Before the nighttime ended, Wilson started hearing the sounds of hounds in the distance.

I don't know if those hounds will fight other things or just me, he mused. I guess there's no better time to test it than while I'm in this swamp.

He had to wait for them, though, for whatever reason. Morning came, and Wilson could feel the temperature dropping. I need to get back soon, he thought; right now, though…I should probably gather what I can. That would be mainly from spiders - he had no idea what their silk could do, but if winter was coming, he didn't want to have to leave his base to find out in the middle of a snowstorm.

Wilson wandered the swamp, trying to provoke spiders every time he found a nest and make them walk within range of a tentacle, then gathering whatever he could scavenge from the results. The hounds started appearing around noon - four of them came this time, and Wilson made a mental note to be ready for their numbers to increase further in the future. He didn't bother trying to fight them, instead luring them into tentacle range; the hounds didn't seem so interested in anything but Wilson, but the tentacles swiped at whatever came too close to them, and when a hound was struck, it would shift its focus to the threat. Which, really, was quite stupid of them, given that the tentacles could put up a much better fight than Wilson but had very limited attack ranges.

In any case, the hounds didn't get to lay a fang on Wilson, and he got four corpses of hounds to investigate. The flesh was still toxic, but Wilson put it all in his backpack anyway. When he got to the third hound, it crossed his mind that the fangs themselves might actually be useful somehow. Never write anything off as being useless when you're stranded in nature, he thought to himself. Unfortunately, the hounds' teeth were very difficult to extract - he only managed to get one whole one out of the third hound, and none from the fourth.

With all that done, and with an autumn chill in the air keeping him mindful of his situation, Wilson turned back to the wormhole, intending to go back to his camp and prepare to hunker down for the winter. On the way, though, he spotted an odd bump in the turf. It looked like just a pile of dirt…or was it?

Still driven by scientific curiosity certain to be the death of him, Wilson got down on his knees and gently dug at the strange lump in the muck. He only had to smooth it out a little before he recognized it as an animal track.

Food! If it was a single, large animal, he could probably hunt it, and he needed food for winter. He took a closer look, and saw that it was a round print with three toes pointed in a direction away from the wormhole.

Hmm…Hunt this animal, or go back to my camp? It wasn't an easy choice. Ultimately, he decided he could get back to his camp later, but hunting this food - er, animal - was a one-time chance. With that decision made, he started walking in the direction the footprint pointed.

For a few minutes, there was nothing. Wilson was just about to give up, when he noticed another bump in the earth. He all but dived for it, quickly patting it down - and yes, it was another footprint! It seemed to still be pointing in the same direction, so he kept walking.

By the time dusk fell, Wilson was still following tracks. He'd gone through about six of them, and was getting impatient. Finally, he found a track that looked noticeably much fresher than the previous ones. The beast must be nearby, he thought, unsure whether he should be excited or anxious. He followed the track all the same, and within seconds, he could hear the thing he had been tracking. He was still in the swamp, and past another couple of spiky trees, he finally found a…thing.

The first thing Wilson noticed about the animal was that it was really quite cute - adorable, even. It was pinkish in color, had pure white eyes, and mostly looked like a furry elephant, though, apart from the trunk and tusks, something about its face was reminiscent of a koala. There were tusks, but they looked less dangerous than the Beefalo horns - much shorter, and not quite as sharp. What the creature did not appear to have was a mouth; when it made a noise, the sound came directly out of its trunk, and was therefore rather muffled…in a cute sort of way.

The second thing Wilson noticed was that it was big. It was very big. It had fur, yes, but it was also simply a very big, bulky creature…and bulk meant meat.

Meat! Wilson almost started drooling at the sight of the thing. The fish and froggy legs had been alright, but he was still hungry, and he hadn't eaten anything all day. He took out his tentacle spike and approached the Koalefant.

…Koalefant?…Huh. Cute.

He shook the thought aside and stalked the beast. It had its back to him, and if he could just sneak up on it…

"Hmmh?" The Koalefant turned around with a questioning noise and looked at Wilson. It didn't run, but it lifted its head in a manner that suggested it was wary.

Wilson froze. Beefalo had responded to his presence in a similar manner, but they had never fled him; all the same, he couldn't risk this thing running away. Moving very cautiously, he took one step…then another step…

…and the Koalefant turned and ran.

