[This chapter is graphic and can be skipped without missing anything major to the main plot, just character development.]

TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Age: 16
Badges: 1
Account: 3,644 credits

POKÉMON
Ralts (Apollo) - Male
Corphish (Duran) - Male
Eevee - Male

I was curious how far Apollo's telepathic link would be able to hold, so I mentally requested him to try to maintain it as long as possible as we began venturing away from camp. He seemed equally interested in testing this and agreed readily, a small yet meaningful indicator that Apollo wasn't too upset with me.

We set off with Eevee leading the way, sniffing the air as his ears swiveled around, pointing at every little noise he heard to try to locate one of the three species I had shown him on my Pokédex. I was actually pretty sure he could defeat a Zigzagoon if he tried, but considering the size difference and his overall nerves with fighting I didn't want to include that in our first hunt.

In order to stay as quiet as possible, I had instructed Eevee to step lightly, walk slowly, and remember our non-verbal gestures. The plan we had come up with was for him to lead the way, letting his intuition and senses guide him. I even taught him two signals to give to me; one was holding his tail straight to signal for me to stop, and another was for him to sway it back and forth when he was ready to strike, which gave me a chance to confirm the target and give final approval.

After some consideration, I realized that neither of the two non-verbal variants would work for this situation. One was a hand gesture, and I didn't want him breaking his focus to look at me right before attacking. The other was two sharp whistles, but I didn't want to do anything so loud so we did a little testing to see what the quietest equivalent I could do was. Simply tapping my tongue to the top of my mouth twice created extremely light clicking sounds, yet it was loud enough for Eevee's exceptional hearing to pick up clearly so we decided to go with that.

As we carefully and quietly weaved through the trees, I held a light telepathic conversation with Apollo as Eevee led the way and investigated curious smells and sounds. Apollo and I didn't really talk about anything of substance; mostly I helped him with his English and occasionally asked him how things were going at camp. Duran apparently was scavenging for a pre-dinner snack, and Apollo was half-meditating, trying to focus on holding our link.

I could tell he was struggling as we got further away. His presence felt almost unnoticeable, and his voice in my head was becoming so quiet and disembodied that I soon wasn't able to feel or hear him at all. The moment I realized he was fully disconnected, I checked my Pokédex and found that we were only about a half-mile away. I wondered if the sea of trees between us made much of a difference, and how far we might be able to push that once he was a Gallade.

Focusing on the task at hand, I watched as Eevee once again locked onto a new sound and redirected. Now that I was fully paying attention, I realized just how much noise I was making, despite stepping lightly and slowly. The forest floor was a mixture of long grass, sticks, pinecones, and occasional rocks that all made noise when stepped on, and I had to be careful to ensure my clothes didn't rub against any of the shrubbery. My sweatshirt didn't make too much noise, but my pants were pretty loud when scraping against anything, so it became a bit of a game to try to take the quietest steps I could while still following Eevee.

He eventually picked up on my struggles to stay as quiet as him and began doing a better job at picking paths that gave me a wider berth of shrubs, of which I was extremely thankful and impressed.

As we crept through the forest and I was beginning to convince myself I was quickly approaching ninja levels of stealth, Eevee continued to slow down until he eventually stopped completely, his tail straight. I carefully investigated ahead of us, trying to spot whatever it was that he was tracking, but wasn't able to see anything.

Eevee began to tremble a bit with nerves as his tail started to do a strained sway back and forth, and I bit my lip nervously as I kept trying to see what it was that Eevee was targeting without moving or making noise.

I didn't like this; Eevee might be targeting an unhuntable species, and there might be others around that we didn't see who could join in on the fight.

I took a slow, deep breath and decided we'd have to take a leap of faith. Even if it wasn't a species we could hunt, Eevee wasn't the one who would be doing the killing blow, so it wouldn't be much of a problem. If the situation escalated and others joined in… well, we'd just have to deal with that when it happened.

My team clearly trusted me, so I would just have to trust them too.

I parted my lips, and lightly tapped my tongue to the roof of my mouth twice, signaling for an attack.

Eevee wasted no time, immediately launching into a Quick Attack and darting forward at impressive speeds.

My eyes scanned ahead of Eevee, still looking for his target as I reached into my pocket and grabbed my utility knife. I still couldn't see what he was attacking, but once he lept head-first into a bush at breakneck speed, I heard an impact and finally saw what he was attacking as it was thrown out of its cover.

