"Today's the big day," Gan whispered to himself, rising from his blissful slumber and slowly opening his eyes. Was he nervous about fighting a monster? No. Was he nervous about fighting again in this new body against a new form of the old prey? Somewhat, it was obvious from his previous encounters, his fighting ability wasn't top notch and that Baruragaru was definitely NOT a pushover. Was he nervous about working with these Ios? Definitely. Working with manlike animals who were most likely looking out for themselves was... new and kinda frightening for Gan. He still figured they weren't ever going to be one hundred percent sure and managed to retain most of his hunting confidence. Man and beast alike followed a pattern and a man-beast such as this would surely follow suit. It was not like the hunts he was used to but it was a hunt nonetheless.

"Rrrrr... shut up, still sleepy." His bunkmate groaned, or growled rather. No doubt still fatigued after her night of usual binge eating, a 'pre battle' meal she insisted. "Wake me up when we go fight the Barurur - whatever."

"Kata, today is the day." Gan received another growl as a response, "The day we're fighting the Baruragaru." No response, "For the protection of our future food supplies."

Kata immediately shot up with a veritable inferno in her eyes, "Kata ready."

Gan figured that would get her up, the food obsessed tank, "Come on, the others are waiting for us."

Kata, who began to stretch her stiff muscles, asked, "Where we meet others at again?"

"Just outside of the cave," Gan curtly replied, "We're all gonna get into position for the ambush and take the beast down."

"If you say so," Kata grunted, her tail swishing with some enthusiasm, "Kata wonder how slimy freak tastes."

Gan rolled his eyes. Was her kind always so focused on food? It wouldn't be a surprise since Abiorugo were notorious gluttons second only to Deviljho… Deviljho. The thought of such beasts in this world made him shudder, 'I could only imagine what fighting them is like here.'

Once they stepped out of the cave they came upon the Ios, unfazed by the cold morning air and light rain falling upon them, "Ah, look at who's up," Doku gave the odd duo a casual greeting while his men were doing some stretches and, from the looks and sounds of throat clearing, exercises related to their venom glands, "Don't mind my lads. Gotta make sure they're in shape after all."

Kata snorted, "Gotta make sure blood flows, right?" From the slight sour look that came on Doku's face and twitches from his subordinates since that joke was found to be in poor taste. Gan, not finding the joke amusing either, delivered a light elbow jab into the side of Kata's gut, making her grunt in minor pain, "What?"

"Anyway," Gan drawled, "Me and my simple companion are ready. How about the others?"

Doku's casual demeanor immediately changed to his more authoritative one, "They sent a messenger just a few seconds telling us they're on standby," He motioned for an Ioprey to come forward, "If you're good to go now, I'll send my fastest scout to tell them to get into action while we move into position." Said scout gave Gan a quick salute and began bouncing on his feet, clearly ready to run at his boss' command.

A rather amusing sight for Gan to witness, "Like I said, we're ready." At Gan's confirmation, Doku gave his subordinate a swift nod and the scout was off in a blink while the Iodrome howled for his gang to gather around him. They were off to the fields, Gan and Kata not far behind the red mass of poisonous bird wyverns.

The human turned Kamu really had to hold back his fascination, awe, and terror he felt for the situation he was in. The emotions he felt from the meeting and anticipation weren't as powerful as compared to what he felt now, an unheard or even thought of scenario not only happening before his eyes, but hapoening to him, he was apart of this insane scenario, "Gah!" In the midst's of his mental ramblings, he payed little attention to his surroundings and stepped on what appeared to be an agitated Konchu. Said insect glared at him before rolling away.

"Oh hey, we saw him earlier," Kata chuckled before she shifted into a thinking pose, "Wonder what Konchu taste like."

Gan shook his head, urging Kata to keep moving. He bitterly scolded himself, he should know better than to let his thoughts cloud his senses like that. He just needs to play along and do what he and his colleagues do best: adapt, survive, and hunt.

While the defenders of the Marshlands prepared for an inevitable confrontation, the invader basked himself in the best mud the wetlands had to offer him.

