Staying as still as I could and fighting off the urge to freeze completely in the face of danger, I instead tried to count how many Armoured Lupines we faced. One, two, three… I could only see fourteen of the predators, small pack but still a threat. Thellip and I wouldn’t be able to overcome this on our own. Just as I was contemplating what to do, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I knew I shouldn’t look away from the threat but I needed to know if something else was in here with us. As fast as I could, a glanced over to where the movement came from, only to see Thellip pulling back from throwing something.

Thellip was in his Warrior form, a rare sight from him, and I couldn’t help but startle a little. The Warrior Form was designed to fight, which for the Avaness meant a beak meant to rend flesh and sharp, lethal talons. It didn’t matter that Thellips Avian Form wasn’t predatory, his Warrior Form would do its job. My glance was no longer than a blink but when I looked back at the threat, I found a containment field across the entrance way with the majority of the Armoured Lupines behind it, the strongest most likely among them. So that’s what Thellip had thrown. His quick thinking had saved us but we weren’t out of danger yet. We were still trapped with five lethal predators in a room with no exists. We’re going to have to fight and it wasn’t going to be easy.

As their name indicated, Armoured Lupines were protected by large, thick keratin scales that covered their entire torso and limbs. In addition, the softer areas on their tails and belly were rough and razor-like which they used to great effect when they whipped their tails at their foes. As well as being well defended and intimidating, the Armoured Lupines were equipped with a lot of sharp teeth in their furred heads and sharp claws on strong limbs with an excellent pack dynamic that made them all the more dangerous when encountered in a group. I’d never faced them with so few to help me before.

Thellip and I had no time to discuss strategies or even check with each other if we were ready. Three charged at us as two hung back. I sharpened my claws and teeth, bent my knees and waited until the closest one was an arms length away. Thellip was still slightly in front of me and to my left so he blocked my view of one of the Armoured Lupines but I watched the other two closely. Wait… just a little closer. The Lupine to the far right leapt and I dodged, rolling underneath it, raking my claws along its belly but careful not to touch the razor sharp skin with my sensitive fingertips. Never stopping to see how my attack landed, I jumped up from my roll and left back towards my original position, both to get away from those two Lupines hanging back and to give Thellip some support.

Urning, I found Thellip had had the same idea as me, except he’d gone over rather than under, shifting rapidly from his Warrior Form to his tiny Avian Form and back, casing the two Lupines to obstruct one another as they snapped at him. A quick glance at my foe showed some blood but the Lupine seemed not to notice as it turned towards us again. What’s more, the two Lupines nth at had hung back were now starting to edge forward, crouch low and growling. We needed to reduce the numbers and I briefly considered shifting to my Feline Form. It may be strong enough to defeat one Armoured Lupines, but the lower dexterity would hamstring me if they ganged up on me. I needed to speed and flexibility of my Warrior form, but would I have enough strength to get through that armour?

Thellip and I couldn’t let the pack isolate us, so I dived towards him, a tail whip glancing off my shoulder as I passed. Claws out, I swiped at the two Lupines, trying to make some space when Thellip appeared beside me. We manoeuvred ourselves back-to-back and, for a while, we just fought furiously, a long grind of gnashing teeth, swiping claws and the constant growl of pissed off Lupines. I shrugged off the sting of various wounds and focused solely on the warmth at my back that told me Thellip was okay and the steady stream of attacks aimed at us.

After what felt like rotations, I finally spotted an opening. Thellip had deflected a Lupine and the one in front of me had skipped aside to avoid its pack-mate, momentarily turning its attention away from me and rearing its head. I lunged forward, caught it under the armpits with my clawed hands and tore into its bared, exposed neck with my teeth, shaking my head and ripping out a chunk of the sharp, razor skin before going back in and clamping down on the windpipe, refusing to let go until the Lupine stopped breathing. I wasn’t sure if it was dead yet but it wouldn’t be getting up any time soon and there still four more Armoured Lupines to worry about.

There was a lull in the action as the Armoured Lupines backed off briefly, still growling and crouched defensively, but no longer quite so close and actively attacking. A quick glance showed another severely wounded Lupine behind me at Thellips feet and the other three were all wounded. Both Thellip and I were panting.

“You alright?” I gasped out, not taking my eyes away from a Lupine that was edging closer. I bared my fangs at it, emitting a warning hiss.

“Mm.” Thellip grunted, which I think meant yes.

I nodded in acknowledgement, even though he couldn’t see me, and then our reprieve was over as some unknown signal sent the remaining Lupines lunging at us again. Another Lupine went down at Thellips talons, which I was becoming a bit envious of, and finally, the last two backed off, longing and defeated. We didn’t follow them, letting them collapse close to the doorway, still blocked by a containment field but keeping a close eye on them. A wary truce.

“Pleah!” Thellip spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. “I hate the taste of blood”.

I wrinkled my muzzle in sympathy, struggling with the conflicting instincts to either copy him and spit in disgust or just swallow. “I know what you mean. I’ve been in my Resting Form most of my life so fighting with my new Forms is still odd to me, along with everything to goes with it…” I trailed off, gazing at my bloody claws and fur.

“Ha! I’ve had all my Forms my entire life and I still hate the taste of blood.” Thellip grumbled flicking his talons as he shifted back to his Resting Form. Perhaps not the best idea considering the remaining pack members both inside with us and those that awaited us on the other side on the containment field.

“I’m still not used to all my forms. I can’t remember if I always had this urge to groom, but I hate begin grubby. Always have.” I sighed wearily. “It takes forever to get blood out of fur and we can’t afford to stink of blood in the Wilds.”

Thellip grunted, “Well don’t clean up just yet. We may have another fight on our hands.” We bother turned to contemplate the doorway and the containment field that covered it. “It won’t last much longer, I didn’t have time to fully charge it before we left. Sorry Sierra.”

“S’alright Thellip. It’s not like we have time to waste waiting them out anyway… or food. We’ll think of something.”

As it turned out, we didn’t need to. Whether is was the smell of blood or the two injured Lupines that herded them away but for whatever reason, when the containment field shut down, the pack of Armoured Lupines, with much growling, slowly moved off down one of the many tunnels, their injured pack-mates limping along behind them. We caught a brief glimpse of the pack leader, imposing and fierce as he guarded the rear. They must have had another den somewhere else in the complex.

We have them time to get a good distance away before I secured the Power Room properlyto ensure that neither the Armoured Lupines nor any other curious critters could decide to set up home here. We left the Power Room carefully and continued to be cautious as I lead Thellip to the Vault, just in case we encounter stragglers from the pack or other predators who may have made their way down here. Thankfully, the Vault still appeared to be secure and we would be safe inside for as long as we needed to stay there.

“Thellip, can you watch my back while I get this open?” I asked. Thellip nodded so I turned to the door and worked on opening it. The Vault was designed to protect its contents indefinitely so opening it wasn’t as easy as a snap of the fingers. But I’d done this many times before. A quick check showed that the Vaults hadn’t been disturbed since my last visit, so I ushered Thellip inside and secured the Vault again. We had some safety now. I sighed, relieved.

“Come on, I have a Med kit here. Let’s patch each other up and get to work acquiring this data.” I dug out my trusty med kit from my pack and headed towards Thellip, already searching for the worst wounds. “Where are you hurt?”