Even from this distance I could tell what it was, but I broke out into a sprint to quickly close the distance and confirm. Sure enough, a Pidove lay on the forest floor completely out cold, leading me to believe Eevee had successfully struck the head as I had suggested.

I was almost positive that Apollo wouldn't have liked the fact that we didn't give it a fair fight, but then again he wasn't a big fan of the idea of hunting in general. Perhaps when we knew what we were doing and Eevee was stronger I'd be more willing to give our target a fair chance at survival, but today wasn't that day.

"Great job Eevee, you did that perfectly," I praised as I walked over to the limp Pidove and knelt down.

Eevee gave a happy trill and trotted to my side, clearly pleased with itself and feeling a bit more confident. I pet him affectionately, noticing that he was still slightly shaking from nerves and excitement, but I knew he would be fine.

I glanced down at the Pidove and grabbed it, flipping it so it was face-down as I flipped the blade of my knife out. Repositioning my hand so that it was gripping the back of its head tightly and holding it down, I suddenly felt a bit conflicted. I'd never taken a life before, and the weight of it was beginning to set in. Pidove weren't very intelligent, and there were so many of them that they were widely considered to be a pest, but still… all life was precious, even if hunting was a natural and often necessary thing.

We'd already come this far, and learning to hunt was something that would be beneficial for both Eevee and myself. I didn't want to live off of ramen and rice for the rest of my life, and there may be times when I couldn't afford to get the expensive food Eevee required. I could even find myself in a situation where I was stranded without food, and I would not allow myself to be completely clueless if that ever happened.

I brushed my thumb against the feathers, lifting them up to give better access to the back of its neck as I pressed the blade against the exposed skin. Eevee whined softly as it looked away, his ears folded back and clearly understanding what was going to happen next.

Truthfully, I wanted to look away too. But there was this nagging thought in my mind that if we were going to do this, we needed to bear witness and face it head-on.

"Eevee… I know you don't want to look, I don't either, but… we owe it to this Pidove. How can we call ourselves responsible, respectful hunters if we won't even look at the results of our actions? I know it's tough, but… we should look while we end a life. It's only right."

Eevee whimpered and shuddered, but after a brief moment he turned to look at the fallen Pidove. I nodded, refocusing my attention on the position of my hand and knife while running through what I had read one last time. I was suddenly immensely grateful that I had read this section of Survive & Thrive so thoroughly; if I hadn't I surely would have gone for the front of its neck or possibly the chest in an attempt to strike the heart, but the book specified very clearly that the most humane way to kill was by severing the spinal cord.

The section left no room for misinterpretation. Never go for the heart unless you are very familiar with the species and have special circumstances that require it; its position and size can vary wildly, and it is extremely difficult to reliably get to. The front of the neck was acceptable; cutting the carotid artery and jugular vein would result in a very quick death, but it still wasn't an instant thing and left room for possible suffering.

Severing the spinal cord was by far the quickest, most reliable method to ensure a clean and painless kill, so that's what I was going to do.

I took a deep breath to calm my pounding heart, pressed as hard as I could, and dragged the blade as it cut into the back of the Pidove's neck.

As I felt the tension give way, I couldn't help but shiver at the realization of what I'd just done. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, reminding myself that this was not only something we needed to learn to ensure our survival in dire circumstances, but that we'd done everything correctly and that the hard part was over.

In fact, there may come a day where I had to make the decision to take a human life to protect myself or my team. I sorely hoped not, but with people like that Rocket I'd encountered in Petalburg Woods out in the world, I may not always have the luxury of resolving things without bloodshed. Keegan had pulled a gun on me and fully intended on killing me and my team once he saw us as a threat; if people like that were prepared to take a life, then I needed to be as well. If it ever came down to a true battle of life and death, holding back could prove to be a disadvantage that got me or my team killed.

Snapping myself from my thoughts and feeling more at peace with what I'd just done, I opened my eyes, ready to press on with what I knew needed to be done as I looked at the results of my actions.

It wasn't pretty, but I was sure that it was indeed quick and painless. Survive & Thrive had mentioned that small birds had extremely small, brittle neck-bones, and it had even given a few other methods for decapitation. Wringing its neck, doing a sharp whipping motion, or twirling it would all result in a clean decapitation, but this was only the case for small birds and felt a bit disrespectful to me. So I'd chosen to go with the much more universally applicable method of severing the spinal cord, just with some added intent on decapitation to be sure I didn't botch my first time.

