His father led him down to the beach to the training rings of the Armada pack. It wasn’t the first time he had been here, but he hadn’t been to the ocean territory as often as the grasses. He looked about himself, eyes glancing towards the ocean. Finding his mind wandering as he wondered just how big the ocean was… but he couldn’t afford the distraction. He whipped his head back to his dad as the older wolf asked him a question. “Yes, sir!” he said, letting his paws fall into the pose his father had shown him.

Letting his paws space out, digging into the dirt, as he faced his father. He already knew from experience that the Armada Champion hit like a freight train. He let out a soft breath, expecting the lesson to begin, when Azure paused. He watched his father straighten, and tilted his head in confusion. Had he done something wrong…? He began to wonder, when he heard it too. A strange hissing-spitting sound. Everything about it sounded… off, though he couldn’t say what exactly. It sounded like anger and pain, and he followed his fathers gaze. Turning to see the creature that stood there. Fungus growing across its body, ooze running from its eyes. The disease! But he thought the disease was gone now?

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Azure knew he'd wasted precious, formative weeks of his pup's lives due to his illness. Hanako hadn't left her den since the Firefly Man's concoction had taken from her her precious fur, so he knew it was up to him alone to ensure that the newest generation of Fatalis' had a decent early education. Of course his parents assisted where they could, though both grandparents were softer on children then Azure would have liked. As a result, his children had become distractible and playful, not traits befitting the warriors and hunters they'd one day be.

"Pay attention." He barked as his son's mind started to drift, tapping his paw upon the ground firmly where he stood in battle stance, awaiting Basilisk' compliance. Thankfully of the litter he'd got one child to be proud of, and while Basilisk had the usual downsides that came with youth, Az had faith he'd soon grow up and make something of himself and his name. The pup obeyed and Azure watched carefully as he adjusted his position, nodding in confirmation that the boy's stance was appropriate. He was prepared to lunge then and begin their spar, when a rustling in the tall grasses caught the Champion's ear.

He straightened, turning his head from the boy. If Basilisk was learning anything he would have taken the moment to strike while his opponent was distracted - and in fact, Azure would have rebuked him had he missed the chance - and so Azure lifted a paw into the air toward him in a silent gesture to pause. The rustling grew closer, until from the grasses slid a small alligator. It's maw was held open, and from where Azure stood he could see that mushrooms of various sizes had grown within the creature's jaws preventing them from snapping shut all the way. His first instinct was to kick his son away and kill the thing himself, but this predator was not as dangerous as a healthy one of his kind may be. Surely he could still inflict damage with his teeth and strong tail, but Basilisk would not be fatally wounded should he make a wrong move.

Azure turned to the boy, eyeing him up and down as he finalized his decision. "Avoid it's teeth and be careful. They can turn faster then you'd think." He advised. The alligator crept closer and gave a low bellow of warning, to which Azure stepped away from his son and began to slowly circle it. Alligators had a poor field of vision, and his intention was to force the thing to circle away from Basilisk so the pup might be able to strike from the rear, where it was safer.

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The young pup had been too curious to see it as an opening, but as his father raised a paw in a gesture to stand down, he realised his dad had expected him to see it as one. He knew he needed to learn to think like his father, to be the wolf his father desired him to be. He wanted nothing more in life than he did to make his dad proud. He leaned back on his hunches, as through standing down from a strike.

His eyes still searching to find what had made the noise and caught his fathers attention. He saw it a moment after his dad, the alligator, with the weird deformities across its body. It was infected, in a way much of the pack had been when Bas had been born. The normal, or so he had thought, until the bodies of those he knew had come ‘right’

He found his father scrutinising him, and he met his fathers look with his chin raised. Through his heart beat quickly in his chest, what was his father planning? There was something in the older wolfs eyes… and then he called Basilisk forward. He knew then that Azure intended him to find the Alligator, perhaps even to do so alone?

