Bob, Michael’s monkey friend, was traveling alone.

Neither Michael nor Evelyn was behind or in front of him. For now, Bob was entirely alone.

While Bob accompanies Michael most of the time, there are times that Bob goes out on his own.

This doesn’t worry Michael because it usually means that Bob was either in the mood to explore or was looking for something.

Bob usually leaves when Michael is busy with some task that requires him to stay at the waterfall.

When Michael first started gardening, he spent a long time studying the plants nearby and updating the log. Bob was extremely bored during this time and decided to climb down the waterfall on his own.

Eventually, Michael noticed that Bob disappeared and panicked. He looked everywhere to find him. When night fell, Michael was forced to return home without his monkey friend. Luckily enough, Michael found Bob sleeping soundly in his little bed.

He then realized that Bob was like a house cat.

He goes in and out of the waterfall in his own time. Despite his cat-like behavior, Bob was also as loyal as a well-trained dog. Whenever Michael is about to leave for his hunts, Bob shows up to come with him. Whenever Evelyn goes hunting by herself, Bob volunteers himself.

Both humans appreciate Bob’s company.

Bob finds that both Michael and Evelyn are kind to him. They feed him a lot of snacks. It just annoys Bob that Evelyn isn’t as good as Michael with sign language, especially since sign language is Bob’s main way of communicating.

Currently, the little monkey swung from vine to vine and landed on the branch of a large tree.

He felt a little heavy since he had a stone knife strapped on his back. Bob hates carrying a knife since he thinks it’s heavy but he knows that there are dangerous creatures in the forest. He needed it to defend himself.

Bob tried asking Michael for a smaller knife but when he was given a smaller knife, it was too weak to damage the bone spiders, a common creature that Bob encountered during his lonesome travels.

His goal for today’s mission was to look for something colorful.

He wanted to find something bright to decorate his small bed. Originally, he was going to use some form or type of dye but Michael forbade him from using wet objects so he had to stick with something dry.

Maybe flowers?

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Maybe rocks?

Maybe fruits?

Bob removed the last idea from his mind since he remembered that fruits turn into stinky mushy juices if left alone for a while. Flowers wilt but they still smell nice. Rocks were hard but usually shiny.

That’s it!

Bob praised himself as he thought of the shiny rocks he found near a cave.

He liked shiny rocks but not heavy ones. He only liked small shiny rocks that fit in his hand. Michael even gave Bob treats when he went home with a dark purple rock.

Bob then thinks of Michael, his best friend. Bob liked making Michael happy.

Since the purple rock made Michael happy, Bob decided that he would find rocks for his bed and more purple rocks for Michael.

When he asked Michael why the purple rocks made him happy, Michael used a word he wasn’t familiar with.

Psion Stone.

Bob was familiar with the word stone but not with the word psion. Michael couldn’t offer an explanation that Bob could easily understand so he decided to ignore the word.

He didn’t really care what the word meant. As long as Michael is here, everything will be fine. Bob wholeheartedly believed that no matter what happens, as long as Michael is around, the situation will never be difficult.

Bob continued to swing forward. He lands on a tree which allows him to survey the cave where he found the psion stone. Looking around, he already sees a few shiny rocks that he can take home with him.

He pats the small fur bag that was hanging by his shoulder. It carried his small non-shiny rocks which he used to distract other creatures. His knife was strapped to his back. He could pull it out if he needed to stab something.

Before he jumps down, Bob surveys the nearby trees. Bob was familiar with most of the creatures in the forest. The only real dangers for him were the ones that could reach him in the trees. The most dangerous creature for him was the bone spider, a monstrous animal that could climb vertical surfaces and shoot solidified calcium daggers.

While looking around, Bob sees a nearby tree shuffle a bit. Bob crouches and uses all four of his limbs to quickly move toward the tree while maintaining a sneaky approach.

Approaching the tree from a different angle, Bob saw one of his dreaded enemies, a large bone spider.

If Bob were to explore the cave, a task that might be more dangerous than the bone spider, he would have to kill the monstrosity.

Due to experience, Bob knew how to kill the eight-legged monsters. There was a weak spot on top of their skull which was weak to downward plunges. With a jump and his weight supporting the dagger, Bob can kill this bone spider.

He waits for the bone spider to look away.

Once it does, Bob takes a nearby vine and swings towards the bone spider’s tree. The bone spider looked up but it was too late.

Bob lets go of the vine mid-air then he pulls out his knife. He points it downwards and he plunges towards the bone spider’s head.

The bone spider lets out a screech but it is quickly silenced as the stone knife pierces its carapace. Bob hears a wet crunch as brain matter and bone are crushed under his weight. The bone spider falls flat on its body and it immediately loses its life.

Bob pulls out his stone knife and wipes it on the tree.

He crunches his nose. He didn’t dislike the smell of the bone spider but he noticed that Michael found the creature very disgusting so Bob started imitating his best friend. So, every time Bob was near a bone spider, he scrunched his nose. It was almost a habit.

Once Bob was sure that the bone spider was dead, he checked the surrounding trees for any other creatures that could kill him.

Fortunately, the area was clear of any dangerous creatures.

Bob grabs a nearby vine and slowly makes his way down to the forest floor. He reaches the bottom of the tree without any monsters harassing him.

Once on the ground, Bob immediately goes to the shiny rocks in front of the cave.

Oooh… blue…

Oooh… red…

Oooh… yellow…

Bob starts gathering the stones he thinks are fitting for his bed. After filling up half his fur bag, Bob looks at the entrance of the cave.

When he first came to the entrance of this cave, he managed to find a small psion stone just outside of it but he hasn’t seen one since he started gathering his shiny stones.

The little monkey feels a bit of trepidation as he faces the dark abyss.

But his fear quickly disappears when he remembers Michael’s surprised face.

Then he walks towards the cave with a knife in his hand.