The sun hung low in the sky as Team Hazard trudged through the overgrown biome, swatting at thick vines and buzzing insects. They had been walking for hours—well, wandering for hours—because despite their grand declarations of expertise, none of them had the faintest clue how to track anything.

“Alright, chaps,” Dan, self-proclaimed captain, clapped his hands, the reinforced plates on his coat rattling slightly. “Tracking is all about patience, instinct, and—”

“—Finding big footprints and just walking in that direction,” Ben cut in, his voice deep and slow. The heavily dented armour he wore creaked under his sheer bulk, every step leaving an imprint in the soft ground.

“That’s… uh… technically correct,” Dan nodded, trying to regain authority. “But it’s also about reading the environment.” He knelt, touching a nearby broken branch with an exaggerated squint.

Jake, wrapped in his flowing black cloak embroidered with silver runes—or at least, what he insisted were runes—knelt beside him. “Ah, yes. This is a classic break pattern. Clearly, a mighty beast has passed through here.”

“Or it’s just a broken stick,” Ash muttered, adjusting the pristine white vest beneath his travel cloak. Unlike the others, his clothes weren’t reinforced for battle, but tailored for looking good—if not for the scratches and stains earned from this particular journey. “For the record, I still think this whole ‘hunting’ thing is beneath me.”

“Everything is beneath you,” Jake huffed.

Dan ignored them, stroking his chin. “This branch was snapped cleanly… something came through here.”

“Yeah,” Ash said, pointing, “like us. Ten minutes ago.”

Dan blinked. “Oh. Right. That makes sense.”

Jake scoffed. “You guys don’t have the gift. You see, true trackers—like myself—possess a sixth sense. An awareness beyond normal men.”

Ben scratched his head. “You nearly walked into a tree fifteen minutes ago.”

“That was a distraction technique,” Jake snapped. “Confusing our prey.”

Ash folded his arms. “So if I push you down a hill, that’s a stealth roll?”

Jake narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Dan cleared his throat, once again trying to regain leadership. “Alright! If we don’t have tracks, we use logic. Where would a beast of nature go?”

Ben frowned, clearly in deep thought. “…A pond?”

“Wrong. The trees.” Jake gestured dramatically. “Where the wind whispers secrets, where shadows dance, where the hunted—”

“—No, it’s definitely the pond,” Ben interrupted, pointing ahead.

They all turned to see, just a few metres away, a massive, muddy pond bubbling ominously.

Jake cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. Of course. I meant the pond, obviously.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “Truly, you are masters of the forest.”

Despite their utter lack of skill, the group moved toward the water, trying to ‘examine’ the scene with the seriousness of seasoned veterans.

Dan pointed at the muddy bank. “See these impressions? They tell us everything.”

Ash squinted. “Yeah, they tell us something was here.”

“Exactly!” Dan nodded. “But what?”

Ben leaned over. “A hippo?”

Jake scoffed. “Fool! We are in a magical land! We must think beyond earthly creatures. Perhaps… a drake?”

Ash glanced at the prints. “…Ben was right. These are probably just big, round hippo tracks.”

“…Oh.”

Dan quickly redirected. “Right, okay! But look at the depth! The weight of the creature that made them!”

Ben crouched beside him. “Hmm.”

Jake crouched lower. “Ah, yes.”

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Ash crouched slightly and then darted back up. “I’m not getting closer. I’ve got my good shirt on under this.”

Jake ignored him, running his fingers through the dirt. “Yes, yes… I see it now…” He stood abruptly, turning to the others with a grave expression.

“This beast… was heavy.”

Dan gasped. “Incredible.”

Ben nodded sagely. “It’s all coming together.”

Ash buried his face in his hands. “Kill me.”

“So what’s next, Cap?” Ash sighed.

Dan puffed out his chest. “Now… we follow the tracks into the water?”

Silence.

Ben scratched his head. “Wait. What?”

Dan pointed at the pond. “Clearly, our quarry is an aquatic predator.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “You mean… we must enter its domain?”

Ben’s face lit up. “Ohhh. We go swimming! I love swimming.”

Ash held up a hand. “I’d just like to voice the very sane and reasonable opinion that this is stupid. Why would a nature elemental live in water?”

“Hmm, that is a good point,” Dan said, casting his gaze over the still pond.

Jake took a deep breath, unsheathing his tiny dagger. “If I die here, let my legacy be told!”

