Roleplay- 16th of December

Bravo gets knocked off his feet, his stamina slowly draining, but continues the fight. He lets out an angry bark, telling this new foe that his sister is gone because of that fiend Ninja.

After nimbly dodging the scuffling meerkats' jaws and claws, Saffron finds herself in a clearing but what she sees terrifies her. Her eyes cast upon the critically injured Ninja. The gruesome scene causes her to freeze up and her mouth to drop open in horror, leaving her traumatized and petrified.

((OOC: Poor Saffron. ))

John stops for a second, dumbfounded. Ninja did what? Having joined the Jumaa only about a week ago, he had no idea of that backstory with Linda being evicted from the Willows because of Ninja impregnating her, which caused her to try and kill another female's pups to ensure her own pup's survival. Snapping out of his shock, John growls. He believes Bravo was merely playing tricks on him to lower his guard. If you want to finish Ninja off, you'll have to kill ME first! He attempts to bite Bravo's neck.

Eztli still looks around, seeming distant.

Suri sees Snowflake and tackles him, ignoring her nausea.

Snowflake is caught by surprise as Suri tackles him. He had his focus on Aliya and was distracted. He snarls and begins fighting Suri back.

Seeing Snowflake now had another one of her members to deal with, Aliya leaves him and looks for another opponent. She sees Teetsie fighting Buckeye and watches them briefly, before looking around for someone else.

ooc: I know I feel so bad for her

Saffron remains petrified but is soon snapped out of her horrified gaze when she hears ferocious growls in the vincinity. She whips her head in the direction she hears them and wails in fear when she sees John viciously attacking Bravo. Is that male John is attacking responsible for this carnage? She slowly reverses from the scene, afraid that if Bravo spots her, she could be next to experience his blood thirsty rampage.

Root was panting, growing tired. His injured leg also made it hard for him to run long. He looked around, desperate to find something to help him. It was then he spotted Saffron. What was she doing?! With her there, she was an easy target. Especially since she was near two fighting males. Forgetting his foe, he ran, ignoring his leg for the time being. His instincts now were telling him to get the pup out of there, before she got hurt.

Ashtail was about to attack when Root ran off, which puzzled her. But she wouldn't let him get away that easy! She ran after the teen, not through with him just yet. She doesn't know he wasn't fleeing from her, but wanted to get a pup out of harms way.

Saffron spots Root coming to her aide and scurries over to him, trembling and whining. She hides her face in his fur, traumatized from seeing Ninja's mangled body right before her wide, beady eyes. The horrific scene will most likely leave her with psychological scars. She doesn't notice a rival charging towards her rescuer.

Bravo continues to fight John, but seeing Ninja's life fading, he feels his job is done and it's time for him to leave.

Determined little Cactus attacks Bravo for the second time, swiping at his legs. However, when he spots Ninja, Cactus stops dead in his tracks, shocked, scared, and vurnerable.

Ninja attempts to move but he's so weak he can barely lift a paw. He's well aware if he continues to lay out here in the open, a rival or predator could take advantage of his vulnerability and end his misery. For Linda and his pups' sakes he needs to stay strong so he can manage the trek home to see them. He refuses to die out here, especially when he's desperate to see his family. Driven by the determination to see his beloved mate and kids, and not wanting to be left for dead, Ninja musters just enough strength to get to his feet and sets off to find a bolt hole to rest in and wait out the rest of the battle. inadvertantly, he leaves a blood trail along his path, an unintentional way to give his foe, Bravo, an idea of where his wounded victim went to hide. Ninja spots a bolt hole near a large camel tree. He decends into the tunnel and drags himself to deepest depths of his protective shelter and collapses, fighting to stay concious. If he falls unconcious, he may never wake up.

John growls as Bravo fled. Before he could tend to Ninja, he spots Root, Saffron, and Cactus. And Ashtail barreling toward them. He looks distressed, wanting to help Ninja. Shaking his head, he charged, tackling Ashtail down before she could reach Root. He barks at the teen, telling him to help Ninja ASAP, and get the pups out of here! He'll hold Ashtail off.

