Chapter Forty-Five:
The Proving
Disclaimer: I do not own the series Pokémon. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Game Freak and Satoshi Tajiri. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me; unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.
Notes: Fun fact! Volcanic soil is incredible fertile for farming because it's rich in a lot key nutrients such as iron, sodium, sulfur, and calcium! I would also think it'd be a great source of food for the Aron line. It's a wonder they didn't have a small population of them around Mount Chimney.
Current Team: Keno the Swampert, Sela the Mightyena, Ambrose the Kirlia, Faye the Swellow, Nux the Gyarados, Gunner the Lairon
Badges Won: Stone Badge, Knuckle Badge, Dynamo Badge
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy."
- Martin Luther King
"Today marks the start of your five-day independent session. You've learned to work together as trainers, to provide, gather, and even hunt and trap together. But once you return to your shelters, it is up to you and your pokémon teams to survive on your own. No contact with any neighboring trainers or pokémon teams in this course. And don't try being sneaky. We have eyes everywhere, and while we appreciate you trying to provide a helping hand, this independent session is to demonstrate how you operate on your own. Now, some of you have experience in camping for an extended length of time—but this crucible is not just based on that alone."
Basil fought to hide his smile as he glanced over the few members of the group that had the advantage of experience, Miss Courier being among them. Sakura scanned the crowd of faces patiently, looking content and at ease. She had a good feeling about this group.
"This is to put all that knowledge you've learned over the last few weeks here to the test."
He continued on, outlining the expected beats he wanted to see them succeed at hitting.
"I know a fair amount of you have had some luck in fishing and trapping rabbits for meat, but there are incentives to anyone who can fell a deer. I showed you all how to properly skin and clean a deer kill, but I'll be doing rounds if you need a reminder."
One of the young women groaned, looking squeamish. A few of the young men grinned and cracked a number of jokes, some gripping their bows tightly and plucking at the bowstring, as if to feign drawing it back.
"You think you can do that, Miss Courier?"
Shay blinked at Tohru's voice and glanced at him. He waggled his brows at her, grinning as Basil continued his speech. "Maybe. I've hit a few rabbits now with my bow. And my snare traps have been doing well, too."
"Wait, seriously?! You have? When?"
"The last few days." She replied, shrugging. "Maybe Sela can help with tracking a deer down. She's been antsy to get back into the swing of things, I think."
"She's…doing better, right?"
"Mm-hmm. Seems to be." Shay raised her thermos and took a long sip from it. "As much as one can be losing an eye, that is…"
"That's good to hear—"
"Tohru! Do you have something to share with the rest of the group?"
Shay hid her smirk behind her hand as she side-eyed the young man, shoulders shaking with silent laughter as his head snapped up to look at Basil. A few guffaws broke out through the group. Basil raised a brow, waiting.
"S-Sorry, Basil. No, I was just…telling Miss Courier here that I'm glad her pokémon are doing better since…y'know. That thing that showed up."
A hush fell upon the group, eyes drifting toward Shay. Basil's eyes briefly slid over to her as well, before bouncing back to Tohru. "I'm glad that you're happy for her, but maybe tell her these things when I'm not giving you instruction for the next segment of our course that we're about to undertake. Understand?"
"Sorry."
Basil nodded and continued. Shay let her hand drop and she gently nudged Tohru. He glanced at her. She mouthed 'Sorry' to him and held her fist out to him. He smiled and bumped it with his own.
"Wait, we're going to be alone for five days?"
"Finally. Maybe we can get some peace and quiet around here without those other three humans stumbling around," Sela said with a yawn. Keno shot her a disapproving look, but she ignored him and promptly plopped down beside the fire, laying her head on her paws. "Wake me when something interesting happens."
"Actually, Sela, I was hoping you could help me with something. And to answer your question, yes Keno. This is our independent session. I remember reading about it in the info packet, but Basil made it sound like something I've already done before."
"You did? When?" Gunner remarked, head tilting quizzically at his trainer.
"When I was younger. We didn't have to hunt or fish or forage for our own food—we brought dry goods to cook up with us the entire trip, but I was expected to make my own little shelter for a three-day period, and it was…nice. It was a bit of a reflection period more than a survival situation, though. Our instructors would come check up on us every day and make sure we were okay before we moved on to finish the last half of the course."
