Hello everyone and welcome for another update of Tsuna: Legend of Primordial.
I was very happy with how this chapter turned out as we are now starting to see Tsuna grow stronger and stronger.
This chapter will push her to her limits. Enjoy!
Chapter Six
Three years have gone by after Tsuna's rumble in the jungle with the pachycephalosaurus, as she was now eighteen years old. Ever since her first victory, the young Üngana has shown great progress in her strength and intellect.
In the years that have gone by, the feisty teenager was starting to enter adulthood. Her hair was now long enough to reach the length of her back that was covered with many scars and scratches from her previous adventures. Her muscles were becoming well defined, as well as her beauty for she was blossoming into an exquisite creature.
But despite her natural beauty, Tsuna was never shy to danger as she loved getting physical with the male apes. Her mother on the other hand, never approved of her playful fights as Üma believed in the old ways that all female Üngana must follow.
As part of their way of life, while it falls onto the males to protect the tribe, it is the female's job to nurture the next generation. While Tsuna dreams of becoming a mother someday, she was still young and wanted to explore her home before settling down. At the same time, being the hairless wonder of the tribe, she felt that some rules did not apply to her.
Her father shared the same feelings as well, for Taruk knew that Tsuna was different. At eighteen years old, Üngana are just over six feet tall and are capable enough to start defending their tribe. Tsuna, however, was smaller than most apes her age.
If he wanted his daughter to live for as long as he has lived, Taruk knew that Tsuna needed to get stronger by any means necessary. This would win over the human girl's affection as she always believed that the two of them were of the same mindset. However, while Tsuna was off adventuring, Taruk would have to deal with Üma's disproved attitude.
Maku was also a bit jealous of his sister. While he remained with his father, learning all that he could about protecting his family, he would always watch Tsuna disappear into the vast jungle. He was happy seeing his dear sister get strong because there came a point where he was getting tired of rescuing her from time to time.
On this particular day, Tsuna ran through the jungle on all fours with a smile on her face as she was excited to explore more parts of the jungle. She saw a vine approaching and she reached out her hand to grab hold of it before her body swung off the ground. The ground shrank beneath her as she flew into the air before she grabbed onto another vine to continue her journey.
Vine swinging was Tsuna's favorite way of traveling through the dense jungle. Another favorite hobby of hers was also tree climbing. The bigger the tree the better for she loved looking at the jungle canopy beneath her.
Soon enough she propelled herself toward a nearby tree and latched herself onto it. Digging her fingers and toes into the side of the large tree, the young Üngana looked up at the highest branches with a look of determination. She climbed up the tree with ease and felt her muscles grow stronger with every branch she grabbed onto to pull herself up higher.
Before she knew it, Tsuna had reached the final branch and pulled her self up before perching herself at the top of the tree. When she was a little girl, climbing trees was always difficult as she would look to her family for help. Now, as a young woman, Tsuna could reach the top of a tree faster than her brother.
With the sun rising to the center of a clear blue sky, Tsuna starred at the vast jungle beneath her. She watched the small birds fly over the canopy of dense trees and could hear all the creatures of the jungle. The human girl could recognize almost every sound being made, from small howling monkeys to large roaring dinosaurs.
She also looked beyond the jungle and could see a ring of tall mountains enclose her beloved home. While she would want to climb up the large mountains, and see what lied beyond her home, it was far beyond the safety of the Üngana territory. For now, she'll settle with a gorgeous view of the dense jungles, grassy plains, and flowing rivers of her home of Primordial.
After taking in the stunning view, Tsuna looked beneath her and held her breath before diving off her branch that was hundreds of feet in the air. As she free fell to the bottom of the jungle, she felt her heart race and her gut sinking quick while she felt the rush of wind blast her face. It was a sensation she loved, for she was a thrill seeker that no Üngana could match.
Just as she saw the floor quickly approach, the young girl grabbed onto a nearby vine before swinging herself with great momentum. Tsuna knew all too well on which vines to grab onto for if any vine was losing its shade of green it would be too old to grab onto and would easily snap.
While Tsuna swung through the jungle, she noticed how the trees were starting to disappear. But as she narrowed her vision, she could see water approaching and was relieved for it was always a hot day and she could use some water. The human girl sees a large tree lying on the floor beside the water and swings over to the large piece of wood.
She lets go of her vine and Tsuna gracefully lands onto the fallen tree that was cracked and covered with moss. The young Üngana looks back at she sees her jungle sit alongside a muddy slope as she turned around and saw how this body of water was different than most.
Across this small lake were dead trees protruding out of the water while a faint mist hovered above the surface. The trees that were still alive grew strait up while large strange vines wrapped around them. It would seem that this lake was once a valley before a flood washed away everything and left this murky swamp in its presence.
Before Tsuna could bare another thought about this strange place, a large breath of air shot out from one of the holes of the tree see sat on before hearing a strange rumbling sound. Soon enough the fallen tree beneath her began to move as the human girl looked all around, only to make a startling discovery. This was no tree, but a living creature.
She looked behind and starred deeply at the base of the tree and saw how the wood and moss were mixed with scales. The holes of the tree were not holes at all but nostrils instead. She looked on the side of the "tree" and saw claws come out from the mud. Finally she looked down and beneath her feet were a set of yellow reptilian eyes.
