21 - DAYS IN THE WOODS I

Wee~!! Cree~!! Boo~~!!

Six monkeys sat on the side and played the audience role in the fight between Fabby and the leader of the troop.

The leader actually played with her in the beginning by making her run around. Then it had her arm in its mouth and bit her hard enough she thought her arm would fall off. And then it got rough with her in many other ways through scratching and kicking.

Even though she kept trying, she couldn’t even get an inch closer to the monkey, which always seemed to have heightened senses. And she could see the cockiness the leader exuded, as though suggesting to her that it could eat her alive if only her brother wasn’t around. If anyone were to ever tell her that animals didn’t have a soul inside them, she would surely reject that idea and show them the expression the leader was making. There was definitely a spirit in that body somewhere. May not be as sophisticated and intelligent as that of a human, but it had its own flair and wildness attached to it, which could clearly be seen through those eyes.

As their fight went on, Fabby was clearly struggling, not because she was weak, but because the difference in strength and speed between her and the leader of the troop was too big. She couldn’t believe that the leader could be so strong compared to others. After all, she had stood her ground against a few regular monkeys till now, but when faced against the leader, she always lost. And today wasn’t any different. The leader toyed with her. She couldn’t hit it at all. Not even once. Even though her senses soared in intensity during the fight, the monkey was just in a league of its own. It could jump on its front or rear limbs, move forward or backward, spin clockwise or anticlockwise at will. It was like a dance of sorts, with no sloppy movement whatsoever, and it even excelled at transitioning between different movement styles.

“It can move its head and upper body so fast, and its hips are way too mobile compared to mine, but I can’t seem to find the flow of its movements,” she muttered under her breath, almost complaining to herself. She believed that there was a method to the madness of the monkey, but her inexperienced eyes were making it hard for her to keep up with the monkey’s movements, or the demands of her own mind.

She knew that she had to practice for months if she were to move similarly to the monkeys or catch up with those beasts. However, this was just practice, and she was getting used to being beaten, both physically and mentally.

It had been three weeks since she had taken the brown beast core, during the fight with the monkeys, but no visible changes took place in her body. So, the siblings believed that it must’ve been a faulty one.

Though Edgar was reading words written on leaves, he also paid attention to the ongoing battle from the side, and he didn’t look happy seeing his sister getting beaten by the leader of the troop, but he could only bear it for her own good. “C’mon, Fabs, you can do it.”

Even though Fabby was so tired from chasing the leader, her brother’s words made her keep fighting. Currently, they were in the midst of tall bamboo trees, so the troop leader perfectly utilized the surroundings and made Fabby’s life hard. Except for severe clawing, the leader was allowed to punch and strike her however it wanted.

Being the four-foot-tall monkey that it was, its punches were no joke. A solid punch made Fabby spill blood and left bruises on her skin.

As the fight got intense, Edgar stopped reading and paid more attention. He could feel that the monkey was getting more excited. It clearly loved to hunt and toy with the prey. A wild beast and a leader of a troop would naturally use killer moves to end the prey’s life as fast as possible, but the same wild beasts also knew how to train their young. Edgar was counting on the latter side of the beasts to come into play, but he was also ready to step in, in case the leader lost itself in excitement.

As the fight progressed, she kept getting wounded more and more. Eventually, she was forced down to her knees, and was on all fours. She looked so disappointed with herself, so Edgar didn’t want to interfere. His mouth was turned down as he just watched from a distance. Digesting losses was never easy, and he hoped his sister would fight through the losses just like he fought the ‘hairies’ of his Master.

The leader of the troop then jumped, landed on Fabby’s back and danced as if it was mocking her.

Her temper snapped. “Damn it!” she howled and hammered her cupped hands on the ground in utter frustration.

The ground in the neighborhood trembled, startling everyone.

“What?” Edgar felt the vibration under his feet. His eyes narrowed to a slit as he placed his hands on the hilts of the blades. (Is there a monster hiding underground nearby?)

Just then, earthen spikes shot out of ground in tens in the vicinity, and Edgar had to jump away. The monkeys, too, were nimble enough to jump away. Some bamboo trees were either uprooted or got pushed to the side.

“This…” A second later, Edgar’s eyes enlarged as he saw how the spikes all formed around Fabby, and she was completely unhurt. Both her and the leader who stood frozen in a mid step on her back looked to be completely shocked and puzzled. Edgar slipped through the gaps between the spikes and made his way to her, with a glowing face. “You did it, Fabs!”

“Eh?” Fabby couldn’t believe what just happened. She sat in a proper position and looked at her hands which were now partly covered in soil. “Did I really… How?” she was totally in shock. “I thought that was a dummy beast core. If it was real, why didn’t it work till now?”

“I don’t know,” Edgar stood proudly next to her. “Maybe, your body just took these many days to absorb its strength.”

“That’s…” she didn’t know what to say. As she looked around at the one-meter odd tall spikes all around her, she was left in awe and disbelief. Was it really her who did that? So many thoughts ran in her mind, but the ends of her mouth ever so subtly rose by themselves.