Chapter 132 – Hunting in the Purple Forest
Kent walked through the cave at his aunt's side with his head held high, full of confidence. His family was proud of him. The minute he stepped from the mouth of the cave into the forest that didn't sound like a forest, his ears flattened, his tail moved closer to his backside, and he inched closer to the only adult he could see. Aunt Rosalie.
"Out here Young Prince, if you hear something, it's either prey or a threat. Though scimmia are rather weak to us individually, we consider them our biggest threat due to their fighting tactics."
"Aunt Rosalie, what are fighting tactics?" he asked while straining to hear anything. He couldn't and thought he was doing it wrong.
"That is how we fight. The way we move, what we choose to attack, looking for weaknesses and using those to our advantage. Have you ever seen your mother attack specific places?" Rosalie cocked her head curiously.
Kent thought for a moment, "Mommy almost always goes for the throat with her whip. Uncle Karlen attacks the legs first."
Rosalie smiled and nodded, "these are tactics. Using the weakest part of the body against the enemy. We are no exception. The fastest way to kill is to rip out the throat or claw at the chest if you can get to it. So, before we go hunting, I want you to try to bite my throat."
Kent nodded. He charged at her and jumped over a tentacle and got batted away by a forepaw. He rolled away a few feet. As he righted himself back on his feet, he heard laughing. He turned around to see a young panteri who only had two legs and two tentacles rolling on his back, pawing the air while laughing. To a human's ears, it would have sounded more like growling.
Kent looked at the other child, knowing he used to look like that before his mom evolved him. Kent looked back at his aunt, not understanding the issue.
Finally, the other youth calmed down. "How can you have so many tentacles and be that bad at hunting?" he said as he approached like he owned the place.
"My name is Bubba. Who are you and why have I never seen you before?" he said putting on airs as though he was royalty.
Kent was not experienced with those of his kind and was feeling self-conscious before he even left his mother's side.
"I'm Kent. Son of Leila and Levalis," he said weakly.
"So, you're a fraud. She's dead and all her kits died with her," Bubba replied harshly, challengingly.
Rosalie stepped in, "one survived. Kent was rescued by the same one who informed us of her death. King Levalis told her to keep him and raise him. She's here to investigate something and the King wishes me to teach him how to hunt. Either help of move along on your own hunt."
Bubba scoffed, "he couldn't even beat me if he tried. Raised by humans. He's a laughing stock. He couldn't even hunt a topsy!"
Kent growled, "you think because you're bigger than me that your better than me?"
While Kent spoke, he examined his terrain. There was a rock in between the two, but it wasn't very tall. There weren't any bushes or any grass to speak of. The darkness didn't affect him at all. What advantage does my extra pair of legs give me?
"I know I can beat you," came the taunt.
Bubba smirked as he noticed Kent's feet dig into the ground and run toward him. What he didn't expect was what happened next.
The extra pair of legs added speed and increased jumping power to scale trees in a hurry. While he had no trees he could use, he jumped off the top-most part of the rock and flipped in the air. He was smaller in mass than his cousin, but he had more legs and tentacles.
Shoving Bubba's tentacles aside with his own as he came down, Kent realized he dropped a little short but that didn't matter. He jumped one more time, twisting in the air and landed on top of Bubba's back.
Bubba snarled in anger. He tried to run but found his body no longer responded to his own demands.
Kent planted both sets of back legs on Bubba's hind quarters and dug in with his claws. One set of tentacles wrapped firmly around Bubba's throat, another around his upper front legs and the last set around his upper back legs. He was cursing his small size having noted the older panteri had longer tentacles. If his were bigger, Bubba would have been on his belly. He put his teeth on the back of Bubba's neck and the fight was over.
Rosalie looked at her nephew in shock, "Kent, what exactly did I just see? Let Bubba up by the way…"
He did and walked proudly to his aunt's side. She was obviously pleased by his actions, so he was feeling a bit better about himself.
"Mommy and Daddy were going into a dangerous place with a mean lady. I was little and couldn't be left behind so Mommy had me eat these glowing ball things she called crystals and I grew an extra pair of legs and all these tentacles. I didn't have any skills yet, but I was stronger and faster."
Kent put on a proud smile, "Daddy got frozen. Mommy had me hurt the bad lady while she attacked as well. I hurt myself when I fell off the bad lady but not really bad. I wasn't good at jumping yet. Mommy's been teaching me what she can, and I have been watching her. I try to copy her a lot."
Rosalie smiled, "at your age, you should still be tripping all over yourself. It's unheard of to have your strength at your age. You are truly your father's son. I think you'll surpass him. How about I show you some things while we hunt. It's clear you need more advanced training than I first thought. Though your size is your biggest obstacle, I think."
"Aunt Rosalie, what's a topsy?" Kent asked curiously.
"It's a bug that eats leaves from the underside. It's about the size of my paw," she replied.
While Kent listened to his aunt, he heard laughing. He looked over and his cousin was on his back laughing again. He tried to ignore him as he listened to more important things. He heard a male voice tell his cousin he needed to work harder so he could beat the Prince next time.
Kent ignored them.
"Have you fought any monsters?" she asked.
He shook his head, "Mommy said she didn't think I was coordinated enough just yet."
She smiled, "I'm actually impressed with your coordination. I'm going to take you somewhere I think you could benefit from. At your age, we usually have the kits playing with flying insects, but we don't have you for long. It means leaving the forest, but I think it will be okay."