Amara vs Nature (Porcupine, Skunk) – Requested by Neemers

Amara glanced at her watch as she leaned with her back against a tree. Ninety minutes... now...
She smiled. The current training exercise for the New Mutants was to evade capture in the woods surrounding the Institute; the older students had the task of rounding them all back up again. They'd been paired off, one on one - or, for Scott and Kurt, one on two - with the instruction that each New Mutant could only be 'caught' by their partner. Scott had been given Bobby and Ray, while Kurt was chasing Rahne and Sam; the others were all one-on-one. Evan was after Roberto, Jean had Jubilee and Rogue was hunting Jamie. Amara, for her part, had now evaded Kitty for an hour and a half. Thirty minutes more, and the exercise was over.
There was, of course, one more restriction placed on all participants. This was the inhibitor they all wore around their necks. Logan's instructions had been simple enough; hunt or evade your partner without the use of powers. Should a 'hunter' bring in their target, the hunter's inhibitor would be removed. Conversely, a 'target' had to evade capture for two hours to have their inhibitor taken off.
Logan hadn't yet told them what he had planned for those who didn't earn their powers back. Nobody assumed it was going to be pleasant.
And so, the competition had been rather fierce.

----

Pushing herself upright, the Nova Roma Royal glanced around herself as she moved on. There were no sounds of pursuit; in spite of all the smug looks Kitty had shot at Amara when the excercise began, there'd been no sign of the Valley Girl anywhere near Amara since.
Indeed, Amara was actually enjoying the walk. Not so much, perhaps, as she would have enjoyed a comfortable divan and a good book, but it was nonetheless pleasant. Sun in the leaves, fresh air, birds singing...
A sudden chittering in a nearby tree stopped her. Looking up, she caught sight of a family of squirrels peering down at her. Amara squealed with delight before holding out one hand and cooing enticingly; instantly, one of the larger squirrels bounded down and perched on her wrist.
It occurred to her that this must have been one of the animals Kurt had tamed, thus making it so friendly. Still cooing to it softly, she stroked its back with one finger while it sniffed at her other hand, attracted by the hazelnut perfume she wore.
Then it bit her on the thumb.
Amara let out a short scream and swatted at the offending rodent, sending it flying away with a squeak of protest. Sucking at the injured digit, she glared darkly at the other squirrels, still sitting on their branch, before stalking off.
...Should have know better than to trust an animal trained by the filthy peasant... she thought.

Walking through the trees, no longer enjoying the beauty of the forest, it wasn't long before she came into a small clearing. Stepping into it, she glared suspiciously around for any signs of wildlife; instantly her gaze fell on a small cat-like creature with a pelt reminiscent of Rogue's hair. It didn't look particularly dangerous. Amara, however, had passed beyond the point of tolerance for small woodland creatures. Growling an oath in Latin, she threw a rock at it.
The creature stumbled from the impact and squealed as it turned to look at the irate girl. Then it scampered toward her, its large tail rising as it came. Amara had time to glower at it before it reached her feet and came to a stop.
And then, unexpectedly, Amara received a faceful of foul-smelling musk.
With a howl of protest, she lashed out, catching it with one foot and knocking it some two feet away from her. Stepping forward, she aimed another furious kick; the creature dodged and Amara over-balanced, falling on her backside in the dirt. Then she screamed.
When she'd slipped, she'd put out her hands to save herself and absorb the impact on the ground. This, however, had resulted on her hand striking something hard, spiny and painful. A quick glance revealed what it was; a small animal with a long snout, covered in spikes. This she recognized as a porcupine. Then she frowned.
Why is that here? It was in biology... they never stop in an open place unless...
She became aware of the crawling sensation on her skin at the same time as she realised where she was; sitting in the middle of a now-demolished ant nest, the occupants of which were now all over her.
The porcupine, irritated at having had its meal disturbed, lumbered forward and butted Amara on the thigh, by coincidence jabbing her with a few spines. With a squeak, Amara shot to her feet - just as the black-and-white creature, who she'd named 'Stinker' jumped at her. It managed a few shallow scratches before she hurled it off and staggered back.