Root was focusing on comforting the little traumatized pup when he remembers Ashtail. Seeing her barreling toward himself and Saffron, he boldly places himself over the pup, using himself to shield her. He shut his eyes, awaiting for the impact. When he heard Ashtail yelp however, he looks up to see John had knocked her down. He nods as John gave him orders. Help Ninja and watch the pups. Got it! Picking Saffron, he got her out of the fight and placed her down in the bolt hole, but also a good distance from Ninja. After also getting Cactus out of there, he places him with Saffron and strictly barks at them to stay put and NOT go outside! Wasting no more time, he ran to Ninja's side and began to tend to his injuries, ignoring his wounded and bloody leg for the time being.

Ashtail was getting closer to Root. She was ready to attack when John attacked her, knocking her down and causing her to yelp. Luckily, she forgot about Root and began to fight John, still enraged. She wasn't going down too easily, but having fought with Root, her strength would start fading soon enough.

In the safety of the bolt hole, an anxious Cactus shifts his paws restlessly. What happened to Ninja? Like any other Jumaa, Cactus cares about others in his mob.

Emzio watches the fighting, shivering. As she sees Root taking some of the other pups into the bolthole, she follows, wanting to get away from the fight. She joins her younger siblings and Saffron, relieved to be away from the bloodshed.

Suri and Snowflake continue fighting. Snowflake snaps at Suri's paw. Suri yanks her paw out of his mouth and yips as she tears the skin. She snarls once again and lunges at him. Snowflake swipes at Suri's face, able to leave four horizontal lines across her cheek. She yips and begins to feel dizzy again. Snowflake looks at Suri confused and backs away, as Suri staggers and falls onto her stomach. Snowflake watches Suri, not sure what to think. Suri gets up once again and eyes Snowflake with a look of desperation. Snowflake stares back at her, showing no emotion.

Snicker and Meg still watch the fight from the side. Snicker is still in pain and is once again feeling dizzy, but he does his best to fight it.

Aliya looks around for an opponent.

Saffron shrieks in horror when she sees Ashtail charging towards her and Root. When Root shields her with his body, she immediately feels secure and makes eye contact with her hero, her beady eyes glint with gratefulness and she dons a thankful smile on her face. Upon looking up, she watches with admiration as John goes to hold off Ashtail so Root could move her and Cactus to safty. How noble! Once safely in the protective bolt hole, Saffron huddles with Cactus and Emzio, still terrified from her ordeal of seeing Ninja's mangled body and almost getting mauled by a rival. Saffron obeys Root's orders without any complaint. Heck no is she going back out there! It's terrifying! And she recognizes how easily she could've been killed. A 3 inch tall pup is SO vulnerable in such a violent situation.

Ninja winces as he felt someone tending to his wounds. He lifts up his head to see Root licking the blood and dirt from his gashes and nods in thanks before dropping his head to the ground to rest.

Emzio huddles close to Saffron, also shivering in fear.

Bravo escapes from the fight with a limp. He's also trailing blood with some deep gashes, but the thought that he ma have succeeded in killing Ninja has him excited.

Instinctively, Saffron offers some comfort grooming to calm herself as well as Cactus and Ezio down. It also helps to take her mind off the horrific scenes she was exposed to during the fight.

John and Ashtail continue their fighting.

Root smiles at Ninja and continues grooming the injuries, removing all dirt and cleaned the blood off. His injuries were very deep. He just hoped that Ninja would pull through somehow. He had a family awaiting his return. Root didn't want to be the bringer of bad news if this brave male died. Shaking his head, Root kept working. No, Ninja will survive this! He was gonna make sure of it!

The first few minutes of Root tending to his wounds was uncomfortable for Ninja and made him restless, but after the dirt, which was the main culprit for causing his extreme discomfort, was removed from his deep gashes, the brave meerkat settles down and rests comfortably on his back. He still winces occassionally but his wounds aren't as painful as they were when he was laying out in the open. He rests calmly while the compassionate teenager works on cleaning up the rest of his injuries. while he's being tended to, Ninja gazes up at the bolt hole ceiling, his mind in a fog and doing the best he can to resist falling to sleep. His will to live is strong knowing his family is anxiously awaiting his return. He needs to stay strong for them. They're counting on him to come back alive so he can continue to take care of and protect his young family. He's determined to pull through this and believes he will.

Teetsie snarls and leaves Buckeye. She looks around and sees Black Widow. She knows that her group is going to be the first to retreat. She doesn't want to, but knowing that if she keeps letting her group fight, they might be on the road to extinction. It's against her nature, but wanting the Midnights to go strong again, and issues lead calls and flees the battle.

