Ragna scooted along through the mangroves, her eyes searching tor the bowl that had fallen off her travois when she and her husband had traveled through the area. She wasn't terribly thrilled to be back. There were all kinds of odd creatures in this land that she didn't care to see again. Something orange caught her attention and she saw one of her bowls sticking up out of the mud. Aha! Ragna scooted along a large mangrove root as she worked her way to the edge. Leaning forward she stretched out her neck and seized the edge of the bowl in her teeth. She had just lifted her head up when a massive saltwater crocodile launched up out of the water. She shrieked and dropped her bowl into the water where it swiftly sank but at least she'd managed to pull herself away from the snapping jaws.

Shilah was humming to himself as he strolled through the mangroves. It was a lovely evening, a warm summer night and although the sky was cloudy as near as he could tell it wasn't fixing to rain. He was working his way near the water's edge when he saw a woman about his age leaning over toward the water. Was she getting a drink? Didn't she realize this close to the ocean the water was likely to be a bit salty? Well, he thought so anyway. As he watched he saw something strange floating toward her. Oh no! He yelled out for her to look out a hair too late as the crocodile lunge dup out of the water. Thankfully, her reflexes were on point and she lurched back out of the way. The crocodile climbed up onto the roots and Shilah dove forward, fangs snapping at the crocodiles nearest hind leg.

Naiche was becoming quite the brazen warrior. His ears had perked up on call out of the one wolf followed by silence. Naiche was hanging out in the mangroves with Pan hunting for termites or ants or whatever. Naiche looked at Pan and was about to call him but the time it would take his friend to get back down on his back might take too long. Naiche took off running, legs stretched long to get to where the sound was. Another fight? That’s what Naiche was hoping for. That wolf’s voice even sounded vaguely familiar. Not pack but someone he had run into before. When Naiche got the scene he paused long enough to get an eye full of the situation. Crocodile? This was the second one he’d run across to fight. However last time it had been one less wolf but Mort might have been better than 2 wolves in this case. Oh well. Naiche ran in hoping the other wolves would do their part, he leaped over the back of the beast so that he was on the opposite side of Shilah to bite into the crocodile’s other thick leg, eyes straining upwards to watch the direction of the crocodiles next attack. It might give up just for the sake of uneven numbers? Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Ragna scrambled back, barely avoiding tripping over the mangrove roots as the saltwater crocodile lurched forward. However, it seemed to be having a bit of trouble navigating the roots itself. Soon the crocodile's attention was stolen as a strange male latched onto one of its hind legs. In an instant the crocodile curled in on itself, jaws wide as he sought to bit the intruder. Before the crocodile could complete its attack Ragna sprang forward and bit into the crocodile's head, her upper fangs piercing one of the beast's eyes as Naiche bit into the crocodile's other leg. She was glad to see the other warrior again.

Ragna did not get much of a chance to think on anything other than the fight as the crocodile suddenly spun violently, ripping itself free from her grasp. Jaws lashed out and Ragna just narrowly avoided getting bitten.

Shilah held onto his grip tightly, thrashing his head to try and worsen the damage as another man took the opposite hind leg and the woman went for the lizard's head. Wait, was this a lizard? It certainly seemed like a giant one. The crocodile suddenly spun and Shilah stumbled back, his paws sinking further into the muck. The thing tasted terrible to boot. The crocodile slid halfway back into the water then twisted and snapped at him. Shilah scrambled to the side, his hind leg just getting knicked by the massive creature's teeth. He flinched but didn't let the injury slow him down. Any loss in agility could mean certain death. He snarled and hopped toward the crocodile, trying to draw its attention without risking physical contact.

This crocodile wasn't very happy about how things were working out.  Naiche wouldn't want to be the crocodile right now either against its odds.  He splooshed back in the water as the croc turned its head towards him, but it couldn't focus on Naiche for long as it was attacked again from other directions.  Fighting the croc in the armada's seascape had been easier in the ground didn't try suck up paws so much but on the other hand more wolves was nice.  Naiche found a spot to get a bitter grip on the ground, jumping in to bite onto the croc's neck thinking it's neck might be able to turn at the angle as well. Mmm incoming teeth! Whether they could reach or not they were intimidating enough to send Naiche backing off.  The bite had still connected though with the monster's thick skin it only managed to do so much damage.  At least it was giving the crocodile more reason to decide this was a poor fight?  Hopefully.  Mort had managed to kill one, but Mort had saber teeth and claws and latched onto its belly.  Naiche didn't see anything special about any of those here.  A thought occured! "Keep him busy, one minute!" Naiche splashed his way free of mock into stable ground, quickly searching the mangrove for what he needed. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Ragna ducked behind a nearby bush the bounded onto the mangrove roots to get a better view of her foe. The yearling male called out and Ragna nodded. "On it!" She growled loudly and hopped toward the crocodile to get its attention. It turned toward her, jaws wide open. Ragna scooted closer then swiped at the jaws. The closed with a violent snap, just missing her leg. In that moment she dove on top of it's mouth, pressing her chest into the top of the head to force its head into the dirt. Her fags dug into the creatures head but the whole body was still terribly strong. She realized that her weight prevented the crocodile from opening its mouth but it suddenly spun and she was forced to race away or risk getting bitten or pinned beneath its massive form.