She turned to Sela and the Mightyena lazily slid her good eye open to look at Shay.
"I was hoping to hunt a deer. Do you know if there's been any that've come nearby in the last few days? Or even the last week or two?"
"I've smelled a few, but…" Sela dipped her head, consternation pulling her muzzle into a snarl. "I don't think I can do it. Not now, not with…"
Sela trailed off, her ears lowering to pin against her head. Shay stepped to her side and sat beside the Mightyena, dragging her fingers through her thick scruff. She'd been hoping Sela was feeling more like her old self, but if she wasn't…
"It's okay if you're not feeling it, Sela. I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to."
Sela grumbled something indiscernible under her breath, and before Shay could ask what it is, the sound of Basil calling out distracted Shay. She turned away from the Mightyena and gave a wave to the instructor. Sakura predictably was by his side, gracefully picking her way through the undergrowth with her head held high.
"You got a few minutes?"
Shay groaned low in her throat, even as she forced a smile on her face. "Hey Basil. Yeah, I got a few for you. Is everything good?"
He paused as he entered her campsite, looking chipper as usual. Keno greeted Sakura with a nod. Shay gave Sela a parting scratch behind the ears and straightened, dusting off her pants. The fire crackled and for a brief moment, a breeze pushed the smoke in Shay's direction. It stung her eyes, but she enjoyed the woodsmoke scent it left behind as it drifted away again in the wind's new direction.
"What's up, Basil? Everything okay?"
"Oh, everything's fine. Just wanted to check up on you and your team. I know you've had a few incidents hit you guys—none of it being your fault, mind, it was all circumstances beyond your control—but I thought it'd be prudent of me to give you a once-over before I make rounds with the rest of the class."
He took a seat on a log Shay had downsized to serve as a bench by the fire. She sat beside him. Basil was looking over where Sela was laying down on the other side of the fire.
"How's she been doing? And the other one? The big metal guy."
"Sela's doing fine with her recovery. And Gunner is down by the river with Nux and Faye. They should be on their way back by now." Shay said and paused, craning her neck in the direction of said river. Speak of the devil.
She sighed in relief when she spotted Faye gliding in first with a whistle and she took a perch atop Shay's shelter. She spotted Nux and Gunner next, weaving a path through the trees back to camp. "Here they come now."
Basil smiled approvingly and nodded, glancing over to watch as the two returned. Nux coiled around the perimeter, appearing content. Gunner had flecks of sand and rock around his beaked mouth. Shay snickered and knelt, gently wiping it all away. "You guys find all that you needed?"
Nux only growled, flashing a pleased, toothy smile in Shay's direction. "Fishing's good. We're all fat and happy."
Nux emphasized his point by sliding his forked tongue across his sharp fangs. Gunner nodded in the affirmative, snuffling. She chuckled as he leaned against her legs, looking up at her with bright eyes.
"Lots of iron in the ground here! It's sooooo good and fresh!"
Faye plucked and preened her feathers before responding. "Nux gave me a fat fish. It was nice of him."
"Glad to hear it," Shay said with a soft smile. She blinked a few times, abashed when she remembered she and her team weren't alone. "Sorry, Basil. You were saying?"
"Just glad to see your team back together again. I know you'd been pretty worried about your team with those two disappeared for a few days. But yes…I'm not here for idle chit-chat."
From the corner of her eye, she could see Nux coiling himself around the immediate perimeter of her encampment, jaws hinging open into a wide-mouthed yawn. Keno was applying a new insulating layer of mud to the roof of her shelter. Ambrose sat across from her and Basil on the other side of the fire, eyes closed, appearing relaxed, but she could feel the faint itch-shiver-scratch of his mind against hers. Sela remained where she was, except her head was turned in hers and Basil's direction, her single eye watching the both of them. Faye was keeping an eye out from the branches above, flitting from place to place. Gunner came to her side and laid against the log. She reached a hand out to pat his head, comforted in knowing she had eyes on him. On all her team.
Basil seemed to take all of this in before he spoke next.
