Life adapts to its environment, such is true from the mightiest of dragons to the lowest of amoeba. The apple tree was no except and had no need for sleep unlike its fluffy companion, and so its relentless search for sunlight continued tirelessly day and night, only stopping for whenever his friend went out in search of food.

Occasionally they would play catch, the grey squirrel seemed endlessly amused with such games. Speaking of said mischievous rodent, lately, it has been getting rather large. What at first would fit within a child's palm had now grown twice as large. An almost unnoticeable amount of mana had begun to infuse itself within the small creature, the beginning stage of evolution from a mundane beast into one of magic and wonders.

A Mana Beast.

Normally it would take anywhere from decades to centuries for such a fundamental change to a being's existence, however in Tenal Forest where the ambient energy was particularly potent and nourishing, along with the fact that the tree it had decided to follow was unconsciously radiating its power into it, such a long process was greatly sped up.

Its friend wasn't the only one to change. Giving up vertical development and the passivity known to all plant life the apple tree was also undergoing an evolution, although much more bizarre. Its trunk looked spindly and full of youth, its small patches of leaves green and translucent, however, its roots were thick and gnarled, faint white scars from its rough digging and mobility. Those were only the ones seen above the surface, for beneath the ground was an ever-expansive network of roots, absorbing all the moisture it could find, carefully searching for ever more minerals.

Almost like a moving ant tunnel, the complex web of roots expanded farther than what could be seen with the eyes. Frankly, it wouldn't be wrong to consider that rather than a tree with roots, it was more of a mass of roots with a particularly large sprout.

This, however, was not done out of some whim, but rather necessity. For it soon learned a harsh truth. Its kin was apathetic to it. Large towering behemoth of bark and leaves, the still and silent guardians of the forest were anything but benevolent. Their firmly established roots drain away all water and resources from its surroundings leaving not even the smallest of shrubbery to survive. Their massive umbrellas of leaves blocked out all light, causing all-consuming darkness no matter how far the little tree traveled. It had been heading in a mostly straight trajectory ever single it began.

Yet nothing had ever changed.

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The lone tree continued on its journey in silence, however, none noticed the almost tensing of its thin branches, the minuscule movement of its leaves swaying with the absence of wind. Deep beneath the dirt, its roots had felt the faintest of vibration. A rhymic beating of the ground.

Footsteps. Something was coming, hopefully, a new friend to be made, but if it was another enemy...It would have no problem drinking blood tonight.

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The apple tree stopped and stood as still as any other tree could. From the shadows was a large boar. Unlike the humorously fat and round pigs children like to picture them as this wild boar was a hardened warrior, pale scars ran across its body, thick and bulky with dense muscles rather than lard. There was another large difference, and that was its form.

It was a dull brown and green coloring, larger than any lion, a white plate covered its skull as if wearing a helmet of bone. This wasn't the first of its kind that the two wanderers had met. Solitary creatures, these were herbivores which generally kept to themselves, content to bashing away at the trunks of the ancient trees or digging up the occasional root to feed off of. Of course, they had no fear of most other predators with their immense charging power and considerable girth.

They should know, considering they've often scavaged from the remnants of whatever was unfortunate enough to piss off these mad boars. Such was usually a happy occurrence, something to welcome with open arms, however now that its tusks were directed at them, they didn't feel so lucky now.

The squirrel carefully hid within the bundles of leaves, not even peaking a single eye out in fear of getting caught. It was in vain, as the hog's nostrils flared angrily it had already caught their scent. Why did it only now bother them when previously their relationship was, not amiable per se, but at least casual indifference? Obviously, something had changed.

The answer in Retro-spec was quite simple, the only thing that changed was they themselves. The pair had been gradually growing, eating and absorbing everything in sight. Before now they were simply a unique tree and a cheeky squirrel. A strange sight in this forest, but it didn't truly matter.

Now, however, after months of rapid growth, they have changed from a curious oddity of no presence to something of value. In this case food for the hungry boar. With a grunt it dug its front legs firmly into the ground, soil, dirt, even rocks were grinded away beneath its immense strength, making a stable footing for something so large to prepare a groundbreaking charge.

Still, the tree didn't waver. In fact, it didn't move at all, despite knowing well in advance that the boar was coming. Its friend fearfully clutched onto its leaves as if a blanket and curled within itself. Its sharp claws puncturing through and its grip bruising it greatly, but it did not mind and simply wrapped more around it, rowing slighting in an effort to comfort it. These actions proving that this was no simple mindless tree that wasn't noticed by the great beast. Not that it would've cared. The creature charged with surprising speed towards its motionless target. As if a bulldozer made flesh.

Sadly, no matter how great your strength, how quick your attack, in the end, all of it was meaningless if it didn't connect. For as soon as it reached within 40 feet of the duo, the ground collapsed beneath it. Falling from its great height the creature squealed in pain, legs utterly shattered from the impact with bones sticking out. Unfortunately, that wasn't the end as soon its vision was covered in darkness.

Roots slithered in the newly made trench and wrapped around the struggling creature, newly grown thorns ensured that it wouldn't escape the tightening grip, at least not without tearing its own flesh off. All the while piles of dirt were swiftly poured back over it. With broken skin providing entrance the wooden tendrils crawled in wiggling and widened the wound, drinking deeply from the rich ichor.

It slowly strangled the mad beast while crushing it underneath tons upon tons of dirt. Its incredible vitality for once worked against it, for it took hours before finally dying.

Yes, for the tree and its small friend, nothing had ever changed.

At the end of the day, it was eat or be eaten.