Lily and Haruki stepped into the dense forest enveloped by vibrant colors; trees intertwined to form a barrier over their heads. Spots of light filtered through the leaves, casting a dotted pathway.
Haruki's eyes scanned the shadows ahead, alert for any movement.
“Haruki, are you an Abminus as well?” Lily asked.
“I am,” Haruki replied. On Haruki’s back was a large quiver, gold and black in design, just like the bow and arrows he brought along. “I merged with the ignition root, derived from Pin Missile Cactus. They are a special type of cacti, where, when it gets hot enough, it’ll swell up, inevitably bursting, shooting the spines outward. The spines are easily flammable and capable of exploding,” Haruki said, showing Lily one of the arrowheads. “Hopefully that gives you a better grasp of my abilities.”
“I always took you for someone whose root would be in a deep forest, not a desert,” Lily said.
“It is. The notion of cactus being located in deserts alone has been largely misunderstood; many species, such as the prickly pear cactus, are found in several habitats.”
“Silly me,” Lily said.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is your Nefarian legacy count, and are you familiar with your abilities? I watched your match in the arena - could it be fire-based?”
“Not exactly… Elder Zinnica told me that my Minus was known as a Mibbit. The root is a plant you can find anywhere, no matter the environment.”
“Joy sprout?”
“Mhm,” Lily said. “During a blazing flame in a house, Mibbit protected me, I’m sure of it. And the other time when we encountered Weep, it helped me then too.”
“Immunity…” Haruki stated.
“Perhaps, I’m still figuring it out. I just know after enough exposure, something usually occurs, and then I get this feeling within, like an energy waiting to be released.”
“Your discharge?”
“Yeah. I kind of came up with the name on the spot?” she said, bashfully.
“It’s a good name,” Haruki said, with a smile.
“Thanks, oh, and my legacy count is five by the way.”
“Incredible, you’re the only other Nefarian I’ve encountered with five legacies, other than Alderai's six.”
“Check out Kalumi someday, you’ll catch another I’m sure you’d love,” Lily giggled, referring to Pinet.
“Maybe I will, but for now, we should get going,” Haruki said.
Guiding Lily along the uneven ground, roots snaked across the path, tangled with patches of peculiar plants. Eventually, a small clearing appeared - a single large tree with gnarled roots and spots of webbing wrapped it.
Lily paused, her gaze fixed on the tree.
Along the base of the tree, a leaf-like structure twitched, revealing itself as a camouflaged spider. It snatched a passing worm that wriggled, but the worm, in turn, was a lure, yanking the spider towards a carnivorous plant. The plant's vibrant petals closed, ensnaring the spider. The lively plant, the size of a dog, then walked off using its one of many hundred rooted legs to traverse the ground. The ground under it burst open and the plant was eaten by a marsh spitter, frog-like slugs that burrow under the earth. The rooted legs of the plant writhed until completely disappearing into the belly of the marsh spitter, which then casually slithered off into the forest.
Lily and Haruki shared a glance, though her face revealed one of shock. “What just happened...” she said, nervously.
As they approached the tree, within the very highest points of its branches, multiple creatures. Lily pointed it out to Haruki, who nodded.
“Let's approach carefully,” he whispered, walking past the base of the tree, he figured some species of spider may be lurking about; a faint scent of decaying animals hung in the air. Turning around, he noticed Lily’s hand on the tree. “Everything okay?”
Lily nodded, “It's... different. It feels alive...”
Haruki examined the tree, “All plants are alive, another misconception of the masses. Let’s move on, we don't want to get caught up here too long.”
“O- Okay…” Lily felt something was off.
Lily withdrew her hand from the tree's rough bark and fell in step with Haruki, her pulse quickening with each step they took away from the tree. The branches overhead rustled as if the trees were whispering to each other. A cold breeze slipped through the woods, causing the leaves underfoot to crunch like breaking bones.
Haruki glanced over at Lily, his brow furrowed in concern. “What’s up?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
Lily nodded, though her eyes remained locked on the tree behind them. “Something... something's not right.”
The trees creaked, a sound that echoed through the forest like a groan.
As they walked further, Lily's gaze was drawn upward, where a portion of the tree twisted in a way that seemed unnatural.
“Haruki!” Lily whispered urgently, tugging at his fur coat.
He turned, following her gaze, and they both watched as a portion of the twisted tree that looked to be a head, steadily turned around like that of an Owl, revealing eyes obscured by leaves and a bark-like smile that widened unnaturally. The bark slowly shifted to a haunting shade of purple, the smile growing wider.
