The next day, Cole woke up to feel worse.

He was hit with a feeling of nausea once he sat up, and he had to got on his knees for a while until the feeling settled in. "S-Shit," he moaned, feeling a sneeze coming on, it was much louder than expected and it only made his throat feel more dry. He drank from the stream, almost forgetting he had slept beside it, and then managed to get himself up to hunt. "Fourth day, here I come...welcome to hell, Cole," he muttered to himself as he hoisted himself up from the ground.

He fastened the rope that held his spear into place, if he used his scythe it would cause another earth quake, and eventually create another gorge. Cole looked around him in the one he was currently in, he began to think, did he cause this with his own weapon? Or was it just made from a natural disaster? He told himself to ignore that and move forward, his breakfast wasn't going to catch itself if he kept standing around sulking. Cole found some wild game just up ahead of him, and to his luck, they were large predators to which could tear him apart limb from limb, but if you were a skilled person as him, you wouldn't worry too much about their diets. Cole aimed straight for one, killing it instantly as the spear impaled through its ribcage and into the rocky ground. The young man smiled and ran forth towards his meal, but seemed to have forgot about the second predator, because the moment he reached for his spear, his back was being clawed by the a large Mountain cat. "GAH!" he screamed. He pulled his spear out, grunting in agony, then leaped forward his new found prey, the Mountain Cat did not hesitate to launch itself for him, its claws ready for a second round of sharpening.

Cole ended up with two cats to satisfy his hunger. As he roasted the bodies over a homemade fire, he decided to check on his new back scars. They looked much more serious than he had thought, they were basically large, gaping wounds that made him only want to hurl. He took off his shirt and ripped off a few pieces of it to stop the bleeding, it made him wince, "Sss...s-stupid, mountain lions clawing all over my spine, jeez, as if being sick weren't enough. Oh well, I better begin to eat my food before something else comes and steals it from me."

But as he began to feast on his hunted game, a pair of snakes seemed to have found their way to him. Once they spotted him from their hiding place, their eyes shone with glorious satisfaction. "Yess! We've found him! Now all we have to do issss get him back to the base," the first one hissed.

The second, not wanting to wait for any delays, jumped up, "Alright then, what are we waiting for? Letsss go!" However, the first comrade held his partner back from blowing their cover, the serpentine was confused, the first glared at him, "Shhh! Not now! First we mussst wait until he'sss in a much weaker state, we cant afford to losssse him again!"

"But, how do we know when he's weak enough to get captured?" the second one asked.

His comrade pointed at Cole's back, the claw marks visible, "Sssee thossse marksss? Their claw marksss, hessss been recently attacked by a wild animal, if we're lucky, hesss bound to have that happen again, and asss sssoon asss hesss down..." He drew his weapon and aimed it straight for his comrade, the snake ducked as the pirates sword was flung through the wall.

Cole finally finished his breakfast, and once putting his shirt back on, he continued on with a way to get out of there. He took the time to rest whenever his legs started to drag behind, or if he had a frequent urge to throw up, but he kept moving. The snakes followed him all day, they didn't want to lose their chance, if something happened to Cole, that was their cue to jump in and take him while hes immobile. But much to their dismay, not much of anything happened to slow Cole down, until it became time to hunt for lunch.

Cole was just about to look for something to kill when he spotted a dead animal up ahead, he smirked at his luck. "Well that wasn't too hard," he stated. He approached it, only to get himself knocked off balance by the same mountain wolf that had given him a hard time since the day he fell in. "Oh not you again," he groaned. The wolf bared its sharp teeth, just about ready to rip Coles flesh apart. The earth ninja stood his ground, his fingers tightly wrapped on the hilt of his spear, eyes squinted showing no sign of backing out. The two circled one another before battle, and the snakes had paid close attention if this were to be their moment. "Come at me, hound," Cole teased. The wolf, insulted, roared and lunged himself straight for Cole, the earth ninja was more then ready, his spear raised to kill, the animal snapping its jaws at him, trying to bite his face off. Cole fell to the floor, holding up his spear to keep the wolf from tearing his flesh, but the wolf was too clever, it lowered itself and snapped its jaws tight around Coles leg. "Gh!" he screeched. Cole banged his spear on the wolves head, trying to get it to open its mouth, winces of agony and pain escaping his mouth.