Shilah was mostly ready to abandon the fight altogether and just go about his day but he didn't want to leave the other two and it seemed the younger one had a plan. The woman dove onto the crocodile and Shilah attacked one of its hind legs, his fangs ripped in deep and as the crocodile spun away from him he succeeded in tearing off a bit chunk of its leg. Shilah spat the meat out and barked loudly, catching the animals attention as it stopped spinning. There was blood in the water now and for a moment he wondered if the scent would draw anything else up out of the water. Water was fine and good, it meant life, but he was raised in arid conditions and was wary being so close to a strange body of water that seemed to be full of all sorts of monsters.

The underbelly had been the best place to attack the creature from but Naiche lacked the saber like teeth Mort had used to pierce it as well.  However Naiche had come up with a plan to do just that.  He searched the ground in a rush and found what he was looking for, a branch that had broken off the tree.  There were technically plenty of them but this one had some solid thickness to it and had broken off in a way to give a sharp spike to the end of it. Naiche picked up the stick in his teeth and ran back to the fight.  The young wolf let his head sink into the water, opening his eyes he realized what a pain it was to keep eyes open underwater.  Life and death struggle seemd a good time to deal with the water.  The croc was busy with the other two and Naiche used his makeshift spear to pierce better than he could bite.  Shoving it upward, feeling water enter his moth as he snarled, finding more power to push it in. There had been no great biting spot on that smooth skin below to do a lot of damage fast in his mind, but the solid stick dug in deep and blood was coming out.  Naiche saw above him the mighty tail coming to strike him and Naiche back up, stumbling at the blow rocking him.  Lucky wolf, the head was facing another wolf. Naiche lunged in again but this time only long enough to grab, twist the stick and yank it out so that there was nothing to slow down the bleeding.  One pierce alone wouldn’t be enough but this thing had already been dealing with enough injuries.  Would they kill or would it flee?  Naiche saw the blood coming from other areas of its body.  He stood back panting and feeling the soreness of his ribs.  Nothing was broken but apparently that things tail could do some damage. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Ragna joined Shilah in keeping the crocodile's attention as Naiche returned with a stick. The young dove into the water and a moment later there more blood oozing from the beast. It twisted and flailed, swimming out deeper into the water and away from the wolves. She watched it go and knew it was dying. It swam weakly and seemed to have trouble staying upright. She was about to move onto the shore when fangs latched onto her thigh. She yelled as an anaconda bit into her leg. It's coils moved up, trying to get around her. She desperately latched her fangs into the snakes head. She ripped it from her body but the coils had wrapped around her hind legs, making it difficult for her to stand.

Shilah dove again fro the crocodile, luring its focus while the younger male stabbed it with a stick. He couldn't see through the water so he had no idea whether the blow was fatal or not but it was enough to get the crocodile to turn around and swim away so that was good enough for him. However, they weren't done yet. His head whipped around as Ragna screamed. His stomach dropped when he saw the snake and he lunged for it, fangs seeking deep into it's flesh about three feet back from its head. Shilah immediately scrambled back, seeking to straighten the snake before it crushed Ragna or himself for that matter. Good grief, how long was this thing? It was huge!

Naiche felt pleasure as he saw the thing struggling, excellent! “Hah!” That was all he had a chance to say before he heard Ragna yell. That was one huge as snake! Naiche wasn’t all that sure where to begin with it! One wolf had gone for its head, another several feet down, but the thing hadn’t loosened up yet. Naiche saw the a part of the body farther down raise out of the water, possibly planning to attack or just in pain or to tighten up or well Naiche had no clue! Naiche stepped down farther into the water and bit into a spot farther down the anaconda’s body. Naiche braced his muscles and started working to pull the rest of the snake to the shore. Maybe it was the sort more confident if part of it was hidden. The snake had some crazy muscles! Naiche had got a few steps, probably by a mixture of surprise and the snake busy elsewhere but then suddenly it was fighting his grip. Naiche felt he was in a deadly game of tug as he would drag it forward, it would drag him backward. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

