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She only had time for a small hiss of satisfaction as she felt her claws rake through the flesh of Meshach's side before the purple lion roared and retaliated with a large paw. It crashed into the side of her head, and Tyfu stumbled out of range, trying to recover. For a moment or two she saw double, but when those images coalesced on top of one another and rejoined, the lioness roared her own battle cry as she pounced once more with claws and fangs.

He was only one, at this point, and they were many. They would be victorious!



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Damnit, would the lioness not stay down!? Truly, the only reason Halili had joined this battle was to help end it! Those who were rebelling against Shangyue had to see that this was hopeless, that he'd planted his seeds too long ago and too deeply to be so easily overcome. He had his Royal Guards, his other supporters, and that damned shadow Firaga as well.

Meshach, Andama, Nyota and Uchanjaa had desperation. Which wasn't much of a threat when compared to planning and forethought.

Halili countered the older lioness' blows as best she could, ignoring the blood that periodically splattered everything and everyone in their vicinity. Finally, something inside the slave snapped and she moved to grab at Nyota's throat with her teeth.



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The white lioness listened carefully to the quiet words Yavin spoke. Quiet, but full of passion and some fury. She found herself nodding in agreement.

"Shangyue planned this well," she answered. "So if we wish to triumph, we must be cannier and much more subtle." Which meant that they could not get involved in the chaos - not only because the rebellion was doomed to fail, but also because they couldn't risk alienating those who stood up against Shangyue.

"Do you think we should simply stand here and wait for it to end?" Lailah mused aloud.



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Red-orange eyes opened as their owner groaned in pain, returning to the waking world. His whole body felt bruised, and some regions in particular seemed to have been stepped on. Moaning again, 'Varinen rolled onto his front and began to lever himself up.

Mind clearing more by the moment, he realized that the reason why things seemed so noisy was because there were at least three separate battles going on all around him. Eyes wide, the monochrome lion looked around. There...two lionesses going at it with a ferocity he hated to see. Over here...Prince Meshach was being ganged up on and Firaga was trying to join that fray, though he himself was also being attacked.

The lion shook himself to try and settle his mind on the present and headed for the bigger battle, where the Prince and Princess were still trying to win against increasingly poor odds. Uchanjaa was over there too, and 'Varinen seemed to think it was the brown lion's fault he'd woken up on the ground, feeling stepped on.

Eyes wide, Orion didn't hesitate any longer when the fight between Nyota and Halili turned vicious. He abandoned the cubs he had been guarding and headed directly for his aunt and mate.

"Nyota! Halili! Stop!"

He didn't have time to plan or aim or think through what he was doing, he simply lunged where he hoped he might get between the two angry lionesses and stop their fight. Whatever Halili had hoped to accomplish was lost and Nyota seemed oblivious to anything except that she had been intercepted in an attempt to help fight against Shangyue, adrenaline certainly ruled their battle now- and Orion had to try something to stop it.

His claws and teeth were not a part of his plan but he put his weight into it. He had no idea what would happen once he was between them, though.





Parisa yelped when suddenly their giant dark shield abandoned them, definitely not as brave as had tried to convince herself she was. She buried her face in her brother's side, things were getting worse and now they just had each other. They seemed to be plenty far away from danger but it didn't matter to the cub. This was scary!



Through all the chaos, Shangyue seemed forgotten as the fight dissolved into smaller groups. It was hard to keep up with all of it, in fact. Halili and Nyota's fight seemed to be getting rather vicious, blood had been drawn and it seemed to send them each into a rage. Meshach seemed to be getting roughed up pretty good himself, though suddenly Uchanjaa had arrived- and far too close for Shangyue to like. He took another few steps back but stayed relatively close to the action.

Andama had stayed on the ground, seemingly stunned by everything going on around her. She watched Firaga stop Meshach in time to be joined by Tyfu-- and Uchanjaa! She had half a mind to join them, Firaga was a reasonable target for this assault where Shangyue seemed so dependent on him.. but there were others without him. There was only one Shangyue.

Again she was forgotten- and so was Shangyue. And this time, she was much closer to him. It pained her to move, being knocked around wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling, but she stayed low to the ground and moved away from the group fighting with and against Firaga. When she stood up, she faced Shangyue and glared. She had no time to hesitate, only time to act- and so she lunged forward, hoping nobody would stop her.

OOC: 83 Stop her! She can get hurt, too.

When Halili went for her throat, Nyota had no time to think, to plan. All she could do was follow her instincts and fling herself backwards, legs thrashing and kicking wildly. Maybe they would hit their mark, maybe they wouldn't--the lioness didn't know and could only hope her actions would be in some way effective as she...well...flopped away and began scrambling to her feet.

Then she whirled, blindly lashing out at the new lion charging into the fight before the world seemed to screech to a halt as she recognized the newcomer. She retreated a step or two as her eyes widened, then narrowed. "My brother raised you better than this, Orion," she snarled, blood dripping from her jaw as it oozed down her face. "Step aside and maybe I'll forget you turned traitor."

Please step aside.

Every thing happened so fast that it took a moment for Gaki's brain to catch up. The shock of an actual fight breaking out and a real bad one had been a lot. This shouldn't have happened with the royal guard here to protect the rightful king Shangyue.

He wasted no time jumping in to the crowd with fangs and claws out to silence the rebellion. How dare anyone challenge Shangyue.



