[Trade] ZATARO HUNT - The Pouncing Zataro in the Desert's Ruins

HUNT – The Pouncing Zataro in the Desert's Ruins


Oremizume was waiting for the other two party members of that hunt. Concurr, a big and strong Empyrian, and Alteri, a Haedian.
He was quite surprised to see a Haedian, as the ones he visited in the Beneath didn't seem very friendly, but Alteri looked quite... Normal.
No aggressive snarls or suspicious looks from her, and that was enough to put the runner at ease.

“The Zataro has made its den in the middle of some ruins in the desert, near the Canyons. It is not easy to find, so I'll guide you to it.”

The runner said, before departing with the two Tyrian.
The sand under their paws and claws was scorching, and at some point they had to stop: Alteri was cooking under the sun, with her dark coat.
She was nearly foaming at the mouth, and murmurs a thanks at Concurr, when he shares his water pouch with her.

The Ruins are quite far, so Oremizume opted to wait until dusk, hiding under a tent, currently carried by Concurr.

“The Pouncing Zataro of Thedale should be similar to the one we fought in the Vitalus' smooth canyons. Not overly smart, but not easy to bring down.”

Oremizume nodded at what Concurr said, while Alteri was fast asleep, exhausted.

“I agree. I too had a hunt in the smooth canyons, but from the informations I gathered around, there aren't any changes in its hunting strategy.
Since those are ruins, it will be like hunting a criminal in a big city... Only, the criminal can snap your spine if it hits you the wrong way.”

The runner shivered, and the empyrian gulped. Yep, they had been very lucky with that Zataro in the Canyons.

---

The hunting party left the tent around dusk, when the Sun was nearly blood red at the horizon. The sand was less hot, and Alteri was grateful for the burning light to be gone. They travelled north for a while, and after two hours of walking in an endless desert, they finally saw it: there was a stone tower, half destroyed and half buried in the sand. Not too far from the abandoned city, there were the canyons too.

“It is said that a dragon burned this city to a crisp... A long time ago.” Oremizume whispered, as if he feared that the Zataro was going to hear him even that far.
Alteri looked surprised at the little story, as if she did not know that dragons could live in the desert, and that was... Very normal, actually.
After all, she probably had never left the depth of her birth place.

“There. It should be around the square of the city, just to the right of the tower. I think it might have lost a territory fight, and it had to leave the Canyons because of that.”

The Tyrians looked at each other and nodded. Then, they turned to Oremizume, pointing at the slightly unstable rock constructions, which were homes and shops, a long time ago.

“We will travel over the streets. If it is not asleep, it might be hunting. Staying on the ground will be dangerous.” Concurr whispered, and the runner nodded slowly, looking a bit upset.

“Ugh. I will be the bait again, I suppose...”

Oremizume grumbled, and Alteri, hearing that hides a grimace: when she had to be the bait for the Zataro, it had not been fun.

The group separated and walked in different directions, looking around for yellow or brown scales.

They get very lucky only half an hour later, when they stumble on the sleeping for of the Zataro. The beast was sleeping in the middle of the old square, curled up in some loose rubble and mostly destroyed pieces of fabric.
It was big, and its chest raised and lowered slowly, but unfortunately it was well protected by the hard brown scales. Oremizume slowly crawled behind a old well, while the two Tyrians took position over two different houses.

They waited a bit, hoping that the beast would shift a bit and leave the throat or the chest exposed... But nothing happened.
After nearly an hour of waiting, froze in place, Oremizume huffed and stood up, giving the signal to attack to the Tyrians.
It was pointless to wait, the beast would only wake up well rested at that point.

Alteri slipped in the darkness, looking at the beast with shiny golden eyes, while Concurr prepared himself to jump and slam his own body on the Zataro.
The runner crawled near the beast, and then chomped right on the left whisker-stinger.

As they thought, the Zataro opened its eyes with a roar, shaking its head and finding that there was another creature in its nest.
The beast hissed and opened its fanged maw, trying to snap at the legs of the runner, totally missing the big flying reosean jumping from the stone house nearby.
Concurr slammed on the Zataro's side, making it stumble, but the hit made Oremizume loose his hold on the stinger.

Concurr took off to the sky, avoiding a stinger for a hair, and in the square there were again only the runner and the Zataro.
The beast growled, and Oremizume gulped.
But before it could even think of swiping its claws at the vayron, a rock flew through the air, smacking the beast in the face.

“This way, Zume!”

Screamed Alteri, before taking off, before the Zataro could recover. The Vayron soon followed her, running in the alleyways of the ruined city. They were not big, and more than once the Haedian clipped her shoulders on the stones of the building, hissing in pain.
But they could not stop, of course: the Zataro was chasing them, growling and howling, trying to jump on them at every turn.
It was turning in a cat and mouse game, and the two reosean were going to loose: the Zataro had way more stamina than them both.

“What do we do, Alteri?!”

Shouted the Vayron, envying Concurr, who was flying over them and trying to redirect the beast attention to himself. Alteri coughed, the air way too dry, and hissed back her plan.

“We have to loose it for a bit, just a bit!”

Oremizume huffed, and then barely missed a swiping claw to his flank, as the Zataro appeared in another alley, that intersected with the one they were running in.

“I can't get its attention!” Growled Concurr, frustrated. The beast was nearly unstoppable, angry and probably hungry too.
The Tyrian looked around, worried, until he saw something useful. There was a rock, a bit round and smooth, big enough to hurt badly if dropped from a high place.
Concurr smiled, and flew over to the piece of stone, grabbing it with his claws. Pushing himself off the ground with his wings and club tail, he soared with the improvised weapon.

The Empyrian heard the Zataro before seeing it: it howled angrily, trying to claw at Alteri, who was stuck in a dead end.
Thankfully the path was so narrow that the beast could not touch her, but the stinger were longer than its claws.
He had to hurry, before it realized that. Oremizume looked up, hearing the Empyrian, and decided to give him a more clear shot.

“HEY! LOOK HERE!”

He screamed, and the Zataro turned his head slowly, bloodshot eyes focussing on the runner.
Oremizume swallowed and turned, running for the main street.
The beast roared and followed, but as soon as it reached the bigger path, the rock crashed on him.
Concurr followed soon after, landing with all his weight in the beast, to ensure its demise.

Luckily, the rock did its job quite well, and the beast did not open its eyes again.
Alteri slowly crawled out the alley, looking tiredly at the beast.

“...This hunts better not become an occurrence.”