Darn it! Wilson ran after the animal. Unfortunately, it was just a tiny bit faster than him. More problematic still, nighttime was approaching - there were maybe a couple of minutes' worth of light left. Unless…I wonder if this thing sleeps? Wilson thought. Maybe, if I stay away from it, it will fall asleep when night comes…

Unfortunately, Wilson couldn't carry a torch and a use weapon at the same time without running the risk of burning himself. When night did fall, just before the last rays of light vanished, Wilson did see the Koalefant lie down to sleep, so he pulled out a torch and went to stand next to the sleeping beast, intending to attack it when morning came. Unfortunately, the Koalefant wasn't as heavy a sleeper as the Beefalo were, and it woke up and ran a fair distance from Wilson, outside of the range of his torchlight. Wilson didn't chase it, quickly coming up with other ideas…

The night was cold, and Wilson quickly found that a torch wasn't enough to hold it back. So he built a campfire and huddled close to it, savoring the warmth. He kept enough fuel on it to keep it nice and comfy, and at one point it was bright enough for him to see the Koalefant a good distance away, asleep once more. He debated attacking it now that he had a source of light that didn't take up the use of his hands, but since he was still in the swamp, he had a better idea, and he decided to stick to it.

When morning came, it was anything but warm. Especially having gotten used to the summer warmth in this fake world, the quick drop in temperature actually made it feel colder to Wilson than it had been when he'd first been dragged here, though in reality it was about the same. I should have brought those earmuffs, he thought sadly.

Actually…

He looked at the sun, then consulted his map. If he ran back to the wormhole, used it to get back to his base, grabbed his earmuffs, and came back, he might be able to make it back to the Koalefant before nightfall - and, since he intended to convince a tentacle to fight the bulky creature for him, he wouldn't need any more time than it would take to come back to kill the Koalefant, or at least not if he brought a torch along for good measure so he could get back to his base again before the next morning.

So Wilson took note of where he (and thus, the Koalefant) was on his map, then ran. Unfortunately, the day had shortened considerably, and it was well past dusk when he finally made it back. Still, with his earmuffs on, he felt less helplessly cold, and he focused on getting the Koalefant.

He found the nearest tentacle's hiding place, then made a wide circle around the Koalefant so as not to chase it in the wrong direction. The Koalefant, meanwhile, seemed to be meandering about at random, peaceful and clueless, and adorably delicious - it had been almost two days since Wilson had eaten, and he was positively starving.

Finally, when he had himself lined up, he charged at the Koalefant. It ran away from him, right into the range of the tentacle, which rose from the ground and swiped at the Koalefant.

The Koalefant turned its attention away from Wilson and gored the tentacle with its tusks. The tentacle flinched, then swiped again. For a moment, Wilson feared he had miscalculated how deadly the Koalefant's tusks could be, but before too long, the great beast keeled over and died. The tentacle waved its victory, then withdrew back into the ground.

Wilson took the carcass of the Koalefant out of range of the tentacle quickly, then started inspecting it. Part of him had feared that this animal too would have toxic flesh, but when he cut it open, to his relief, he found the animal pink and edible. True, the meat was a bit gamey, but it would do - he was famished. He actually ate a hunk of the creature right then and there - and immediately regretted it. Sure, it sated his hunger, but eating raw meat was far beneath a gentleman, and just the feeling of chewing raw meat sickened him. Am I turning into a savage? Wilson thought, disgusted with himself. He stuffed the rest of the meat into his backpack.

It was getting late, and he needed to get back to his camp…but something about the Koalefant's remains made him pause. The tusks were too short and firmly rooted to be salvageable, the fur was useless, and so were the ears…but the trunk…

He took a closer look. The trunk was roughly the size of his torso. It was oddly light, and it breathed. It was also meat, and Wilson got the sense that he could eat it, but…he wondered if it might have other uses, too.

Either way, it was probably best to take it along, so he did. His backpack was full now, so he stuck the trunk in one of his pockets. With that done, he hurried back to the wormhole. Night fell before he got there, but with his earmuffs on firmly and a torch to hold back the darkness, he managed to get back to his camp before the sun rose.