32 Behemoth

When Leo heard the roar he looked up in the direction that he thought it came from. Looking into the distance he saw a flock of birds flying off.

"Please don't let there be a whistle." Leo prayed while he strained his senses to the max to ensure he didn't miss what he hoped he wouldn't hear.

piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Leo felt as if his heart stopped. Whatever was out there, they had found it. And instead of waiting, they were calling reinforcements, which meant Iris was going to be there as well. Leo started thinking. He looked up at the sun and saw he would probably only have around a couple hours left before the moon came up at most. He could stay here and hope for the best, or go to help and risk threatening everyone else.

Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Hearing the whistle again, Leo shot forward as he made his way to the fight. Damn the consequences, damn the risks. If he was lucky, he might be able to direct his transformation after the moon comes up against whatever they were fighting. He willed himself to be faster, as he raced towards the conflict, faster, faster FASTER! It was quite a while before he noticed the fur covering his body, and the difference in his size as he moved towards the conflict.

***

Iris looked at the big yellow eyes before the thing roared. She moved back as fast as possible and raced up a tree. By the time she got to a secure area, she heard Natalie blow the whistle. Three times to sound out trouble. Within minutes the other hunters would be gathering here, and they would help notify the Warriors. The question was, could they last that long?

As Iris looked down at the thing, she was able to determine what it was from the stories she had heard when she was younger. It was at least fifty feet long, not counting the tail. It had gray fur and tusks growing down from its mouth as well as horns on its head. The thing staring at her was a behemoth, a rare monster that was capable of destroying entire areas with its appetite, and fierceness. She heard that there was o e living a few days away, but it never bothered with them. Then as she recalled the smoke that Leo had mentioned to her, it clicked. The thing had been driven out by fire most likely, and was looking for new hunting grounds. And found them.

Her thoughts were brought to a halt however, as the tree she was standing on started shuddering with impacts. She looked down again and saw that the monster was trying to knock her out of the tree. She jumped to another one without hesitation, and readied an arrow before loosing it towards the behemoths eye. She hoped to blind it, but it was apparently used to fighting people as it seemed to know what she was trying for and turned its head to avoid her shot. She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Natalie readying another arrow, so Iris did the same. Together the two of them started loosing all the arrows they could while waiting for backup. But it seemed all they did was piss it off.

Natalie put the whistle on her mouth and let out another blow to alert the other hunters that they needed help desperately. As Iris was contemplating other means to fight without wasting her arrows, the tree she was in started shuddering again. She looked down expecting to see it it ting the tree agin, but was shocked by what she saw instead. The behemoth was climbing the tree! Or at least attempting to. It's height on two feet alone however was enough to make her worried, as she started to feel genuine fear for the first time.

"IRIS, GET OUT OF THERE!!" Natalie's shout snapped her back to reality, as she leaped away to yet another tree. Looking back, she saw that she left just in time as the Behemoths claws tore down the branch she was just on. At this moment she noticed that the other hunters started appearing, together they coordinated the attacks against the beast. But like before, they lacked the power to do any damage as it avoided, or protected all potential critical areas.

As they fought, Iris noticed that for some reason it focused on her the whole time, as she was forced to move from tree to tree to avoid its long reach. Eventually, her luck ran out as the beast leaned on the tree she was in again and suddenly, CRACK!!! The tree had started to fall. Unable to get a secure foothold to move to the next tree, Iris could only fall with it. Landing in snow softened her landing, but also made it harder to move as the monster bared down on her.

Iris stared down the beast as she took her last arrow and took aim. She didn't put any chi into this arrow, instead using it to shield herself as much as possible as the beast swung its claws at her, as she released her arrow. She was only able to see that her arrow hit its mark dead center in its eye, before the beasts claws slammed into her body and flung her away.

Natalie looked on in horror as the little girl she watched grow up got sent flying into a nearby tree. It was the howl of the behemoth that brought her attention back though, as she saw it clawing at its own eye in pain and fury. Disregarding all caution, she hurried over before the beast could turn its attention to Iris once again. Reaching Iris, Natalie put priority into checking if she was even alive before thinking about moving her. The other hunters were trying to keep the behemoth distracted while she tried to save Iris. Looking at her, Natalie saw that chances were several of her bones were broken, and there was blood spreading to the surrounding snow from the gashes made by its claws. She knew Iris used chi to defend herself, it might have been the only reason she was still alive.

Suddenly a roar shook the surroundings again as the behemoth tired of the other hunters, and turned towards them once more. Natalie couldn't move Iris fast enough, and readied her bow to stand her ground. The beast started charging towards them, and to Natalie it felt like the whole world just slowed down. She readied herself for what was to come, and stared down the charging monster. However, right when the beast was about to reach her, something moved between them and stopped it in its tracks.

Natalie looked up and was shocked at what she saw. The thing that stopped the behemoth was at least seven feet tall, was covered with dark red fur, and looked at her and Iris with concern in its orange eyes. It held the behemoth by the horns as Natalie couldn't help but cry out,

"LEO?!"