Leap Forth Alone!

Waiting for the ranger to get himself in order wasn’t an option. Even if he would be willing to look past your earlier infractions, you sincerely doubt his abilities in his current state. Mobility was likely shot due the aforementioned groin punt which pretty much nix’d his chances at keeping past with the elusive moth in flight. No, you realize, your best play here would be to draw the ferals attention and hope that your new friend might find a way to prepare himself in the meantime.

You know you’re out of time when you see the violet bug’s muscles tense with expectation of her coming charge. Not wanting her to set the pace, you launch yourself from the branch with a snarl making for one of the natural platforms nearer to your target. Seemingly unimpressed by your display, she continues on with her own advance in an attempt to intercept you mid leap. Your agility proves quicker, however, and you are just able to plant one hind paw on the chosen bough before ducking low to cleanly avoid her tackle. She wings by in a blur, denying you of a chance to counter attack, but you stifle a grin nonetheless.

With her back now to your possible ally, you can keep her busy long enough for him to recover. The feeling doesn’t last long though, as you are rewarded for your efforts with a blistering screech from your falsetto opponent. It isn’t enough to completely disorient you, but the cry does reverberate around your skull of longer than you’d like, through the one eye you struggle to keep open, you can make out the venomous woman streaking toward you, arms outstretched, likely in an attempt to snap you up for a quick snack.

You’re ready for her this time and, despite the pain in your head, set your next trick into motion. You allow your right leg to wobble freely, attempting to invoke the image of a weakened morsel ripe for the claiming. Like a Venomoth to the flame, she takes the bait and rushes in to capture her evening's dinner. All too late she would come to realize her error as you hop off the side of the bough opposite her, deftly catching it in your hands to then transition the momentum of your fall into a tight swing beneath and then up over the other side. As you had hoped, the acrobatic maneuver is timed just right to bring both of your heels to bare as the woman passes over the branch.

“Ggraaccckkk kkhhaaaa!!”

The double kick catches her square in the stomach and even for one of the infected, you know you’ve done some damage. Her flight path is interrupted and she is sent somersaulting in the air a ways away from you, her previously extended arms recoiling tight against the spot you had struck her. Though you’re not lucky enough to knock her from the air, when finally she brings herself to a proper hover you can see that confidence in her easy meal has been shaken. Coming back up to a full stand atop your chosen branch, you shoot her a grin and cock a brow, partly in an attempt to further enrage her, but mostly because it felt good to do so.

Really good now that you think about it…

The Venomoth makes no move toward you in spite of your flagrant display, choosing instead to shakily hang there in the air; observing from afar. You wonder if she might actually be attempting some kind of strategy-making in that muddled mind of hers. For the briefest of moments, you even dare to imagine you’ve put her off her appetite. A silly notion, to be sure, but you enjoy the fantasy regardless.

The morale boost is dampened somewhat by the tinge of numbness creeping up your arms. Reflexively, your eyes dart to the affected areas where the thin layer of off white power coats your fur. Horrified at this ill-needed development, You snap focus back to the Venomoth woman; a sinister sneer splayed across her face as if you mock your own cocksure grin just moments ago. You could slap yourself, so blatant your mistake so as to allow this feral the opportunity to now once, but twice pass above you and allow these paralytic spores to cover your exposed form.

You thrash violently to dislodge them, brushing your hands over the thickest patches. While it does seem to help a bit, the infected bug doesn’t seem to be interested in letting you ruin her hard work. With a discordant cry, her wings pulse hard and propel her toward you once more. **** to stop your efforts, you tuck hard to the right, dropping below the branch once more to hang wide of her attack. Desperation, though, rather than cleverness drives your actions this time and with your work only half finished, the numbness lingers there upon you; sapping away at your fine motor functions.

Rising again to mount the branch, this time with a fair bit of effort due to the coming exhaustion, you take care to avoid stepping into the fine layer of dust clinging to the bark where you once stood. A scan of your immediate surroundings reorients your impaired sense of direction placing you a few branches from the still nameless avian. His worried expression peers over the wooden platform down upon you, clearly aware of the threat to you both.

More concerning than the bowman inaction is the lack of a feral insect swooping in for a taste. In your hasty retreat, you lost sight of the near silent flier, no doubt giving her a crucial advantage over yourselves. The trees don't betray the moth to your frantic glances, instead allowing the evening breeze to cloud your searching ears with the chorus of a thousand leaves flitting in the wind. Knowing that you’ve been placed on the back paw, you quickly call up to your companion.

"She'll be upon us again soon!" You shout, more focused on getting the message to him than stealth. Knowing you likely have precious little time to form any semblance of defense, you bark out the rest of your plan.

"If I can keep her attention off of you, I might be able to line her up for a shot from behind. Can you stand?" You take heart in his nervous nod to the affirmative, thinking to turn this whole debacle around. With the stiffening in your fingers being a morbid reminder of your time scale, you struggle to climb your way up toward the thick canopy in an attempt to bait her out.

You don’t have to wait long.

Whether she has gotten tired of delaying her meal or you simply present to sweet a target, you are halfway up the trunk to the next horizontal branch when she comes tearing through the treetop towards you. With your shared target acquired once more, the only thing left is to string the feral along for enough time for your ranger to take aim. With nowhere to go but down, you kick hard against the thick tree bark and land hard against the bough below, having barely saved yourself from another reckless dive from the crazed girl.

While you manage to keep your balance upon impact with the branch, the ten thousand or so pin pricks in your legs inform you that the poison has begun to make its way through your lower body. With time running out and ever less energy to expend, you pray that the ranger is able to keep up. That thought is **** away when the Venomoth reappears from below this time, rising up toward your position with claws outstretched; eager to be done with this annoying game of keep away.

With barely seconds to react, you demand your muscles endure yet another sluggish leap toward safety. Luck is not on your side this time, however, as the moment you take off from the perch, a rattling blow to your back sends you careening into the bark of a nearby tree. Perhaps she had observed you long enough to learn how to predict your movements, or maybe the poison had finally done its job in slowing you down. The cause isn’t nearly as pressing as the resulting counter that leaves you face down, gasping for air in an undignified heap against the wood. Through the waves of dizzying pain you can make out the sensation of little dust particles softly piling upon your exposed back. It would seem the beast is taking no chances with you this time…

A heavy thump to your rear signals her final approach, no doubt drooling at the thought of claiming her Sneasel treat. Weakly, barely able to even crane your neck in the direction of where you last left your ally, hoping against hope that he has used his time wisely. Her paw falls from behind warn of her imminent arrival and when you scan the branch where your avian friend lie in wait, you see: