Chapter 4 - Battle and Meetings...
--- MC POV ---
"Let's start the show, shall we?"
'I should limit myself to just slightly above the human limits so that they don't get freaked out...Well more than they already have with the death games occurring occasionally'
The bear recovered after a minute of shaking the haziness from its eyes and dizziness from its head. It looked towards me and roared at its newfound prey and source of nourishment.
I stretched my legs and bent my back to crack it and once I got into the infamous Kakashi battle stance, I motioned towards it with my right hand as if to say bring it. It got more angry and roared again as it charged right at me.
I looked behind me at David and told him to move it.
"I suggest dodging as my earlier statement about not saving you again still applies at this very moment, so if you don't wanna become the nourishment for the dandelions then move it..."
I grabbed a tree branch and swiftly dodged by pulling myself up onto the branch as David rolled to the side and started to book it.
The bear rammed straight into the tree and became confused about its whereabouts as it growled slightly and tried to regain its bearings. I didn't give it the chance to as I jumped down onto its back and stabbed it with a kunai i had readied earlier.
It flinched from the pain but didn't show any other form of pain and immediately tried to shake me off its back. I held onto its fur and slashed at its ear 3 times to dismember it and effectively halve its hearing range.
This time it did roar again from pain but I ignored it and went for the other ear to try and cut that one off as well. However, it sensed I was going for the other ear and quickly went on its hind legs and tried to slam me into the tree it had rammed into earlier.
I reacted quickly and let go of its fur and as soon as I touched the ground with my toes, I sprang to the side while aiming the kunai at its eye and throwing it to potentially blind it as well.
It noticed the kunai coming flying towards it and swung its paw to deflect the kunai and imbedded it into the ground in front of it. I stared down the bear and withdrew another kunai from my pouch.
A plan formulated in my mind and I went through it step by step to ensure its success and get some coolness points from the survivors.
I took a step forward and the bear widened it's maw to growl at me in warning and to try and intimidate me, I, on the other hand ignored the growl and started to slowly walk towards it and it followed suit as we both then picked up speed until we were a few meters away from each other.
I took out a smoke bomb from my pouch and threw it in front of the bear, it exploded and covered the bear with smoke that was thick enough that you can bearly make out the very faint figure of the bear.
After that I threw the kunai and at the same time grabbed the kunai in the ground as I continued my march towards the smoke cloud and a roar was heard as I nailed the kunai that was thrown into the bears left eye.
I became a blur as I reappeared atop of the bear as the smoke was dispersing and getting thinner to the point all the survivors could almost clearly see us. I stabbed the bear in its other eye and dragged the kunai down to the side of its face to create a large wound on its face.
'Improvised Flying Raijin - Crimson Departure!'
It swung at me in pain and tried to decapitate me with its claws that looked unsettling with how they seemed to be sharper than normal. I dodged the swipe and back flipped by placing my feet on the kunai and jumping backwards, further imbedding the kunai into its wounds and completely blinding it with the blow.
It roared in pain and stumbled backwards as it swayed side to side, blood slightly poured out from its eye sockets. I stood there and watched as it fell down and its breathing got shallow to the point it seemed dead, key word being 'seemed'.
David at this point in time decided to finally embrace the situation with his presence again with a few of the weaker minded survivors following him and Detective Tapp out of the forestry.
They stood a few feet away from both me and the supposedly dead bear as I mentally face palmed at their positioning.
Laurie stepped forward and denied David the chance to open his mouth as she questioned me.
"Firstly I'd like to thank you for helping us with the bear even though it is questionable as to how a human could take out a bear with a few knives and martial arts" she said with an inquisitive look on her face.
I just shrugged my shoulders and turned to face them as I spoke out.
"Beats me, I wouldn't possibly know anything about that as it is an impossible feat". I said uncaringly while shifting my footing slightly for the present I was about to send out.
She seemed to be slightly annoyed and amused by that comment as she smiled and her right eyebrow twitched a little bit. I just smiled and took a step forward, which made all the physical types to get ready like they were going to stop me from doing anything.
"Woah there bud, calm down and don't make any hasty movements" spoke out Tapp while trying to placate me with a 'chill out' gesture.
"I am calm Mr Detective, it's you guys who aren't calm and not very smart either" I said calmly while chuckling a little at the little jab I threw at them.