Duke, who's been aiding other Jumaa in fighting the Willows and Midnights, looks up at Teetsie's retreat order. He smirks, knowing they've succeeded in their goals of retribution. How shocked they will be when they learn their daring assault that resulted in the loss of 2 Jumaa pups has costed them their male leadership, at his bloodied paws. He's unaware that Wilson is alive, but he's since dissappeared from where he "died," and is still nowhere to be seen by the Midnights.

Bravo hears the call as well and watches as the Midnights retreat on their own land in a disorganized fashion. His focus on Ninja has ended in little contribution from him in battling the Midnights, but he feels he did a number on the Jumaa's ranks.

John and Ashtail pause their fighting when they hear Teetsie giving out calls to flee. Ashtail decides enough is enough and runs off to look for her fellow members. Was everyone okay?

John watches as Ashtail fled with a snort. Remembering Ninja, he ran to the bolt hole and went inside. Finding Saffron, Cactus, and Ezio first, the adult male stopped and took the time to check if the three pups were okay. Unlike Ninja, John wasn't too bad off, but had several cuts and gashes here and there.

Root continued to work on Ninja's injuries until every speck of dirt was gone and that the bleeding was slowing down to where it wasn't life threatening. Finally feeling the tiredness of his fights catching up to him, he pants heavily.

Black Widow is startled awake by Teetsie's retreat order. She didn't hear the call clearly to be able to indentify its meaning since she's in a lethargic daze but it was a loud enough noise to grab her attention. She drags herself to the enterance to see what's going on. Upon peering out her "trench", she sees the Midnights scattering and scurrying in the direction of the burrow. She gets the gist her mob had been defeated and hurries after them, limping. Remembering she had savaged a Jumaa pup, she believes she had succeeded in eradicating a member from their arch rival's ranks.

Saffron's face lights up with joy when she sees John enter the bolt hole. He has some lacerations and cuts sporatically gouged in his flesh but the wounds don't appear to be life threatening. It's a relief to know the courageous male is fine. It was awesome watching him take on Ashtail. Her eyes sparkle with admiration as they darted them from him to Root, then back to John. If it wasn't for both of them, she wouldn't be alive right now. Their nobility inspires her to become like them when she's older. She vows to be bold and will nobily come to the aide of fellow meerkats in distress.

Hearing another meerkat enter the bolt hole, Ninja looks up to see John. He's relieved to see he isn't too badly injured. He smiles warmly at the noble male before resting his head back on the floor, too weak to hold it up for a long period of time.

Conker is concious but remains where he is. The agonizing pain that's intensely pulsating through his vertabrae and head has renedered him temporarily unable to move, but he doesn't know that. He's terrified, thinking he has either broken his back or neck spine, and will be paralyzed for ever. He panics and wails in extreme distress.

Meanwhile, Tank's mission to bring "Ghost" to justice had been sabatoged by a mass of fighting meerkats. After getting caught in the middle of their scuffle, he had lost concentration on his target and was forced to abort his mission so he could focus on fighting his way free. Eventually, he managed pull himself out of their brawl but the divertion came at a cost, he lost sight of "Ghost" and his pup "hostage". Now he's angrily trudging across the battle feild, trying to find him. He fears the worst for that poor pup. By now, that innocent little infant is most likely dead. He hangs his head in sorrow and failure. Hearing a retreat call, he looks up and sees the Midnight's high tailing it back to their territory. He could care less really about their plight, he's intently focused on relocating "Ghost" and ripping him to shreds.

Sidious had been sitting still through the battle, his mother's lead calls sounded like distant echos. Attempting to stand, he started to drag himself in the direction that he saw other Midnights heading.

Eztli follows Teetsie in the retreat.

Aliya and Buckeye both watch as the Midnights retreat.

Aliya looks around and also issues calls to end the fight. She came for what she wanted. She'd had enough.

Buckeye watches as Aliya calls for the fight to end. She doesn't stop her.

Suri rushes over to Aliya, relieved that it appears to be over. She ignores the dizzyness.

Emzio emerges from the bolthole to see what's going on.

Jackie and Snowflake stop fighting their opponents and watches Buckeye and Aliya.

Meg and Snicker also both watch. Snicker's dizzyness is returning. He grunts unhappily.