"You've got quite the entourage. I'm impressed. I don't think I've seen anyone have a good handle on a Gyarados this early in their trainer career like you do."
"Probably helps I can understand him when others can't," Shay stated, tentatively aiming for a bit of a bold, if defensive, comment.
"Most people with tempers like a Gyarados can be understood just fine, they just don't tend to listen when in a blind rage. But whatever it is that you're doing with him, keep it up. Like I said, I'm impressed. But, there is one other thing."
Shay shrugged, motioning for him to continue.
"Why are you here?"
She blinked at Basil. When he didn't expand upon that any further, she looked at Sakura, who only smiled back. Shay turned her attention back to Basil, frowning.
"I…I don't think I understand what you're asking. I'm here to learn for this training course…?"
Basil bobbed his head. "True. You are here for the course. But why else are you here?"
"I-I still don't—"
Basil held up a hand and Shay muffled herself. "Let me rephrase: why take a course you clearly already have credentials and experience for? You already know how to do at least eighty-percent of the coursework, you've passed a number of the events with flying colours and even managed to coach some of the others through things, hell—with a bit more experience and practice, you could be a junior instructor in under a year, a full-fledged one in about two or three. You've also managed to surpass quite a number of your classmates and then some. So, I ask you again…why are you here?"
Shay found herself fidgeting nervously under his gaze. Digging fingers into the palms of her hands, pulling at her knuckles, twisting the ring on her right middle finger.
"I'm…I…I know I'm not that great at a lot of things. But this wilderness stuff—it makes sense to me. And I actually think I'm kind of good at it. But I meant what I said when Gabby was interviewing me a few weeks ago. There are some things I didn't know much, if anything, about. Weaving a basket for gathering materials; making my own clay pottery for dishes or whatever I need; creating a net for fishing; building my own shelter like this one—those are things I didn't know squat on how to do. But I liked being able to do those things once I learned how to make them on my own. I-I've even saved up a lot of how-to documents and videos for future reference—I just…this stuff just makes sense to me."
Shay finished speaking, continuing to massage the fingers on one hand, and then switched to the other. She eventually found her Marine Corps ring on her middle finger again, and she began the cycle of fidgeting all over again, twirling it around and around. Basil's expression was unreadable for a time. He eventually exchanged a glance with Sakura and pursed his lips as he turned back to Shay.
"Was…was that not a good enough answer? Look, I don't know what you want me to say, man. I don't like mind games."
"This isn't a mind game. I'm being serious here." Basil replied earnestly. For some reason, the response rubbed her the wrong way. Shay bristled and scowled, irritation scraping against her nerves. She inched away from Basil, hands clenching in her lap.
"I don't know what the fuck you want me to say, Basil. I honestly don't, I don't know what you want from me!"
Basil remained calm, waiting for Shay to peter out. She jumped in surprise at the press of a broad hand against her back. She whirled in her seat to find Keno standing behind her, looking worried. "Hey, take it easy. Just take a breath."
Shay swallowed back whatever biting retort she had lined up. She couldn't snap at Keno. Never with Keno. He gently rubbed her back between her shoulder blades, careful to keep the pressure light. Shay gave him a grateful smile before she turned back to Basil, feeling a mite calmer. "I don't know what you want from me. I'm here because…I'm here. What else is there to say?"
Basil shook his head and heaved a sigh as he slowly rocked back up to his feet. Sakura watched him and pulled herself to her hooves and dipped her head in Shay's direction.
"We're not trying to frustrate you, Shay. We just want you to think on it. Basil meant well." Shay glanced at the Deerling as she canted her head to the side, a laugh bubbling up. A chill swept up her spine when she an itch-shiver-scratch swept across her mind. "Take your time. It's not a race. And we'll check on you in a day or two."
"What did she say?" Basil replied, tilting his head a bit to the side, brows furrowed, lips pulling into a curious smile.
Shay's gaze drifted to the older man and her expression remained unchanged. "…see you in a few days, Basil."
The gloom that had slowly been building throughout the past day or two had finally made landfall. A light drizzle lay over the forest sitting at the base of Mount Chimney. Shay was huddled under a raincoat she'd purchased back in Mauville City. It conserved her heat surprisingly well and made her tasks much easier to conduct during inclement weather. This had been a great trial run in justifying her purchase from weeks and weeks ago.
