[Private] Shades of the Flame [w/ Iri]

[Zoketi]

Rolling to her paws, she shook her coat and snapped her jaws at the hyena, her eyes alight with a fiery anger. She was not worried about one hyena. She'd expected more of them to join in, but if this was how it was then that was fine with her. She'd already had a scuffle today and wasn't keen on getting too bruised up. Lashing her tail, she pounced towards the smaller creature, aiming to swipe at her legs and knock her down so she could sink her jaws into the hyena's shoulder.

[Iri]

The hyena tried to skitter out of the way, but she was tripped by the dark greyish lioness. She screamed and writhed as the feline buried her teeth in her shoulder, which the two other hyenas took as a signal to attack- but this time, she made no gesture or sound for them to halt in their tracks. One of them clamped her jaws on the female's tail and yanked backwards, attempting to tug the lioness off of their matriarch. The second snapped his teeth at the female viciously, barking and snarling all the while. Other than that, he made no further moves to attack the feline, but the leader of the hyenas wriggled, trying to scratch her claws against the lioness's muzzle.

[Zoketi]

She had a feeling the others wouldn't let their leader go down without doing something about it. She felt teeth on her tail but held on firmly to the first, despite the other making noise around her. As claws scored over her nose she released the first hyena with a furious yowl, spinning around to swipe at the one holding her tail. Kaharabu growled and kicked out towards the male hyena as she did.

[Iri]

The one who had yanked the lioness's tail jumped back, attempting to dodge the strike, but was hit anyway. She fell back with a growl, while the male managed to leap out of the way of the attack. Both of them tried to leap onto the grey female, but the matriarch barked sharply, "No! This is my fight." Blood streamed from the lead hyena's shoulder wound, but she faced the lioness fiercely, waiting for another attack. She was ready to call on multiple other hyenas to swarm the dark feline, but she instead drew her lips back and growled aggressively. She wasn't quite prepared to allow the rest of the cackle- even though it was relatively smaller than the average hyena group- to charge in a crowd. The three surrounded the lioness, all of them snarling.

[Zoketi]

Kaharabu swung back around to face the leader with a low snarl, planting her paws on the soil. She lashed her tail and flexed her claws against the ground. "Bad choice," she grunted, leaping towards the female again and aiming to pin her once more, hoping to slice her paws through flesh in the meantime.

[Iri]

The hyena was pinned yet again as she attempted to catch her breath, and she felt herself slammed against the ground. She winced as she felt her foreleg sliced, and instead gestured sharply for her entire clan to attack, knowing that it was extremely unlikely- and most likely impossible- for a single lioness who had seemingly already been in a recent fight to be able to escape mostly unscathed from a whole pack of aggressive hyenas. She watched with a smirk as the other hyenas began to come out from behind their cover and swarm the lioness, all of them snarling and barking. Though they didn't attack to kill, they did fight with the intentions to seriously injure, to show the female that strangers were not welcome- especially those who were defiant.

[Zoketi]

The lioness's tail swatted out with satisfaction as she pinned the mangy mutt, her eyes aglow with annoyance. However, at the signal and rush of many others, Kaharabu jerked back, releasing the matriarch with a snarl. Uh oh. She flattened her ears and swung out her forepaws furiously, letting out a deafening roar as warning to the creatures. She jumped readily into the fray, swatting and kicking despite being outnumbered severely.

[Iri]

The hyenas continued to mercilessly swarm the female like a flock of vultures on a carcass. The matriarch staggered to her paws and snapped her jaws at the lioness, but made no move to stop her comrades from bombarding the feline. It was rather amusing to her, the female's futile attempts to drive her attackers off... The lioness had trifled with her, she had stepped over the line, and now she was being taught a lesson. A sickening lesson, really, but a lesson that she wouldn't forget anytime soon...

As Chaltuu traipsed past, her ears perked as an ear-splitting bellow rang out violently, followed by snarls and barks that were unfamiliar. However, she could recognize the roar... She wracked her brain for who it could possibly be. After a brief moment, she realized it was Kaharabu. She quickened her pace considerably, following the sound of the tumult. Quickly she stumbled upon the waterhole, where she saw the dark greyish lioness trying to ward off a group of hyenas. Without much hesitation she sprung into the fray, preparing to assist the other feline. She swatted a few of the hyenas away from Kaharabu, bellowing at them aggressively. Her teeth were bared and her muzzle was scrunched in a snarl. Though they were still majorly outnumbered, they might be able to either flee- which Chaltuu only did as a last resort- or perhaps make an attempt to deflect the clan, which she could easily assume would be in vain.

[Zoketi]

Enraged snarls escaped Kaharabu's jaws as she twisted and flailed, striking any hyena in range but stumbling back as the sheer numbers began to overwhelm her. She lost her footing and hit the ground hard, still thrashing wildly. This wasn't the way she planned to go, but as long as it was fighting she was fine with that. However, a loud series of roars reached her, and suddenly the mass of hyenas parted, giving Kaharabu a glimpse of fiery red fur, strikingly familiar and almost a relief to see. Rolling to her paws, she bucked off the two that were clinging to her flank and snapped her jaws forwards at the ones by her face. Now she probably had a chance to leave. "Quick, that way," she snarled, shoving Chaltuu to the right, where they could escape to higher ground away from the waterhole.

[Iri]

Chaltuu kicked away a hyena that had clutched her hind limb with its jaws and veered to the right, pushing Kaharabu ahead of her. She clambered up the side of the hill that partially surrounded the waterhole, abandoning the fray. Although a couple of the hyenas pursued them, their matriarch called them back, to Chaltuu's relief. She halted once both of them had reached the top, panting heavily. She subconsciously examined Kaharabu's wounds, but the lacerations didn't seem like they were so severe that they were fatal. She huffed, sneaking a hasty glimpse back down where the hyenas were gathering back around their dens as if nothing had happened- to her, that was fine. She wasn't looking forward to being chased by them, even if she was usually eager for a fight.