"Ku-chan! That fish is so big and fat! Could you catch that one for Mommy?!" Hana exclaimed excitedly. She signaled her lovable pet to fetch that particular fish from the fish trap. She had learned her lesson of not biting more than she could chew; she didn't want to be stung again out of nothing. Yesterday's experience was quite dreadful and painful. If Kuro could do it, why not just let he showcase his ability to his heart's content. She would gladly give her moral support to the fullest!
Kuro obediently went down into the trap hole and hissed. Many other fishes surrounding him pulled away but some were still frozen with fear and died on the spot. However, the pink fat fish turned its snout towards Kuro and started to retaliate! In front of Hana's eyes, it released a single bubble filled with clear water and directly jumped in. After that, the bubble floated midair with the fish within as it released an intimidating growl towards Kuro.
At least that was what Hana could perceive.
The growl sounded like the throaty growl of a Chihuahua; strange, but absolutely adorable. Hana was dumbfounded with the fish's reaction as her mouth opened wide into a big O! If a fly entered her mouth right now, the shocked aunty won't even realize! Her worldview had been widened again. It's her first time seeing a fish capable of moving on land in a bubble! It was even extremely aggressive!
Before Hana could come out from her shocked state, the floating fish started unleashing a lot of bubbles to the surrounding as it concentrated the bubbles at its foe. The scene was beautiful, just like when someone playing with a bubble gun at the beach. The bubbles refracted the sunlight making them filled with shades of rainbow. Hana was unconsciously tempted to touch the floating bubble as one of it came near. Before her finger managed to touch the bubble, Shiro quickly scooped Hana with his antlers and throw her at his back as he retreated in a flash.
A loud explosion occurred once the bubbles started to collide with each other, or when it touched any surfaces including the leaves. Hana sweated in fear when she saw the bubble, she tried to touch blew up a big boulder not far from where she stood before.
Hana was extremely worried with Kuro's safety right now!
[Ku-chan! Are you alright?!] She shouted in her mind nervously
[It's alright, Mommy. That sneaky snake won't be hurt with this kind of weak attack.] Shiro tried to reassure his mistress.
The bombardments of explosion were finally over, revealing an incensed Kuro! As Hana patted her nervous heart in relief when she saw her pet snake was unhurt, she felt a rapid lowering of temperature around her. For the first time ever, Hana saw her lovely innocent-looking snake pet hissed murderously at the floating fish in front of him. Kuro was extremely fierce and menacing. All of his adorableness was gone, revealing a chilling aura to the surrounding. She was scared witless with this side of Kuro. She didn't know that Kuro became so livid at the fish because the bubble attack nearly harmed his mistress just now. If the bubble managed to strike his mistress, she would've died!
Hana had not realized that she had just brushed with death and thus remained clueless as usual. Thank goodness Shiro was swift enough.
[You. Are. Dead!] The snake hissed ferociously. Both Hana and Shiro heard the meaning behind Kuro's aggressive hiss in their mind as they involuntarily shivered.
He dashed towards the floating fish and used his mouth to tear the barrier-like floating bubble with ease.
The fish tried its hardest to retreat and conjured a new bubble before it jumped into the second newly made bubble in an attempt to avoid the snake's frontal assault. With a fraction of a millisecond, Kuro followed through with another deadly lunge. The fish tried to slip away again, but this time, Kuro manage to bite the tip of its tail. Kuro took less than a second to inject poison into the body of the treacherous fish!
Once the fish realized it has been poisoned by the deadly snake, it panicked. The fish wriggled hard and yanked its tail off Kuro's mouth and jumped into another bubble it simultaneously conjured up.
This time, it moved directly towards Hana's direction without hesitation! It's going to attack the being on top of the white fox. That being seemed important to the snake. It needed a weak hostage who couldn't retaliate but was important enough for the snake to give up on his attack.
Realizing the fish's intention, Kuro's rage shot into an all-time high! All thoughts of serving the fish to his mommy has gone down the drain as he was overwhelmed with bloodlust.
[The shitty fish is really asking for an early death!]
A loud deadly hiss resounded. The soundwave made all the fishes inside the fishtrap not far from their location burst into a gory death like popping balloons.
Hana closed her eyes in fright as she froze up in fear at the incoming fish!
...
Ara was extremely aggrieved with the current situation.
She was now poisoned by the snake attacking her out of nowhere. She knew she was still not dead right now because the snake might want to use her for something. If not, she would've been dead right at the moment the deadly poison was injected into her dorsal fin. She was still unsure, why these people were disturbing her out of the blue. She was just minding her own business without disturbing anyone.
Last night, she found this pit full of fishes at the fringe of her great-grandpa's territory after she ran away from home due to some petty misunderstandings between her and her great-grandpa. Her great-grandpa had scolded her quite gravely when he knew she had gone off his territory without his consent. She did it because she heard the last special ingredient she needed to make into a medicine for her great-grandpa was at that location. It was her first time being scolded so badly, which hurt her heart terribly. Hence, she sneaked out during her great-grandpa's deepest meditation session the next day. She knew once her great-grandpa sunk into his meditation state, he couldn't be easily roused, lest he would receive an internal injury. Her actions will certainly make her family fall into a state of panic! Then, when she returns with the medicine in her fins, great-grandpa would certainly understand her intentions, forgive her and dote over her again like before.
Once she went off again in the direction of the final ingredient, she saw a number of fishes moved towards a certain direction as if being coerced. Out of curiosity, she peeked through a seemingly dense overgrowth of leaves and found the fish-filled pit. Feeling elated for the sudden windfall, she just jumped in and cleared out all the delicious snacks, since she planned to take a short break after all. However, after a short while, she realized that the fishes kept on coming in automatically. Hence, she took a short nap and waited. A few hours later, the pit was full again and she feasted well. She felt very fortunate to come across this treasure trove. She planned to make the pit her personal treasure chest.
However, after another short nap, she was awakened by a foreign noise as she came face to face with the notorious snake in front of her. The snake was like a celebrity figure around this area. Nobody wanted to cross him. Only unintelligent animals who didn't know better had dared to enter his territory, and as predicted, didn't live to tell the tale. Although the snake had not been sighted for a few hundred years, her great-grandpa had warned every family member not to enter the territory of the black snake repeatedly during every family meeting.
She had acquiesced her great-grandpa's instruction all this while, as she took great effort not to go on land where the snake resided. But the snake still attacked! She felt very wronged with the whole thing. Did she need to lay her life on a platter without retaliation when the snake attacked? She was unwilling to die!
A second of fast-thinking made Ara realized she needed to do something to save her little life. Don't look down on her small size. Although she was the smallest and the youngest in the family, she was also the most gifted and was blessed with a quick mind. That was one of the reasons why she was the precious doted one in her family. She did realize that the snake's behavior was highly affected by the being sitting on the white fox.
[I need to make that creature my hostage!] She braced herself and shot towards Hana with a do-or-die attitude.
...