“Yeah, mate. We’ll carve it into your tombstone,” Ash muttered.

Ben stepped forward cautiously, peering into the murky water. “Looks safe enough,” he announced, squinting to see if anything was lurking beneath the surface.

Then his foot slid.

With all the grace of a collapsing statue, he flailed, arms windmilling uselessly before gravity won the argument. With a mighty splosh, Ben disappeared into the water, sending a wave crashing over everyone.

“BEN!” they all roared in unison.

Ben surfaced, beaming. “Wow, it’s deep! I can’t even touch the bottom!”

Dan frowned. “That’s… actually concerning.”

Ben flailed, his heavy armour dragging him down like an anchor. He tried to doggy paddle to the bank, flailing his frantic limbs. “I’ve never swam in armour before! Crap!”

Jake suddenly tensed. “Wait. Do you guys feel that?”

Silence.

A deep, rumbling sound echoed from beneath the water.

Ben slowly turned. “Oh.”

Dan’s eyes widened. “Oh no.”

Jake’s voice went up an octave. “It’s still here!”

Ash threw his hands up. “OF COURSE IT’S STILL IN HERE!”

A shadow shifted beneath the water.

Ben, still a few metres from Dan and safety, frowned. “Oh.”

Jake grabbed him. “GET OUT OF THE WATER!”

Ben blinked. “I’M TRYING!”

The water exploded as something monstrous emerged.

Dan stared at the colossal, scale-covered, glowing-eyed monstrosity that rose from the depths.

“…Captain?” Jake whimpered.

Dan stared blankly at the emergent creature, “Is… is that a goldfish?”

The gigantic fish rocketed across the pond, its glowing eyes full of mischievous glee as it weaved and leapt like an aquatic comet. And there, clutching desperately onto its slippery, iridescent scales, was Ben—Team Hazard’s living wrecking ball—bouncing wildly with every surge of movement.

The rest of the team stood frozen at the water’s edge, expressions shifting between horror and awe.

“S-should we do something?” Jake asked, eyes darting between Ben and the pond-sized disaster unfolding before them.

"Ben? You okay there, bud?" Dan cupped his hands around his mouth, trying to project over the sound of sloshing waves and fishy acrobatics.

Ben didn’t answer. Probably because he couldn’t. The ride was far too intense, his face locked in an expression that could have either been determination or complete mental shutdown. He did, however, manage to remove one massive hand from the fish’s back and wobble a shaky thumbs-up.

Ash winced. "That doesn’t seem sma—"

And that’s when the scale he was holding onto peeled loose.

Ben was instantly ejected like a poorly secured crash-test dummy, his hulking form hurling through the air at a velocity that defied logic, physics, and basic human decency.

For a brief, beautiful moment, he was graceful—like a magnificent, armoured swan gliding through the heavens.

Then he hit the first tree.

And then another.

And another.

Like a meteor encased in a tin can, Ben’s body tore through the dense jungle, splintering tree trunks and displacing entire flocks of terrified birds. The final impact came with a sound best described as “nature surrendering” as he cratered into the earth with enough force to make the planet weep.

The resulting cloud of dust billowed into the sky like the aftermath of a catastrophic explosion. The trees groaned in protest, their trunks toppling like dominoes, and the ground trembled beneath Team Hazard’s feet.

Then, silence.

Dan, Ash, and Jake stared at the distant Ben-shaped impact zone.

“…Do you think he’s dead?” Jake asked.

A deep, ancient growl rolled through the forest from the opposite direction of Ben—the kind of sound that made every primitive survival instinct scream to flee.

The trees shifted. Something massive was moving.

Then, it emerged.

A colossal tree creature, its bark-covered body shifting with the weight of centuries, glowing veins of energy pulsing through its form, stepped into view. Its eyes burned with a quiet, terrifying fury as it surveyed the destruction before it—uprooted trees, craters in the earth, and a giant man-shaped dent sprawled across the jungle floor.

It raised one massive, branch-like arm and pointed towards Team Hazard.

Behind them, Ben staggered to his feet, swaying like a man who had just been hit by a freight train made of regret. Fortunately, there wasn’t much sense to dislodge in the first place.

“W… What the hell is that?!” he bellowed, eyes widening as he took in the towering, ancient behemoth looming over them.

Dan swallowed hard. “Ah… A nature elemental?”

Ash took a slow step back. “Run?”

The nature elemental let out a low, rumbling growl.

Jake screamed. “RUN!”