darkSpyro

Sybil would have probably slept more, if a butterfly that coincidentally perched on her nose didn't make her sneeze. She laid down once more, but it was no use. She couldn't sleep anymore. She climbed her trees for some fruits for breakfast, barely having the strength to reach the top.

Maybe this is it! Cairo thought after seeing Rose yawn, believing that small distraction could be enough. He charged menacingly fast towards her, opening his enormous, toothy mouth and ready to trap her with a single snap...

Cairo seemed a bit upset, but not as much when Sayan eluded him.
"Heh, you just caught me drowsy, that is all." Cairo said as an excuse, though secretly happy that Rose was beginning to have better senses.
"Come on you. Afraid of me?" he then said challengingly, practically inviting Rose to come to him and get voluntarily caught.

"Why you..." he said playfully, starting to chase her. Both had the advantage, since she was running from the edge and he was swimming. Every time he got close, he would snap at Rose, trying to get her, but she eluded him. The chase went on for about seven minutes, when Cairo finally managed to chomp on the tip of her tail.
"Nice speed little miss. You had me working out... but you're mine now." he said with satisfaction, dragging her closer and closer to his mouth...

After pulling Rose into deeper waters, he lets go of her.
"Alright missie. Let's see how much you've learned to swim. Swim as if your life depended on it." Cairo said with a rather mysterious grin, having a certain shocking surprise waiting for her...

Cairo saw as Rose was struggling to swim. The poor tiger still had a lot to learn in that department. He then went underwater and below her, and almost like a vertical torpedo, he trapped her within his jaws with a loud snap.
"Aww, too bad Rose. You still gotta lot to learn, if only you had the time..." Cairo said with a mysterious air as he tightened his mouth, preparing to give her the fright of her life...

"I'm sorry Rose, but I haven't had any breakfast, and this is just too tempting..." Cairo said as if he was feeling pity, starting to swallow Rose as he did with Sayan yesterday...

AJ: I am already up and generously harvest several delicious fruits for Sybil. I can see that she is still tired and am glad to help. My deep, dark midnight blue eyes gleam in the sunlight.

Jaerl:
The little falcon rest inside his and Sybil's home. He has excepted for now that she is not ready. He will wait until she herself says it.

"Oh, good morning AJ. I trust you slept well?" Sybil asked, noticing the fruits he was gathering. Margays don't eat fruits, so she wondered if those were for her. She started to climb off the tree with difficulty, not even looking at the entrance or her unexpected visitor. She was in too much of a daze to notice anything.

AJ:

"I slept alright, thanks for asking Sybil. Here, have some fruit. I saw you were struggling and looked really tired, so I thought I'd get them for you," I say with a smile as I drink some coconut milf from a broken in half coconut.

Sybil was really grateful. AJ just saved her some time and some strength, but even with that, she doubted she could go through the Cairo challenge again. She loved the beach, but it really was a pain to know you couldn't go into the water anymore without being dragged away. She wanted to ask AJ what she should do today, but then again, she didn't want to involve him in her problems.

Like with Sayan, Cairo waited a while in order to give her a fright, and then immediately coughed her out.
"Heh, just a little joke." Cairo said chuckling, paying attention to Rose's expression. It wasn't as funny as Sayan's yesterday, but he still thought it was worth it.

"I know right. What's the point of fun without a bit of thrill?" Cairo asked, quite content that Rose took the joke so maturely.
"You should have seen Sayan yesterday when I did it to him. Now he was really terrified. I guess you're braver than him." Cairo commented, giving her a friendly pat of the shoulder with his flipper.

Seeing Rose getting comfortable on top of him, Cairo didn't have the heart to continue tossing her around. He decided to give her a ride and have a little conversation with her before resuming the rough game.
"Well, I guess I couldn't enhance my element of surprise more than that. But hey, if you didn't like it, then I won't do it again." Cairo assured, wanting to be more benevolent to Rose.

"Hmm? You're taking this better than I thought. I'm surprised." Cairo expressed, with his admiration for Rose growing at that very moment. He was swimming towards Hunted island, where the fog was gone, and the island looked quite beautiful, though not as much at the Haven (in his opinion)
"Alright little miss. We'll make a brief stop at Hunted island. I haven't talked to those little cockatoo cousins for a while. They are actually very fun to talk to, but once we are done, be warned that I will show no mercy the next time I catch you." he said, with a masked tone of seriousness. He was determined to exhaust Rose today, even if it meant getting exhausted himself.

"Too bad Barloc doesn't like you. I know he may have a history with a predator based on what I have seen, but he's really exagerrating! Man he's a jerk!" Cairo expressed, arriving at Hunted island's shore. He has seen once how cold he was to Rose, and that really infuriated him.

Cairo didn't believe that, but he wasn't going to question Rose. He waited for a while at the shore to see if the cockatoo cousins were around their usual spot, but there was no sign of them. Cairo was getting prepared to throw Rose and continue playing, when he heard a familiar squawking...

"No Nia no!" an approaching Angus said, flying away from what looked like seeds being thrown at him. The perpetrator then appeared from the foliage, and she was more than happy to see the visiting pair.
"Look Angus look! Look who's here!" Nia said ecstatic, dropping her remaining seeds.
"Mr. Cairo! Rose! You guys are here! Where have you been? Don't you care? Oh who cares, you're here now! Look Angus look!" an electric Nia said, flapping her wings and greeting the two of them in such an innocent exitement, it was adorable. Angus and Nia had grown about two centimeters since they were last seen, but they were still the cute, mischievous pair of cousins everybody knew so well.