Over the last month, Shay had taken note of hunting blinds that littered the area, lifted high up in the trees, well out of sight from prey animals. It wasn't until a few days before the announcement of their five-day crucible that any of their instructors began to point out the structures out to anyone.
Shay wondered how many of her peers were using these structures—if they could even get up to them. Nux had given Shay a helpful lift to the one she currently sat on.
Shay roused her stiff limbs by slowly stretching them, allowing for feeling to rush back in.
Sela was down below her, somewhere hidden out of sight. She had sniffed out the game trail that snaked through this area the day before, and today was their real attempt at hunting. Faye was up in the air, scouting from above. Every once in a while, she would return to the hunter blind, and give Shay updates. While Sela had tracked down the much-used game trail, it was Faye who had confirmed sight of the small herd. Shay wondered if it had been Basil or someone else who had arranged where each hunter blind would be mounted.
There was a sudden flurry of beating wings, with Faye landing on the hunter blind beside Shay. She reached out and gave the Swellow a scratch along her head and neck.
"The herd's heading this way. There's one that has a limp and is lingering on the fringes, way in the back. It's a pretty big one too."
"Did you see any of the other trainers hunting?"
"One or two humans, male, I think. Not Tohru or Luke, those two are out foraging or fishing by the river. And Abby is hunkered down in her shelter with her Glaceon. In fact, a lot of the others are mostly hiding out from the rain."
"Sounds about right. The two that seem to be hunting—are they close by?"
"No, it looked like they were heading northward, not anywhere close to us, and they are heading into nothing but more woods and mountains. There's hardly anything in their area."
"Good to go. Great job, Faye. Keep me posted on any updates."
"Roger that." Faye remarked with a bob of her head, and she took off, quickly disappearing from sight.
The minutes ticked by. Shay felt herself dozing, lulled by the rhythmic drop-drop-drop of water trickling onto her, rainwater having run a gauntlet through the branches and greenery from on high. It was steady and repetitive, almost comforting. Her trance was broken by a stirring below and a disturbance beside her.
Faye had returned to the hunter's blind. The Swellow only nodded to Shay, then motioned with her head off to the right. Shay rolled her shoulders and shifted on her legs to get feeling back into them again. Her grip tightened on her bow, and she drew an arrow from the makeshift quiver she'd made nearly a week ago. It was a little rough around the edges, as sewing the material together had been a pain to figure out, but it's held together firmly enough. It just needed to last the rest of the course.
Her eyes searched over the thick undergrowth, trying to pick out the familiar tan hides of deer that she knew from her world, and she wasn't disappointed. A group of ten or so came through the trees, silent and cautious. The does paused to lick at low-hanging branches—most likely suckling at the drippings of rainwater—or grazed at the flora teeming along the forest floor. A couple of bucks were present in the scattered numbers. They were more cautious, Shay noted. They paused more often, appearing more alert and finnicky in their movements, like they were second-guessing themselves compared to the more relaxed nature of the does.
One buck caught her eye, its rack of antlers more splendid and numbered in tines than the others. When Shay squinted to scan the others, she noted they still had dappled spots across their coats, and their antlers were yet to fully form, with only a few points to count on each. She returned her attention to the buck, and she could see the aforementioned limp to his rear leg that Faye had made note of.
The big buck meandered closer toward the tree that held her hunter's blind aloft, pausing to graze every so often. He remained alert, liquid dark eyes always seemingly searching for hidden dangers. Sela didn't need to be told to stay quiet or hidden. If she could catch nervous little rabbits unseen, surely she could do the same with a fastidious deer. Shay believed in Sela, in spite of the latter's reservations.
Shay carefully nocked the bow and drew back the bowstring, waiting for the fletching to kiss her cheek as she readied her shot. She breathed in slowly, evenly. Breath control was so important, just like with any rifle or pistol.
Practice against an immovable object such as a standing dead tree was one thing. Landing a killing blow on another living being was quite another. So long as nothing spooked her mark, his sedate and meandering pace was inconsequential.
