This was distressing.

The smell of blood and sulphur still suffused the air, but now the kits were up and trying to fight. One of them was… odd. Alien. Made of insects and moving wrong. The beast didn’t like it. 

Another was smaller, weak, fragile. It had to be kept safe, had to grow… but the beast was confused. One of the group had a similar head, the creature could tell on an instinctive level that it was the same as the beast. But the others were different, strange. They had metal armor and strange appendages, moved wrong and used strange words. It turned its head to look at the biped with a similar face, simultaneously asking for clarification and guidance. The skull-man had a small item in its hand, and had conjured green flame along the side of the bridge, but it looked like the creature. Surely it was still kin, if none of the others were?

Regardless, the monsters from the ceiling were beginning to converge on the group on the bridge, and the skull-man was standing still while it threw about its green flames. The beast didn’t know much, but it saw more and more of the abominations coming towards the bridge, and knew that there wasn’t much time for the group to make their escape. They were all kin… it thought. It just had to make sure that they stayed alive long enough to figure things out.

Breaking its thoughts, one of the monsters scrambled out from the side of the bridge, only to be knocked screaming into the fire by a ball of something thrown by the alien biped. The ones around the beast were fighting, even the small one with the fluffy tail. This all was foolish. There were more coming than were already converging on the bridge, and there was no way the group could handle all of them, surely.

The creature didn’t understand. There was a growing threat, it didn’t make sense to stay. The beasts hackles began to raise, a rising snarl issuing from its throat and mixing with a small whine as it looked around. There were too many to fight, many too many. If nothing else, that was something the strange one of its kin seemed to understand. The monsters were swarming on the walls, the ground, the ceiling… and  several of them were beginning to drop down onto the bridge from a low-hanging stalactite. One of them dropped down immediately next to the skull-headed kin.

Without thinking, the beast lurched forward, foaming at the mouth and crying out with a guttural call. Its teeth sank deep into the back of the thing, blood and flesh and bone compressing and snapping between its jaws. In the beast’s belly, another small growl came forth, but the creature ignored it. Snapping the monster's neck, the beast threw it over the bridge, smacking into another one of the creatures. There was no time to play, no time to eat. More were coming.

The beast slashed and clawed and bit and tore, fighting like the cornered animal it was. On one side were the monsters, but the kits had to be protected, had to be kept safe. The creatures were landing blows on the beast, but its claws were strong and its teeth were stronger. Half a dozen bodies were lying around the creature, but more were coming fast and their claws were like razors. The beast was already bleeding from a series of slashes on its hide.

Reaching with its snake-headed tail towards the skull-headed kin, the beast made to wrap its tail around the biped and run to the edge of the bridge, attempting to scoop up the fluffy-tailed kin in its jaws as it ran. It knew in its heart of hearts that it would be faster than either one of them, and they had to GO.

It only hoped that they would understand that this wasn’t a hostile action. They were defending themselves, but they were still kits, after all. If not, why did they lack claws and teeth?