' Ohno ohshit pleaseno '

He panicked. He formed the entirety of his body into a suction cup, and PULLED. The food reared up and started shaking. Then fell over.

' I didn't even take all of it! ' He pleaded to no one, as some of the pack members came over to investigate. He didn't even know where their heads were or how they were about to strike at him. If they even were. All he could see is food.

All he could see... Is food.

He attempted to harden a piece of himself, then shoot it away like a lance. It worked. The beasts backed away. Though, the attack didn't connect. He retracted the tentacle back into his body once he felt he had missed.

How did I do that? How can I do that again? His mind raced while his attention darted around the 3 aggressive blobs of 'food'.

His mind shifted to one of his many abilities : ' True wave form manipulation '. He wasn't sure if it was just that; or yet another function of his body. His mind had taken him on a pretty hard detour, so maybe it was the former. Or possibly both.

' Why am I thinking about this while in combat?! ' he asked himself, as he hopped away from the 3 'pigs' that were trying to avenge their fallen comrade. They had retreated almost as much as he did, but pack animals were notoriously fearless when near their own. Just as soon as they had fallen back, they were right back to maintaining a very close distance from him.

Those outlines showed themselves again. Flashing for a moment, then simmering down to nothingness. But only when he was moving fast. Now that he was in a better mental state; he recognized this.

' Please work ' He was thinking as he bobbed up and down. Didn't work. Should have assumed that given my first method of movement. Secondly...

' Vibration. ' He figured. Those pigs were getting too close. They were almost sniffing him. He sent out another attack, this time at all 3. In the short time they were held at bay, he grew himself a little bobble filled with air. Then he wiggled it.

It was... somewhat successful. He could make out the vague outline of what was in front of him now. One of the pigs opened it's mouth wide, and made a pass at him. He had to dodge; no way he was trying to parry that.

The resulting movement overloaded his mind. He was blinded. ' GA! ' He tried to say, but had no mouth.

His 3 opponents were in fact, pig like. He could only see well-defined outlines, but what he could make out were the legs of a deer, the skull of a triceratops, the whiskers and hair of a mouse, and the talons and beak of an eagle. Their hind legs were very muscular. Maybe for jumping? Or closing the distance? All in a package 30 times his size.

Now, what to do?

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Yeah, ... no. He wasn't winning this.

He grew some bubbles of 'fat' on his back as he prepared to slither away. Even if they slowed him down, no sense escaping now just to die of starvation. He slammed his new tail on the ground to give him a one-time burst of speed forward. Against all odds, it worked. That impeccable sense of direction helped him stabilize himself midair with his water-like agility. He landed quite far from the things. He was quite small and agile. Perhaps he'd find a crack or crevice to hide in if he hugged the wall for long enough.

He ran. He tried to use his 'vision' while he was running, and... no dice. Everything was a blur. So much for that. Will probably be useful later. Running. Running now.

Him turning tail (literally) and running away triggered some sort of response within those pigs. He felt the side of a mouth bump into him as he was slithering.

That. Was. Close.

He slithered faster, growing some rotating spinies on the tip of his tail to deter further predation. He picked up the pace, using loose rocks as a springboard to launch himself forward whenever able.

Inevitably, he reached a point where the elevation of the terrain was too much for the abominations. Around 70 degrees. Almost straight up. He certainly didn't feel them come down a drop like this on there way here, so this must be a splinter path. He scurried up the rock face with relative ease, while the pigs trotted angrily below. Their attempts to climb were met with a cave opening around 1/2 the size of their face. He was safe.

They had a little pity party ramming those rocks in annoyance. It didn't take long for them to give up and start trotting back to their friends.

' So. That was traumatic. ' was the only thought that came to mind. Either he was completely worn out or he was COMPLETELY desensitized. More of the same, I guess.

That was around a 3 minute chase at 5 times their walking speed, so only a 15 minute walk back to their little group, give or take. Not that he knew how fast these things move relative to him, so he couldn't make accurate measurements for him.

He wasn't hungry anymore, and had found where to get more food. Though he lost track of mother, but he wasn't morning that fact. Their first meeting didn't go too well.

... Was he really adapting after only half a day of life or is this just how predators and parasites think? At least he was focused.

A little of both. That's usually how things go.

Wait. Hold on. Where did that thought come from?

He wasn't left to wonder long. The name of his skill ' Clairvoyance ' was brought to the forefront of his mind.

Now THAT was creepy. He hadn't even been able to distinguish them form his regular thoughts until now!

It had called itself 'skill'. Was it part of a game-like system? It certainly didn't act that way. It acted more like knowledge of a set of martial arts then anything else...

So his brain had been directly altered to house all these new abilities?

No response from ' clairvoyance '.

That was concerning. All those insane abilities he asked for back when was coming back to bite him in the most strange of ways.

Many negative thoughts of his reincarnator came to mind. He definitely had some words for him now, if he didn't already.

As the adrenaline was wearing off, if his biology even had that, he was left with the gravity of what just happened.

' I WAS ALMOST EATEN!!! ' He internally screamed. He jumped up from the crack he had settled in. ' I ALMOST DIED LIKE A WILD ANIMAL! '

He slowly let himself fall back down into his hole. ' Like... a wild animal. ' He realized at that moment.

The reality of his situation set in.

He steeled himself. He settled back into a more comfortable position to lay down and think. His mind started to focus. Food. Shelter. Water? Safety. THEN and only then would he feel safe to explore his surroundings. Not that would likely yield anything in a cave world.

He focused his mind back on the immediate. His stored food was now 1/10 gone. 90% left. Time to make it count.