The rainfall seemed to pick up its pace, drowning out all the other ambient sounds around them. Several of the doe seemed to take this as a sign to rest and they began folding their legs together and dropping gracefully to the ground, curling up on themselves. One of the younger bucks did the same, then another.
The big buck paused, head craning back to take notice of the activity. He was inanimate, distracted. Shay lined up her shot, taking in a deep breath, and then slowly releasing it—
—she fired. The arrow shot forward faster than she could blink, and it struck the big buck's side, just behind his left shoulder. He squealed and that alarmed several of the other deer, who bolted up to their hooves in alarm. Sela chose that moment to shoot out from her hiding spot, loping after the closest deer to her. It was a small doe, who cried out and turned to bolt away after her small herd—but the Mightyena was on her like lightning. Sela clamped her jaws around the doe's rear ankle, dragging her down to a graceless crash on the forest floor, paws scrabbling at her flank.
The doe shrieked in pain and desperation, which only grew worse. Shay winced when she thought she heard an audible crack in the air, a split second before Sela leapt at the doe's throat. Shay turned away from the sight and summoned Nux from his pokéball. The Gyarados shook himself and yawned, lifting his head up to her level once he finished and growled at her inquisitively.
"You done already?"
"It's been a few hours," she confessed. He pressed his chin atop the hunter's blind, allowing Shay to clamber onto his neck. When he was sure she was secure, he lowered himself down to the ground, and Shay slid off him, patting Nux once she was off. "Thanks, buddy. We'll get this back to camp and start prep work."
"Do you know what you're doing?"
"Ehh…more or less. And if the signal holds, I can probably get enough of a signal to bring up a MewTube video, even in this weather."
He snorted in approval, teeth glinting as he peeled his lips back. "I'll go to camp and let them know you're done. Is Faye still around?"
"She's somewhere up there, yeah." She said with a smile. She perked at the sound of something being dragged closer toward her and turned to the disturbance. Sela shortly came into view, yanking and tugging the doe she'd taken down closer to Shay. Nux craned his long neck over, and when Sela had dragged the body within range, he clamped his jaws around the cervine and picked it up with ease. The Mightyena came trotting over and watched as Nux brought it over.
Gently, almost reverently, he laid the body down on the ground, blades of grass and leaves breaking or crackling beneath the new weight atop it. The doe's eyes were wide and glassy, staring into nothingness, mouth hinged open in a silent scream. Shay canted her head in Sela's direction, beaming with pride at her.
"You didn't think you could do this, and look what you did, Sela!"
Sela froze, her hackles bristling upwards. Nux growled softly and nudged at the unmoving doe with his snout. "You did this?"
The Mightyena tilted her downward, avoiding the gazes of everyone else. "I…I just…reacted. Something…snapped in me. I don't know what it was, but I…"
Shay's gaze softened and she bridged the small space that separated herself from Sela, kneeling beside the Mightyena. She pressed one hand on Sela's shoulder, and the other to the doe's flank. Taking a deep breath, she softly recited, "My heart has joined the thousand—"
"—for my friend stopped running today." Sela and Nux intoned together. Shay blinked a few times, taken aback. She swung her head back and forth from Sela to Nux and back again, words failing her.
"I…did you—how did—?"
"You've been saying that phrase for the last month or two. You don't even seem to notice it anymore." Sela replied flatly. Shay turned her attention on the Mightyena.
"It's…from a book I read as a kid."
"About rabbits. Which, may I remind you, we all eat."
"…yeah."
"Do you…think you could…share it with us?" Sela said haltingly, ears flaring back as she avoided her trainer's curious, surprised gaze. She was distracted further when Nux bumped her side and nudged her arm up with his snout, demanding her attention.
"Does anyone eat the rabbits?" He asked, licking his chops.
"No! Well…not really—it's a story from the point of view of the rabbits. It's…it'll be easier if I just read it to you guys rather than explain it. Can you take the doe to camp and come back for the buck?"
Faye chose that moment to return, lightly landing atop one of Nux's horns. "Can you catch me another fat fish?"
"I can do both, sure," Nux replied, tilting his head in a vain attempt to try and peer up at the Swellow. She rubbed her beak on his horn in response. Nux finally gave up and swung his head over to gently grasp the doe in his jaws once more and started off towards camp once he had it.
