Finally finished this chapter, October has had me so busy with running up and down. To answer your request Angelmon there will be awkward, random and hilarious situations that I have planned. Although I won't be hinting at any pairings at all in this fanfiction. Enjoy the chapter.
CRW: I honestly don't see the point of putting the disclaimer if I have already done it already several other chapters.
What started out as a seemingly harmless competition between guys to let out steam, as well as test each other's courage when faced with adversity, at some point along the way, grew became an interesting tradition that happened whenever they went out on a trip together. So this year was no exception either when Jozu was the one who came up with the concept of this year's competition. Of course the usual suspects-Ace, Thatch and Vista were immediately even before anything about the competition was brought up. There resolve to win the competition hardened even further after hearing what the prizes were-an awesome victory belt and bragging rights until the next one was held.
Of course upon hearing it, Marco politely declined claiming he had outgrown such a childish competition, much to the participants chagrin but after a few words of encouragement in the form of endless mockery courtesy of a certain pompadour and much to everyone's surprise or amusement, Jozu who joined in on the fun. Before you know it, a usually cool-headed Marco was tricked into participating as well.
After a quick briefing everybody went to gather what they would supposedly need in this game and frog-marched into the forest, much to everyone's pleasure, Thatch was not the person leading. By the time they had reached the selected rendezvous point, the sun was in the final stages of disappearing behind the rolling hills bathing the sky in warm shades of pink and purple.
'So what did you have in mind for this year?' Vista inquired 'since if I remember correctly it was your turn to choose this year's event'
Marco calmly folded his hands and leaned casually against a nearby tree 'Hopefully it won't be a repeat of last year, yoi' he commented wryly.
'Hey man how was I supposed to know?' Ace defended
Inwardly Marco rolled his eyes 'Really Ace, do you know how much shit we could've gotten in if we were caught?' he lectured while glaring half-heartedly at Ace who instinctively backed a small distance behind, unfortunately in his small retreat failed to notice the log behind him and tripped. Letting out a rather unmanly yelp of surprise, making everybody chuckle at his misfortune. Luckily, Thatch feeling a slight hint of sympathy offered him a helping hand, which was shot down due to Ace's pride. That and he heard him laughing the loudest.
'So what did you have in mind for this year?' Ace asked having recovered from his earlier stint.
'A hunting game' Jozu replied.
This piqued everybody's interest.
Ace grinned in excitedly 'So that's why you made us choose three items before we set out.' He observed. His speculation confirmed when Jozu nodded
'Speaking of which Ace none of the items you chose make any sense' Thatch pointed out.
Ace merely tilted his head to the side and blinked owlishly 'What do you mean? They make perfect sense to me.'
Thatch started to say something but briefly cut himself off not wanting to get involved with his brother's logic. Turning his head to face Jozu, who had been explaining the rules of this year's event.
'...You are only allowed to use the items that you brought with you from the house to catch game and you only have until tomorrow to do so. Once the traditional horn is blown then everybody must return to this spot. The winner we'll be decided by whoever catches the most.' He finished 'is that clear?'
Everybody nodded in approval.
'Alright, then may the best hunter win' with those final parting words, Jozu fired a flare gun signifying the beginning of the insanity that was sure to hit this forest. The sun having parted ways with the sky replaced with the night-time sky, each participant taking their separate path and swallowed into the flora.
Ace sighed in frustration for now what appeared to be the fiftieth time while trekking through the seemingly endless forest. So far had no luck in locating anything worthwhile to kill and much worse, he was starving having finished the three bags of jerky he had brought with him a while back. Frustrated and hungry, he opted to take a brief break and leaned casually against a nearby tree. Taking his time to enjoy the serene tranquillity of the forest, before resuming his hunt only this time not even caring what direction he ended up going, nevertheless, still determined as ever to catch some form of animal.
Eventually, he came to a brief pause when he came across a large dugout that reached him at his shoulder height. Stopping at the entrance, he picked up a rock and threw it in. At first there was silence, then a groaning sound resonated from within before what could only be described as the largest honey-badger he had ever seen crawled out of the den, nursing a fairly large welt on the side of its head.
An uncomfortable silence settled into the atmosphere as the honey-badger groggily took in what he just occurred. Without much thought, it swiped at the location where Ace had been a millisecond ago and thus the chase began.
Ace scrambled frantically ahead, twisting and turning any chance he got as he attempted to dodge the annoyed honey-badger who kept with his pace with a relative ease. Cursing rather vividly when another strike from the irate honey-badger, who came very close to lobbing off his head, once again. After an eternity of endless twist and turns, he paused briefly to catch his breath, leaning against tree as he did so.
A familiar hiss alerted him of another presence. Looking up he found himself looking right in the eye of the very vexed animal. He attempted to raise his arms in hopes of appeasing its ire only for it growl in a murderous tone 'Well ain't this a bitch' Ace thought to himself as he edged slowly away from the animal.
That is...
Until he found there was no more land underneath his feet. A string of creative profanities left his mouth as he plummeted from the cliff edge. When he came, to he found himself in a circular structure made of rather large pieces of wood in which the centre was covered in a layer of moss, leaves and other soft materials which made it surprisingly comfortable. Sitting up, Ace began to observe his surroundings. His eyes coming to rest conspicuously when he found five large white eggs lined up neatly in circular manner next to each other.
Carefully, he began to make his way towards the other side of the nest where the eggs lay. A glint of hunger dancing in his eyes, when they began to move, at first it was just simple twitch that you could easily miss then they began rock more and more violently. Hunger pangs were momentarily forgotten as he opted to watch in rapt fascination as the eggs continued to move in this obscure fashion. Until after awhile they finally hatched revealing the most grotesque looking hatchlings he had ever seen. From there bulging eyes that seemed to glow eerily in the night time sky, grey leathery skin with a thin layer amniotic fluid surrounded their bodies.
For a while they watched each other in a curious manner, neither bird nor mammal bothering to move as they sized each other up.
That is until out of the blue birds let out a piercing screech that made Ace immediately raise his arms to his ears while cursing every other deity under the moon for his bad luck. Time seemed drag on as the incessant noise carried on, Ace was absolutely positive that he was going to bust an ear drum if they didn't stop.
In the cacophony of bird vocals he could've sworn for a moment that one of the hatchlings gave him 'you are so screwed' look riddled with contempt-that's it those little shits were toasts he decided. However, at that moment another shriek that easily drowned out the chic's calls. Immediately Ace snapped his head upwards only to come face to face with the largest bird he had seen. Once again he began to swear at his bad luck when the bird began to soar in closer, until it finally landed neatly in the nest in all its colourful feathery glory, easily dwarfing Ace in its colossal size before letting out a piercing screech to which the chic's responded to in glee.
He raised his arms in surrender, only to agitate the larger bird even further and swiftly dodge a sharp beak that was attempting to rip off his head. He sighed in annoyance while dodging the repetitive attempts at having his head torn off. He liked where it was at the moment. Maybe I should've taken my chances with the badger instead.
Nevertheless, at least he found some game now.
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