This action brought her under a large hanging tree. A moment later, something small struck the back of her head, a similar weight landing on her shoulder. Turning her head sharply, she saw it - the satanic little rodent that had bitten her, starting all this.
It bit her again. She grabbed it and threw it away from her.
Then its smaller friend, perched on her head, moved - and got tangled in her long hair. It immediately began struggling, scratching and biting, trying to get free.
Amara screamed again, swatting frantically at the miniature pest. Finally grabbing it, she removed the squirrel - and a sizeable hunk of hair - and dropped it on the ground.
Further chittering from above caught her attention; looking up, she saw another quartet of squirrels staring down at her. Hair dishevelled, clothes torn, covered with grime and ants and stinking musk, Amara lost her temper completely.
Screaming insults, she scooped up a handful of rocks and hurled them into the tree. She missed the squirrels; however, she hit two other things. One was the branch above them, enough to knock down a magpie nest. The other was an owl.
When three infuriated birds swooped down at her an instant later, Amara finally gave up. She ran.

A minute or so after this, a young deer walked into the now-empty clearing; from other sides, a few other animals approached. Sniffing the ground, the deer walked about the clearing for a moment, picking up the unusual scents; then, curiosity having got the better of it, it trotted off, following the scent trail. Slowly, other animals followed it.

----

Jamie, heading down the path through the woods, paused as he heard something unusual approaching up ahead. Taking an uncertain step back, he eyed the path in front of him with trepidation.
Abruptly, the foliage to his left parted, and a wildly shrieking Amara dashed out directly in front of him, hands raised to protect herself from a pair of swooping magpies. A moment later, a veritable swarm of woodland creatures burst out behind her; squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, a skunk, a deer, an owl, and a porcupine, gamboling along gamely, bringing up the rear. All following Amara.
Not one creature, nor Amara herself, paid Jamie the least attention. In seconds, the bizarre procession had crossed the path and vanished into the woods again, Amara's screams only fading with distance.
Jamie stood stunned for a few moments before bolting back towards the Institute.

----

"Mister Logan! Mister Logan!"
Logan unlocked Scott's inhibitor and glanced up at the sound of Jamie's voice.
"MIIIIIIIISTERR LOOOOOOGAAAAAAANNNN!"
Racing around the side of the building, Jamie caught sight of Logan and skidded to a halt in front of him, panting. Logan held up one hand.
"Alright, alright. What is it?"
"Amara... woods... chased..."
Logan frowned. "Somethin' happened to the firebug?"
Jamie finally caught his breath. "The animals in the woods went crazy, they're chasing Amara! I think they're gonna kill her and she was running around screaming so I ran here to find you and I don't know what to do!"
Dead silence greeted this revelation.
Then Logan guffawed. "This, I gotta see."
Striding off, Logan followed Jamie's scent back the way he'd come; a moment later, the assembled students followed.

----

Amara had a stitch. There were twigs and leaves and substances she didn't care to name all over her, in her hair and clothes and on her face. She was scratched from branches and thorns. And there was still a large group of creatures following her.
A certain amount of fear had clouded her mind by this point ? right now it seemed entirely possible that the majority of herbivores in the forest were quite willing to tear her to shreds, as they'd apparently been trying to do. Amara, panicked, wasn't looking where she was going other than to dodge trees.
And so she didn't see the stagnant pool of water.
SPLASH
Surfacing in the shallow puddle, she looked up. Roughly twenty small creatures peered curiously back at her.
Amara huddled into a ball, covered her head, wailed dismally, and closed her eyes as slime dripped off her into the filthy water.

"Hey!"

The animals looked over as Logan stepped into view. He held up one hand.

SNIKT

The animals bolted.

Cautiously, the Nova Roman looked up. The demonic little creatures were gone. In their place, the residents of the institute ? save for three or four of them ? looked back at her.
They exploded into laughter.
Amara simply glared at them and stood, marching up to Logan.
"Key," she grated. Logan grinned and handed it over. She unlocked the collar, dropped it on the ground, and stormed off with as much dignity as she could muster.

----

Kitty sighed to herself. The time was nearly up, and she hadn't even caught sight of Amara yet.
Oy, this is going to be great... probably the only one that didn't find my target...

She paused and looked up at a sudden chittering sound. Sitting in a nearby tree was a family of squirrels, peering down at her.
Kitty held out both hands to them. "Hey, baby," she called. "Hello..."
When a large squirrel leaped down and perched on her shoulder, Kitty squealed with delight and scratched it gently on the head. It didn't seem to notice.
It was too busy sniffing at her ear - that smelled just like the berry scented perfume she wore.