"No!"

At this point she had decided to just ignore him. He whined worse than a child deprived of their sweets. She was wondering how much longer he would keep this up when, from behind, she heard a loud clatter and crash. Din nearly jumped out of her boots at the sound. She whirled back around to Alphonse, spear at the ready, when she noticed he was now carrying a handful of shells and other fragile items. She let out a quiet scoff and turned back on the trail.

He was louder than a child also.

"I know for a fact it's not your business. It's my business!"

For a [i]fact[/i] eh? Din suppressed a laugh. In all but three minutes she had figured out that Alphonse had [i]quite[/i] the ego. No doubt the only business he would ever see is the business end of her spear, if he keeps prattling at her like this. 

Once he shouted at her to slow down Din started making a list in her head of all the ways the man acted like a child. It was already pretty long.

"You didn't know what it was called a minute ago!" Fair point. So far he was one for five.

She smiled and said back in a tone as sweet as poisoned honey, "Perhaps not! But you did not know what an Agicae Monk looked like until now. But now you do! See? We're learning together, feels good doesn't it?"

She turned her head to watch for Alphonse's inevitable response, the man just [i]had[/i] to have the last word it seemed. However he had stopped following her and was hid behind a tree. Din saw he was looking past her and turned to see-

The Groon.

It was bigger than she remembered, and it seemed more feral than before. She stood motionless as the beast focused its eyes on what she guessed was its next prey. For a second all was silent minus Alphonse's shells, and then the Groon was charging with a hideous roar.

Once it charged Din snapped out of it and dodged out of it's crazed crash. The Groon slammed into a tree behind her. It was fast and strong, but it seemed it wasn't very nimble.

With a yell and a charge of her own Din attacked the Groon's leg with her spear. Trying to cut a tendon quickly and precisely to slow it down. She brought it slashing down several times, but with each hit the spearhead glanced the beast harmlessly, unable to pierce its strong hide. 

It swung around with a quick slash of arm and claws. Din managed to dodge it by a hair's width, and retreated back a few more feet for safety. She gave a halfhearted lunge with her spear at its arm, but once again it bounced off harmlessly.

Frowning deeply, Din yelled to the childish coward that, as far as she could tell, was still hiding behind the [i][b]freaking[/b][/i] tree!

"Alright fine! I could use some hel-" While her attention was diverted the Groon got in what Din would consider a lucky shot. Its claws managing a hit across her chest. The swipe knocking her off her feet and into the grass.

This hit did not glance harmlessly, as evidenced as the blood now dripping from the Groon's claws.