Haruki took a step back, “Watch out!” he shouted.
From beneath their feet, roots burst forth, but they both managed to jump out of the way in time.
“Is that a Minus?!” Lily asked.
“No, it's flowing with positive, not negative flux,” Haruki stated.
Tugging at her collar, Lily said, “I thought she said 'mortal danger'?!” The vines slithered back into the hole they emerged from.
“The whole forest is mortal danger...” Haruki replied, “Perhaps, how it’s determined is yet to be seen.” Eyes widening, he shouted, Careful!”
Lily seeing a long whip of vines launched her way, and jumped, now scaling the tree. Her gaze still locked on the grotesque figure, “Come on Lily,” she said, her voice barely a breath, but before she could take another step, she noticed webbing on her feet. “Since when?!” She noticed on the base of the roots, small holes protruding a web-like substance, although at first it was more of a liquid.
A giant lashing of vines attacked Lily, but Haruki intervened, launching an arrow, and blowing up one of the clusters of vines.
“You can access your flux?” Lily shouted, removing the webbing from her foot.
“No, the arrowheads are already infused with it. The rules stated you couldn’t utilize our flux, but they said nothing about what you brought into the exam.”
“No kidding,” Lily imagined herself in a suit using flames to fend off this spider tree. “Maybe I should have come a little more prepared...” Lunging out of the way, she continued up the tree, passing many large dead animals on the way. A low growl for help caught her attention, “Wait a sec-” she stopped. Looking back, one of the creatures suspended in the trees was alive. A Trojan Horse! They were similar to horses, except much larger. Unlike horses, they weren't meant to be tamed. “Haruki!” Lily shouted. Catching Lily’s gaze, he noticed the creature she was looking at.
“We have to save it!” Lily said.
“Right,” Haruki responded, though his intent was for a means of travel.
Lily attempted to pull the vines ensnaring the creature, but in doing so the head of the tree, slowly creaked in her direction.
Its mouth slowly creaked open, and roots, mingled with sticky webs burst forth.
Lily, catching the horse's gaze, saw that it closed its eyes, almost as if it accepted its fate, however, Lily instead wrapped her body over the creature, making sure she would be the one to take the blow instead.
Jumping before Lily, Haruki pulled not one, but three of his arrows out. Merging them, he slapped it on the string of the bow, yanking it back and releasing, “Ignition Strike!” he shouted. The arrowhead obliterated the spidery vines, ripping straight through to the head of the tree, tearing it off immediately.
“Ah, you did it!” Lily said.
“Not yet,” Haruki said. “Focus in on its flux, you can tell this plant’s core lies somewhere at its base. We're going to have to hit that if this thing is going down.”
Lily recalled to herself words of wisdom from Alderai.
“All living things have flux force, and those able to access it have a core in which flux must be flow from, and, be stored. All humans have a core, but only those with AB- blood can access flux, if they're lucky.”
Focusing on the base of the tree, “You’re right.” There she noticed a stronger flow of flux orbiting a sphere of some sort. Noticing the head growing back, Lily quickly pulled the vines from the trojan horse, however the webs were still a little too thick for her to remove. Upon noticing a small spit of flames nearby from Haruki’s ignition attack, she placed her hand over the flaming, wincing as she did. Attempting to activate her legacies, her body started to glow in that faint orange form, “please don't burst out...” she whispered, placing her finger near the web, “discharge,” and it slowly burnt. “It worked! Looks like legacies aren't so easily contained by these collars after all,” she said to herself proudly. Although, this is all I can muster at the moment... Can’t say it's perfect, but it’ll do. She smiled at the horse, reassuring it that everything was going to be fine.
The trojan horse watched intently as Lily slowly removed the webs containing it.
Haruki gazed at Lily, curious as to how she was able to access her flux. Seeing the smiling mouth of the tree forming once again, “You may want to hurry it up,” he said.
Having separated the last of the vines, the Trojan horse thrashed about, almost kicking Lily, but she jumped out of the way. Quickly, the horse leaped down, landing from one thick branch to another, until it took a final jump towards the floor, darting off into the forest. “Phew,” Lily said. “Whoa-” The branches she stood on, shook violently, and a liquid webbing oozed the the strange tree, falling to the floor and layering it with its sticky substance. It didn't have any intention of letting any more prey escape.
“Whatever you do, don’t jump to the ground,” Haruki said.
The plant, now with its head fully formed, shifted all its branches in an attempt to catch Lily and Haruki.