This new land was somethings else, something rather spectacular. The murky waters and mud of swamp provided superb mobility and the network of caves provided further shelter once it was time to slumber. That being said, the real key feature of this place was the environment itself but what lurked in it. So many tasty morsels of blood and toxins running about, ignorant to the hunger a he possessed and unable to truly combat him.

Truly, a Baruragaru could thrive here. The little red bird wyverns, the herbivores, the mammals, the occasional brute and flying wyverns, all those sacs of blood and toxin for him to consume, and they could do so little against him, especially when ambushed! Truly a paradise for a voracious bloodsucker!

sniff sniff

A low, gurgling growl left the throat of the leviathan, 'prey,' from the smells of it, this prey was particularly lacerated. A potential meal ripe for the taking but swift action would no doubt be needed as to avoid kill steals. The Baruragaru sank into the mud and with great haste, went to the direction of the smell.

Obviously, being able to sink into the mud of the marshlands had its perks but unfortunately, this perk had a drawback. Whenever the Baruragaru sank into the mud, smelling and sight were out of the question. Once the leviathan goes under, he had to rely on sound and vibrations to hone in on targets. For most of the wet lands of the marsh, this worked. But, naturally the geography wouldn't always workout the way a predator wants it to as these marshlands had dry spots, especially further inland, and these dry spots were essentially a Baruragaru's blind spots. At the very least, the ever increasing rain would provide some help in this regard.

As luck would have it, this morsel happened to be in the direct path of an outstretching blind spot. Once he reached the edge, the Baruragaru poked his head from the mud and flickered his tongue from maw, "sssssshh," yes, right in the middle of the fields. Not too far from the marshes but enough to make him wary. Mobility was cut down in this area. If trouble reared its ugly head, the leviathan would be forced to run rather dive away and leviathans were poor runners in comparison to most other monsters. Still, the blood was overpowering, intoxicating, too much to ignore.

With hesitation brushed aside, the beast sprang from the muddy landscape to the fields of wheat like plants. Dry landscapes were so annoying to lumber on but the agitation would no doubt be worth the meal.

Slowly, the leviathan made his way to the prey, picking up speed as he got closer and the fresh blood slowly drove him into a frenzy.

"Heheheha," A raspy, gurgling laugh left the Baruragaru at the sight of his prey. One of those bigger red bird wyverns sprawled on the field and covered in the blood of his lesser kin. It was almost too perfect... too perfect indeed.

The Baruragaru halted in his tracks, the bird wyvern just inches beyond the reach of his tongue. This didn't feel right. Why was this creature so isolated, covered in the blood of his fellows? And of all the places to faint, why this open field? While this surely could be coincidental, something felt off. It left him shaking. Wait, no, those were the footsteps of a brute wyvern charging straight towards him!

The Baruragaru jumped to the side, the large monster's bulk barely grazing his intended target. The follow up was a hammer tail the managed to nail the leviathan's right arm and, from the sounds of the crunching, the impact caused some fractures. Certainly not a completely debilitating injury but still very aggravating as it was painful.

Another charge from the brute wyvern came his way, steam flowing from the humps of its mossy back in great bursts. Rather than dodge, the Baruragaru decided to counter the raging beast with a powerful jet of water to one of his legs, forcing him to buckle from the blow and catch himself before he fell face first. It was enough to prompt the Baruragaru to attempt to pounce the beast and dig his prehensile tongue into a neck artery. Juggernaut or not, a stab and draining of a major artery always proved fatal and once a Baruragaru was in a creature's neck then it was over.

But a growl to the right froze his movements and he turned to see the furry bitch again while a growl to his left revealed the blade bitch. The Baruragaru hissed, a clear expression of malice and annoyance towards the duo at his sides, and steeled himself for an inventible attack from his flanks and front. Of course, as his luck would have it, the next attack came from his back in the form of a toxic projectile smashing against the back of his head. It stung like hell but only proved to serve as an opener for the other monsters to attack, starting with the furry bitch.

