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Sha'uri and Rytir watched in horror as Ganesh was flung into a tree. Sha'uri winced, painfully recalling her own tossing and thanking her lucky stars that all she had hit was the ground, while Rytir leapt forward to see to the mission's leader.

As he was bounding toward the wounded Ganesh, Rytir saw Mongolia's feat out of the corner of his eye. He had to admit, he was impressed; just impressed enough to be ever so slightly distracted.

"Rytir! Watch it!" Sha'uri yowled.

The buffalo that Mongolia had just outdone was suddenly smack in front of Rytir's muzzle. Luckily, the beast was distracted, looking over its shoulder to try to see where its quarry had gone. Smoothly, Rytir slipped around it and raced to Ganesh's side.

"Are you alright?"

Meanwhile, Sha'uri - her progress slower than Rytir's with a now certainly dislocated leg - was still making her way toward the teal lion when she glimpsed a stranger huddled to the floor in the midst of all the ruckus. They'll be crushed if they don't move! With a pained roar, she pushed off to dive for the stranger when a buffalo charged - going after Gods only knew who - a tail-length from her nose. She stopped and blinked through the disturbed dust, but when it settled, the stranger was gone. Shaking her head and snarling a curse, she turned and hobbled as quickly as she could to join her mate.

When Ganesh pushed himself up, he could feel pain blossoming all over. A test of his limbs told him he wasn't sporting any broken bones, though, nor any dislocated joints. That was good! He stumbled for a moment, trying to regain his composure. A snort near by had his attention, and he found the buffalo of before eyeballing him. One lip curled back, before he charged at it. This time he missed, jumping on the animal's face and running along its back. Well... That was cool!

In another part of the trees, Mongolia was having marginally worse luck. The buffalo that he'd just escaped being injured by turned back, charging again. It clearly didn't like being a running board! The leopon let out a surprised sound, tucking and rolling away to just miss being gored. That was close!

She had only hoped to see if the Bahari had some bones. Or maybe the buffalo had finally left or died, and were now skeletons ripe for the picking and the Bahari had just failed to update the Kizingo'zaa yet. Boneknapper found she was INCREDIBLY wrong, as she found a buffalo charging at her. She wasn't one to back down, though - Ever the head-strong lioness, she folded her ears back and let out a roar, a challenge to this beast of an animal that dared torment their neighbors. Her muscles bunched before the salmon-colored lioness charged, refusing to back down. But then, so did the buffalo. A crash seemed imminent, before she jumped over its head and horns, tearing down its back. It let out a pained snort at her claws leaving p***k marks, but the beast and the lioness were both otherwise unharmed.

He felt horribly naughty, sneaking off while his brother was asleep. Of course, Emilian wasn't one to pass up opportunity, and confidence in their size between natural familial genes from their mother's side and slight influence from their father's side meant he figured he could take on at least a weak buffalo. He quickly found he couldn't be more wrong, as he dodged away from a buffalo. It JUST missed hitting him, the wind of its passing ruffling his mane. His eyes were wide before he came to a skidding halt, looking back. That was CLOSE! "Yoska's going to be so jealous he wasn't here..." A grin spread slowly across the orange lion's face, before he went charging off again.

Despite the pain he was in, Ganesh felt an anger unlike anything blossoming in himself. Where was this coming from? What was this lion it was turning him into? His lip curled back as he turned angry eyes to a buffalo. It was charging at him, another threat to his pride and home. Instead of running, he planted his paws and drew in a breath, filling his lungs. Pain was ignored as he let out a roar, showing the buffalo he felt no fear for it. Not anymore. Challenged by a lion in such a startling manner, it turned and went charging off. Only once it was gone from sight did it sink in for Ganesh that it might be heading for the dens.

The roar hadn't been missed by Mongolia. He looked quickly at Ganesh, a lion he knew to be as peaceful and placid as the sea on a day with no wind, and knew things had turned more real. Ocean-blue eyes turned to the buffalo, a determination filling the leopon. He drew in his own breath, letting out his own roar at a buffalo. Like the one Ganesh had roared at, the buffalo Mongolia roared in the face of did an about-face... Right for the dens. "Oh crap..."

Still filled with the confidence from running along a buffalo's back, Boneknapper turned to chase another buffalo. It bucked and snorted at her, turning to charge. The silver-eyed lioness wasn't one to feel daunted, though. She only let out a gleeful laugh, before roaring at it. Not expecting this, the buffalo turned and went running northward, away from the rest of the herd. She let out another laugh, starting after another buffalo. This was already proving fun! Maybe she'd bring one down soon enough?

Emilian, meanwhile, wasn't having nearly so good a time. He was prepared to roar at a buffalo himself, encouraged by the sight of others doing just that, when a buffalo came charging from another direction. He let out a startled sound, tucking and rolling away. It had JUST missed him, ruffling his mane as it passed. That was close! Deep blue eyes followed the beast's path, before turning to look at where it had come from. What he saw had one eyebrow rising. A laughing pink lioness was running around, clearly ignoring the danger. Was she reveling in it? Was she insane? He'd have to catch her for a conversation!

Later.

OOC: HOPEFULLY my next post won't take me a month to make and edit. But the next one will be moving the plot along, it's waffled WAY too long!