“What now?!” Lily stated.
“The base of the tree is much too thick for me to get through without any flux force…” Haruki said. “We’ll have to find a way to tear off its head, maybe then I can get a clean shot directly at the core.
The beeping on the collar caused the red dot to turn green. “Ah, the collar?!” Lily said, feeling flux course within her freely. It's deactivated.
“Perhaps it takes some time to register danger,” Haruki said, seeing as his collar had not been unlocked.
“No problem,” Lily said, slamming her fists together. “I’ve been meaning to try something out, what better time than now,” she said rushing forward.
Haruki watched as Lily rushed through the many branches and webs. “If she intends to be an elite, these are the things one must overcome.” He readied himself, merging three arrowheads once again, biding his time to strike while avoiding the constant attacks and webbing.
Breaths, short and fast, Lily dodged and weaved through the dense forest, the tree creature relentlessly pursuing her. The spacing around her thickened as she neared its head. The branches lunged at her, snapping like angry whips, each one missing her by inches. As she continued her evasive maneuvers, Lily felt a sudden shift in the creature's attack. From the corner, she saw a glint of silver threads from the creature's branches. The threads, stretching out and spreading quickly through the trees, happened to ensnare her unexpectedly!
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The creature's head swiveled; its eyes focused on Lily. The webbing continued to spew from its branches, cocooning around her, as a vine lashed out from its mouth, piercing the cocoon. Blood dripped out the other end.
“Lily!” Haruki yelled.
“Discharge!” Lily shouted, and the webbing evaporated around her from the flame bursting outward.
“Now that I got a direct line!” Lily said, holding the vine that tried to pierce her in her hand. It had missed, only grazing her side. Racing along the vines connected to its mouth, she ducked under any remaining attacks, quickly closing the gap. I’ve already used my last discharge, of that form that is. She continued toward the head, until a webbing clung to her, sticky and strong, but she quickly tore it away.
The trees around her seemed to creak and groan, their branches heavy with the creature's unnatural influence.
Nearing the head, not a single branch wasn’t covered in webbing.
Haruki watching, wondered how she would get past all the webs. “Tsk,” grimacing, he reached for an arrow.
Lily, facing a thick cluster of trees blocked by the webbing that had been cast all around her, glanced back to see the tree creature, its twisted head now spewing more webbing, creating a barrier between her, it, and of escape. Lily activating two of her legacies, instead of five brought about a new form, one covered in yellow-slime-like substance, the same she was covered in when being thrown up by Weep. “Discharge!” she said, and the form burst out, covering everything in the slime. With it she zipped along along the branches, slipping easily over the previous sticky web substance and sliding right through the webbed barrier the tree had created. Slinging her foot backwards, she thrusted it forward knocking the head directly off.
Immediately approaching, using the same slime to effortlessly appear at the top of the headless tree, Haruki pointed into the hollowed opening Lily created. “Ignition strike!” he shouted. The arrow erupted forward, tearing straight through the tree towards the core at its base, destroying it completely. The explosion caused small flames to burn up the ground.
Lily, landing amongst the flames, absorbed more of its power before the rest withered away, “Better to have a backup just in case,” she said of gathering enough of a discharge for another time.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t manage to claim the Trojan horse earlier…” Haruki said, appearing beside her.
From the trees, rustling; emerging from large bushes, the Trojan horse. “Hey!” Lily said, running over to it. Slowly as she approached, the horse tilted its head, allowing Lily to pet it, which she gladly did.
Haruki walked up, causing the horse to tense up, even pulling away slightly.
“Animals have hearts too, another big misconception,” Lily said to Haruki. “If you treat them any less, they can tell.” Petting the horse once again.
Haruki smiled, nodding. “You’re right, it would seem I still have much to learn.” Now, with a different thought in mind, he walked up slowly to the creature, carefully placing his hand on it, and brushing its hair down.
“See,” Lily said, happily. “Will you help us get out of here?” Lily asked, kindly.
The trojan horse neighed proudly, even stooping to a lower level. Hopping on, Lily reached down to Haruki, saying, “Come on, let’s move onto the next stage, together.”
***
“I thought you said markings would help us from getting lost,” Rai said, pressing the map on his badge. It would appear that the feature had been temporarily disabled.
“Hey I was sure returning to the old markings was a good idea, but they’re all gone,” Alan said, scratching his head.
Elsewhere, in the forest, Ayame and Tamarri were slowly cruising through the forest on the back of a strange beast.
“Bear!” Ayame said, clapping her hands together. “Who would have known your cooking would be this handy.”