Gan rushed forward, barely ducking under a the Baruragaru's low right swipe, delivering a quick slash against the leviathan's gut before he ran to the other side. Then Kata came over in less than a second and her tail lashed out towards the Baruragaru's neck, his head nearly severed from his neck had he not craned his body back in time to dodge the bladed appendage. He followed the craning of his body with a twirl to counter Kata's missed attack with a tail lash of his own aimed towards her gut. The blow struck her but rather than buckle from the blow like before, she took it and latched onto his tail before she gave it a rough tug. The Baruragaru could only give another aggravated hiss before the large frame of the Durumboros crashed into him, almost completely knocking the air from his lungs. On a related note, the large brute wyvern nearly bowled over Kata in his charge.

The Baruragaru could feel his ribs nearly break and the horns stab at his hide during the beast's charge, the ensuing bear hug not doing his midsection any favors. He couldn't escape this particular brute wyvern with his own brute strength, so he lashed his tongue across the Durumboros' face. A lucky strike nearly took an eye, making the large herbivore flinch and his grip slacken which allowed the Baruragaru to slip his arm though the bear hug and jab at the Durumboros' neck. The brute wyvern reeled, throwing the leviathan away to rub his sore throat and trying to roar curses though his coughing fit.

The Baruragaru barely landed on all fours with his fins completely flaring and his eyes glowing a baleful orange, "HWUAAAAAGGSSHH!"

"RRRROOOOO!" Three howls, with one from the blood covered Vin and the other two leader's calls from the hills, echoed across the area and it was soon followed by the howls of smaller beings. More than a dozens of Ioprey rushed out from multiple directions, surrounding the bloodthirsty leviathan with fangs, claws, and poison sacs eager to avenge their fallen comrades. The three Iodrome and the other large monsters join the red subordinates in surrounding the Baruragaru, the former looking just as eager as the Ioprey to tear this monster apart.

Worry seemed to etch itself onto the beast's face as for a split second, with all the odds being stacked against him and all of his enemies primed to finish this skirmish. Then a sudden smirk graced the Baruragaru's maw the moment everyone leapt in and his tongue dropped to his feet. Faster than any of them could blink, The Baruragaru's tongue lashed out in a 360 degree of blood letting fury, dicing up the Ioprey in a spray of blood and throwing the larger monsters away save for the Durumboros who was sent skidding but no less disoriented than the other large monsters,

'Shit!' Gan's mind could only think one thing in that instance, the pain from the lashes clouding his mind. That attack was familiar but the last Baruragaru he fought, when he was human and the world was so simple, couldn't do the tongue lash in a full three sixty and certainly didn't have that much power in his lashes. He could feel the numerous lacerations on his body, shallow enough to quell the fear bleeding out but deep enough to make him cautious of another attack. Gan briefly wondered what being pierced by that tongue was like if it could do all that in a widespread lash out as he got up and got his bearings back. That's when heard a deep slurping sound and immediately snapped out of his stupor.

He saw the Baruragaru with Vin below him, the Iodrome pinned down by the leviathan's foot while the tongue that had lashed everyone away was embedded into his carotid artery and sucking away, the slits along the Baruragaru's head, body, and tail starting to become purple as he drained the Iodrome of his bodily fluids. Gan rushed towards, throwing that cautious mindset to the wind for that instant, 'The poison, he's absorbing Vin's poison!' Gan thought, feeling panic wash over him, 'I have to stop him! I have to stop him!'

Gan tackled the Baruragaru from behind, doing his best to latch and tear at the leviathan's back while dislodging him from his comrade's throat. Gan succeeded in staggering the beast and freeing Vin from the creature's grasp, the tongue being reeled in a split sec after. Gan barely hesitated before he began mauling the larger monster's back, fangs sinking in the hide and claws digging, cutting, and removing bits of flesh they could, all while simultaneously trying to stay on the Baruragaru as he thrashed around in a flurry to get the smaller monster off. He tried to reach with his claws, using his tongue to whip the mammal, and when that didn't work, he resorted to jumping and grinding against the ground. This last resort worked as Gan found himself in pain from the weight of the leviathan crashing against him combined with the grinding against hard hide on his front and the earth upon his back. He let go of he invasive monster and rolled away to catch his breath, avoiding the piercing tongue as it flew from the maw of his enemy, who was relieved to finally have Gan off but now finding himself more enraged as this fight dragged on.

