Art by  GrumpMonster

Thank you  SpotTea for gifting me this piece, and allowing young Nyxis to participate in your Remnants of Thistleland Universe! I'm really loving the story you wrote up, and I can see Nyxis and Tea really getting along well with each other after this first meet. ^__^

Please do give the writer some love at her submission! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16489746/

And now for the wonderful story:

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Some days you get lucky, some days you get unlucky, and some very rare days, luck will punch it's way through the unlucky patch, giving you a horrible day that ends well after all. For Tea, this day was the latter.

Tea never did find out what had enraged the Bearten, she suspected she never would. All the Adventure Scout truly knew was that she encountered a Bearten far more active then they usually are, rampaging through the bushes, searching for something, apparently anything, to show how much of an unpleasant day they were all having. The springhare happened to be the one it chose to share it's displeasure with.

Hiding had not helped much, Beartens were known to have a keen nose, and her morning tea and scones sitting in the temporary camp place certainly would be a scent bonanza for it to track her.

When it arrived though, there was no gradual approach, sniffing the air with curiosity and hunger. Oh no, the Bearten, all two and a half meters tall, decided to barrel through and utterly destroy the campfire in one swipe.

Tea has hardly managed to hop out of sight before the wrecking ball, with machine attached, crushed her camp, leaving her only with a shoulder bag of healing items. One of the virtues of her long, sensitive ears was the exceptional hearing that came with it.

From then it was a hiding and avoiding game. The rodent made a good few minuets of it, dodging the beat's gaze, evading it's nose. It knew she was there, and close, and was getting angrier by the second. When the Bear-Marten's anger finally spilled over, hiding did Tea no use at all.

With great swiped, the Bearten demolished most of the cover around the campsite, snapping bushes like small weeds. Tea was exposed, somehow hopping clear of the large paws at first while tumbling in the process. Still, no matter how much she hopped now, Beartens have endurance over her short range speed.

Rising up with a strange mixed roar of both anger and victory, the Bearten prepared to turn the Adventure Scout into little more then jam. However, it paused, and looked beyond the fallen springhare. Tea did not follow it's gaze at first, until she noticed it has not splattered her. On a glance, she saw the Bearten's focus: An Adventurer!

This one, a taller Bat, looked almost too regal for the role of Adventurer, her clothing expensive, and the strange sword she carried seeming far too much of a prize for any lower Adventurer to bring into the average fray. But the stance, and the determined expression told Tea that this uncommoner was certainly an Adventurer. Possibly inexperienced, possibly young, but someone who can look after herself.

When the Bearten finally decided the bat was a better target to vent itself on, it dropped to all fours and charged, stepping over and almost crushing the springhare as she rolled out of danger. As the beast passed her by, Tea opted to give this strange hero the best help she could at that moment, and let her back legs kick out as it passed, striking the Bearten's legs with her own somewhat powerful hoppers. It did little to injure the massive creature, but it certainly distracted it a moment, long enough for the Bat to dodge and strike.

And strike she did. Looking somewhat ungainly, the bat seemed more agile then Tea gave her credit for, side stepping the Bearten and running the sword along it's flank. The beasts own momentum allowed the blade to slide, slicing long it's flanks.

Bellowing in both fury and pain, the Bearten turn, weakened by the attack but still furious enough to make good on it's displays of angry destruction. The next slide of the sword managed to elicit another deafening noise from the Bearten as it's arm sprung red streams, but did little to slow the beast. Ploughing through, the Adventurer was a little surprised, and the Bearten used this to it's advantage, striking down with force that would have crushed the likes of Tea.

The bat's parry saved her the brunt of the attack, but cost her the sword, which was knocked out of the grip by the sheep power of a 100lb swipe. Following up with another swipe and attempted mauling, the bear managed a couple glancing blows that should have sent the bat flying backwards into the treeline for a final defeat. Instead she managed a graceful recovery despite the injury, opening her wings as she was knocked, and using them as a way to both apply air brakes and flap over the swiping, charging Bearten as it was bluffed into overstepping itself.

The window was small, and the sword too far from the hero for her to retrieve it without loosing the element of surprise. Thankfully Tea was also doing her part: Supporting the Hero. Having been near where the sword clattered, she threw it in the general direction of the bat, not a perfect throw, but good enough to reach the moment needed.

Re-armed, the bar struck again and again, even as the Bearten turns back around, deafening the two with it's panic-tinged anger. By the time it was ready to resume it's assault, the fight was already over: one more practiced swing and the beast fell, all 1,000lb of it crash into the earth.

With the aggressive beast fallen, the Adventurer began to feel the soreness from it's onslaught. While a good fight and a mostly clean one for her, those swiped had certainly caused some bruising, scratches and muscle injury, enough to need a doctor's bag.

Considering her work yet to be done, Tea dusted herself over and approached her hero, reaching into the shoulder bag for some supplies. They were going to be hidden for Adventurers to find, and she wanted nothing more then to give this possible new friend the benefit she richly deserved for her heroics; she owed at least the healing potions.