Shay could hear Faye speaking to Nux and the Gyarados, in return, mumbled around his mouthful of deer right back enthusiastically. Shay chuckled and she returned to the buck with Sela at her side.
In spite of her recent disability—and even her earlier protests to the contrary—Sela was still quite avidly aware of her surroundings. She may have lost an eye, but her other senses were still frighteningly sharp, if not more so lately. Shay had heard of people who'd lost one of their senses, only for the remaining ones to refine to seemingly supernatural levels. Sela, understandingly, was no exception.
She wondered if Sela was taking a page out of Ambrose's book, if not outright seeking advice from him directly when Shay wasn't around.
Shay set down her bow and knelt on the plush forest floor—a combination of moss, grasses, and other low-growing vegetation—and ignored the bloom of wetness that soaked through her pants. She traced a hand over the buck's neck, eventually coming across the arrow jutting out from behind its shoulder. She once more uttered the same words from before, and Sela recited them with her. The Mightyena leaned against Shay, head pressing into the crook of her neck.
"You did good. Do you want to build one of those…litter things to drag this back to camp or do you want to wait for Nux?"
"We can wait. It's fine. The rain's not that bad."
Sela grunted softly back and straightened with a huff. Shay giggled as a puff of air tickled her skin.
"You did good too, Sela. I knew you could do it," she replied, burying her hand into her scruff and scratching her. The Mightyena hummed and closed her eyes contentedly, enjoying the moment. It came to an end a minute or so later, as Shay reluctantly pulled away. She turned and braced one hand on the buck's shoulder and tightly gripped the arrow imbedded in its side and tugged.
Shay couldn't help but wonder how many—if any—of her peers had any experience whatsoever with any weapons at all before all this. With how nervous, cautious, hesitant, or bluffingly overconfident they had all acted once they all brought in their hand-made weaponry during one of their powwows, Shay doubted it. She had been the only one who took things seriously, now that she looked back on it.
On that same note of curiousity, Shay had briefly looked into what forms of militant might that any regions might have had—only to find her prying very wanting. Any form of force most regions possessed ended up being law enforcement and little else. Her hope in having something, anything, in common with anyone had been dashed quite soundly. She'd spent all nine years of her adult life in the military and had little else left.
Shay cleared her throat and shook off her buzzing thoughts, turning her attentions back to Sela.
"Hey, can you check if Nux is coming? It's been a while."
"Ugh. Faye might have made him take a detour by the river to catch her another fish."
Shay snorted and shook her head, smiling in spite of the mild griping from the Mightyena.
"See if you can get them back on course so we can get this buck back to camp. The sooner we get both of these deer skinned and the meat prepped, the better."
Sela nodded, hopped up to her paws, and loped off into the underbrush. The rain continued to patter down to earth, softly creating an erratic drumming sound all around. There was little birdsong to account for, but she could hear the distant croaking of little frogs, the soft buzz and trill of the occasional Volbeat or Illumise.
Shay returned to her task of trying to retrieve her arrow. She felt it give at last, and slowly, it was pulled free, covered in a fresh coat of gore and blood. Her small measure of triumph was shortened by a sudden bout of silence. It took her a few moments to notice the abrupt absence of sound. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled upwards, a chill overcoming her. Her skin broke into gooseflesh and she lifted her head, scanning her surroundings.
Everything was relatively still, with the exception of the rain making a disturbance as it fell from the sky. There was nothing out there, nothing that she could see.
You're overthinking things. Calm down, there's nothing out there, except maybe a Surskit or Marill. Maybe a Geodude, but not in this weather…and there was the Volbeat and Illumise, but…why are they quiet now? Weird…
Shay turned her attention back to the arrow in her hand, running her thumb across the arrowhead, dislodging the bits of flesh caught on its edges. The rainwater washed away the blood, one droplet at a time until it was finally clean.
Another shiver rolled down her spine and she lifted her head to scan her surroundings again. Why did it feel like she had eyes on her? The cone of silence remained hanging in the air around her. She furrowed her brow, lisp drawing downwards into a frown. She strained to listen for signs of her team returning and glanced at the rising hillocks of greenery and trees, but nothing was moving.
