Meanwhile...

With a lit torch raised in one hand, Kane led a small group of ferrets from his tribe through the dark jungle...crossing over what was most definitely uncharted territory, and not even bothering to acknowledge it. One ferret scurried up to catch up with his leader. "Chief Kane, this is the Wither Team's territory!" He warned, sounding nervous. Kane replied with a snort. "You think I care? What we need is more important than that pack of fools."
"Um...what exactly do we need?" The question had come from Bucky, who was forced to come along on the mission for a reason that he did not know. "What we need is something to dispose of the Wither Team, and as soon as possible so we can take back the entire island." Kane replied. "That something...just so happens to be the Manticore." Bucky's eyes immediately widened with shock, and he ran up beside Kane. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, the Manticore? It lives on this island?" He asked, as the large badger gave a sinister chuckle. "I'm surprised you don't know that, being a great adventurer and all."
"Uh...I'm sorry to interrupt, but what's a Manticore?" Kane let out an annoyed groan upon hearing one of his five members ask such a question. "Of course, someone doesn't remember..." he grumbled. "The Manticore is a creature with the body and head of a red lion, three rows of teeth, sometimes bat-like wings, and a long scorpion tail. Not to mention that the thing is absolutely massive." Before any ferret could reply, Kane stopped at a large gaping tunnel that led underground...and it was most likely safe to assume that the thing they were looking for was located inside. Kane chuckled. "We're here." He announced softly. "Start playing those drums." A ferret that stood in the back of the group carrying a small tribal drum walked up and took his place in front of the tunnel entrance...before beginning to bang on his instrument as loud as he could. For a moment, everything else in the jungle was quiet. No creatures stirred, or reacted to the sound of drums...it simply appeared that a ferret had decided to crazily play the drums in the middle of the jungle. Until a deep, baritone growl echoed in the tunnel...before the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard, followed by a pair of glowing eyes peering out of the darkness. Kane cautiously stepped closer. "Greetings, Manticore." He said. "Live prey awaits for you."

Back with the Wither Team...

"Wow, would you look at that." Everyone gathered alongside Eden when they heard her voice, and looked up as well. A beautiful full moon light up the night sky, illuminating the ocean...and creating looks of awe on everyone's faces. "It's beautiful." Petra said. "I always had a feeling that the moon would look great when it's not a square." Witherstorm nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and also considering the fact that I normally live in a place where night and day is nonexistent, this is pretty amazing."
"Alright, we're not going to be staring at the moon all night are we?" Ham asked, before giving a yawn. "I'm absolutely exhausted." Eden yawned as well. "Isn't everyone?" She said with a chuckle. "C'mon, let's get to sleep." With another few nods of agreement, the gang all headed off to their brand new shelter for a good night's sleep.

Around fifty minutes later...