The result was bloodier than I had expected, and I suddenly found myself extremely disturbed that I was holding the head of a dead Pokémon. I quickly put it out of sight before glancing down at Eevee to find him no longer shaking but standing completely still, staring wide-eyed at the lower-half of the Pidove. He was likely still trying to process things like I had just done, only struggling to come to terms with it more.

I sighed, kneeling down and grabbing my water bottle to wash the blood off of my hands before it had a chance to dry.

"Death is never a good thing, but it's an inevitable part of living. Someday, you and I will die; but hopefully not anytime soon. I'm sure you've been hunted once or twice before by preditors, so you should know that it's survival of the fittest. We need to learn this, and we need to be capable of taking a life if we ever need to defend ourselves. We've done great so far and the hardest part is done, but that doesn't mean the rest will be any more pleasant. Now we have a responsibility to see this through, so don't get cold feet on me. This is new for me too, so we'll work together to get this done right, sound good?"

Eevee snapped out of his daze, looking up at me and giving a slight shiver momentarily before nodded.

"Atta boy. Now, let's try to figure out how to do… field dressing, I think it was called. It's where we harvest the usable parts, so let's take our time and do it right."

Survive & Thrive was quite possibly the single best investment decision I'd ever made, at least in terms of bang for your credits. Since small birds like Spearow, Taillow, Pidgey, and Pidove were so commonly hunted for their abundance, and due to their nearly identical anatomy, the section detailing how to do field dressing for birds was extremely detailed and surprisingly straightforward.

There were two main methods; plucking and breasting. The primary difference was that breasting would only leave you with the breast meat, which was the only part of the bird with any amount of usable meat, while plucking would leave you with the whole bird to work with and eat.

After a bit of discussion with Eevee, we went with breasting. It might be considered slightly more wasteful, however neither Eevee nor I had any appetite for consuming anything other than the breast meat. Someday when I was a bit more supplied with ingredients and experienced with cooking, I might try making a soup or something that utilized more parts, but today simply wasn't that day. Eevee had no interest in chewing on the legs or wings, and I wasn't about to guilt him into it by saying we shouldn't be wasteful.

In the spirit of making the most of the life we took, we decided to try using what remained as bait. We still had some daylight remaining, and after seeing how much meat we actually got from the Pidove I wanted to try to get one or two more. The meat would have been a decent meal for Eevee, but I wasn't about to feed it to Eevee raw and risk him contracting something. I knew Pokémon digestion systems were much more equipped to deal with raw meat than humans, but it still felt like an unnecessary risk.

I needed to learn how to cook it, and there was a very real chance I would botch it considering my nearly non-existent experience cooking anything of note. Plus, half of the point of this exercise was to learn how to hunt to provide nutrition for both Eevee and myself, so I'd need more to work with in order to call this expedition a true success.

After a little bit of setup, the bait sat in the open near a dense bush that Eevee was currently taking cover in. I was sitting still on the lowest branch of a nearby tree, mostly obscured by the trunk and just barely peaking around. It gave me cover not only from any birds that flew in from above, but also from any rodents that may be on the forest's floor. We'd made sure that Eevee could see my spot before finishing the setup, and this time the plan was to use the hand signals.

It didn't take more than five minutes of waiting before I heard something rustling in some nearby bushes, and my heart dropped as a Zigzagoon appeared, sniffing the ground and air as it zigged and zagged in its signature spastic movement pattern.

Although not ideal, I decided as I saw it begin picking through the Pidove that we should at least give it a try. It was much larger than Eevee, and I really doubted that we were going to have a clean knockout like last time, but this adventure was about pushing our boundaries. Eevee needed to grow some confidence, and I needed to learn more about hunting beyond the words on a page.

I gave the hand signal to attack; two fingers straight up then flicking them down toward the Zigzagoon twice in quick succession, which didn't look terribly dissimilar to air quotes other than I kept my fingers straight. It wasn't the best hand gesture ever, but it was the closest equivalent I had been able to come up with the two sharp whistles back when I had suddenly decided to create a non-verbal system with Apollo and Duran.

For a moment, I didn't think Eevee saw, or possibly he was just too intimidated to initiate. Nothing happened, until a few seconds later Eevee finally made a move.

Eevee launched out of the bush with a Quick Attack, leaping up to connect with the side of the Zigzagoon's head as he blissfully enjoyed his latest found treasure.

