Small But Mighty ( ͡◣ ෴ ͡◢)

There is a time when plotting out every move is the difference between success and failure. However! That is not always the case. Too much planning can lead to missed opportunities. Not to mention it's was not in Max's nature to be so meticulous.

Decision made, Max darted out from her rocky haven into the detritus. Her lithe form glided through the debris like a snake in water. Her immediate goal was to put as much space as possible between her and the dogasaur. While it didn't help that Max's line of vision was inhibited more so than what she thought it'd be, so far so good though. The sound of the dogasaur's incessant clubbing at the rock was enough to cover the sounds of leaves crunching for Max to get further than she thought that she would.

With a howl, the dogasaur stopped banging against the rock and leaped after her. Before the dogasaur landed, Max zig-zagged sharply, forcing her pursuer to slide across the loose foliage. That gave Max some more room to take the initiative and turn this live horror show around.

Max bunched up and sprung at the closest tree. When she landed, Max coiled and used the force of her impact to shoot back. The dogasaur which had been gaining speed instinctually tried to stop as Max flew at the dogasaur's face. The startled look on its face made Max give an internal heh before she splatted onto its head.

Damn this hurt. Muscles did not equate to cushion and using what amounted to one's ribs and stomach to ping-pong oneself like a friggin' tennis ball. Tomorrow she would most definitely need to hole up and to recoup from this herculean resistance exercise in survival. Maybe take a bath if she could find a small pond or creek to ease her eventual soreness. Max shook her triangular head. Enough of that Max. It is time to take back control and start living your life instead of sitting in the passenger seat.

Max wrapped her forty-centimeter length around the dogasaur's neck. She wasn't long enough to completely encircle it, but that wasn't the goal anyway. Max bit deeply, her needle-like fangs easily sliding between the scales.

The dogasaur snarled and clawed Max off its neck. Blood leaked from its neck in slow streams as the snake hit the ground. Max barely had any time to get her bearings together before the dogasaur got up and closer. Its teeth gnashing together. Max scrambled backward frantically just in time to avoid joining the ranks of midnight snack-dom.

It was too much to hope that Max had any venom left after her excursion. So that left her with her fangs, small size, and innate rope-like capabilities. Running at this point was not an option. She'd exhaust herself to death if she'd try to outrun this thing. Especially anything like the wolves from her world. Tenacious and enduring. She was lucky in the fact that this dogasaur was solo and not part of a pack. She had enough in her tail to deal with as is.

The dogasaur bit at her again and Max dodged narrowly avoiding a mouth of sharp teeth. This time she aimed a lower than her previous bite. If she didn't have enough venom to poison the thing to death, the strength to strangle, then by Sage, she'd bite it to death!

Just as before Max's fangs slipped through the dogasaur's scales into the blood vessels beneath. Max may not be able to rend flesh, but she didn't need to. Her azure eyes narrowed and she released her jaw, dropping onto the ground below. More blood trickled out punctures as she pushed her weight against her tail and lept through the dogasuar's neck.

She disappeared into the dead leaves that littered the ground, moving just enough to prepare herself for her next strike. Meanwhile, the dogasaur roared and dug through the debris. Yes yes. Get mad! Get sloppy! it is all part of my ploy- eek! Max dove to the side to prevent the dogasaur from getting too close. One well place chomp and she was dead.

Ok, take three here, no time to slow down now! Max pushed through the air once more and latched onto its neck. This time was no good, the muscles under the dogasaur's scales were too tough for her fangs to penetrate. Max let go and dropped.

As soon as Max landed she was on the move again. She didn't make it far though. The dogasaur had pinned her tail. 'Oh no you don't!' Max thought. She whirled and viciously bit at its face. Bite me will you? Mar my beautiful black scales! I bite you!

No more biting.

No more running.

Figurative gloves off.

The dog yelped, its teeth grazing across her back pulling with them a streak of scales and muscles with it. Max hissed long and low in pain, the dim glow in her azure eyes brightened. It had been a long time since she had felt this kind of pain and quite frankly it pissed her off.

The scent of blood excited the dogasaur, and it grew more vicious, snapping and clawing at her. Max knew that with her wound she would not be able to maintain her current pace for long so she needed to improvise. Max cast around for something, anything that could be of use to a forty-centimeter snake that weighed under a kilogram, dealing with a predator that weighed close to twenty-five kilograms.

It wasn't easy, most of her attention was dedicated to keeping her alive but there had to be something that evened the odds. Rocks were to unweild-y. Leaves could be thrown but without anything to follow up, ah-ha! That'll do. Max shot forward, letting the dogasaurus's claws rake down her side opening yet another gash.

It was a sacrifice that she was willing to make though. Max swooped her tail down through detritus and dirt, flinging it up into the dogasaur's eyes. While the dogasaur was distracted, she looped deftly around both its front legs and yanked its feet together sending the beast crashing down face first.

Max hurriedly scrambled through the debris leaving a trail of blood glistening in the dappling moonlight. The dogasaur snuffled the wiped pawed at its eyes trying to get all the dirt. Once it could see again it followed the bloodied trail seeking out its prey.

The small black snake had made the best of her limited time as she could. Max staged herself in front of a tree to watch the rapidly approaching dogasaur. Her belly plates tightened reflexively and Max had to take several deep breaths to keep clear her head. The exhaustion was worrisome. Max knew that she had lost a bit more blood than was healthy, but if she was almost free here, and then she could find a nice place to take shelter and hopefully recover.

Closer and closer the beast came and Max had to force herself to relax. She'd need every millisecond she could get if she was going to survive this.

Wait for it.

Wait for it!

NOW!

The dogasaur's mouth opened wide to devour her and Max threw her entire body inside. Before the beast could snap its jaws shut, Max shoved the stick she had clasped in her tail up at the back of the dogasaur's mouth. Blood poured into the beast's mouth and it howled shaking its head in an attempt to dislodge the stick.

Unfortunately for the dogasaur, Max had made sure to lodge the thing as deeply as she could. The blood was slippery and made it exceedingly difficult to avoid being bitten again. She just needed to hold on a bit longer before she was able to get out of this living death trap, but the dogasaur's tongue kept shoving at her.

It was difficult to keep her body pressed against the back of its teeth and she barely fit in its mouth. Every time the stick loosened Max shoved it back up, wrecking further damage. Since she couldn't do any damage from the outside. Inside it was! Max's Trojan Horse tactic was successful and after what felt like an eternity, the dogasaur collapsed.

Max could feel her body weaken, the adrenaline beginning to disperse now that her life was no longer on the line. Max slid slowly out of the dogasaur's mouth into the detritus. She wanted nothing more than to fall asleep right now, but here was not the place.

Max flicked her forked tongue for any potential dangers. Other than her and the dogasaur, she got nothing but that would not last. Max slowly slithered towards a nearby bush and buried herself beneath the leaves and dirt. It would be best if she stayed here for now. The smell and sight of the dogasaur's corpse would serve as a sort of camouflage for her own wounds.

She out a faint hiss and coiled up slowly. If she didn't hurt so much, Max would have done a victory tail bump, but all she wanted to do right now was sleep. The adrenaline was gone and she was alive. So for now, she'd just rest and heal.