He had spent a few days in Boreas trying to make the most of what resources were available here. There were a lot of mouths to feed, a lot of young mouths. He had heard that a few of the young ones had been sick from The Long Night, and now that the illness and the darkness had subsided, they needed to restore their supplies.

He approached the falls, the large lake under the many pools that scaled the side of the cliffs. He took a drink from the water and admired the serenity of the falls themselves. It wasn't anything new to him given the fact he grew up in Abaven. As he walked along the bank to go around the falls, he was confronted by a large grizzly bear on the other side. He avoided the surprise swipe from the beast's large paw.

"Balthier"

As fate would have it, Usagi happened upon the falls as well. He was used to being on his own, and in fact, preferred the solace of no company. Being with his own thoughts and allowing his mind to take him elsewhere, like a steady inner reflection, was sometimes all that was needed to quell the flow of rage in his veins. Still, he missed Kuroo. He and Usagi were close and did virtually everything together. He’d be lying if he said that he almost regretted separating from his brother for this long of a time. They hadn’t been apart for this long in, well, forever. Iga wasn’t as vast as this place, but large enough, but they managed to always be close. Still, their mission took precedence over his own feelings, and he reminded himself harshly. The flop-eared wolf was lapping up water from onw of the many glimmering pools of the falls when he noticed the gold and black male yet again - how were they always running into each other? - face to face with a predator Usagi didn’t recognize. He realized from word of mouth that this burly, brown animal was called a ‘bear’, but he hadn’t seen them anywhere on Iga. Its size was something to behold, and the koi wolf watched for a few seconds before sprinting down the falls and whirling around to try and get the bear’s attention. "Hey, you! You dumb beast!" He spat at the grizzly bear, hoping to make it face him instead of the swirled wolf he’d met before. He glanced at the fellow male as if encouraging him to run or attack. His choice. Usagi wasn’t going to back out of this fight. No. He wanted to beat this creature. "Speech"

The familiar voice called out to the bear, and Balthier only looked briefly to the man he had met only a few times. They certainly didn't know each other enough to be friends, but they had mutual agreements it seemed.

The bear rose up on it's hind legs as Usagi called out to it, and Balthier didn't waste any more time dwelling on thoughts. He took the moment of advantage to get up under the bear, pushing himself off the ground and snapping a deadly bite right in it's undercarriage. It made the bear crunch down and bring it's attention back on him. He released and turned defensive, ready to strike at the next open opportunity.

"Balthier"

As the grizzly rose on its hind legs, Usagi could see why such a creature was so formidable and avoided at almost all costs. It was massive. He had no fear of it, but he was now much more wary of its power. One well-placed swoop of its clawed paw or a snap of its jaws could easily overpower a wolf like him. As Balthier took the opportunity to clamp down on the bear’s belly, the animalroared in anger, attempting to swipe at the swirled male as he manaegd to leap away and release his grip. Usagi figured it was his cue to try and disarm the predator as well. With a sharp inhale, the male crouched and then promptly launched himself at the bear’s back as it had turned towards the other wolf, using his strength to swiftly crawl up the animal’s back. Locating a spot on its neck he sank his jaws into the bear’s tough hide, wrenching around roughly to create a gaping wound. The creature growled, seemingly enraged and in great pain from the grave underbelly wound as well as the neck. It wouldn’t be long until blood loss caught up to this beast and felled it, but it swayed unsteadily, still alive. Usagi spat out the hairs between his fangs and let go, but now before aiming a kick into the bear’s back for good measure. It snarled, whipping to try and face the koi wolf but he had already hit the ground. He winced, the bruises from a previous attack by a lion creature not yet fully healed. Hopefully another attack by Balthier would fully finish off the angered creature. "Speech"

Balthier couldn't see the man up on the bear's back, but he knew he was doing bad damage by the sound the bear made in response. The bear was confused and disoriented from the wounds and loss of blood. But it still wasn't ready to back down.

Balthier eyed the wound he had caused on the more fragile skin of it's stomach. He waited for the bear to attempt to turn around towards Usagi before jumping forward again, and ripping a larger hole just where the current wound was. It was only a matter of time before it bled out, but they would still have to at least defend themselves until that happened.

"Balthier"

Usagi spun around to see Balthier launch himself towards the wound he’d created on the bear’s underbelly. Having ripped a larger hole, blood gushed from it as the thick-pelted beast roared in a cry of pain, its masive form crumpling into the earth. It thrashed a few times, as it struggling to catch one of the wolves for its final blow to try and wound them, however, the effort for it was fruitless. The wound Balthier created was fatal, and before long the wounded animal took its last breaths and died. With the bear now dead and its blood pooling underneath it, he glanced to his mutual hunting partner with a flick of his upright ear, padding closer to investigate the corpse. His nose wrinkled, he didn’t realized bears had such an acrid stench to them. Not that he was that fussy about it - but what could they do with it now? "What do you normally do with such a creature," He said, his tone its typical monotonous rumble. He didn’t really know what it was useful for - besides, was bear meat even that good? Or its pelt warm? He supposed it was but he was no crafter. Either way, he admitted Balthier had a great handle on the situation, and had done the mist in taking it down. The koi wolf mostly just helped to subdue it so some degree, but it didn’t make him an expert in wrangling bears. Or any beast, really. "Speech"