Diego and Roark slowly circled each other, both with deadly glares in their eyes. They both knew in their minds that this was going to end one way and one of them was going to end up dead.
"It didn't have to be this way Diego, you could have stayed with your pack and everything would have been fine." Roark explained.
"Oh yeah, everything would have been much better, I would be in a pack taking orders from a psychopath." Diego responded.
"That's my brother you're talking about." Roark said.
"Well at least I know who he learned it from." Diego said.
"Keep talking you're just getting closer to death." He said.
"I never wanted any of this, Soto was the one who pushed me to do it." He replied.
"No, he just gave you a simple order but you couldn't do it." He retorted.
"You know you're right it's my fault. I guess I just draw the line at murdering infants." Diego said.
"That's because you're weak, you could never get the job done." He said.
"You know, I used to think like that, but I learned that compassion and sympathy doesn't make you weak, it makes you stronger." Diego explained.
"Well then, let's see if you're right." Roark said.
The second those words left his mouth he charged at Diego at great speed, Diego managed to dodge him, but Roark quickly regained his composure and charged again, this time knocking Diego to the ground. He held Diego down and started chocking him, Diego gasped for air as he looked up to see Roark's blood thirsty eyes.
"So goodbye Diego." He said.
He kept choking him, but then Diego managed to push him off, he stood up and started coughing. He managed to focus long enough to avoid another attack by Roark, he dodged and swung at Roark and managed get him in the face causing him to fall to the ground. Roark roared angrily and got up to attack and managed to strike Diego, giving him a nasty scratch on his neck, then he savagely grabbed him by the fur on his back and threw him a few feet away. Diego got up and noticed that some blood was leaking from his back, but he ignored it and pounced on Roark and managed to sink his teeth into Roark's side and held on for as long as he could, but Roark shook him off.
"You're a lot tougher than I thought." He said.
"I tend to surprise people." He said.
Roark charged at him again and Diego charged at him as well, they both collided with each other and both managed to get a swipe on each other. They both took a step back and went back to circling, what they weren't too aware of was that they were both fighting near a large slope.
"Why don't you just do yourself a favor Diego and give up." Roark said.
"I think I'm doing well so far." Diego said.
"Funny, real funny, but you won't be smiling when rip your head off." He said.
"You know Roark you keep making these empty promises." He said.
"And after I kill you, I'm going to turn all your friends into a buffet." He shouted.
Diego's stopped joking and his demeanor became hard, Roark had struck a nerve because it's one thing to threaten him but he wants his friends left out of this.
"Well almost all of them, I'll keep that silver tigress around." He said.
Diego got really angry when he brought up Shira, he knew what Roark had in mind, and there was no way on Earth he was going to let a psycho like him ravage a beautiful flower like Shira and he knew that sounded sappy but he didn't care. He glared at Roark and waited because it seemed like if he said another thing about Shira it would send him over the edge.
"Oh yeah I can picture it now, when this is all over, she and I are going to have little fun." He said.
Diego lost it, he charged at Roark with blazing speed and tackled him, which caused both of them to go over the edged and both of them skidded down the slope onto the ground below. They both landed hard and neither of them moved for a minute or two, but then they slowly stood up and they were both in pretty bad shape. Both sabers were covered in bruises, scrapes and cuts, and evidently they were both having trouble standing.
"Take a good look at me Diego, I am the face of death." He said.
"The face of Death is ugly." He said.
Roark got enraged and attacked and grappled with Diego and both sabers began fighting for control which lasted for several minutes until they broke away and they were both breathing heavily.
"Getting tired Roark? "Diego asked.
"You wish, there's only one way this is going to end Diego, and that's with one of us dead." Roark said.
"You can still leave Roark, just walk away." Diego said.
"You think I'm going to stop, I will never stop Diego because as long as I'm standing, I will kill you!" He shouted.
"I'm not afraid of you Roark and I'm not backing down, because as long as I'm still breathing, I'm going to stop you." He exclaimed.
Roark became enraged and charged at Diego with incredible ferocity, and Diego changed at him with the same, the thing moved as if in slow motion as both of them jumped and then collided and then both landed away from each other and neither of them moved. There was silence, but then Roark slumped over and fell to the ground and then he stopped breathing. Diego walked over and looked at Roark's lifeless body, he managed to learn from his encounter with Soto and they worked to his advantage.
"You could have just walked away Roark." He said.
Diego then began limping his way back to the rest of the heard, even though his body was screaming for him stop, he needed to make sure everyone was okay, especially Shira. Back with the Herd, they had managed to subdue all of Roark's pack and using some vines they tied them up.
"I can't believe we won." Louis said.
"Hey Louis remember we've been through other situations." Peaches said.
"Yeah, but during those times I wasn't almost eaten." He said.
"Okay, that's all the sabers." Sid said.
"Hold on, we're missing one, where's Roark?" Manny asked.
"Oh man he's still on the loose." Crash said.
"Not just that, I can't find Diego." Ellie said.
"What?" Shira asked shocked.
Everyone looked around and there was no sign of Diego and they instantly suspected the worst.
"Oh no if what Roark got to him?" Sid asked.
Everyone was worried, especially Shira, this was the sort of thing she was hoping to avoid, but now for all she knew Diego could be dead. But just as everyone was about assume the worst, they heard Peaches call out.
"Look!" She yelled.
They all looked to where she was pointing and they were all shocked to see Diego limping their way, and to say they were relieved would be an understatement.
"Hey everybody, what'd I miss?" He asked.
"Diego you're alive!" Sid yelled as he ran to hug him.
"Ah Sid!" Diego cringed.
"Oh sorry, wow you really look terrible, but hey you're alive." He said.
Diego turned to see Manny and Ellie standing there with relieved looks on their faces.
"Hey you ok?" Manny asked.
"I'm a little sore." Diego joked.
"What happened to Roark?" Ellie asked.
"We won't have to worry about him anymore." Diego said with a sullen look.
"Wait you mean?" Manny asked.
"Yes." Diego said.
"Hey don't worry, you didn't have a choice." Ellie said.
"Thanks." Diego said with a smile.
Diego turned again and this time he was face to face with Shira who was shocked to see his condition.
"Hey." He greeted.
"Hey yourself." She said.
"Are you ok?" He asked.
"Am I ok, what about you?" She asked.
"Don't worry it's not as bad as it looks." Diego said.
"Well either way I'm glad you took care of Roark." She said.
"It needed to be done, now let me just ask, is everyone alright?" He asked.
They all nodded their heads 'yes'.
"Ok and are all the sabers rounded up?" He asked.
Again they all nodded.
"Good now if you will excuse I'm going to pass out." He said.
Instantly he fell to the ground unconscious and everyone freaked out.
"What the heck just happened?" Sid asked.
"Is he ok?" Shira asked.
Ellie looked over Diego and then turned to the others.
"He's fine, he's just asleep, but we should move him somewhere more comfortable and someone might need to keep an eye on him until he wakes up, any volunteers?" She asked.
"I'll do it." Shira said.
Ellie smiled and nodded.
"Alright, and don't worry he's going to be fine." She said.