“Thanks,” Tamarri said, scratching the back of his head. “But did we have to do that to the other two we found in the forest…”
“What the cute boy and nerd. Duh. They’re the competition,” she stated, recalling how she had used her roots power to create a mirror image of the path Rai and Alan were on.
Ayame possessed the Mirror root, derived from the plant, Mirrorbloom Monolith. A plant whose roots formed a giant mirror-like monolith. Using it, upon returning to their markings, they were viewing a reflection of their actual placement, sending them in the opposite direction of the final meeting point.
Rai, kicking the dirt beneath his feet, said, “We’ll let's just pick a way and go. We still have to find something to tame and ride to the meeting point.” Looking up he noticed that the sun was beginning to set. Had that much time already passed?! “Maybe it be best if we split up?”
“Split up?!” Alan said, his head perking up. “Y- You mean, like going separate way, by ourselves…”
“Yeah, that’s kind of what splitting up entails,” Rai responded.
“But what if we get lost and can’t find each other?”
“I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve come up with something.” Yanking a vine a few vines from the floor, he tied them together and then wrapped on end around his waist, before throwing it to Alan. “Tie yourself up, the vines here stretch pretty long, so we should be able to get a fair amount of distance without losing each other. If you find something or encounter a threat, just tug at the vine. We’ll reconvene whenever we’ve reached the max limit it can stretch and try again.”
“Hm, that was pretty intuitive,” Alan said, surprised by Rai’s quick-witted resolutions. He wrapped the vine around him as well.
“You ready?” Rai said, and Alan nodded. “Alright see you in a few,” and he went off into the woods. An hour had passed, and still no luck. Rai, looking at the slack left in his hand, continued muttering to himself, “Come on, there’s got to be something around here….” As Rai walked, a gentle tune resonated in his ears. This sound… It's so, soothing. Rai walked forward, following the noise. In front of him, located on a small patch of grass, a giant plant resembling a brussel sprout. Rai continued to walk towards it, only, he wasn’t trying to anymore–his body was moving on its own! The melody, like something you’d home to a child to sleep, continued to ring at a low-pitch tune, forcing Rai closer to the plant. Slowly, it opened, revealing many sharp teeth, each the length of a person. Rai inched closer, as the teeth wiggled within its mouth. Skin from other animals lay on the floor of the plant, but not a single drop of blood. The collar on him, started to beep, revealing a green color, but it was too late. Rai wanted to scream for help, even tug at the vine to alert Alan, but the only thing was able to do, was walk into the mouth of the plant in front of him. Dammit! Am I really about to become some plant's dinner… Sweat trickled down his forehead, but from under Rai’s hood, a small little head popped out. Plu! Come on buddy. I seriously need your help right about now...
Soon, as if sensing something was wrong, Plu pulled itself out of the pocket resting under Rai’s hood, climbing atop his shoulder while gazing at him.
Rai, nearly a couple of feet away from the plant, gulped. Forward! Look forward! He tried to use his eyes to signal Plu to look in front of them.
Plu, retracting its gaze, caught a glimpse of the plant. Startled it fell backwards, rolling off Rai’s shoulder. “Plu,” it said, plopping on the floor. Looking up, it quickly scurried to Rai’s coat, climbing it as fast as it could, though it slipped down on its first attempt.
Rai was now inches from the mouth of the creature, its fangs and plant structures closing in on him.
“Plu!” it said, dashing over to Rai. Climbing up the coat, the plant's mouth was about to seal shut—Plu quickly plopped its arms along the ears of Rai.
“Ikken!” Rai shouted, and the plant burst into a bunch of little pieces. Guts and blood landed all around, and soon Rai’s collar had once again turned red. “What? It worked…,” Rai stated. It wasn’t the ikken he knew back at Underrena but it was considerate enough to save his life. Beside him, Plu was breathing heavily. Maybe it has something to do with Plu... Getting up, Rai wiped himself of the plant’s essence, saying, “Thanks buddy,” Rai said, patting Plu on the head.
“Plu,” it replied, happily.
Suddenly, a tug on the vine. Alan found something, or maybe… "Come on Plu," Rai said, snatching it up and running in the direction of the vine. A little while later, as Rai approached the scene Alan was at, he noticed that there were stains of pink all across the floor. It was paint... Seeing Alan in the distance, Rai hurried, saying, “Hey, is everything alright?”
Alan, lifting his finger to hush Rai, pulled the bush back some, revealing a large furry beast. Flipping through his book, he said, “Piggo.”