Akahana on the other paw was standing her ground some where in the sidelines. Partly because it seemed the royal guard and Shangyues followers got this and also partly because it was more entertaining for the lioness to watch chaos then dirty her paws with such lowly things. A michiveous grin sprawled on her maw as she watched. It wasn't until Gaki entered the fray that she too decided side line crowd control was boring and followed suit. Her claws readied as was her fangs she'd take these threats seriously and silence them.



Though Chosimba did support Shangyue he also rather not dirty his paws in any way like an idiot. These disaggreements were better dealt with the way Shangyue dealt with the previous royal family. Quietly and not out in the open. Now there was a full blown retaliation and Chosimba was not about to get fang and claw out for something that could have been dealt with ... quietly.

He boredly watched the chaos unfold and inwardly shook his head. A scared, what he assumed to be, mother and cub , on the side lines caught his eye. Calmly he padded their direction.

"This is no place for you."

His features stayed stone and cold.



A cold whisper caught the blue lionesses ear. She'd been so frightened by all the commotion and unsure what to do. But there was truth to those cold words. Her pink eyes drifted to the owner of them and gave him a nod only to turn to her pink niece and scoop her up.

Tatkret seemed to have no objections to being picked up.

The two turned heel and left while Chosimba merely watched from the corner of his eye to be sure they were safely out of harms way. This was not the place for a female with a cub. Once the two were out of sight, he turned his attention back to the fighting. His cool gaze almost looking through the crowd and boredly waiting for the commotion to stop.

Meshach knew that one strike would not be enough to deter the dark lioness. He braced himself for the upcoming attack. Her roar told him it was imminent. Tyfu was not his actual target, but he would have to deal with her first and hope to put her out of commission without really harming the lioness. Her claws and fangs connected several times more. He licked the blood from his nose and sent a hard swipe of his paw at her shoulder.

From the corner of his eye he spotted his sister making a drive for Shangyue. He had to keep the attention on him whilst she dealt with their errant family member. Meshach had hoped she’d make it only to feel dread as more than one lion made a stop. So many were protecting Shangyue. How could they defend them? The rank of royal guard said it all. Bribe.

The purple lion made several frantic slashes with his paws to clear some room. Andama had been stopped. He must try to reach Shangyue and put an end to this! “Shangyue!” He yelled and tried to charge through the massed lions.


(OOC: He is open for serious injury, nothing fatal. Feel free to take him down. <3 )

"I--I don't know." What should they do?

The fight seemed to be escalating and as he looked on he felt himself back away from it - to distance himself from danger. "We came for the coronation. What's the likelihood of that happening now?"

Whatever happened, Yavin had decided he would seek an audience with Shangyue after all this was done. "Perhaps we should at least move far enough away that we don't get accidentally drawn into it."

He snapped to attention at the sound of another voice, his sharp eyes pining down the spotted lion who had approached them. Yavin had never been good with names, particularly those of lower class and he wasn't about to start now. His eyes narrowed judgmentally and he curled a lip. "What sort of question is that? My brother is causing a scene and I stand here and not at his side. Who do you think I have chosen to side with?" He growled, swiping his tail from side to side. "Go bother someone of your own class."

Yes, Yavin had still not learned much in the way of manners...

The black lioness was getting the hang of how Meshach responded to attacks by those he considered to be peripherals. This time when he swiped at her, Tyfu managed to dodge enough that it was a glancing blow, rather than a debilitating one. Here eyes were still shifting out of focus now and again, but she was forcing them to cooperate with her by sheer will.

He still wanted Shangyue's attention, and Tyfu was aware that the battle was getting overly close to the new King, but as she was here and not there, and there seemed to be plenty of Royal Guards and supporters near the Heir, she would continue fighting here.

Dodging his blows as best she could, Tyfu aimed her clawed paws at the purple lion's rear legs and feet, intending to deprive him of the ability to stand.



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Well, it seemed that this lion, Gaki he thought the name was, had more skill in combat than old Icky. Despite himself, Uchanjaa felt the beginnings of respect blossoming. However, that didn't mean he agreed with the white lion politically and he refused to allow the other male to triumph.

The brown lion reared up on his hind legs, waving his paws at the charging lion in an attempt to discourage the attack. When that failed, he let gravity do the work for him, to bring his forepaws down on the white male. Hard.



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Lailah didn't know whether to be worried or reassured by Yavin not knowing any better than her what to do. At least he was right about one thing - they definitely didn't want to be swept up in the mess of a mob.

"That's a good idea, at least," she agreed, before snorting. "Yavin, if Shangyue wins tonight, he'll want to be crowned immediately, while it's most obvious that any...rebels...stand no chance of winning."

The white lioness turned at the sound of another voice, noticing two lions she'd never really met or spoken to before. The female of the pair struck her as someone that she'd seen join the pride, but the Apprentice couldn't have said how long ago that was. She'd opened her mouth to reply when Yavin stepped in, rather brusquely and rudely. Lailah sighed and shook her head at him.

"My advice to the two of you, is to remember that Prince Shangyue clearly planned this out some time ago, and it seems he has the support to claim total victory tonight. Remember that he does not seem to mind killing, especially not those who oppose him."

That wasn't to say that Lailah was a Shangyue fan, but she wasn't going to encourage a mated pair to throw their lives away!