod replied.
' Yes but the last spell the dark ones can use will turn those who have ever remained neutral into slaves.' Shanza protested.
Symbia flashed her tail " Well, that hasn't exactly been proven. It is just the rumour."
Leo shook his head " Listen right now, we have to believe that it is a possibility and if there is any way to reach an agreement with the griffins it is better to do it before too much harm has been done." He pointed out.
Gimod nodded, ' I have heard that each mountain range of griffins has a leader, who gets the lion's share of each meal, though he doesn't hunt.' Gimod stated casually, ' however I have no idea how one knows the leader from any other griffin.' The dragon huffed letting out a large flicker of flame as he did so.
Marina sat up and flicked her tail " I know how you can tell, and I might even be persuaded to tell you."
" Sure, that thing gets any more full of hot air she'll float away" Raph remarked out the side of his mouth.
Traba snickered and began to roll over on the blood-splattered ground in his amusement. Lobo rolled his eyes and gave Traba a disdainful glare.
Don smiled " Well Marina I do have some cat nip with me…"
Marina perked up her eyes growing large " Cat nip? Wonderful aromatic, incredibly decadent cat nip?" She asked then as if suddenly remembering herself, she gave a quick shake and feint indifference, " I will need more of a payment then that!" she sniffed.
Gimod chuckled a low rumbling coming from inside ' Tell me how often do little cataflys get to dine on the sweet meats of the deep ocean when it is fresh?'
Marina tried to act like it was no importance but the shudder that traveled up her spine, the twitch of her whiskers and her upright ears totally gave her away " You are talking fish? Fresh fish?"
' Indeed every morning on our journey I will supply you with a bellyful' The dragon vowed, ' that is, if what you have to tell us is worthwhile.' Gimod amended.
Marina smiled " Of course it is worth while anything a catafly has to say is you know," she informed Gimod, " Now a prock leader is different from all other griffins, he is set apart. But I have heard that what is different about him changes from leader to leader so do not ask me anything else."
Raph shook his head " That isn't worth troubling yourself."
' On the contrary it is, if the prock leader is set apart it means that he is not to be found on the outskirts of the mountains.' Gimod insisted, ' Instead he may be found on the highest peak close to the center I would think.'
Don nodded " It makes sense but will he listen to reason?"
' Only one way to find out. I must go find him!' Gimod declared.
Mike looked around nervously " What do we do until then though?"
' Wait here and handle any griffin attacks as best you can' Gimod replied.
Mike scowled uneasily " That isn't very reassuring," he muttered as he watched the dragon flying back towards the mountain.
Marina pawed Don " Did I hear you say you have catnip?"
Don gave a faint smile and dug out a pinch for her, feeling she had more then earned her reward he then gave her a few extra pinches and watched as the catafly began to make a fool of herself over the herb. It was a sight that caused the toshe much silent amusement.
TBC