"Where do you think I've been?" Ruric asked.  "In that hellhole of an abyss.  I got off with a limp and I've been doing some training before coming back over here.  Now you better tell me you've made progress," he said with a voice of authority.  Everyone better know he was in charge now.

"Of course.  Panthera against Nykamar.  Now," he ordered.  "Do your best.  Prove your skills to me," Ruric explained to the pups.

-fail-

idiot.

The next time he came in front of her, she clawed him right in the eye. This, however, really got Nykamar angry, and he snarled, and ran at her. Panthera jumped to the side, sunk her claws into the ground for a moment to prevent herself from skidding as she landed the jump. Nykamar came at her a second time, and she stepped aside again, this time clawing him from his shoulder to halfway down his back as he passed her.

Nykamar wasn't weak. However, he couldn't catch her. She was simply too quick, and he didn't want to be scratched. He sprinted toward her, bleeding down his back. However, she had a third way of tricking him, and she dove underneath him, raking her claws across his belly. He had a chance to fight back at this point, and bit her face, holding her mouth shut. He was stronger than her, and managed to keep her there for a minute, until she began to panic, and dug the claws on all four paws into him. Nykamar yelped, and let her go. She was completely furious now, because now she couldn't say she got out of this unscathed. She leapt at Nykamar, and quickly placed one paw on the side of his neck, and the other right next to it, so that it might look for a moment like she was hugging his neck. Then, she pulled both paws back toward her, one scratching the top of his neck, the other the bottom, until both paws met on the other side.

Nykamar was practically wearing a collar of blood.

Ruric growled at the girl pup - Panta?  Pen?  Oh, yes.  Panthera. - as she gave him a look that he easily deciphered. 
"The girl.  Is she... disobedient, yes?
However, she is a good fighter.  Strong.  Shows no mercy.  Lets hatred fuel her," he told Drazia.   The boy, er.... Nykamar, was it?  Yes, Nykamar, was strong.  Yet not fast and agile.  He needed defense tactics against others besides offensive, too.  Lots of work to be done on him.

Deveth padded over to Sierra. "Alpha, we should probably get a hunting party together." He said. "We're running low on food."

Sierra nodded in reply; "Yes, take Asu and Litta and Tibious," she answered.  "And Litta can eat something on the hunting party as well.  She must be starving."

---

Ruric growled.  A low, throaty growl that signalled that he wasn't happy about the measly pup taking his rightful place.  "You planned badly," he said.  They should all know that he was Alpha now and this girl pup would never rise up to any occasion other than to be a key fighting asset.
"Stop fighting," Ruric commanded the two pups.  "I want the, uh, Nykamar and the other pup to battle.  You.  Panthera.  Sit here."  He pointed his muzzle to the spot next to him when he told Panthera where to sit.

Ruric looked Panthera up and down.  "Alright.  Look at these two fighting.  First, tell me the odds.  Then tell me what maneuvers were good and what manuevers were bad.  For the bad ones, tell me what they should've done instead."  Instead of a physical test, this was now a mental test.  Something to see if her mind could comprehend fighting just as well as it could think of the next move.

---

Litta and Asu trotted over, Asu looking generally happy to do his job.  And he was pretty good at it, too, if he did say so himself.  His tail had a slight wag to it.  Litta, on the other hand, was fine with hunting, but what made it better was that she was going with Deveth.  She stood up next to him and smiled.  "Let's have a race.  A race to see who catches the most prey, and it'll start once we get to the middle of the forest."  She nuzzled him lightly.  "What do you say?  Wanna?"

Deveth smiled. "Alright." He said. "Ready...set...-" Deveth took off, then shouted over his shoulder-"GO!"

Ruric smiled.  Correct answers, all of them.  "Good.  You can call off the fight anytime you want - this one's under your control," he told Panthera.

---

Litta giggled, "No fair!  You had a head start!"  She quickly sped after Deveth and sniffed the air for any signs of prey.  She scented a doe, and a baby deer.  Probably mother and child.  She began towards that direction.

Asu, apparently left to hunt on his own, beckoned to Tibious.  "C'mon.  Let's try to score something big together," he said, starting to walk off in a random direction, nose looking for anything good.

---

Deveth ran in the opposite direction of Litta. He quickly smelled blood. Something that was already dying would be an easy catch- there was clearly a lot of blood. He ran faster and got closer, and then he froze on the spot. He couldn't see anything yet, but it was now clear that the blood...was wolf blood. Instinctively, he assumed what was left of Adder's pack had simply slaughtered a wolf or too. He sighed, afraid to see what might lie ahead. He padded forward. He was now in a clearing in the woods. There weren't trees, but there was very tall prarie grass that prevented him from seeing whoever was injured.

He padded even closer, and was horrified.There was a she-wolf, who seemed to have ran a horribly long way. Her eyes were wide and she was frantically trying to catch her breath as she bled all over the grass. Most of the injuries were on her legs, but there were four significantly deep cuts under her eyes.

"What happened?" Deveth demanded. Whatever had done this to the she-wolf, it had definitely been much moor powerful than she was.

The young wolf didn't even look at him as she replied.

"They're all dead..."

Asu, not recieving an answer from Tibious, sighed and went towards the direction Deveth had gone, following his scent trail.  But the scent of blood hit his nose - and it wasn't prey's blood.  He began to go faster and halted beside his beta, eyes widening slightly.  "Are... Are you alright?  What happened?"

---

Ruric allowed himself a small devious smile.  "Fine with me.  You are calling the shots on this one."  He glanced over at Drazia, his face saying, 'she's smart, what do you think about her choice?'

Asu could barely comprehend anything that came out of this wolf's mouth, but Deveth shortened things up a bit.  With a nod, he said, "Let's get her to camp, fast."  Asu thrust his snout underneath the wolf and hoisted her up on his back.

---

Ruric didn't care much on Drazia's opinion, anyway, so he resumed watching the fight.