She craned her head to peer behind her to the right—
—only to have something slam into her from behind her on her left side. A scream rang in her ears, as pain suddenly blossomed along her backside, her sides, her neck.
Something was on top of her, grinding her into the forest floor with incredible, punishing strength. She yelled back at the thing, her arm with the arrow pinned under her, while her other arm was free. She reached back and clawed at the thing with her free arm and felt thick fur beneath her fingers—trying to grab and dislodge, to identify. Her heart leapt into her throat as the unthinkable crossed her mind: what if this was the same damned bear that had attacked her months ago, coming to finish the job?!
Bear?! Bear! Not thick enough fur, no—what are you?!
The scream in her ears froze her blood. She knew that sound. She'd heard it in dozens of movies growing up, on animal documentaries and video clips online.
Mountain lion. She had a goddamn mountain lion on top of her. They didn't attack people! Not normally, not really. They were solitary hunters, they actively avoided people, even when snooping through human neighborhoods!
Teeth slammed against the back of her skull, scrabbling to try in gaining purchase. Shay screamed back at the animal and somehow—she wasn't sure how—she managed to roll over and it toppled the large cat off of her back unexpectedly. Claws dug in and dragged her with it, much to her panicked chagrin. Agony made her want to writhe but the adrenaline was kicking in, delayed as it was. She managed to dislodge her other arm and winced as she felt the tip of the arrowhead scrape against her belly through her poncho, her clothing, before she twisted on the animal behind her.
Razor-sharp claws slapped at her as the mountain lion fumbled its limbs wildly. A hateful snarl and glowering lantern-bright eyes was painted on the wild animal's face. And yet it was still so beautiful to Shay—even as she slammed the arrow gripped in her fist right into its face.
Again, and again, and again. Every hit was rewarded with a sickening squelch and hot splash of blood coating her fist, specks flying everywhere else and a series of screams that accompanied every hit. A swift and unexpected kick to her belly sent her sprawling and left her breathless, gasping, struggling to move. She flew backwards and landed on a rock. It dug agonizingly into her backside as she fought to comprehend what had just happened.
The perfect tawny hide of the cat was stained with red along its shoulders. Another hateful snarl painted the mountain lion's face as it glowered at her, hissing menacingly at Shay. She groped blindly for her bow, not willing to dare to take her eyes off the predator that was staring her down like she was its next meal. She puffed her arms out at her sides in an attempt to appear bigger, to deter it from attacking her any further.
Why was it ignoring the deer? Was it hoping to scare her off so it could take away her kill in peace? Some cats—big or small—would try to bluff their way into stealing undeserved meals from other predators. Others could do it with little retaliation. Shay stared the mountain lion down, refusing to part with her kill, taking note of the red that spattered its neck and face and shoulder, all centered on one side. The side she'd stabbed it on, but it was fading just as quickly as it appeared, thanks to the rain.
Shay kept her eyes locked on the snarling, frozen cat opposite her—only about ten meters away, but still too close for comfort. They were both in a stalemate so far. Shay was fine with that. It gave her a moment to think.
Mountain lion. Puma. Cougar. Catamount. Panther. Wildcat. And so many more names applied to the second largest cat in the Western hemisphere, besides the jaguar, and not counting any large cats in captivity—privately owned or otherwise. They were solitary hunters that lived in a variety of environments. While mountain lions were considered apex predators, if a bear or wolf moseyed across the cat's fresh kill, a mountain lion wasn't willing to die defending their kill.
When it came to encounters with humans, they were rare, with the risk of attacks remaining small and rather isolated…but not zero. Never zero, not where wild animals are concerned.
"Easy—easy, buddy. We don't—we don't have to do this, you know? J-just—walk away. It ain't worth it." Shay said, hating how shaky her voice sounded. It needed to be bigger, more threatening. Enough to drive back the wild animal. She had to dig deep for her inner drill instructor voice, even if she had never spent a single second on the drill field that had been anything more than a lowly recruit.
She also knew why she'd been attacked. She'd made herself small, crouching low and right alongside a recently fresh kill. Smaller than usual, that is.
Cats, as a whole, were ambush predators. The smaller and more unaware one was, the easier the kill.