The Baruragaru's relief of removing his assailant was very short lived as he noticed the Durumboros charging towards him again alongside one of the Iodrome, that Iodrome being Vazu. He turned towards them, his focus being more on the Durumboros in particular, and began to churn the toxins stored in his body. In one fluid motion, the Baruragaru unleashed a powerful torrent of toxic bile at the monsters heading towards him. The spray was strong enough to throw both of the monsters away and even the Baruragaru found himself nearly off balance from the force of his own blast, 'Strange... wasn't this stronge last time.'

Vazu and the Durumboros were pretty much down, the former writhing in pain of the blast and his poisoning while the latter was nearly out cold from the blast alone. If it weren't for the fact it that Io's were resistant to poison, Vazu would be in critical condition.

Baruragaru let his inner musings linger a second too long before jumping to the side and received deep slash across his right shoulder. He could see the Bladed Bitch was furious. her mouth starting to smoke and her spikes begging to glow, "BRRRRAAAAAYY!" She held her head and roared, unleashing a small, explosive breath attack in a display of might. The Baruragaru wasn't impressed enough to show any facial concern but still mentally kicked himself for getting so careless, especially with her. The combination of her tail blade and fire made her the biggest threat of the bunch with the Duromboros out of the way. The furrry bitch, who was now approaching, also proved a capable fighter and needed to be watched.

"Kata, with me!" Gan yelled. Kata barely payed him any attention but nodded, assuming the crazy man wanted to attack together and she was correct. The duo charged in from opposite directions.

The Baruragaru leapt and twisted around to bat away Gan with his tail and a light mist of poison towards Kata. She released a small explosive breath attack which blew the mist away and made the Baruragaru flinch. Kata seized the opportunity and thrusted her tail forwards in a swift motion, her tail nearly managing to dig into his gut. What stopped her tail from impaling the Baruragaru was his timely catch, his hands grappling the sides of her tail, his claws digging into flesh while spikes dug into his palms. Both wyverns ignored the pain and went on a momentary power struggle, Kata trying to move her tail forward and the Baruragaru keeping it at bay. The latter wizened up first by a split second and turned his head towards the brute wyvern, homing on her neck until he made out the sounds of running from behind him through the heavy downpour. How he wished he noticed sooner.

Gan was only a few feet behind him when he turned and jumped, legs stretching out midair. His tongue came out on instinct of self preservation, something to injure the flying furry object coming at him. Both dropkick and tongue made contact, the tongue impaling Gan's left shoulder a nano second faster than the kick. The dropkick, while slightly off mark, struck the upper part of the invasive monster's back. Gan was tossed on the ground while the Baruragaru stumbled forward and lost his grip on Kata's tail as it flew forward, burrowing into his stomach with a sick squelch, covering the tip in a fresh coat of blood.

The Baruragaru roared. It was a roar of pure agony laced with rage expressed by the sounds of giant, murderous serpent. Both Gan and Kata could see he was out of poison as the slits on his body were clear but that obviously didn't mean he had no ranged weaponry and despite his grueling injury, he was far from finished.

The Baruragaru released a quick burst of water which momentarily distracted Kata and jumped back, grunting through his clenched teeth as he removed himself from the brute wyvern's tail. He landed and the ground, somewhat muddy, splashed from his land and nearly made a mud wave that could almost throw Kata slightly off balance. The monster's eyes widened and he smirked as an idea popped in his head. He hastily began to channel the water in his body and turned towards the approaching Furry and Blade duo. With his current condition, this was going to hurt like hell and momentarily dry him but it was time he made his exit.

Gan, holding his bleeding shoulder turned towards Kata and smirked, "Nice work."

