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Gibbs just meowed at Tony in agreement. Though, it actually translated to something along the lines of I will eat anything in my way. Tony laughed and they left the room together.
Tony pulled out his map and looked at the corridor that they walked into and sighed. This was not the same corridor he’d been in previously. Kasey was right. The cave had changed. This was not going to be easy.
He just hoped that finding the way out and fixing Gibbs was the only issue they ran into. Though, he was pretty sure that second item was going to be a doozy to resolve. If they could fix the bond soon that would be good enough until they could find the great cat or whatever she was.
Gibbs rushed ahead around the corner before Tony could even take a look and see what was there. Not that it mattered because Gibbs immediately came running back with a komodo dragon chasing him. “Help,” Gibbs hissed.
Tony took one look at the komodo dragon and frowned. This was not going to be easy. He didn’t exactly have any human weapons and the backpacks severely limited his mobility.
He had no choice, but to change into a panther. He knew that it was possible for an adult panther to kill a komodo dragon, but he’d never attempted it before. He remembered hearing that a komodo dragon bite contained venom, so they would need to avoid the teeth.
He roared that to Gibbs who leaped out of the way of another bite from the deadly creature. Fortunately, the dragon was considerably slower than even clumsy Gibbs, so avoiding its teeth would be easier. That didn’t mean that they could get complacent, however.
Neither of them needed the additional complication of being poisoned. Tony tried biting the really big lizard’s neck, but to no avail and it put him within range of the teeth and poisoning so he jumped back and contemplated another tactic. The komodo dragon wasn’t interested in letting either of them think, however.
Before Tony could come up with another battle plan, the dragon aggressed upon him. Tony roared, but the lizard ignored him. Tony easily jumped out of the way, still more agile than it.
Gibbs was staying a bit further away from the battle. While an adult panther could take on a komodo dragon and win, being a cub limited Gibbs ability to do so. Still he watched for any opening that he could take advantage of.
After a couple of close calls with the komodo dragon’s teeth, Tony finally managed to get his teeth through the komodo dragon’s skull and kill it without any danger of being poisoned. He exchanged looks with Gibbs who bounded over to him as they left the dragon behind. Tony really hoped that they didn’t stumble across too many more apex predators.
Getting Gibbs’ and his bond unfucked would be difficult enough without having to fend off others at the top of the food chain as well. There were no predators that specifically tried to kill panthers, but that didn’t mean that panthers didn’t die to others who also didn’t have predators and were at the top of the food chain like them. Still all they could do was continue on and hope that they could find a new map or that the existing map still somehow applied despite them not being in the same location they had been.
They kept walking, Tony remaining in his panther form for now. He didn’t trust Kasey not to have filled the cave with predators even though he hadn’t seen any the first time, since they’d already ran into one.
They didn’t talk much. Gibbs had never been one for talking a lot, but they also didn’t want to give Kasey any information and since they could barely feel each other through the bond they couldn’t talk that way anymore. Tony didn’t know for sure that Kasey could hear and understand them if they talked in Cat, but he would rather be safe than sorry. First priority had to be getting the bond back.
Tony knew that it was hurting Gibbs to not be connected properly and while not actual physical pain, everything felt off to Tony too. He wouldn’t feel right again until they’d fixed this little issue. Even once they fixed the bond, things still wouldn’t be right with Gibbs trapped as a panther cub, but at least they’d be better.
Remembering his experience last time, Tony made sure that they investigated each room they came across and he’d started a mental map in his head of their path so far. It wasn’t the same as the map human he had, but it would have to do. So far the rooms had been completely empty, but Tony knew that would change.
He was really and truly beginning to hate magic. This trip would have already been completed or close to if it wasn’t for the magic that seemed to be everywhere. It wasn’t even Kasey for the most part.
Kasey hadn’t been there when Gibbs got stuck as a panther cub. While it was possible that Kasey was responsible for the forest of temptation, Tony found it far more likely that she’d just taken advantage of a troubling natural feature that was already available. Maybe he wasn’t cut out for this prophecy business.
He just wanted life to go back to normal, Gibbs, him, and the rest of the team at NCIS solving crimes. Was that too much to ask? Tony shook his head, apparently it was, but he was adaptable.
He’d always had to be, living in the human world with a secret as big as his. Plus, Senior had never made things easy. Even knowing that Senior wasn’t his real father didn’t make dealing with his shit easier. Honestly, Tony hoped that Senior wasn’t involved with the enemies that the prophecy said they were facing, but he highly doubted that he was that lucky.