“Yes, Father” he said, for he knew it was the only answer he could give. To his relief, his father didn’t intend for him to take this challenge alone. He watched as his dad circled the beast, taking its attention with him. As the Alligator turned, the boy crouched, baring his teeth in silent aggression. Right. Fierce, strong. He could do this. He leapt before his resolve could determine if he was afraid or not, landing on its back, and diggin in his sharp little claws. His still-growing dire canines already bent down, digging into its flesh.


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His son gave the answer Azure expected and he found himself proud a second time, though he would not let it show during this fight of theirs. The oversized pup launched himself at the beast, landing upon it and sinking his growing fangs into it's rough skin. Azure watched intently, dividing his attention between both his son and the monster he fought, anticipating the creature's moves and providing a safety net of observation as Basilisk took it on.

The reptile spun, trying to turn his head to find the predator upon his back but Azure stepped forward, slapping his mutated paw down hard upon the sensitive snout, redirecting it's attention back to the larger, more dangerous wolf. "The longer you fight it, the more desperate it will grow." Azure called toward the boy. "Desperation is dangerous, stop playing with it." Steely blue eyes stared across the gator's wide fungus-ridden head toward his son, watching to see what Basilisk would do when pressed to end the fight without his father's assistance.


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“Under.stood” He spat out between the flesh of the alligator. He took that to mean he was taking too long to neutralise the threat. His father expected better of him. Digging his teeth and claws into its back wasn’t doing enough, just making it squirm and twitch beneath him. He couldn’t reach anything vital from here, unless his plan was to bleed it out slowly, he needed to change tactics. He needed to be flexible, and think in battle. That was what his father was trying to teach him, right? His claws were dug in now more for grip than to hurt it. Trying to ride its thrashing body as it sought to dislodge both himself, and his father. His father, who had slapped a paw down across his snout. Capturing its attention, and keeping it forward-facing where his father could control its teeth. Making himself the bigger threat, instead of his son who scrambled about on the creature's back. He knew this was a fight with training wheels, and that meant he had to do exceptionally well. He had to prove he didn’t need help, no matter how little he was. Every moment he spent dragging this fight out, his father would be judging him.

Growling softly, he released one paw, and moved it forward, and began to crawl carefully up the alligators back. He needed to get towards that very head Azure was guarding for him. He could see the way his father had held his paw down on its snout, and how little the alligator seemed able to fight that weight.

He could work with that. With a cry, he released his grip on the alligator entirely, launching himself forward again. This time he landed up near its head, and its beady little eyes. Its brain had to be near the eyes, right? He bared his extra long teeth, and then sunk them into its eye socket. Going as deep as his teeth could. Holding on tightly with his forpaws, his hind saddled across its body like he was riding it. He ignored the gore, the taste of its eye in his mouth. He needed to get to the brain, he needed to prove himself to his father. His tooth his something flesh, and he felt the alligator give one great, final thrash, and fall still.

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The tenacious pup climbed further up the alligator's back, towards it's head. It was an intelligent move, as the usual weak point of the throat was not exposed on a creature who lay so low against the ground. Azure leaned his weight heavily upon the snout, hearing the beast cry out as his jaws and the mushrooms within them were forced painfully shut.

Basilisk's growing teeth were shoved into the eye socket and Azure was pleased to see how he was able to move past the messiness of the situation. Neon ooze pushed up around the tooth, squirting out around Basilisk's face as the pressure intensified. The moment he hit the brain was noticeable, and Azure lifted his paw as it gave it's last thrash of resistance. "Good boy." He praised, stepping back from the corpse to allow his son room to dismount. With any other of his children Azure's words would have been criticisms of what they'd done wrong or missed, it was praise in itself that he left those critiques unsaid to Basilisk in his victory.

The fisher, Bean, darted forward from Azure's hind legs immediately, rising up with intent to wipe from Basilisk the ooze that had transferred before it crusted over. It was a job he was well-versed in from when Az himself was sick and they did not yet know whether the fluid was infectious. "We'll skin it now, if you have any energy left for it." The offer was both a reward and a challenge - to see whether his son could continue their lessons like normal after the execution, while also giving the boy an out should he need it.  


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