The snakes were having a good show, until Cole managed to finally pry the beasts jaws open to free his leg. He kneeled and panted, the wolf thrown to the side, and peered at his leg, he felt sick again, the bite was much nastier up close, scarlet blood began to pour out, the wound exposed and gaping. The wolf's recovery was quick, as it got back to its feet, bloodthirsty. Cole pulled on a murderous look, his eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched, "You messed...with the wrong guy." The two snake warriors were surprised to see Cole run straight at the beast with his spear in hand, his eyes showing anger and fury. The wolf only lunged again, but Cole jumped straight up high, his spear raised and ready, the wolf gaped up and dashed out of the way to avoid injury. Cole jabbed his spear into the ground, missing a couple inches away from the wolfs furry skin, he growled and tugged with effort to pull it out. The wolf took this as a chance to make his move, but as he took him from behind, Cole freed his weapon and turned to leave a nasty scar right across its face. The wolf howled and was thrown back against the wall, its whimpers ringing in Coles ears. The beast scratched itself on the nose only to howl loudly in pain, it looked back at Cole to receive a nasty glare, fear came to its eyes and it dashed away. Cole huffed and dropped his spear, his knees turning to jelly and his pain coming back to him, his leg still hurt a lot from that fight, and he had to be careful.

"Nowsss, our chance," said the first snake. Cole didn't expect to see two snake warriors headed his way, their weapons drawn and ready for battle, he stared at them in disgust. "Not these idiots," he cursed. The snakes took their places around him, and Cole only got to his feet, regaining his strength. The snakes glared at him, and Cole only stared back in hatred. He lunged at them, but they were ready to fight, unlike him who felt ill and weak. Cole found himself on the ground, but as one snake attempted to tie him down, he sprang up to punch him in the jaw. The snake screeched and fell back to the immense force, its partner stared at Cole in shock. "You want some? Or do I have to emphasize?" Cole threatened.

The serpentine glared daggers at him and charged, "AHHH!" Cole wielded his spear and scratched the snake right across the face, but didn't expect to be hit back. "Ngh!" he was forced to kneel, his hands tightly clasped over his side, it was a nasty cut, the odds weren't in his favor today weren't they? The snake chuckled and prepared for the capture, Cole rebelled against it, springing up to his toes again, which wiped the smirk of the serpentine's face. "You wont get me that easily!" he shouted, jumped up. The fallen snake joined his partner and battling Cole in an short brawl of violence, weapons cut through the air, merely missing the opponent by a few seconds. Cole learned to miss every slash and hit they could throw at him, and he thought he just might win until the two decided to gang up on him. One hit him from behind with his blade and to this, Cole couldn't take it, he fell in defeat.

The snakes smiled, and pinned him down, their eyes narrowing. "Ssshould have called for help, eh ninja?" hissed one. Cole spat blood, then stared at it profoundly, then up at the snakes, hatred visible through his features. "I-I seem to be lost, bastards...maybe you should be the one to cry for your tribe, I nearly beat you," Cole teased.

The snake laughed, "I'm not the one who'sss alone."

Now that hit Cole hard, he started to struggle against their clutches, but the snake made sure to firmly keep him put down with his foot, he stared right into Cole, fury shown upon his scaly face, "Where are your friends, lone ninja? Asss if they didn't abandon you, they probably have forgotten you already." Cole struggled but stopped once a sword was put up to his neck, he didn't dare move, one more cut and he might pass out from blood loss. The snakes smiled at him, they could easily tell he was trying not to show weakness, but through his eyes they knew how much pain he truly felt. "They musssst be, moving on, well enough, without you-"

"SHUT UP! THATS NOT TRUE!" Cole screamed, not realizing there were tears forming in his eyes.

"Oh, but it isss, why do you think they haven't come for you already? Itsss only been what, four daysss? Sure enough they've left you behind on purpossse," the snake continued. Cole looked at his enemy with hatred, but the truth started to sink in, why haven't his friends come for him yet? Was the snake right? Had he been abandoned?

The look of doubt on his face only made the two grin, they were gaining more power from his fears, this was only going to be easy for them, and if they could do the same with the other ninja, that would only make it much greater. "Ssso, do you believe me now, petty ninja?" hissed the serpentine.

Cole felt himself about to cry, but he narrowed his eyes and spat at the two as anger began to rise inside him, "No...NO, NO YOUR WRONG!" He pushed them off, his breath pacing, the two couldn't help but back away. "YOUR WRONG! I'M NOT ALONE!" Cole screamed. His anger drove him to draw out his golden weapon, the snakes gasped, Cole raised it blindly out of rage, "YOU'LL PAY FOR INSULTING ME!"

But the snakes were already gone, and it was until then Cole realized what had happened, he put his scythe away and stared at the spot where his enemies had been, he was surprised, snakes usually didn't cower even at the power of the golden weapons. But then he had a slight feeling that someone...something was breathing down his neck. He stood perfectly still, but knew if he didn't turn around, whatever it was, would eat him alive. So, in a slight bit of regret, he turned.

Before him, was an enormous, mighty, angry-looking dragon.