It wasn't nearly as effective as it had been with the Pidove. It wasn't even enough to knock the Zigzagoon off its feet; it was more akin to somebody punching him in the cheek. His head jerked as Eevee connected, but he stood his ground and quickly widened his stance as he realized a fight was upon him.

I silently cursed, jumping down from the branch and palming the pepper spray in one hand and Eevee's Luxury Ball in the other. In theory, Eevee was a bit outmatched here, however I refused to not at least try to win the battle.

I had faith in Eevee. Somebody had to, because he clearly didn't, shivering as he faced down a rather angry Zigzagoon; something I wasn't used to seeing. They always struck me as curious, cheerful, and energetic, but it seemed that one way to get on their bad side was to do a sneak-attack while they enjoyed the spoils of their scavenging.

"Baby Doll Eyes!" I shouted, deciding that was probably the best way to ensure this didn't get too out of hand. We'd never practiced the move, and I wasn't even sure if Eevee knew that's what humans called it, but he'd demonstrated it to me and Samantha had confirmed what it was.

Hopefully, it would help cut down the aggression I was seeing in the Zigzagoon's eyes and give us a better shot at coming out unscathed.

Eevee took a step back, and just as I thought he was about to abandon the fight he gave a look that screamed sad, scared, defenseless baby.

It clearly worked, as I saw the anger in Zigzagoon's eyes fade just a bit, but it wasn't enough to make him forget about being wronged.

He charged at Eevee, zigging as he closed the distance. It was pretty quick, but it was definitely not a Quick Attack or anything of that nature. My guess was he was going for a standard tackle, something we should be able to handle.

"Quick Attack, go for the side!"

This time Eevee wasted no time with hesitating, clearly not wanting to wait around for the coming impact. He took off to the side, running easily twice the speed of the Zigzagoon as he began to encircle him, looking for an opening.

It wasn't an easy task; that much I could see. The constant zagging pattern of the Zigzagoon complicated things, and every time Eevee would begin to dive inward Zigzagoon would once again change course, now charging towards the edge of Eevee's perimeter.

They kept trying to find a way to connect, but soon enough Eevee's Quick Attack ran out of steam and he was left panting.

I suddenly regretted having Eevee do Quick Attack. I'd known how much it took out of him and that he couldn't hold it for very long; I shouldn't have burned through his stamina so carelessly.

The Zigzagoon renewed the vigor in its charge, quickly closing the distance between him and Eevee as he tried to run, but was too winded to outpace the attacking Pokémon. This was looking bad, and I knew for a fact that Protect wasn't in a place to fully save him from the incoming impact.

In a split-second decision, I did something I once again knew Apollo would have disapproved of. I raised Eevee's Pokéball and quickly recalled him before almost instantly re-releasing him by my side, confusing both of the battle's participants.

Was it a cheap move? Sure, but the point of this battle wasn't to be 'fair', and it wasn't like it was against the rules to do against a wild Pokémon, but rather considered bad sportsmanship.

Frankly, I didn't give a damn about sportsmanship in that moment. My priorities were to help give Eevee some experience and confidence and to learn more about how to ensure we had food in even the most dire financial or survival circumstances.

Not to mention, in the brief couple of seconds I had to contemplate the move, I realized my intuition told me it wasn't something that Eevee would find distasteful, but rather appreciate. Apollo would have hated it, and my guess was that Duran wouldn't appreciate it either even if he saw the practicality, but Eevee?

Eevee's panicked eyes and body language told me he saw this as a fight for survival at least before that little maneuver. Now, though his ears were folded back and he lightly shivered, he looked up at me with a look of deep gratitude, realizing what had happened and that I'd just saved him from taking a massive hit.

"Wanna call it, or think you can give it one more try after catching your breath?" I muttered, watching as the Zigzagoon squared back up and unleashed a Growl, causing Eevee to wince.

"I don't think your Quick Attack is quite good enough to work for this, but I bet a few Swift could do it. You've been practicing a lot, and he's not as strong as he looks, trust me," I encouraged as I glanced down at Eevee, who looked up at me hesitantly.

Zigzagoon once again began to charge forward, zigging and zagging as he came in for a Tackle. Eevee took a step back, but created a singular Swift in front of him and shot it forward.

I watched with wide eyes as it swayed back, tracking the opponent's erratic angles with amazing precision before colliding into the top of its head and causing the charge to stop. Zigzagoon looked more confused than anything; my guess was he hadn't ever been hit by a move like that and wasn't sure what to make of it.