It would appear that Tsuna was standing on top of the head of a deinosuchus that stretched over fifty feet long. However this species of crocodile was different as evolution allowed this beast to grow a layer of wood and moss on top of its reptilian scales. The creature stretched its limbs and slowly opened its large mouth of teeth, revealing that its upper jaw was covered in wood.
Out of shear instinct, the young girl leaped off the crocolog's body and landed on one of the nearby dead trees that was sticking out of the water. She could hear the beast hiss from behind her as she jumped on several more trees before taking her way to the center of the swamp. As she turned around, she noticed how the crocolog wasn't perusing her, rather was stretching his body before resting on the muddy shore.
For millions of years, crocologs possessed the perfect camouflage. With the top portions of their bodies resembling like trees, these predators would either lie on muddy shores, or rest in the water and wait for unsuspecting prey to wonder into their territory. However these animals relied on the element of surprise, but even so while it had Tsuna within its sites, the reptile did not follow.
As Tsuna sat on a tree, she felt her heart racing while she caught her breath. This was her first time seeing a crocolog, as she now realized why the Üngana usually prefer to drink from streams and rivers. Suddenly she heard the sound of a twig snapping behind her and the poor girl turned around quickly.
She saw nothing, only a series of dead and living trees that were wrapped in large vines, and yet something seemed off. Why was it that the deinosuchus did not chase after her?
With the mist settling in, Tsuna's vision was starting to fade as the muddy shores were no longer in site. She could feel that something was watching her, but could not determine its location. She was in the middle of a swamp that was littered with dead and living trees, what could possibly be giving her such stress.
But as she calmed down, the young woman looked closely at the trees and saw how there was nothing alarming her. However, the large vines were somewhat strange.
Tsuna looked close and could see these vines wrapping themselves around the trees before leading into the water. The closer she looked the more she saw the detail in the vines and noticed that they were covered in scales. Her eyes widened and before she knew it, something lunged itself from out of the water beneath her.
The Üngana fell backwards as she held back the jaws of a large swamp boa. In an instant she was underwater looked into the eye of the snake that was attacking her. This was the reason why the crocolog didn't pursue the Ungana.
The swamp boa was a species on Primordial that was clever in the art of stealth and surprise. Growing up to seventy feet long, this ancient breed of snake resides in the swamps, wrapping its long green body amongst the trees to appear like vines. It buries its head in either mud or underwater, waiting for a victim to be within striking range in order to wrap its long body around its prey.
Struggling for a breath of air, Tsuna wrestled with the swamp boa as she used her hands to keep the head of the snake from biting her while she kicked her feet to propel herself to the surface. But the snake's nature kicked in as it quickly began to wrap its long body around the poor girl. Within three loops, the swamp boa had Tsuna in its clutches.
She kicked wildly, hoping to pry the coils off her, but the girl slowly saw her world fade to black. In a last ditch effort, the young woman pulled the head of the snake close to her before biting as hard as she could underneath the snakes throat. Her moment of savagery seemed to have paid off as the snake released her for a brief moment, allowing her to swim to the surface.
Tsuna gasped for air as she breached out of the water looking all around for dry land to swim towards. Before she could think about reaching to safety, looked beneath her and saw the head of the swamp lunging at her. She reached down and grabbed the base of the head that was close to reaching her ribs and the snake started thrashing around.
The water splashed with mud and blood that had come from the snake, as Tsuna used all her strength to keep the serpent from harming her. All the commotion could be heard from afar as the mist was starting to clear up, and Tsuna could finally sea the shore. However she noticed something that startled her, the crocolog was beginning to move.
The giant predator slowly rose from the muddy shore and moved its powerful limbs towards the water. Tsuna's eyes widened as she realized that the crocolog was swimming straight for her.
Before she could think of a way to escape, the swamp boa used the tip of its long tail to grab Tsuna from beneath. The poor girl was dragged under the water once more as she held her breath as quick as she could. While she struggled to fend off the hissing snake, she could feel her leg get wrapped around in coils before both she and the snake sank to the floor of the swamp.
Tsuna looked up at the light coming from the surface and knew she had little air left in her lungs before she would drown. But while she struggled to free herself a large shadow hovered over her and the snake. She narrowed her vision and saw the crocolog swimming in her direction as it was opening its large mouth of teeth.
Thinking quickly, she allowed more of the snake to wrap around her body, just before the deinosuchus closed it jaws on the body of the serpent. The snake hissed in pain while soon felt its coils loosen around her, before she a small window of opportunity to escape. While the crocolog crushed its jaws, the swamp boa wrapped the remained of its body around the large predator.
Tsuna swam as fast as she could before she breached the water and gasped for air. She heard the confrontation between the two predators splashing behind her as she continued to swim away. After reaching the muddy shore a sigh of both relief and exhaustion left her lungs as Tsuna plopped her face in the mud beneath her.
She looked behind and saw both the snake and crocodile continue to fight before their battle sank beneath the surface and silence fell upon the swamp. Not wanting to see who came out victorious, the young Ungana retreated back into the lush and dense jungle. She was ready to go back home and rest for the remainder of the day.
Well that's gonna be it for this chapter. Looks like Tsuna barely made it out of this one.
Originally, we were going to have Tsuna face off against a regular crocodile and boa but when my friend and I were writing the chapter, I came up with the idea of giving the crocodile tree-like camouflage and making the boa look more plant-like. I think this turned out well as it shows us just how crazy evolution has made these prehistoric creatures.
If you liked what you saw feel comment, like, and follow this story!