She had little to throw away in an attempt to scare off the large cat—rocks, branches, or otherwise. Shay estimated the mountain lion staring her down was roughly about a hundred pounds, give or take. She was roughly in the same weight class.
Could she reach her bow, lying innocuously against the deer, without triggering the wild animal staring her down into attacking her again? Her heart pounded against the base of her throat, and she could feel the tightening strain of muscles making it hard to move, frozen as she was.
She chose to risk it, while also attempting to keep herself as puffed up and as large as possible, emitting low growls and noises of discontent to deter the mountain lion. She managed to wrap her fingers around her bow and pulled it close to her while maintaining a close enough distance to her kill as possible.
"You need to leave, right now," she said, her voice stronger this go-round. "You need to go! I don't want to hurt you! And if you go after anyone else, they just might kill you, and you don't belong here! Just go into the mountains and never come back down! You—you'll live longer!"
She knew her words meant nothing, even if she was desperate for a happy ending. But didn't she have to try, at the very least? For all parties involved, present and future?
"Please," Shay whispered softly. "Please, just go—"
The mountain lion moved closer with a series of spits and hisses and batting paws, the eyes gleaming with wild, amber light within them.
Shay pulled an arrow from her quiver and drew it back against her bowstring, taking aim.
She couldn't miss. Not from this close a range, not unless the large cat took a drastic change in direction. Another hiss escaped the mountain lion, and a twinge of pity rose up within Shay. She didn't want this. It felt wrong, somehow. Why could she understand pokémon, but not other creatures? Why couldn't she convey her words to the animals of her world? So many whys, and no answers.
She didn't want to be the one who cut down the numbers of endangered creatures. She didn't want to be the one forced into this horrible situation.
And yet, here she was. The mountain lion kept up its growling, spitting, hissing vendetta—enraged, over-territorial, or otherwise—in its attempt to intimidate Shay. She remained stolid and tolerant, standing her ground against the territorial displays of dominance, fear, hunger.
Shay felt a final twinge of pity resonate within her, before she let her fingers pull free of the bowstring that dug into the meat of her first knuckles. Her shot sprung loose, accompanied by a wild scream.
Additional Notes: I framed part of this wild animal encounter on the attack that occurred back in March of 2024. Brothers Wyatt and Taylen Brooks had been savagely attacked by a mountain lion, and sadly, Taylen had passed away from his fatal wounds. Wyatt has already gone through several surgeries to repair the damage done to his body from the attack. The mountain lion in question was hunted down and killed, but the reasons behind its attack are still unknown, and hopefully, the necropsy (the term for animal autopsies) will reveal more information, such as if it was rabid or not. (At this time, I don't believe any reports show it was, but official word hasn't been released.)
Fatal attacks on humans from mountain lions have been few and far in-between, especially in comparison, to say, bear attacks that ended lethally. And as much as I like to joke "if not friend, why friend-shaped" with some animals, I do have to end this chapter with an important PSA.
PLEASE DO NOT TREAT WILD ANIMALS, ESPECIALLY PREDATORS SUCH AS BEARS OR MOUNTAIN LIONS, AS PETS. THEY CAN, AND MOST LIKELY WILL, KILL YOU, CAPTIVE OR NOT.
I know wild animals are often framed as cute and cuddly on Instagram, FaceBook, TikTok, and all other forms of social media—but the people who handle and interact with these animals are often extremely competent PROFESSIONALS. Or, they were the people who raised these animals in a highly specialized and monitored form of captivity, and have the licenses, credentials, and ability to care for wild animals. There have been too many horror stories (and recorded video proof) of the average joe attempting to approach wild animals, and I would not encourage my readers young, old, and in-between, to try such a foolhardy feat without the proper qualifications. It often ends badly; like people strolling up to bison in Yellowstone, and ending up severely gored, with broken bones, or worse.
I don't want to see anyone hurt because they think they can go up to a wild animal thinking they have "a special bond" and Dr. Dolittle the situation. It takes years and hands on experience to handle wild animals, so please! Either go into a specialized field to experience your dream or stick with domesticated animals that won't tear your limbs off like succulent meat off a well-cooked set of ribs, or gore you to death with teeth, claws, or horns.