Meanwhile, Sayan was just starting to wake up. 'Woah.. glad I have the day off.', he thought to himself.' He walked out of his den to get some fish, but the idea suddenly less appearing after the previous odeal. 'I'll wait awhile...,' he then thought.

At the edge of the forest, Sybil was done eating, and she was heading at the beach as she always did, but as soon as she touched the water, she gave a sudden backward jump. She must have really been in a daze to have forgotten the ordeal she and her feline friends have been though in those last days. She wasn't looking forward to another round with Cairo, and it really made her upset that she couldn't enter the water without the fear that he could be nearby, ready to drag her around with a single snap. It was too bad that the trace he left when he caught Rose had already vanished, and that he was very far away from now, and that that was her chance to enjoy the water without expecting any surprises.

"Hey, I haven't seen you guys in a while." Angus greeted, though unlike Nia, it wasn't as enthusiastically. The tone of his voice changed through the weeks. It sounded deeper and more mature.
"Nothing wrong, right?" he asked.
"Of course not. It's just a casual visit." Cair answered, noticing that Angus changed a bit, unlike Nia.
"It's great to see you guys. And you Cairo. Now that you're not leader, you could visit more often you know. Jet is so busy these days, he barely had the time for us anymore." Nia said with melancholy, missing the times he came to play.

"Yes. But at least we have you guys. Please visit more often." Nia said, with Cairo nodding. If there ever was a time where he would give Rose, Sybil and Sayan a time off from his persecutions, he could always come there and visit the spunky cockatoo cousins
"But hey. We still have fun. And that reminds me..." Nia said with a grin, picking up the seeds she dropped.
"What are you... NO NIA NO!" Angus yelled, as Nia once again began to bombard him with seeds. It was hard to tell if they were playing of if Nia was simply bullying him. They flew into the foliage, with Angus having the hyperactive Nia hot on his tail.
"Oh those two. Quite the characters." Cairo commented, rolling his eyes.

Now that Nia and Angus were out of view, it was time for some rough fun. As Rose laughed, Cairo took the advantage of taking her by surprise, doing the same trick of sliding her to his tail and flinging her up.
"I warned you. No more mercy." he said while she was in mid air, chasing her and once again, ready to catch her within his enormous jaws...

Over on the Haven, Sayan laid on the edge of the creek waiting... and watching. The irony-- living next to the creek and yet lacking the full energy to take advantage of it. Yet, he needed the strength. 'Come on...' Finally, he went for it-- spotting and catching a small but easily caught bass. 'Finally,' he thought. As he ate, he wondered if they would ever be able to just enjoy the water ever again.

With a large chomp, it was darkness and teeth for Rose once again. Cairo was about to throw her into the air once more, when he had a better idea.
"No freedom for you." he said playfully, beginning to move from cheek to cheek very fast like a washing machine, sometimes sucking in a little bit of water to get her wet.

Meanwhile at the Haven, Sybil was still upset that she wasn't able to get into the water due to wanting to avoid the harsh surprise. She has been looking at the horizon to see if she could spot Cairo. It never would have occurred to her that Rose got up so early in the morning to go through the ordeal she was appearantly starting to love.

Just what Cairo wanted to hear. After turning Rose for a while, he began the usual process of tossing and catching, his best excercise. He would catch Rose either with his mouth or his back, and every time it was the latter, he would once again slide her towards his tail and fling her up. This lasted for about fifteen minutes, and he was having so much, Cairo even forgot that he didn't had any breakfast that morning. He then let Rose go, but while she was in profound waters.

"Right on Rosie. You know the procedure. Let's see for far you can swim." Cairo said with satisfaction, sinking in the water, but instead of hiding completely, he left his dorsal fin at the surface, surrounding Rose like a shark to increase the tension. He was going to target her when she least expected it...

While below, Cairo was watching her swimming and taking notes on what was she was doing wrong. . He was going to correct her later though. He still surround her with his dorsal fin getting closer and closer to her. But just when it looked like he was about to strike, he sank, disappearing into the dark, profound waters from below. It continued this way for five minutes. As Rose was stranded in what looked like a desert of water, there was the impression that Cairo had abandoned her, leaving her to her luck...

Half a minute more and still nothing. Then almost nowhere, something grasped her front paw, and pulled her under so fast, she didn't even had the time to blink. There she was, surrounded in darkness yet again, but this time, Cairo placed her head first close into his throat, where all Rose could see was what it looked like a scary back hole that if you dropped, there was no getting out...

This comment made Cairo laugh quite a lot, so much that he had to expel Rose. Since he knew she was tired of swimming, he placed her gently on his head.
"He he heh, don't worry, I wasn't going to eat you..." he said, done laughing, and finding it cute how Rose could think there was a bigger predator than him.
"... at least not yet." he suddenly added, wanting to see Rose's reaction to that one.

At the Haven, Sybil was tired of just contemplating the water without enjoying it.
"This is ridiculous. One unable to enjoy it's own beach just because of fear of being dragged away." she said to herself, frustrated, yet heading to the water. She was a bit nervous, but after a while, she didn't care. She was gonna to enjoy soaking her paws as usual, trying to ignore the possibility that Cairo was nearby. If he was close by to take her away, then so be it. She didn't care anymore.

"Yes indeed." Cairo said content, satisfied that he was giving Rose the thrill he originally planned. Hopefully soon, he was going to exhaust her as he also planed.
"But the eating will come later. First, it's swimming lessons for you." he said, determined to teach Rose. He didn't want the incident of the bridge to be repeated again. If it wasn't for the polar bear Thunder, who knows what would have happened that day.
"First of all, you shouldn't paddle so hard. That will only drain you of your energy." he lectured, almost as if he was giving a class at a school.