Asa slunk after Nico, a bit like a whipped dog, ears down, tail tucked. He kept back a few feet, just to be on the safe side. Hearing Nico call, Asa hurried forward, but something had beaten him to it. Asa stumbled out of the woods and onto a cliff, just in time to see Nico flung off said cliff by a massive winged Grimm. The sort that Asa had always had had trouble with. Tempting, as it was to jump straight into the fight, realistically Asa knew he had to get to Nico and see if he could fight, wings on a Grimm always equaled trouble. The other reason Asa had to get to Nico was that, after bowling him off the cliff, the Grimm had gone after him, and was circling, like a hawk scouting out prey; only hawks don’t normally think of humans, or faunuses in this case, as prey. Tail lashing, Asa thought furiously; he had to find a way down that cliff. Jumping off? No, with no trees at the bottom, he couldn’t land like this morning, and would be in the same condition as Nico, therefore unable to help much if he was injured. He could always climb down the cliff, …if he wanted to get there next week. Sliding down using his claw was another option, but a dangerous one that was likely to get him killed, not that that would stop Asa. But he had seen another way, even more dangerous and exhilarating; he was going to ride the Grimm. Grinning like a loon, ears perked, tail wagging softly, Asa took a short run up, and threw himself off the cliff at the bird Grimm. Sailing through the air, adrenalin pinging all round, Asa laughed, a maniacal laugh, gleeful and mad, pretty much summing up how he felt when he fought. Catching up to the Grimm rather fast, Asa grabbed onto it’s back with one set of claws, and changing the other to a sort of double knife, which he swept across the neck of the Grimm, plunging it into the beast, as it tried to shake him off. Three more massive circles, punctuated by rolls, dives and other attempts to shake him off, Asa, finally losing his grip, and tumbled the rest of the way to the ground where he collapsed on the grass, groaning, his wounds from earlier having ripped open even more. It was nothing as far as Asa was concerned, he’d suffered far, far worse before, but that didn’t stop it from hurting now. Climbing to his feet, Asa realized he was rather lucky, with claws and double knives still out and ready, it was surprising he hadn’t skewered himself, or at least lopped off an arm. Morphing Tears of Blood back into a claw, Asa looked round for Nico, which he seemed to be doing a lot off lately, but that’s probably what having a partner was about. Asa found himself hoping that Nico wasn’t hurt. Seeing the Grimm still circling overhead, Asa called out softly, “Uh, Nico?”