“Is it dangerous,” Rai asked. It looked like a giant furry pig with cheeks that blushed pink.
“Hardly. It says here they are herbivores, although they're very keen on sweets.” He pulled out his badge, capturing a photo of the creature in its natural habitat.
Currently, the piggo was attempting to scale a large tree, which at the very top was dripping with honey. Its body, however, was not built for such a climb.
“How to tame it…” Alan said. “You wouldn’t happen to have any sweets, would you?”
“Nope,” Rai said. Looking around he saw Plu curiously dabbing its stuffed arm into pink paint. “I think I’ve got an idea.” Stepping outside of the bush, Rai held Plu up to the sky. It was completely coated in the pink paint.
The piggo, seeing this, imagined a food source it’s known to enjoy, the cotton candy bush, drool slid down the side of its mouth.
Moments later, Rai and Alan were racing along through the forest on top of the Piggo. Rod extended from Rai’s grasp, on the very end of it, Plu hung from a fishing line.
“Pluuuu!” it cried as the piggo lunged at it, attempting to eat it, however it missed each time.
“Genius!” Alan said.
“Thank you,” Rai responded, proudly. “We should be making it there in no time now,” he said confidently, but soon, Plu poofed into an apple, falling back into Rai’s grasp. The piggo, realizing the ball of 'cotton candy' was gone, glanced at the people riding on its back.
“Aha- Nice piggy…” Rai stated.
Furrowing its brows, the piggo stood on its hind legs, flinging Rai and Alan off its back and down a very steep cliff.
“I knew I should have stayed home,” Alan cried, as his voice disappeared into the depths below.
At the very bottom of the cliff, Rai whispered, “Hey, Alan, whatever you do, don’t move.”
“Huh?” Regaining consciousness, Alan looked around. Upon realizing they were both waist-deep in mud, he panicked and screamed, sinking him in further.
“Shh,” Rai said. He wasn't as concerned with their current situation as the dark shadow in the distance. “Do you see that?”
Alan looked carefully, noticing a rounded figure hiding behind a tree, watching them.
Rai, looking at his surroundings, snagged a nearby vine, pulling himself and Alan from the sinking mud.
“Thanks,” Alan whispered, “Ah, behind you!” he said pointing.
Beside another tree, right next to them, the figure watched while sucking on the tree.
Alan’s face went white with fear, “Wait a sec- That’s Jimbuu! A member of the vanguard!”
“What?!” Rai said.
Jimbuu, sucking on the tree, caused its life to be sucked away, losing all its color. Stumbling towards Rai and Alan, they took a slight jump back as Jimbuu clumsily crashed to the floor they stood, its mouth-sucking grassy floor. Slowly, the grass began to lose color, and, Jimbuu’s body was growing!
“Mahh… Mooore. Want,” Jimbuu said.
“More?” Alan said. “What does it want more of?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not trying to find out!” Jimbuu lunged forward, but Rai, swung his foot, crushing it into the cheek of Jimbuu. However, he didn’t move an inch, only slowly turning his head, catching Rai’s gaze, before lunging to grab Rai. They both jumped out of the way, nearly avoiding Jimbuu’s grasp. Jimbuu, a short-rounded figure, hobbled its way at them, lunging with each chance it got to grab them. “What’s a member of the vanguard doing here!” Rai said.
“I thought they swept the entire forest for enemies,” Alan said. “What do we do, run for it?”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” Rai said, turning to run, but not long after, his foot sunk to his knee. Alan helped him out, but they came to the quick realization that there was nowhere to run. The entirety of the field ahead of them was covered in a mile of mud-whirls, the same plant that created the sinking mud that had saved them earlier. “Dammit, dead end.” Turning, Rai saw Jimbuu steadily approaching, sucking the floor along the way. Its mouth drained the life force of anything it came into contact with. “Looks like fighting's our only option,” Rai stated. “Wouldn’t happen to have anything on this guy’s ability in your book, would you?”
“I remember reading a report about a couple of the vanguard, though information is limited. The vanguard Jimbuu, is a Nefarian of Solomon descent. Unlike Kalumi Nefarian, Solomon doesn’t require the activation of legacies to utilize their ability; since they don't have them, they use it naturally, like a Minus would. Even their given ability differs greatly from Kalumi. For example,” Alan said, rapidly flipping through the book, “Should a Minus have the ability to shoot acid and grow larger, Kalumi may retain the ability to utilize acid, while Solomon would retain the ability to grow larger…”
“Okay…” Rai said. He wasn't sure how that information was going to help them deal with Jimbuu... Looking around, he noticed an apple. “Plu! Hey Alan, I’m going to need you to create a distraction.”
