[center][h1][b][u][color=lightcyan]Reoth[/color][/u][/b][/h1][/center]

[center][b]Journey to Catch Up[/b][/center]
[hr]

As Ash and Torrent reintroduced themselves to each other and talked, Reoth felt his stomach growling and the pains of hunger starting to get to him. And as Ash spoke of examining plants he found his mind wandering towards the idea of trying to find something small to eat at least. So it was with that in mind that he decided to split off as they walked and go for a quick search for food by himself, but remain within shouting distance in case anything happened to him or the others.

Really, he probably could have let Ash know what he was doing before disappearing on her, but the need to fill his stomach was enough for it to slip his mind at the time. However, his search did end well. What he found on the forest floor was a plant that resembles a spring onion, or leek, or other similar plants put together. He tested the plant with a nibble, and while it really didn't taste very good at all, it was edible. And so to sate his hunger he managed to choke it down. It was right as he finished that he heard a loud boom in the direction that the group had gone.

Stomach filled and now masked with worry, Reoth set off towards the noise as quickly and sneakily as he could, only slowing the closer he got to where he guessed the source was. Right as they came into view he could see that there had been a fiery explosion, judging the the scorch marks on the ground and trees. It looks like it was taken care of as Torrent, who looked to be the most damaged by whatever happened, was being healed by a pixie and goblin he didn't know. There was also the fact that Ash and the wisp were threatening the group of goblins as they had come investigate. From what they said, the goblins wanted to finish off his fellow reptile.

As he decides to join the group, a goblin Reoth recognized, Orchid, charged at the goblins and issued a challenge to Crispy, whom was the apparent leader of the goblin group. there encirclement, sort of, manage to cut him off from the others as they made their escape. Left without much choice, he opted to hunker down and remain hidden until the goblins were thoroughly distracted by the duel. Once they were he retreated back into the brush and circled around until he found the tracks made by the others leading from the explosion.

Now he had a choice to make, go back around and head back into the cave, or follow the tracks and catch up with Ash and the others. Well, as he wasn't aware if anyone he knew was back in the cave, he chose to go forward and follow the tracks, remaining cautious and stealthy in an attempt to not get caught by anything. To help with this he covered himself in dirt in an attempt to at least dull or breack up the white and light gray of his scales, with his movement being quick darts from cover to cover, but altogether being slow in catching up with the others.

It was during one such movement that something pounced at him from out of a tree, feline from immediate glance. Rather than continue being slow, Reoth immediately darts forward and dodges out of the way of of his attacker, stopping a short distance to turn around and look at the creature. It was a black feline, looking to have the same proportions of a house cat but it was the size of a linx. One odd thing, though, was the spiky hair on its head that made it look like a witch's hat with its ears poking through. The other odd trait being its eyes, one colored red while the other is orange. Eye that were suddenly locked onto him.

Immediately realizing that he wouldn't be able to outrun it, and with nothing around that he could duck under to trip it up, he had to fight. And the first thing he did was use Poison Spit, aimed straight at the thing's face, quickly and without warning in an attempt to catch it off guard. This turned out to be a good first move, as a black mist seemed to be gathering within the red eye's pupil right before the attack landed, poison splattering over both its eyes. The reaction was immediate as it reared back and threw its head back and forth before proceeding to rub its head in the dirt to get the poison off.

Deciding to take advantage of the moment Reoth charges forward and leaps onto its back, latching on with his claws and biting hard into the back of the neck. It started jerking and jumping around, heading towards a tree as though intending to slam him. Using this, Reoth waits until its too late for it to stop itself and throws himself off, making it slam itself into the hard trunk while he tumbles down to the ground. However the feline had managed to get the poison out of its eyes now and was turning to face him, sounding rather angry. So to avoid an immediate attack Reoth dashed behind the tree, readying a poison spit for whichever side it chose to come around.

It didn't follow, rather, its angry growl slowly faded away until silence. Remaining cautious, he backs away from the tree while remaining alert of his surrounding, including above him after what happened. He found himself almost lost in the bushes, and since he didn't want to lose the tracks, he approached the tree, keeping ready to fire a poison spit again. With nothing happening immediately as he reaches the tree, he cautiously looks around it for the feline creature.

Reoth came face to face with it again, and just as an odd black smoke envelopes him he unleashes his poison and once again hits the cat in the eyes. This time a change came over the feline's face and body language, and it turned and headed for the brush, coughing and sputtering. He fires another poison spit at it, barely getting so poison on the fur of its flank before it plunges into the bushes with a yowl of pain, the noise of its running away gone after a few moments.

With that close encounter over, Reoth backtracks until he finds the tracks from the others once more, and continues following them until he reaches a clearing that they passed through. Still trying to maintain his stealth, and straining his ears and eyes, he catches the sound of a branch creaking above him. He looked up just in time to see the same cat creature from before jumping down to pounce at him again.

Whether out of annoyance, or in an attempt to catch it off guard, Reoth takes a risk and feigns backing up, only to jump up and clamp onto his teeth to both do damage and give his stun fang a chance to work. The hope was to stun it if he couldn't crush its throat. As he leapt its claws brushed his side, opening a decent bloody cut, his bite making it twist in the air but it still managed to land on its feet, thankfully keeping Reoth from getting crushed on the ground under its weight. But it then rears up and reaches for him with its forelimbs in an attempt to claw him off.

Reoth was forced to tear his mouth away and let go, creating a small wound as he did, and lets go. While he got free, he was still hit. It wasn't a direct blow on him with its claws it still managed to bat him to the ground. That said, damage was down to it, and it was now bleeding from the neck and the poison seemed to be taking its toll.

[quote=System: Reoth]
[color=red]WARNING: YOU'RE HP IS LOW![/color]
[/quote]

Not good, he needed to end this quickly. He readied another poison spit and right as he did its yellow eye started to glow. Upon seeing the eye, Reoth immediately fired in order to stop it. He missed, but was successful as it had to dodged, jumping out of the way, therefore cancelling whatever it was going to do. Its weakened state became even more apparent as it stumbled somewhat on its landing, and even though he couldn't tell through its fur, its face seemed to be pale.

The end was near, he knew it. Steeling himself before charging forward, Reoth feints the charge and successful tricks the creature into moving. And when he stops it decides to lunge at him. He spits once more as it lunges, hitting it in the chest and making it pull up short as well. Reoth took a few steps back and prepares to shoot again but as he sucks in breath the feline chokes, hacks, collapses, rolls over, convulses, and lies still, dead.

Reoth could swear he heard an angelic choir of sorts in the back of his mind.

[quote=System: Reoth]
LEVEL UP! Level 2 > 3. You can spend 5 Skill Points.

Stun Fang I (1.0)
Poison Spit I (1.8)
Crafting I (1.4)
Charisma I (1.0)
Muffle I (1.4)
<UNUSABLE>
Faster I (0.3)
Mental resistance I (0.1)
Counter I (0.1)
Monster Analysis I (0.4)
Suppress Presence I (0.9)
Magic Analysis I (0.2)
Fortify I (0.2)
Scale Shift I (0.7)
Plant Analysis I (0.3)
Keen Ear I (0.3)
Keen Eye I (0.3)
Alert I (0.2)
[/quote]

As happy as he was to get the level up, he could only think to assign the points int three skills, [color=lightcyan]"One point to Suppress Presence. Three into Scale Shift. And one to Muffle."[/color] He let out a breath of relief at the fight being over, and approached the body of the feline to look it over more. Patches of missing fur marked where his poison struck before, with its face being pretty messed up as well. The eyes... despite being frozen in death and glazed over, still seemed to have some glow to them. As gruesome as it might've been to do so, Reoth thought it a good idea to take out one of the eyes. And since one of them was too damaged, he managed to take out the red one.

Before heading off, he eats part of a leg to fill himself up. Once sated, he decides to put his new skill to use, activating Scale Shift to change his color into the abundant brown of the forest floor. Now blending in more and with more stealth skills, he sets off along the tracks once more. Shortly thereafter he came upon a stream that the tracks follow along. This was good, as the message from when he awoke told him that he was dehydrated, and he took the opportunity to drink the cold water and quench his thirst.

While he is drinking he hears the sounds of grunting and shuffling from close by on the other side of the stream, and he glances up to see a small mound from which dirt was being thrown. Cautious but still drinking he watched as something like a badger with an armadillo's hide, with spikes growing from its forearms, emerged from a burrow. Paying Reoth little mind as it stomped around, kicking away the freshly dug dirt before it turned in a circle and marched back into its hole.

As curious as he was of the seemingly passive creature, he didn't want to stay, even if he could, and observe, instead opting to take note of this spot for later. Once he was no longer thirsty he finished drinking and continued to stealthily follow the tracks along the stream, listening to the sound of frogs croaking in the distance. The forest floor had started to slope, as though nearing mountains or foothills.

And so it was that Reoth--beaten, battered, and bloody-- finally caught up to Ash and the others at their new base in the making. Still colored brown, bloody, wounded, dirty, and with a red eyeball gently held by his teeth, appeared before the others from the trees. Setting down the eye he says in a tired, wounded tone, [color=lightcyan]"Finally found you guys... So how you been?"[/color] Yep... about all he could get himself to say at the moment.