Chapter 3

A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for all the feedback you've been giving me. I just got a PS4 yesterday and I FINALLY got to play The Last Guardian for the first time. I've only seen videos of the game and I'm really excited to experience this great game!

Also, Trico will be now referred to as a "He" since the boy wasn't aware of that in the first two chapters which is why Trico was referred to as an "It". I just wanted to clear that and I hope it doesn't bother anyone.

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Deep inside the cave, the beast was lying on ground sleeping soundly.

"Trico?"

His left ear twitched and he tiredly rolled over, trying to ignore the voice.

"Hey Trico, are you there?" the voice called again and the beast grimaced, curling up harder attempting to block out the calls.

"Tricooooo!"

The beast's eyes snapped open and let out an annoyed noise. He stood up and stretched his back before lazily making his way outside to see what the human wanted this time. Did he bring him food again?

He closed his eyes when the sunlight blinded him momentarily before glancing down at the child who was beaming excitedly.

"Hello, Trico. Look what I got!" he said, showing him the odd round object in his hands.

The beast, Trico, as the boy kept calling him for some reason tilted his head to the side as the boy dropped the object on the ground. He leaned down and sniffed it for a moment before taking it in his mouth.

"Trico, stop! That's not food!" The boy gasped, waving his hands frantically. Trico blinked and quickly dropped the object, not sure what he did wrong.

The boy picked up the object and held it in his hands. "This is a ball, Trico. You're supposed to play with it, not eat it." He explained slowly. "Like this!"

Tomi demonstrated by dropping the ball again and kicked it, watching it bounce away. He then ran after it and continued kicking it around the clearing. Grinning, he send it to the beast encouragingly. "Your turn now!"

Trico stared at the ball in confusion before hesitantly pushing it forward with his paw like he had seen the human do. The beast didn't know what came over him then, but he suddenly felt the urge to do it again. He pushed the ball again and again, and before he knew it he was chasing after it, the ground shaking with every step.

"Whoa, be careful!" the boy muttered between his laughter. Trico pounced and fell into crouch position in front of the ball, playing with it with both of this paws. The grogginess he felt earlier was long gone. He looked up at the human and then knocked the ball with his snout over to him, barking expectantly.

Smiling, Tomi caught the ball and ran off with it causing the beast to chase after him. Trico made sure not to run too fast and risk hurting the child.

Tomi soon stopped and finally tossed the ball back to the beast, but when Trico reached for the ball accidently pierced it with his claw. Startled, the beast tried to shake it off, but it remained stuck there.

"Hold on," Tomi came over and pulled it out, watching in dismay as white fur fell from inside of it. "Oh no," he groaned.

Trico's ears dropped and he lowered his head in shame for ruining something that belonged to the friendly human.

Tomi noticed this and gave him a small smile. "Hey, it's okay. Mom can fix it for me!" he said. Trico didn't really understand what the human was saying, but he could tell he was trying to assure him.

The boy then began petting his side and the beast purred, lowering his head for him to reach. The child grinned and scratched his ear. It was an amazing feeling. He lay on his side as the child continued petting and scratching him to the point where the beast felt the lull of sleep once again and yawned loudly.

The petting suddenly stopped and Trico glanced up at the human in confusion. "I should go home now Trico." He stated, grimacing when he picked up his torn ball.

The beast let out a whine, knowing the human would leave once again. He didn't want that. He enjoyed playing with the boy.

Tomi caught on to that and laughed. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Bye!" he muttered before turning around and soon disappeared into the forest.

Huffing in annoyance, Trico lay on his forepaws, staring at the distance in boredom. He really wished his human friend would stay a little longer. He had been living in this mountain for a very long time and not much happened around this part of the land. The most exciting thing he could do was chase after forest animals or hunt for his next meal, but other than that there was nothing for him to do.

Not to mention it can be rather lonely around here, especially at night, but Trico never dared to try leaving the place in fear of being found or attacked by humans.

The child was the first new thing Trico had seen around here in many years. When he first showed up, the beast was wary of him, but now he couldn't help looking forward for the next time he will come back.

Just when the beast was thinking of going back to the cave, his ears shot up at the sound of a scream in the distance.

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Tomi was humming quietly to himself as he made his way through the forest. He looked down at his ruined ball and sighed. He had no idea how he will explain this to his parents.

Well, no matter. He will think of something. Maybe he could say it fell into shrub or it was just too worn out or-

The boy froze in his tracks when he suddenly heard something move behind him. Thinking that the beast followed him like last time, the boy turned to scold him only for the words to die in his throat.

Right there, in front of Tomi, was a large black bear. The child felt his blood run cold and took a step back as the animal's solid dark eyes stayed on him. The ball slipped from the boy's shaking hands as he cried out and ran away as fast as he could, stumbling in fright.

Without thinking, he quickly ran to the closest tree and started climbing it frantically. Once he was high enough, he glanced down to see the bear growl viciously at the base of the tree.

Tomi gulped and tried to calm himself down. It's okay, he'll safe up here. Now he just had to wait and eventually the bear will get bored and leave.

Suddenly, the boy yelped as the tree shook. Looking down confused, he saw the bear slam its paws against the tree bark forcefully. It did this several times until Tomi couldn't hold on anymore and fell off.

In a split second, the boy reached out blindly and managed to grab onto a branch. His heart was hammering violently in his chest as he hung there panting and not knowing what to do. The bear growled in frustration and began shaking the tree once again, waiting for its prey to fall.

The boy tried to climb up the branch, but the constant shaking prevented him from do so. His knuckles turned white and began to throb. He knew he couldn't hold on for much longer. He screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself.

Just then, the bear stopped what it was doing much to the boy's relief and confusion. He looked down to see it staring at something in the trees. Soon the sound of heavy footsteps filled the air and with a loud roar, Trico emerged from the trees.

"T-Trico!" Tomi exclaimed, relief washing over him.

The beast stepped towards the bear, violet eyes flashing dangerously as if daring it to face him.

The bear backed away, taken aback by the sheer size and appearances of its opponent before turning around to flee into the bushes.

Tomi felt a huge grin split his face at the sight and cheered for his friend only to lose whatever grip he had on the branch. His heart skipped a beat as he found himself falling quickly only to be snatched from the air swiftly by Trico. The boy hung there by a piece of his shirt for a moment before he was placed down on the ground. Trico leaned over, looking down at him worriedly.

Without a second thought, Tomi ran over and Trico barely had the time to lower his head to meet him. The child hugged him tightly, smiling and feeling his eyes mist over. "Thank you, Trico." He said quietly and the beast mewled as he gently stroked his face.

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A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it!