Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sandor growled softly. Personally, he didn't give two shits about the stupid monkey and wouldn't have minded seeing the thing get crushed or eaten or whatever it was everyone here seemed to think it was in danger of being. It had slapped him and left a hand print on him, and he resented that.

On the other hand, he had been trained as a Jedi, and that meant that he was obligated to hold life as sacred and to help the helpless. It could be a real nuisance sometimes. Resignedly he mumbled, "We should go see what's happening to the tree rat. At least that way we can honestly tell its leopard handlers we made an effort to save its worthless hide."

Mtalia nodded to those below. "I certainly wouldn't mind flying ahead and circling back," she offered, though the foliage made it a little difficult to navigate and to see. Still, she would have an advantage as one of the air. Mtalia felt confident in her own safety, so volunteering for that job was not difficult for the lammergeier. Perhaps her eyes could save from even more bloodshed- a worthy cause. She had seen more than enough of it in her lifetime.

She would keep her words to herself- she'd feel hypocritical for speaking out when it would be easy for her to take to the skies- but her own opinion was to go in and save the small-pawed creature, if indeed it needed saving. Was that not their original purpose in coming here? To find and end this monster? They were liable to be ambushed themselves if they stayed still too long...

An's heart was starting to do flip flops in her chest. They needed to make a decision and fast....but luckily it seemed like they were mostly in agreement. They would help whoever it was. She wasn't sure where this idea about the monkey had come from though. She glanced down at her own paws as if to be certain. Were they shaped the same? "No monkey like Ngdere made those tracks. I can't say if its a cub...I don't think so. They were about half the size of mine?"

"We either want to save the creature, or we don't. There's no reason to pick and choose who deserves saving," Veru cut in, clearly having already made his mind. They'd come on this hunt to save lives, not lose them. "If we're going to do this, lets move. Anyone with the advantage move ahead if you can."

As far as firekin went, Veru was not a particularly large specimen. In fact it had taken him several tries to join the pride proper. He wasn't exactly heroic- what little fame he had in the pride was largely due to his ability to talk himself out of his problems. But pacing seemed to give him nerve. He bolted, An close on his heels.

As the group moved faster through the brush, it became clear they weren't the only ones who had taken a fast pace through this brush. The path which had started out just disheveled became a disaster zone of fallen branches and sapplings. It didn't matter how much they rushed: the trek was slowed by all the obstacles that littered the path.

Veru hopped over one of the fallen trees. "Something ran through here in a hurry." He didn't stop as they kept moving.

An was slower, trying to duck under most of the snapped trees rather than vault. This wasn't good. How were they supposed to fight against a creature that could do so much damage so easily? She swallowed hard. She wasn't afraid, but the idea that she might have lead her friends into a bad situation was-

and then, An's feel fell out from under her. She slipped, slamming face first into an uprooted bush. Had she hit a tree? The blonde lioness glanced behind her. "Wait-! Wait!" she yelled, trying to stop the next person from running over the same creature.

arrow It was a cheetah, lying half crushed by one of the trees.

Saiorse was no healer. The sight of the poor, crushed creature sent her heart falling to the very tip of her tail. The pink lioness stopped where she stood, the heat and anger going right out of her. She shook her head, willing herself to find her bearings. "...The...the poor.." The lioness's voice shook, and she cleared her throat. "We need a healer." Her voice had regained a shade of its original haughty timbre, far from as convincing as it had been before. She had seen stronger creatures with wounds like these that hadn't survived, and could find little hope for the beautiful cheetah, crushed before her. She couldn't even tell if the the poor girl was conscious. There was no fight that could frighten the hot pink lioness and her haughty, brash nature. With her brutality, she could protect, she could stop things like this from happening, but once they happened.. Then she was powerless, then she could do nothing. Perhaps if they had come just a few moments sooner, perhaps they could have... The lioness shut out the possibilities. She needed to focus on here, and now, and what they could do. "...We need to kill whatever did this, before it.. Before it does this again." There was a new resolve in the lioness's voice. She had only heard the rumors, seen what damage the thing had left along the trails. But this... Seeing it first hand was far different. If it was a grieving mother, the lioness lost all sympathy. There was no excuse, and more importantly no excusing what had been done here, what had been done countless times before. She looked down at the half crushed cheetess, her face grim. "...I am sorry we did not come in time.."

Hel followed behind grudgingly, but the group was quickly stopped again - and he trotted to the front to see why. A damsel in distress. He paused for just a second, bemoaning his fate even as he realized he no longer had the option of being the codgery self-preservationist. Dames. He hissed under his breath - he was so going to get trampled, this little lady had better be worth it - and butted up next to Mura, wedging his shoulders and neck against the tree and bracing as best he could on the uncertain turf.

"If we get a few more, we can probably move it on the count of three. Or, you know, the raging elephant might get us first." He snorted, voice muffled from his face being pressed against the rough bark.

"I hope you lot made a good gamble," he muttered.

As much as Margulis found herself disliking the lion who'd previously called Ngdere "snack" she had to admit that he was right, they'd need everyone they could get to move this tree. She pulled herself loose from the tangled mess and carefully made her way beside Mura, wedging a shoulder beneath a low point of the tree. The tremors in her limbs were in full force but it didn't affect her strength. She felt the blood coursing in her veins, tensing up as she waited for the signal to push.

Spaki didn't voice an opinion on whether or not they should go, because he could really lean either way. He preferred to save someone, but Endesha had a point: it could get them killed. Fortunately, the decision wasn't exactly his to make, and he was content enough with following Veru and An's lead. He hurried don after, and was close on An's heels when she tripped. He skidded to a halt just in time.

The sight of the cheetah was not promising. They were already such frail creatures, a part of him doubted she would survive. He hesitated, and then some of the others began to work to set her free. They would need some more oomph in there, and he too braced himself against the tree, and waited for a signal. "We will need someone to pull her out once we lift this enough." He said. Spaki would do it himself, but he felt his strength was more needed with a heavy tree than a lightweight cheetah. And then it was time to push, and hope for the best.

-

Kimaji was a bit slower than the others as they raced on the trail, and when she arrived she was shocked by what she saw. The young goddess had not seen anything like this before! And she hoped never to see it again, because it was awful. "Oh no..." She dropped the root and just stood there for a few moments, watching as the others braced themselves against the tree. this was just terrible!

It was then that she remembered what the hyena said about the root. Picking it up again, she tried to get up close to the injured cheetah and hovered around her face. "It'll be okay!" She wasn't sure, but to Kimaji that was the only appropriate thing. She also wasn't sure the cheetah was conscious, but she hoped so. Chewing medicine that would take away the pain would be rather difficult otherwise!

"Just hold on a bit longer, and I can help you." She sidestepped a bit nervously, not wanting to get in the way of rescuing the cheetah. "They'll get you out of there." Kimaji took a couple steps away as they began to push. Hopefully this cheetah could hold on, just a bit longer. And then she could chew on the root, and then there wouldn't be too much pain, and then Kimaji could... call those healers. And then they could help her.