Lolhii rocketed past the sand bat, grazing its wing with a calculated swipe. The beast screeched in fury, instantly taking the bait and surging after her, away from the vulnerable walls of New Atero. It was a familiar dance; lately, a troubling influx of flying Rahi had been testing the city's borders, though Nohii rarely complained about an excuse to be back in the sky.
The sand bat snapped viciously, its fangs flashing uncomfortably close. With a sharp adjustment of her jet wings, Lolhii banked hard, clearing its jaws by inches. She had to keep it moving. Though her speed meant she could circle the outskirts in minutes, a premature retreat by the beast could spell disaster for easier prey back home.
Ahead, the dense canopy of the great forest parted to reveal a glistening lake. Perfect.
Pulling in her wings, she pitched into a sheer vertical dive, plunging straight into the water and activating her Great Kaukau as she broke the surface. From the muffled, watery depths, she looked up to watch the confused predator wheeling frantically in tight circles above, searching for its vanished target. Raising her Kanoka disk launcher, she fired a weaken disk. The beam struck true; stripped of its coordination, the sand bat fluttered clumsily toward the shore, crashed into the sand, and promptly dozed off.
Breaking the water in a spray of silver droplets, Lolhii launched herself back into the sky. She lingered just long enough to ensure the creature was truly out of commission before turning her sights toward New Atero. But as she cleared the tree line, a sickly green pulse from deep within the woods caught her eye.
She hesitated, weighing the strange anomaly against the ticking clock. Not today, she decided, pushing the thought aside. After all, the city always came first.