“Huh?! Wh- What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, just figure something out,” Rai said, rushing to his left.
Sensing Rai’s shift in direction, Jimbuu changed direction, but upon sensing something nearby, he stopped.
“Hey!” Alan called. He was wrapped in flowers and vines. “Why have him, when you could have the main dish.” Jimbuu, sensing the compiled energy, hastily dragged his face across the floor towards Alan. “That worked?!” Alan said, running for his life.
Finding the apple, Rai leaned down, snatching it up, saying, “Let's do this!” With a deciding bite, his mouth clanked against what felt like a rock. Rai’s entire jaw vibrated up to his skull. “The hell?!” Don’t tell me I can’t eat this all of a sudden. Come on Plu!
“Run!” Alan said, running towards him. Both Rai and Alan turned tail and ran. Jimbuu however, absorbing everything in sight, was growing in size. Splitting, they each ran in opposite directions.
“Ugh!” Rai shouted and he was yanked back in the direction of Alan. The vines connecting them were still in place! It seemed running around caused their length to shorten.
Jimbuu lunged down, pressing on Rai who placed the apple in its mouth in a form of self-defense. The vanguard sucked on the apple, a look of pure enjoyment spreading across his face.
Jimbuu, who continued to suck on the apple, grew four times in size.
Alan attempted to run away, but attached to Rai he could only slowly be overcome by the growing size of Jimbuu.
Jimbuu continued to grow larger, until his rounded body rolled off of Rai and Alan, losing grip of the apple as his large body rolled away.
Alan and Rai both gasped for air.
“More,” Jimbuu declared, struggling to stand on its two legs, his arms flailing in the air.
The apple, still perfect in color, poofed back into Plu, who dizzily walked about.
Standing, Rai wiped the sweat from his forehead, “Looks like someone's had one too many apples!” Rushing towards Jimbuu, he slammed into his body. Bit by bit, Jimbuu’s body rolled over, picking up pace towards the field of mud-whirls. Alan seeing this, jumped up and ran over, helping Rai push Jimbuu’s body. The momentum was picking up, until Jimbuu’s arm, acting as a choke, kept himself from moving. “Come on you big bastard!” Rai shouted, struggling alongside Alan, when suddenly, their collars deactivated, like before.
“The collars!” Alan said.
Gathering flux, Rai shouted, “Here’s a one-way ticket to the mud bath special!” With a final heave, Jimbuu body quickly rolled over into the mud.
“More... More…” Jimbuu said, as his large body sunk into the depths of the mud-whirl.
The collars beeped a few times before once again turning the color red.
“I’m beaten,” Alan said, falling on his back.
“Tell me about it,” Rai stated, falling back beside him. Looking at the cliffside extending high above them, Rai said, “Not the worst climb I’ve done…”
“Huh?! You want to climb up there?”
“Well yeah, it’s the only way, right? Besides the piggo is up there somewhere, he’s our way out of this hectic forest,” Rai stated, standing.
“I suppose you’re right…” Alan said, sighing.
After climbing the cliff, that following morning, before the sun rose, Rai and Alan searched for an animal to tame.
“We’re running out of time,” Rai stressed, evidently searching every corner of the forest.
“Maybe it's best if we just call it, it’s nearly sunrise,” Alan said, exhausted from the climb. They only had a couple of hours of rest in between picking back up the search for an animal.
“No way!” Rai shouted, stubbornly disappearing behind a bush. “Come on Plu,” and Plu followed behind. Not long after, his voice echoed from the other side. “Alan!”
Rushing to his side, Alan saw what he was referring to.
“Look, the piggo from earlier. Looks like luck is on our side after all,” Rai snickered, patting its side. Approaching the creature, Alan cocked his head to the right, examining the fluffy pig-life creature. This one didn’t have any blushing cheeks, rather, two long fangs protruding upward out of its mouth.
“Umm, Rai, I don’t think this is a piggo…” Alan said.
“Huh, what do you mean, it looks the same,” Rai stated.
“Th- That’s a piego, not a piggo,” Alan said, inching away.
“Hmm, what do they eat?” Rai asked, curious. The piego’s tongue flopped out, drool dripping from its mouth with its gaze upon Rai.
“Us!” Alan shouted.
Moments later, Rai and Alan were running for their lives, while Plu was on the piego's back, joyfully watching.