Welcome to Gaia! ::

His opponents (friends?) were on the move, and Jaguar sharpened to attention once more. He had no qualms that he could defeat the canine. It was almost sad, how outmatched she was - a domesticated dog against two apex predators? What sort of silly sport was this?

But she was a very large, very merciless domesticated dog. A glance upwards told him that Hawk was aiming for the first blood, so Jaguar held back. Best not to get in their way. He had been trained for stealth, to make friends with the shadows and hide within them. Undoubtedly the others had been taught different strategies suited to their unique designs.

He backed away from Doberman as she drew towards him, going not towards the wall but circling around back into the center. There were no shadows here, but it would not do to be cornered in a fight like this.

Above the roar of the crowd, he thought he heard the macaw queen's laughter.

Hawk had predicted a rebuttal, and so, is very prepared to make a sharp switch in direction when Doberman moves. This comes with the consequence of losing valuable speed, but at this sharp change in angle, he manages to keep a bit of distance from the mouth of his enemy. He finds the flesh of Doberman's hind and tears into it with his talons, holding on for extended seconds.

The adrenaline - he can taste it. His heart beats faster than he can ever remember it doing. Good. This is so good. But he's never attacked prey so big before. Panic rises, pushing out all those good feelings. He shrieks and lets go, flapping his wings in a frenzy to regain his air, his space.

Doberman was going to kill Hawk first, that much had been decided. She would tear him apart, and then attack the Jaguar. Snarling in pain when talons dug into her hand, the canine leapt after the Hawk, trying to catch him before he got too high for her to reach. She favored the injured hand, though, and missed entirely. Although really, that could be contributed to Jaguar, too. She turned, staring at him. That was a familiar name, Regina. But it wasn't hers.

Was it?

In a flash, not nearly as subtle, Regina remembered herself. Her mother, her uncle Carl, her house and her pets and her friends. But she also remembered what Doberman had done. She'd killed men here. Only a child and she'd been used by that... that Queen. That monster. She closed her eyes tight, growling low. Conflict spread through her. Doberman demanded loyalty to the Macaw Queen, no matter what harm the woman had inflicted on any of them, emotional or otherwise, she was their Queen.

Regina, though... She was only a child. And she wanted to go home. She bolted towards Nahuel, not out of maliciousness but fear. She wanted out, and he was older. He'd get her home to her uncle and her mother.

Nahuel does a quick analysis of the arena, and his gut tells him to go to the door straight ahead. He motions for the other two to follow, and begins to run. The guards try to stop him, but Nahuel is a trained predator. They burst past. By now, the Macaw queen has realized what is going on. He can hear her shrieking. But he follows instinct through the maze of tunnels they have entered, and they show him the way.

Before them, a portal looms. On the other side dances the world of Gaia, the yard of the project. Snow.

"Hurry!" cries Nahuel. There are footsteps behind them in the passageway. He leaps and tumbles through the portal, landing hard in the ice beyond it.

He can sense the panic in the others, and that only makes his wings beat faster. A burn begins to rise in them, but the averted adrenaline seeks to erase that, or at least, force him to ignore it. His sheer will to escape and remain in one piece helps, too.

Garrett barely hesitates at the sight of the portal. The only thing that throws him for a loop now is how white it is. He narrows his eyes a little. Had it really been that long? Snow? His beak is the first thing to push through the portal, but as soon as it touches the magical stuff, it's his nose.

And he does a very ungraceful nosedive into a pile of the white stuff.