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It was getting close to the time Nuri needed to move on, and he was anxious. So far, he had seen the beasts of the lands, but not the greatest. If he wanted to prove to the army that war beasts would work from other areas, he needed to find one to train. The giant shelled amphibian was interesting, but seemed more of a steady ride than a fighting beast. However, Nuri had done his research, and he knew of another deadly creature worth chasing.

The snapptrotter.

It was scaled and lean, and able to move both on land and in the water with deadly speed. Of any beast, the snapptrotter would pose the biggest threat to the slower creatures of Oba. In fact, it might even thrive in the sands once it got used to the lack of water. It would be worth the test.

Nuri heard some rumors of a snapptrotter near the cliffs where they were camping, a group of them hunting the fish of the sea. Taking a risk, he left his camp in the evening to search out for one of his own.

In no time at all, he stumbled upon a group, and found a snapptrotter away from the pack. Avoiding the nesting creatures who he knew would be keen to protect their young, Nuri show out his whip and got a nice grip on the creature's thick neck. It wasn't strangling, but he had it caught and just needed to reel it in.

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It took only a second for the creature to realize what had happened, and almost immediately it shifted and sprinted. Nuri didn't have as much of a foresight if the thing would bolt, and suddenly he found himself dragged across the sand. His eyes and mouth immediately shut as he tried to not breath in the sharp shards, ignoring the burn they were causing on his uncovered skin. The other snapptrotters began to make noise or rush to the water, and Nuri knew he'd need to make a choice.

If they hit the water, he was at a major disadvantage.

Rolling a bit to the side, he was able to grab on to a rock before getting pulled by, and immediately tugged. The snapptrotter was pulled away from it's sprint, and rolled as well, before swinging its body around to face Nuri once more.

For a long moment, as they stared each other down, Nuri was struck at how glorious the creature appeared. Never getting a chance to look one up close in the wild, he was amazed at the pride of the beast, from the tip of its snout to the flair of its tail. It was glorious, and Nuri couldn't help but let his jaw slacken and his eyes widen.

The snaptrotter snorted a moment, as if mocking the Oban, before shaking the whip off of its neck. With one last long moment, it stared, before spinning and darting into the dark waters of the sea.

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