Honestly, it didn't look like it did much damage, but I was confident that this Zigzagoon was on the weaker end of the spectrum. There had to be a way we could win this, I just knew it.

"That's it Eevee, let him have it."

Eevee didn't disappoint, seemingly a bit more focused and courageous now that the charge had momentarily stopped. This time he managed to create two projectiles, sending them towards the Zigzagoon as it let loose yet another Growl before resuming its charge.

His attack stopped just as soon as it started, with one Swift colliding into his face and the other into his chest. I clicked my tongue in annoyance, seeing that we weren't really hurting our opponent so much as momentarily distracting him.

Eevee was panting at this point, his stamina clearly reaching its limits while the Zigzagoon seemed intent on finishing this fight and claiming its prize. He began his sporadic charge forward, and my mind raced with our options.

Then, I remembered Eevee had a couple of other moves he'd shown that we hadn't put to use yet that just might work.

"Sand Attack, then Tackle its side!"

Eevee kicked at the ground, flinging dirt and grass in an arc toward the charging Zigzagoon and coating it's face. It didn't do anything to slow the charge, but the weaving stopped and it ran straight at Eevee before throwing its weight with all its might where it last saw Eevee.

Problem was, the Zigzagoon was blinded to the fact that Eevee had lept to the side, giving it an opening for a clean Tackle of his own. He struck the Zigzagoon in the side of the ribs; it wasn't quite powerful enough to knock him over, but I could tell that one definitely hurt as there was a clear grunt and recoil from the impact.

Eevee himself was a bit shaky on his feet; slamming into something nearly three times his weight clearly didn't leave him unscathed, but from what I could tell it surely hurt the Zigzagoon more.

We needed this to end, and fast. Hopefully Eevee had gotten enough of a chance to catch his breath that he could pull off one final Quick Attack for a knockout. If that didn't work… I was going to recall Eevee and make a break for it. I had the pepper spray, and I was fairly confident in my ability to climb a tree faster than the Zigzagoon could if needed.

"One last push, give it everything you've got! Quick Attack, go for the knockout!"

Eevee lept back as Zigzagoon launched forward with a Headbutt; I could see that it was blinking a lot and didn't have the best vision, but it clearly was still able to make out Eevee's shape. The Zigzagoon's head slammed into the ground where Eevee had been, and Eevee took advantage of the opening to do a short burst of a Quick Attack right into the top-back of the head.

The good news is that it worked; Zigzagoon slumped over and lost consciousness immediately upon taking the strike.

The bad news… Eevee did too. He'd slammed the top of his head into Zigzagoon's, and with minimal give from the much larger creature had clearly done a number on him as well.

I stood there in a state of shock, looking at the two fallen Pokémon for a moment before coming to a realization.

Samantha was right; I really did have the tendency to be an idiot. As much thought as I'd taken into what I would bring out for our expedition, it hadn't occurred to me to bring a potion.

Smacking my head and groaning in annoyance, vowing not to make that mistake in the future as I kneeled over Eevee and gave him a quick lookover. He was breathing and there was no blood; he was simply out cold. Given a bit of time, he should be perfectly fine.

I scooped him up and nestled him into my hoodie's pouch, petting his head affectionately as I turned my attention to the Zigzagoon. I had half a mind to leave it and go back to camp to tend to Eevee, but I was sure he'd be awake before we made it back anyway.

Not to mention, Eevee had put in serious work to bring down this Zigzagoon. I wouldn't have the heart to tell him it was all for nothing; he needed to know that his bravery and efforts had paid off.

With a sigh I pulled out my utility knife, flipped Survive & Thrive to the page that outlined how to handle smaller mammals, and got to work.

I had a few realizations by the time Eevee and I returned to camp.

The first was that I needed a new knife or two. I was able to get the job done, but an old utility knife was not ideal for what I'd needed to do.

The second was that Zigzagoon had a lot more to offer than the Pidove. Not only did I have a few pounds of meat stored away in the waterproof sack I had brought, but I also ended up with a roll of its fur.

I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but Survive & Thrive had very good instructions on how to harvest the hide. Skinning wasn't the most pleasant experience, but it was surprisingly easy and I didn't want to be wasteful on anything I could possibly use or sell.

The final thing that I realized was that this trip was a resounding success. After Eevee had come to and realized that he'd won, he carried himself proudly with a confidence I'd never seen in him.