It didn't take long for everyone to get to sleep, officially proving that the mattresses that were found were a lot more comfortable than the leaf beds. For a while, every single little thing was quiet...until a noise that could be described as wings flapping caused Eden to stir. She twitched an ear, before opening one eye and looking over to one of her sleeping teammates. "Ham, sleep on your side." She groaned, still half asleep. "Your snoring sounds like wings flapping."
"That's not me." Was Ham's groggy reply. "You know that Petra's been known for snoring." Said warrior growled in annoyance upon just barely hearing her name being mentioned. "I'm not snoring...but I do hear the sound." The beating of wings suddenly got louder, now waking up Witherstorm...as the sound also seemed to get closer. "What is that?" Asked Cloud, who poked his head from under the covers. "Could someone be here to rescue us?" Witherstorm asked, as Eden shrugged. "I don't think that anyone would go through the trouble of flying to the island."
"The Horned Birds, maybe?" Ham suggested, sitting up. "No, definitely not in that storm." Petra said. "I think we should check out the source of this flapping." Everyone seemed to agree with that, as the were already removing their blankets and heading outside...where the flapping of wings was heard very clearly. Though what was in the sky and circling the beach area was definitely not any of the Horned Birds, but rather a massive winged beast...most likely looking for a good hunt. Concerned, Eden threw a rock at Wither Sickness' tree...causing him to fall from the branch and wake up in an instant. "Hey, what's the big—" He stopped when he saw the beast that was circling the island. "Uh...what is that?"
"We have absolutely no clue." Eden replied. No one took their eyes off the creature, as it came close to the ground after a moment and soon landed in front of the gang...allowing them to bask in all it's intimidating glory. It was massive, having the head and body of a lion, three rows of teeth, wings that looked like they would belong to a bat, and a long scorpion tail. Not to mention that it's back and hind legs were covered in sharp, thorn-like spikes. "Holy crap..." Ham gasped. "That's a really big lion."
"It's not a lion, it's the Manticore." Cloud corrected. Everyone looked at the pup in surprise. "You know what this thing is?" Petra asked. Cloud took a step back. "W-well, my pack used to tell stories about it...but I didn't know it was here." A ferocious growl rumbled from the massive beast, immediately catching everyone's attention. "Little dragon puppy is smart." The Manticore boomed, causing Ham to shake. "Oh my god, the thing talks!"
"Grrrawr...yes, Manticore speaks!" The beast snarled in response. "Live prey not very intelligent it seems...but that is no matter! Manticore will still make excellent meal out of you!" The beast then rose on it's hind legs before coming down with a massive ground pound...knocking everyone off their feet. It then let out a thunderous roar as the gang quickly got up and started to run in every direction, the Manticore started to shoot spikes and what also appeared to be venom at it's prey...though every single shot fortunately missed the fleeing Wither Team. "This is legitimately ridiculous!" Shouted Ham, as he stumbled about in his haste to get away from the raging Manticore. "Haven't we been through enough on this island?!"
"I don't think it'll ever end for us! I'm still surprised that we got this fa—AAAARRR!!!" Witherstorm's sentence was cut short when the Manticore swiped at his legs, causing him to flip into the air and fall flat on his back...right before his attacker pinned him down. "Witherstorm!" Eden shouted in distress. She narrowed her eyes before dropping on all fours and using the Fire Element to fire a large fireball at the Manticore's side, causing it to spring away from Witherstorm as is growled in pain...beginning to face Eden with anger burning in it's eyes. "Why don't you chew on your own fat flesh, rather than us!" Eden spat. The Manticore gave a roar so loud that seemed as if it shook the entire island, before charging straight for Eden with a slobbering, gaping jaw. The tigress quickly managed to leap out of the way, causing the Manticore to stumble into the shallow water of the ocean. Eden chuckled at the massive creature's clumsiness, as is whirled around and went after it's prey once again. Eden began to run, and her teammates tried to distract the beast by throwing sticks and rocks at it...but it refused to respond, still focusing on it's hunt. Even Witherstorm and Wither Sickness firing wither skulls at a rapid rate didn't phase the giant creature. Eventually, it managed to knock Eden down on one side of the beach...and pressed it's massive paw down on her body, pushing her down further into the sand. "Badger tribe leader was right, puny tigress is very stubborn." The Manticore growled. It didn't give Eden time to think as it lunged forward with an open jaw, though she managed to grab it's mouth and hold it at a distance away from her neck...with the Manticore struggling very hard to push forward. There wasn't much that her team could do, as the beast seemed too big to do any serious damage to...and it wasn't frightened enough to be driven away. Was it possible that the Wither Team met their match? Eden's thoughts were suddenly interrupted, when she heard a familiar battle cry before the Manticore let out a shrilly screech of pain...and sprung away from what was supposed to be it's dinner. As it whirled around to face it's attacker, Eden noticed that it's scorpion stinger had been chopped off...and Petra holding the gang's hatchet, in which now had a blade that was soaked in blood. "I take it your not so tough without your stinger." Petra boasted. The Manticore roared angrily once again. "Grrraaah!!! Ginger girl is foolish! You regret what you do to Manticore!" The beast lunged forward once again, swiping it paws about in an attempt to catch Petra...who was dodging every attack with ease. After a moment, Ham launched himself into the madness of the fight...grabbing one of the Manticore's wings and tearing at them with his claws, causing them to rip. Eden came in shortly after as well, attaching herself to the beast's head and sinking her fangs into it's neck...tasting a mouthful of fur before eventually biting through flesh. The Manticore bounded about, screeching in pain during it's haste to shake Eden and Ham off...but they refused to budge. As the beast continued it's rampage, Witherstorm and Wither Sickness took a step closer and gave each other nods of approval...before firing wither skulls into the Manticore's side, causing it to lose it's balance from the impact and fall over with a big thud. "Petra, finish it!" Eden shouted, still holding onto the Manticore. Giving another battle cry, Petra dashed in and drove her hatchet right into the center of it's chest...causing it to give a massive roar filled with excruciating pain. It only got worse from there, Petra then proceeded to tear through the beast further as it writhed in agony in the sand...kicking up clouds of dust. Soon, after another moment, the Manticore's squirming began to slow...and it gave one last gasp of breath before lying completely still. Eden and Ham released the dead beast, stepping back and watching it's blood spill onto the clean sand...staining it red. Petra removed the hatchet from it's body and turned to Eden. "Did he say something about a 'badger tribe leader'?" The tigress nodded, narrowing her eyes at the thought. "Unfortunately, yes. I guess those dumb rodents will do anything to get rid of us."
"But isn't there potential that they would be killed first before this thing took off to find us? You'd think that Kane would be smart enough to know that." Witherstorm said. "Yes, but he's also smart enough to know that they're too small of a portion of food for a massive thing like this Manticore. We, on the other hand, are the equivalent to a large salmon that would be hunted by a bear in this beast's eyes." Eden explained. Everyone shared murmurs of agreement, and looked at the dead Manticore that lied in front of the shore. "What are we gonna do with this?" Petra asked, poking the creature with the hatchet. Eden sighed as she shrugged. "I don't know, and I'm too tired to worry about it now. For now, let's try to get back to sleep...and maybe in the morning we'll get rid of the body before it starts to rot and stink up the whole beach." As they silently agreed, the Wither Team returned to their sleeping quarters and curled back up in their beds...hoping to rest peacefully after an exhausting battle under the full moon.