[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_eAh7c5tU][u]G I V I N G  C H A S E[/u][/url][/center]
Had anyone even thought to bring a weapon? As far as Ed could tell, they were entirely unarmed, chasing a crazy man into a cave that nobody had scouted before. How had the soldiers missed this? They had walked right into it in less than a minute from the campsite. "I still think this is stupid as the Divers," he muttered, even as the light faded from view.

The lantern-light was all they had to go off of now, and Edward felt his heart climbing further and further into his throat the deeper they trekked. The walls twisted and turned until Edward was sure that they would never be able to find their way out. Luckily for them, there had only been one long tunnel in, and one long tunnel out.

That changed in an instant, when they suddenly exited into a larger chamber. There was a dappling of light, he noted. Looking up, Edward could see glowing stalactites on the ceiling, shining down in a small cluster to the middle of the chamber. "Magnificent..." he breathed. "But how--"

A guttural growl echoed off of the walls of the chamber, and a set of five glistening claws clacked down on the stone. Then an enormous paw slid into the lamplight, followed by a fur-clad forearm. Ed felt the breath freeze in his chest as the beast formed in front of him.

[center][hider=The Beast][img]http://i.imgur.com/vPYcR8O.jpg[/img][/hider][/center]

Claws like daggers. Teeth like swords. Eyes like death. It was a cat of some kind, with a thick furry mane and waves of rippling muscle. It snarled, seemingly locking eyes with [i]him[/i], and him alone. Edward couldn't force himself to look away.

As the beast stepped out of the shadows, Edward saw the top-hatted man dragged out as well. It looked like he was wrapped in...a monkey-like tail? And then from beside him, another tail flicked up from the darkness, writhing back and forth behind the massive animal's bulky body like a snake. Each tail looked thick enough to crush his body in half.

"Guys..." Edward forced out. It was more of a croak than anything, and Edward doubted anyone had hear him. "U-uh, so..." 

The leg muscles bunched in the monstrous cat's hind-legs, and [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRYOhI0iJy8]Edward had a sudden, awful realization.[/url] The tail holding their strange magician man uncurled, depositing him to the ground with an oomph.

Then the beast leapt.

"Shit! Shit!" screamed Edward, reflexively spinning on his heel and sprinting away from the beast. He ducked his head in an all-but-useless effort to dodge his incoming death and through some miracle of life, a set of razor claws whipped over his head, and not through it, but the beast was already sliding to a stop.

He switched directions again as the cat turned. "Please tell me one of you brought a gun!"