Sure, he'd gotten a bit of a self-esteem boost from the Pidove, but clearly taking down something nearly three times his size had helped him realize just how capable he could be.

The change was so striking that he didn't even want to ride in my hoodie pouch on the walk back, despite clearly still being worn down. He stubbornly insisted on walking beside me, but only after I insisted that he not lead the way because we wouldn't be hunting or fighting anything on the way back. His head was held high, his chest slightly puffed out, and the tail was swaying back and forth, curled upward rather than just above the ground.

Overall, he carried an air of self-satisfaction and pride I hadn't seen in him, and I really hoped that it was something that wasn't temporary.

As Eevee and I got closer to camp, I felt Apollo's presence return to my mind.

Concern. "All fine?"

"Yes, better than fine. Our trip was very successful. Everything alright at camp?"

Relief. "Good. No problems, but no Sammy yet."

I clicked my tongue but realized it might be for the best. I'd washed the blood off my hands and had the meat in the bag, but I currently had a Zigzagoon pelt hanging out of my pocket. Not to mention, I still needed to cook the meat. I hadn't even considered what I would do if I came back to camp after a successful hunt and had Samantha waiting for me; my mind was so desperate for a distraction that I'd latched onto the first thing I could think of other than continue training, not wanting to push my team too hard.

Reassurance. "Sammy will come. Patient."

I nodded silently before chuckling to myself, realizing Apollo wasn't actually on my shoulder to see.

Eevee and I were back at camp soon enough, and to my surprise both Apollo and Duran seemed to be practicing Protect together of their own volition.

Not only that, but there were dead leaves and various-sized sticks piled neatly by the tent, ready to be used for a campfire.

I don't know what it was about that in particular, but the gesture made me a little emotional. It was almost like an acknowledgment of my efforts and struggles, a forgiveness of my many shortcomings, and a helping hand to ease my burden in any small way they could.

I was being stupid and reading into it way too much, I knew that. They were probably just bored and desperately looking for any productive way they could pass the time. Still, it meant a lot to me in that moment.

Apollo Teleported onto my shoulder and hugged my neck, sending me warm emotions while Eevee trotted over to Duran and began excitedly telling tales of his triumphs. I closed my eyes to contain the tears that threatened to spill and leaned my head against Apollo, feeling incredibly grateful that I had a family as great as this and that Apollo had seemingly gotten over the disappointment in me he'd been feeling earlier.

I didn't know if he had just had time to cool down or reflect, or if he'd possibly had a conversation with Duran, but I didn't care. All that mattered was that our family was closer than ever, even if my supposed 'sister' was nowhere to be found.

The sun now setting, I could only assume she wouldn't be showing up tonight. That realization might have been tough to swallow a couple of hours ago, but as things stood I was grateful to be able to spend some alone time with my team.

My restlessness now completely soothed, I was perfectly content to sit with my family and watch as Eevee told his new brothers the tale of his triumphs. Apollo might not agree with some of the decisions and tactics we'd used, but I felt more confident than ever that he would understand and forgive us.

Confusion. "What to forgive?"

I shrugged, deciding to let him hear the story from Eevee as I pulled out my cooking equipment and the sack of meat we had procured to try my hand at cooking the meat.

"Eevee will tell the story. Please be supportive even if you disagree. What we did was not easy, but was necessary."

Understanding.

I nodded, turning my attention back to attempting to cook the meat. It probably wouldn't taste great considering I had no seasonings or real clue on what I was doing, but there was also a chance it might just be the best meal Eevee, Duran and I had ever had.

Even if it ended up being completely inedible, it would still be a learning experience, another great family bonding activity, and a memory I would always cherish. It may not have been particularly wholesome, but it was necessary to ensure me and my team lived long enough to achieve our dreams and live a happy life together, something I would do everything in my power to ensure.

A/N: Many may not like this chapter, but I simply had to write it. I broke precedent by giving a clear warning, and even structured things so you had the option to easily skip it without consequences. I tried to balance things and not go overboard; I glossed over field dressing a lot and left out many other details such as what happens when a bird loses its head. So if you think this was too far, consider that this was the very tame version of what it could have been. I don't anticipate needing to go into detail like that again, at least for hunting and probably fishing. But it is a rated M story, and I'll write whatever the story calls for, so time will tell. Just don't expect a warning next time, because if something similarly graphic happens it'll likely be heavily tied into the plot.

Shoutout to GoMagikarp for beta-reading this chapter.

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