Draw the feral's attention from Arro!

The realization of Arro’s imminent consumption sends a shiver up your spine. The Quagsire, easily twice your size in both height as well as weight is clearly more than a match for your lithe build. Nevertheless, you can’t bear the thought of leaving the kind Vaporeon to his fate. One look at the dazed aquatic eeveelution struggling beneath that ruined door is all it takes to send you sprinting past the infected, skidding to a halt before him. You set your fears aside and square off with the mindless beast, readying yourself for a brutal fight.

Your sudden obstruction slows the infected, his face screwed up in annoyance at your defiance. This lasts only a moment before that cock-sure sneer returns now accompanied by its tongue loosely hanging from its mouth. You feel a wave of doubt wash over as it settles those purple eyes upon you before taking a heavy step toward you.

Not wanting the Quagsire to gain anymore ground on your fallen friend, you take the fight to it. From a quick crouch, you pounce into a sprint toward the infected, balling a fist as you go. Thinking to end your pitiful charge with its impressive bulk, the infected comes to a stop and raises its arms, preparing to catch its foolish prey. Exactly as you had hoped.

Seeing the slow moving, slower witted feral brace for your strike, you repress a grin and instead release a dramatic snarl as you near the beast, fist raised behind you. At the last second before contact, you fall to one knee and lean back hard as the Quagsire’s counter attack breezes harmlessly above your sliding form. Using the still slick boardwalk, you easily pass beneath the arms of the larger predator, tightly gripping its tail before you pass it by! You harness the momentum from your slide as you kick up behind the now very confused creature. Not wasting your advantage, you lunge at the feral’s back, a vicious punch connecting to the side of its rubbery head.

Seeing the beast stagger to the right a step gives you a sorely needed confidence boost. This newfound courage is doubled as you catch a glimpse of Arro sliding out from under the wood pinning him to the pier. While the poor fox is still shaking the stars from his vision, it’s a good start. Much of that feeling swelling within you is stolen when those purple eyes slowly, sadistically fall upon you once more. The infected water type no longer wears a hungry grin as it has been replaced by a look of pure hatred. As it stands tall over you, a withering glare spread across its features, you prepare for the real fight to begin.

Your opponent, clearly tired of the game, reels back its head and with a furious roar releases a powerful blast of water at your chest. You’re given less than a second to throw yourself to the pier to avoid the worst of the ranged ****. Instinctively rolling to the side and back up to a crouch, you catch a glimpse of the wood splintering where you had laid just a moment before. While the attack was somewhat predictable, you are unprepared for the sheer impact of the blast. To your continuing dismay, the Quagsire doesn’t relent, instead turning to bring its sustained water jet toward you once more.

You are **** to jump farther to the left along the freshly soaked boards, narrowly avoiding a direct hit. You growl through your exertion, silently praying you manage to keep your footing, as time and time again you are barely able to stay a few seconds ahead of that volatile stream. It’s not long before you’re gasping for air, the exhaustion building in your muscles from the never-ending torrent from the Quagsire. You know you can’t play keep away forever at this pace, and it is through a mixture of burning muscles, lack of oxygen, and freshly slickened wood that you feel your leading paw slip as it lands.

You are brought to an unstable prone position for the briefest of moments, **** to get your legs under you. Just as you plant that bothersome paw beneath you, the dreaded sting of that icy stream finally catches up. Sent skidding from the **** of the hit, you slam against the front of the hut the infected ambushed you from. At long last, the water ebbs and you are left groaning in pain, barely registering the wet slaps of the approaching ferals steps. You try to work through the pounding ache in your torso but your tired limbs simply flail weakly.

Through hazy eyes, you see the daylight eclipsed about your form, forcing you to look up to your aggressor. It stands tall over you once again, menacing you, savoring it’s total dominance over the silly morsel that thought to oppose it. You see one of those massive arms reach for your struggling form. Knowing you’ve no strength to dodge the grasping hand, you can only stare defiantly up at the feral predator as he closes in.

“You.. Will…”

Your ringing ears catch a familiar voice, all pretense of playful kindness lost, replaced with righteous anger.

“...NOT!”

The last word is delivered alongside a sickening *THWAP* as Arro’s tail connects hard with the midsection of the distracted Quagsire. You feel the wind from the impact as the feral has its balance stolen by the unexpected blow, actually causing it to flop to the side, brought low and growling. Arro presses his furious attack, releasing his own torrent of liquid to propel the infected further away, back toward the center of the pier.

“Can you stand?”, comes the worried question from your now twice savior. The Vaporeon stands firm with his back to you, refusing to let the infected from view. When you cough out an affirmative, he lets out a relieved sigh, even supporting your wobbly rise with his tail wrapped about your wrist. “I appreciate the distraction, Kale~” Arro purrs with a healthy dose of teasing in his tone.

He becomes serious once more as the Quagsire rises to his full height but 20 feet from the both of you. It releases another challenging roar, daring you to attack. “Ferals aren’t known for their willingness to surrender.” Arro quips flatly. As if to punctuate his remark, the infected water type takes a lumbering step forward, before another and then another. Knowing you have little time to decide on a plan, you join Arro, shoulder to shoulder, and say: