Dogfight Blues

“Do you see what I see?” Nerodia would ask. 

“I think I do see what you see…and I don't like it. “ Electra answered. 

“We should turn and run. “ Uzuragi reasoned. 

Ahead of the trio of adolescent Tropeonathus was a small swarm of what looked to be birds. It wasn't, it was more Tropeonathus. They were strangers, and they probably weren't friendly. In that size of a swarm they were most definitely looking for a fight, looking to maybe take the beached whale carcass away from the trio that they were currently circling above. It was easily double Electra, Nerodia and Uzuragi in numbers.. 

“Usually you're all for a fight, what's wrong?” Electra would ask as he looked over at the bright blue Tropeonathus. 

“Usually it's not an entire flock of adults. “ Uzuragi was keeping an eye on the approaching flock. “We are nearly out of time to run, if we run we should run now. “ 

As it turns out they were out of time to run, from above them and behind an adult Tropeonathus, scruffy with lacing accented with countershade, fade and rimmed, screamed in out of the clouds (literally, she was screaming) and hit Electra. The younger Tropeo made a noise of surprise as he was knocked out of the air. He quickly tried to right himself and recover from the spin. Now it was fight on! They were in for it now! Uzuragi took a breath as she watched the screaming banshee use their momentum from the dive to climb back up into the clouds out of sight. She had an idea of what this Tropeonathus was going to do, it was going to use boom and zoom tactics on them ..it would only be a matter of time before the Banshee would come screaming back. They had to figure something out before she did. 

Soon they were merging with the flock of attackers, a brown and cream Tropeonathus with blue streaks on its throat trying to make a grab for Nerodia but she rolled away from it and dodged the grab. She had to quickly dive away as she dodged a second one, this one was a burned orange-brown, with markings that reminded her of fire. It changed its target from her to Uzuragi since it couldn't match Nerodia's quick dive head on. Uzuragi had the time to take action against it unlike Nerodia and hissed as she timed their merge so she could grab the other Tropeonathus by the head with her feet. She was trying to throw its flight off balance, clinging to the Tropeonathus as it made it's noise of protest. Uzuragi tried to turn its head around, trying to force it to turn entirely and tried to keep it busy so it couldn't thrash her off. She had to try to use all of the power she could muster with her wings to try to keep the older Tropeonathus under control. It was quite the struggle. 

Soon she heard Electra calling out from below, them now at an altitude disadvantage against the adult Tropeonathus. “Uzuragi above you!” 

It was the screaming banshee, coming down out of the clouds and making an attack line straight for Uzuragi and the burned toast looking Tropeonathus that was her flockmate. 

Uzuragi threw her weight forward and tried to push away from the burnt-orange Tropeonathus, getting out of the way in time for the screaming banshee to hit them instead of her. They knocked their own flockmate out of the air as Uzuragi tried to climb for some altitude and get out of the way as the banshee ascended back for the clouds. 

Somewhere ahead of Uzuragi, Nerodia had picked up a fight of her own. A black and grey Tropeonathus, one that looked like it was blotched with ink, was attempting to intercept the bright pink adolescent. It was level with her, coming in from her left side, it's blue mouth open and ready to bite as it flapped its wings to try to gain more speed after the younger Tropeonathus. As it moved to make a grab for her Nerodia turned as tight as she could into it while moving slightly down…this forced the larger Tropeonathus to miss its bite and overshoot the nimbler adolescent. Instead of trying to climb away like the screaming banshee would typically do, this inked adult would try to turn after Nerodia.. something that was easier said than done. It had more speed than her and wasn't as agile, so instead of turning around to grab her she was now able to turn inside of it and go on the attack! Nerodia got onto it's back from behind, grabbing onto the older Tropeonathus and trying to bite the back of its head and neck several times with her needle-like teeth. 

“Nerodia!” Electra called out, warning her about another incoming Tropeonathus. 

Nerodia didn't have enough time to move this time, a Tropeonathus that was pale with a brown sable, black beak and feet, and brown caiman came from below to grab her by the wing with his toothed beak. She shrieked a bit as she was unceremoniously flung off of the inkblotted Tropeonathus who quickly made a retreat. Electra and Uzuragi watched Nerodia tumble through the air for a bit before she was able to recover, thankfully despite the bite her wing seemed okay. That sable Tropeonathus was now coming for her however. As it swooped in to try to make a grab for her she rolled the best she could, tucking under as she would try to bite it on the foot. It flinched a bit, trying to grab at her with its other foot, wings flailing a bit as it adjusted to try to get a handle on the younger Tropeonathus. Uzuragi was quick to get involved, the blue Tropeonathus diving down to try to get a surprise bite on the wing of the adult, trying to hang into it and force it out of the air. 

The sable Tropeonathus shrieked and between Uzuragi on its wing and Nerodia on its foot it was quickly put into a spiral towards the beach below. When they were sure it was out of the fight the two adolescents let go and quickly tried to catch air and climb away again. The fight itself still wasn't over. Uzuragi and Nerodia were lower in altitude now but they still had a good bit, at least compared to Electra who had gotten somewhat isolated down below in the fray. The flock of adults Tropeonathus must have noticed and thought the lack of altitude advantage and close friends  made Electra a now easy target, because now they were noticably targeting Electra. 

He braced himself as he saw the brown and cream Tropeonathus with the blue streaks on its throat heading his way, they were diving down on him from his two-O’clock position and were driving him to go on the defensive as he tried to turn into them. He tried to fly up to meet them, and bank away at the final seconds hoping to dodge the faster Tropeonathus. He was successful, but it put him in a bad position where he was slow. Now another adult was coming for him, this one a deep green with a white piebald, black rosettes splattered its neck and back while a bright blue dimorphic was clearly streaked by its hands. Electra didn't have enough speed to maneuver and escape this one, and the green adult slammed its feet into his ribs and sent him tumbling out of the air. He was getting desperate for altitude now as he recovered, low to the ground and running out of room. Now he was going to have to try to lose these adults in any features around. 

That screaming banshee came back, trying for him, he dodged of course and they had to fly back up. On their climb, longer now due to the longer dive, Nerodia would go straight for them and intercept them, grabbing them by the left wing and ripping into it .. literally…tearing their wing open. It shrieked a shriek of pain, flapping wildly in surprise with its other wing as it tried to counter the younger Tropeonathus. Its feet scrabbled against Nerodia and It felt good to watch the banshee retreat for good when she let go. 

Uzuragi now worried for Electra would start to dive down, careful with the descent. It was already bad enough Electra was as low as he was with not much room to make big sweeping maneuvers. That whale carcass was enticing, and Uzuragi was worried it may attract more than just this slowly thinning flock of adults. She looked down, trying to see where Electra is. 

Electra headed inland away from his friends, leading the two adults after him into the ragged rocks and trees of the beachside. He started to dodge and weave through obstacles, flying through holes and zipping up and down. The adults could catch him in a straight line no doubt, but not when he weaves like this and not when terrain became involved. He was relieved to see the blue streaked one slam into a rock and crash out of the fight, but he was worried when he lost sight of the green one at the same time. Maybe it saw and knew better and was trying to overfly him? No he didn't see it above. It couldn't have gone below him, he doubted there was room. 

He was wrong. 

The green one with the rosettes had gone below him, diving for speed. It had looked ahead, seen a gap, and chose to shoot it. 

While Electra was was feeling pressured by an upcoming rock formation, the adult Tropeonathus pinned its wings tight, relying on excess speed to carry it, and zoomed up to slam into Electra and knock him around. The younger Tropeonathus tilted violently and ended up, somewhat thankfully, crashing into a tree where the branches on the way down slowed his fall. 

Just because he was knocked down though that didn't mean the fight was over. He hissed as he tried to collect himself off of the ground, hoping nothing was broken as his right wing was definitely sore. He shook his head, his whole body, and tried to fish himself off and look for a place to hide. It was too late, the green one has returned and now descended slowly to him, hissing and making a shrewd cackle. Electra tensed up and backed up against the tree, opening his mouth wide and shrieking at him in a threat. 

The larger adult landed and started to close in, intent on at least getting something out of this file of a dogfight. 

They wouldn't get anything, though,Uzuragi came barreling into the adult as it tried to catch her, knocking it against the rock formation behind it and unceremoniously breaking it's neck when it became wedged between stones. It slumped, either dead or paralyzed and Uzuragi quickly skittered over to Electra in relief. “Are you okay?” Shed ask first and foremost. 

“I think so. “ Electra would know once the adrenaline wore off. 

Soon enough Nerodia was joining them, having made sure they had top cover in case any adults decided to come back and tried again…the ones that could anyway. 

“We should go reclaim our whale. “ Nerodia would comment as she joined them on the ground. 

“Yeah, but I'm going to walk. “ Electra would state. He wasn't sure how far away he was exactly from the whale carcass but he didn't feel confident in flying at the moment after crashing out like that. If more adult Tropeonathus lingered in the area he wanted to stay out of sight as long as possible. 

“Sure, we'll scout ahead. “ Uzuragi would respond. Hopefully there wouldn't be a part two to this fight. 

The two young Tropeonathus would take off away from Electra, scouting out ahead and to their surprise that sable adult seemed to be back and trying to steal a bite. They weren't going to let that happen after they started a fight so they would drive the adult away. They were quick to pounce on the sable Tropeonathus , taking turns as they would smack it and harass it. Hissing and squabbling as they pushed it off of the whale carcass, away from it, down the beach and then into the air where it flew off. Once that was said and done they would lead Electra to the carcass. 

Not a bad reward for going toe to toe with six or so adults, they came out alive with hopefully only some minor scratches and some bruising.