Preoccupied worrying about the dens, Mongolia nearly missed the buffalo charging at him. He let out a yelp of panic, scrambling up a tree. He looked around, trying to figure out just where to go next, what to do. He wasn't exactly sure this could go on much longer, could it?

Bonenapper was having her own problems. Left and right she turned and found a buffalo. Danger was very real, and while she had initially laughed in the face of it, worry was rising up. How was she going to avoid getting killed? She tucked and rolled, avoiding yet another buffalo. It was as she popped back up, looking over, that she saw two buffalo crash into each other. Blinded by anger at the lions, they hadn't seen each other, and the horn of one pierced the neck of the other. She folded her ears back at the sound the second buffalo made as the first wrenched free. That wouldn't heal, likely, and it reminded her glaringly just how dangerous things were.

An opportunity had arrisen. Emilian came around a tree, tall and thick-trunked, and came face-to-face with a buffalo. The beast stared at him, clearly not having expected a lion to pop up like that. A grin quickly spread across his face as he ducked around the confused buffalo, jumping on its back. The claws in its back seemed to wake it up from the daze as it twisted and tried to dislodge him, only for Emilian to twist around the animal and, narrowly avoiding hoof and horn, bit into the throat. Blood filled his mouth before the beast went down. Dinner would be good tonight! He looked up as two other buffalo crashed into each other, one coming away with a deadly injury.

Panic was starting to rise. Two other buffalo had followed the first, heading toward the dens. He looked around, before hurrying more into the jungle. Buffalo and lions alike were dodged, as he opted to find just what had kept them there so long. What he found surprised him. Several buffalo weren't charging or running, instead standing guard. They angrily snorted at him, pawing the ground and threatening him with sharp horns. He knew this was dangerous, to be this close to them like this. Defending buffalo, he knew, were actually more dangerous than wildly charging buffalo.

Doing his best to look around them, he soon spied waht they were defending - An old buffalo, heavily scarred from a lifetime of fending off lions and leopards, lay on the ground. He would have thought it dead, had he not seen the rise and fall of its sides. "You're still here because of a sick elder..." He backed up, eyes widening. "I have to stop everybody..." He turned back, hurrying to where everybody else was. Quick paws pulled him onto a tree, where he mustered all his might to roar at the pride. "EVERYBODY STOOOOP!"

OOC: It's time to stop rolling! (This has dragged on too long, ROFL) The reason for the buffalo still being around, so long after they should have left, has been revealed! Their herd's elder is ill, and has been for some time, kept going by the dedication of the herd. But she can't seem to shake whatever it is she has! The buffalo are willing to accept help, but what they need most is a flower that grows up in a very tall tree in this very jungle! As a member of the bromeliad family, it ONLY grows up in the tree branches, and can't be reached by the buffalo, as they cannot climb! Who is brave enough to try and climb for it?!

Roll a D12 for each lion attempting! Make ONE post per lion, not all of them at once! Whoever rolls a 12 first will have gotten the flower!

(And yes, this flower is, in fact, an introduced species... How the buffalo learned it has healing properties is unknown to everybody)

Kaiholo halted as soon as he heard the roar. Everyone seemed to freeze, actually. His chest was heaving from all the dodging and running he had been doing, and thankfully it didn't seem anyone else was too badly hurt. A scrape here and there, sure, but not casualties.

When the attention was drawn to the sick elder, Kai knew that there had to be something to help. He wasn't too sure what, but when he saw a few other lions attempting to climb the trees, he glanced up into the branches. Perhaps there was something up there that could be helpful.

A large, brown lion with bright orange hair burst onto the scene. He and his mate had heard faint goings on in the distance and had decided to see what all the noise was about. Sure, they were traveling to what they hoped would be their new home, but that didn't mean they could stop and have some fun along the way. The sight that greeted him was most peculiar. Lions and buffalo, some still wrestling with each other, and some looking on as the predators attempted to assist. Odd indeed!

He looked up to the trees and saw what they were trying to reach. Some kind of flower! Well, whenever the opportunity arose to lend a paw, Murtagh was there with his at the ready.

"Greetings! I hope you don't mind if my mate and I try and assist you."

Why not?

Murtagh charged the tree and scrambled his way up it's trunk, the flower was almost within paw reach but so distracted by the prize he was, he lost his footing and found himself landing back down on the ground, the flower still looming above them all.

Marwa had been watching from the side lines for awhile. A timid lioness she hadn't been bold enough to join in before now, but as she watched the other lions climbing the trees trying to get the flowers for the buffalo needed for their leader.

She smiled at other lions as she moved towards the tree. She hadn't climbed a tree since she was a cub she hoped she still had it in her to climb to the top of a tree, she didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of a majority of the pride.

Murtagh watched as his mate attempted to scale the tree. Her dark pelt attempting to weave its way up the trunk to the goal.

"My dear," he called to her as she returned empty handed.

"A valiant effort, but it will be I who is victorious," he winked at her and turned his head up to the flower once more.

He looked on as 2 others attempted to retrieve the flora but neither were successful. Another try would not hurt, after all, if it was for a sick elder, the sooner they got the flower, the better.

He leaped back up the tree, hoping this time to prevail. His efforts did not get him as far as his last try however, and he soon found himself back on the floor of the jungle.