Ragna knew she needed to do something quick so she flopped over onto her side and yanked her hind legs up close to her body. slipping them out of the coils. The snake twisted as it tried to heave its body over her neck. Ragna had no choice but to release the head and leap away, finally free. She hated that thing, whatever it was. She was fine with little garter snakes but that thing was evil. Her heart was hammering in her chest but now was no time to quit. With herself free she could see the snake moving to strike at the men that had hold of its body. She dove in right for the middle, between Shilah and Naiche as she seized hold of it to help the others drag the thing onto shore. She wasn't sure if a change in environment would make a difference but at least they'd be able to see it.

Shilah struggled to keep hold. The snake was strong, it was basically one massive muscle and he could feel part of it trying to coil over his neck. He pulled harder, trying to keep it taut enough that it would fail. The plan seemed to work and Ragna was able to slip free and join the offensive. Shilah thrashed his head seeking to do damage but there was one miscalculation. Now that Ragna had lost her grip on its head the snake whipped around, sinking its fangs into his right shoulder. It was pushing itself up his neck. He stepped back, pulling it onto the shore and trying to keep it from getting a full circle hold on his neck, all the while debating if he should release his grip and try to crush the throat of the snake.

Naiche was at a loss on how to fight a giant snake! It was frustrating to see both the other wolves getting bit and somehow he felt guilty it hadn’t hurt him yet.  Naiche sunk his teeth again into the snake closer to Shilah only to find its tail coming up and trying to wrap around him!  Naiche let go of the snake, darting back and getting extremely lucky.  The snake was too busy upfront to put the focus on how it coiled around the golden wolf. During all of this Naiche had forgotten how there was a friend he had left nearby.  Falling from the trees came a true hero to make a difference! The pangolin came down with its clawed digits stretched out to slice into the anaconda.  Between gravity and those horrifically sharp and long claws, it did a nice bit of damage.  Certainly, it wasn’t nearly enough to kill the snake but it was sure to have felt that! Pan then proceeded to run away and curl up like the brave warrior the pangolin was. Speech:"Live to fight" Think

The snake twisted and flailed and Ragna could feel her lower jaw starting to ache with the pressure of keeping hold on the muscular reptile. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Shilah was in a bad spot. They needed to kill this thing and quick. She saw a strange creature dig its claws into the snake, causing it to twist, clearly in pain. It was now or never. If the others could keep the snake from killing her long enough for her to kill it then there was a way to win this. She eyed where her earlier bite had been. Her muscular legs coiled beneath her and in a moment she dropped her hold on the snake and bounded toward Shilah, her jaws latching around it's throat, just behind the head. Ragna bit down as hard as she could and with a twist of her neck she ripped the snake off and started thrashing violently. She whipped her head from side to side as if she'd gotten wet and was trying to shake the water from her coat. Despite this she could feel the coils of the serpent reaching for her, trying to wrap around her chest.

Shilah kept hold as best he could but if he was honest with himself he was starting to get tired. To go from one large predator to another, he wasn't sure he had the stamina but it really wasn't his choice at this point. Either he held on or he died. Suddenly, Ragna darted forward and latched onto the snake's throat. She then ripped it off of him and started shaking it. Shilah darted forward snatching the nearest coil that was starting to wrap around Ragna's chest. He joined the shaking, ripping as much flesh as he could. Ragna's grip on the serpent seemed to be killing it. He could feel the snake getting weaker in his jaws. They just had to hold it off a little longer and then Shilah was going to get away from the water for a good long while. He'd had enough of this!

Naiche would have joined them farther up the snake but due to limited room with all the thrashing he bit into where Pan had just slash, pulling and shaking his own head.  There was a sense of pleasure as he felt the scaley skin tearing beneath him.  Pan’s claws had cut deep and close together so that Naiche had his teeth between slash marks, cutting the skin in between helping to have more of its blood bleeding out.   The snakes head was damaged from the one wolf, and more shortly below from the next and now the blood he had coursing over him the snake was bound to die one way or another.  The two had names of course, but he was a bit busy right now to think of them.  The snake was growling limp, mostly he imagined from the damage to its head.  Regardless of how much or how little Naiche had actually accomplished it felt good knowing it was finally dying.  He dropped his limp portion to look at the other two, “How bad are your wounds?” then glancing to his friend, “good job Pan, you saved our necks.” The pangolin slowly released its defensive pose to make sure the danger was truly over before standing up to take in the sight more. Speech:"Live to fight" Think