Kata snorted in amusement while keeping her eyes on her soon to be food and said, "Nice dropkick," then her face scrunched up in confusion.

Gan turned back to the Baruragaru and his face matched Kata's. The Baruragaru's neck slits were swelling and his eyes seemed to be glazed over. Gan went wide eyed and once the Baruragaru's head twitched, Gan dove right into Kata and knocked her out of the way of a vicious water blast that managed to nick his left leg.

The Baruragaru's blast went far and was wider than his stream. Just like the poison blast, it pushed him back, but unlike the blast, he blast was more haphazard and quickly became more of a large splash that left his maw as he lazily moved his head side to side. Once it was finished, he fell to one knee and clasped the wound inflicted upon him by the duo. His slits were throbbing and his hide looked slightly more pruned but the physical pain that plagued him earlier had rose in intensity. At the very least, the downpour of today would quickly remedy his hydration problem. More importantly, his current blind spot issue was also remedied by the combined efforts of his water blat and the rain.

Gan moved off of Kata immediately after the blast subsided and winced from the gash in his leg. He felt tremors and small muddy waves rush against his body, heard the rumbling from a few yards away and turned to see the Baruragaru was burrowing into the fresh mud. It seemed he was getting through with some difficulty but eased into the drenched ground with his jostling.

"No, no, no!" Doku weakly yelled, scrambling up to reach for the position where the beast retreated to, "We were so goddamn close!" he roared hoarsely, nealy falling over as he slowed to a pained limp.

"RRRRR, so close," Kata growled before turning to Gan, who was up and offering her a hand. A low rumbling left her throat, "Thanks."

Gan nodded as he helped her up, "You're welcome," he replied with lightly pained grunt.

"Oh shit!" Everyone, including the rising Vazu, turned to see Vin next to the lightly convulsing Durumboros, holding his hand as pink foam leaked from the giant herbivore's mouth, "Chumbo's poisoned, big got nailed by that bastard's poison blast!"

"Quick, we need find some bitter bugs ASAP!" Doku barked before turning to Gan and Kata, "I need you to give that man some bugs stat! Me and Vazu need to get our gangs on alert!" He yelled as he went over to his fellow Iodrome, "We're so close, we can't let that bastard go now!"

Gan quickly reached for his pouch as he rushed over to the downed Chumbo and pulled out three bugs, "This is gonna taste, well, bitter but you just gotta swallow it down whole, okay?"

"D-don't wanna," Chumbo choked out, "Bugs are gross."

"You don't have a choice!" Vin yelled, digging his claws into what Gan assumed to be his friend. At first he thought they might've paired up out of convenience like him and Kata but their bond clearly went deeper than that. Vin managed to get the big bruiser hold his open with a mixture of force and threats as Gan dropped the bitterbugs down his throat. Chumbo whined and developed a pained look after the insects slid over his tongue but swallowed it with Vin's "encouragement".

They sat and watched him, making sure the bugs would have an effect while Kata simply stood and watched with mild curiosity. Both Gan and Vin let out a sigh of relief as the foam dissipated from the corner of Chumbo's mouth and his convulsions ceased, his chest starting to fall and rise a more steady pace, "So tired... thanks, furry one," Chumbo whispered as he allowed unconsciousness to take him.

Vin turned to Gan and nodded, "Thanks," he muttered, wincing as he repositioned himself, to injured to really stand on steady legs, "I'll stay here and watch over him... wait for some back up to arrive. Not to sound like you're boss but now would be a good time to go and help the others look for that creep."

"Right," Gan immediately stood up, ignoring the pain in his leg, and walked off with Kata close behind. In his mind, he went over what had just happened... the ambush, the fight, his plan, and more importantly, the creature he was hunting. The monster man who managed to elude them thanks to timing and some wits. He scolded himself, 'That could've gone better.'

Another chapter baby, after so long! Special thanks to my gremlin in the basement doing the beta work... don't go looking for him, he's mine now. Speaking of which, here's an important message.

"Don't do school, do drugs."

A wise gremlin indeed.