"Huh, How'd you know? And what do you mean by 'Not very smart'?" He questioned with a confused look on his face.
"Okay first off, Your practically telling the entire realm that your a Detective with that badge around your neck, Secondly, what I mean by 'Not very smart' is that none of you bothered to check if the bear was dead before coming out and standing within pouncing distance, not very smart indeed".
All of their eyes widened, except for Dwight and Bill as they were already a fair distance away from the group of bear food as they hadn't followed the group.
I sighed, exasperated by their lack of awareness for basic survival instincts. This is going to be harder than I originally thought in looking after and guiding them. As if to make it's presence know once again, the bear growled and got back up slowly while shifting its body at the survivors within it's eyesight, even though it couldn't see anymore doesn't mean it couldn't smell the survivors scents.
Trusting it's sense of smell, the bear lunged forward with whatever strength it had left and aimed to swipe a few of the survivors in half. Unfortunately since it couldn't see it was also coming straight in my direction, so as any good person would do, I ran towards David's back and used him like a spring board to jump in front of the bear.
As I neared the bear, I got a few Senbon needles out of my pocket and utilising Sakura's knowledge on animal physiology, I aimed and threw the needles at the bears vulnerable spots to make it fall down and out as I drove another needle into it's brain as it slowly lost it's breathe and closed it eyes.
After making sure that it was actually dead and retrieving the equipment I had used up and that wasn't destroyed in the battle, I turned towards the other survivors who had their mouths slightly open from awe and what I presumed to be fear.
*Sigh*
"Now that that's been taken care of, how's about we get back inside the camp, so I can boast about my achievement in taking down a bear like I am Russian"
As I said that I started walking towards the bear and withdrew a skinning knife from my pouch. As I started to skin the bear and separate the edible and delicious meat, I felt two presences approaching me from behind, I turned my head and glanced at the people behind me, it was Leland and Ana.
I was slightly surprised as I didn't expect them to approach me, but I didn't let that show on my face or through my body language as I was essentially a trained Shinobi thanks to my abilities and experience from Team 7.
They just stood there for a few seconds with Leland watching me and Ana analyzing my actions and body language, seemingly to determine if I was 'approachable' and had cooled down from my battle high.
I finished up skinning and removing the edible meat from the bear and wrapped the meat up in the pelt, hoisted over my shoulder and turned to them with a raised eyebrow, questioning their presence.
"And to what do I owe this pleasure of having you in my circle of social interaction" I said with a smile as I bowed charmingly.
Their eyebrows twitched a bit and Ana despite looking a little off put, smiled a little and chuckled with Leland looking confused.
"Well we were just wondering who you are and how did you get here as we haven't seen you here before" she questioned as she crossed her arms and looked at me with a quizzical expression.
"Well little miss, as you can see I am but just another Survivor trying to live through the Entity's trials and so far, I am succeeding in doing so as I lived through my first trial" I say humbly as if surviving in a unknown place full of danger on the first time is easy to do so, when it is not, for a normal person that is.
"That much I could gather from just seeing how strong you are, which begs the question of how are you this strong? And also what is your name?" Ana replied as she smiled slightly and shifted her footing.
"Well to answer that in reverse order, My name is Jameson Preacher, and as for how I'm this strong? All I can say is that I grew up in a completely different environment from everyone here, that required me to get strong or I would be placed upon someone else's chopping block and become food for their nourishment and increasing strength"
I said nonchantly while scratching an itch on my butt.
They looked at me in intrigue and slight disgust as I did so and started to move towards the camp.
"But hey look on the bright side, at least now we got some food, just need to prep it, cook it and serve, that's at least one good meal before your next trial, so let's go, I wanna see what the bears in this realm taste like..."
They both looked to one another and Leland shrugged his shoulders as Ana shook her head in exasperation.
*Sigh*
"Looks like we got another quirky survivor on our hands, but maybe..." she said as she paused to look at my back.
"Maybe What?" Leland questioned with a confused look on his face.
"Maybe that might just be what we need, someone unpredictable and carefree, to bring some semblance of light to the trials"
"And? He's the one to bring it?" He said without much hope in his voice.
"That is yet to be seen, we'll only know once we get put into a trial with him, come on lets go" she said as she ended the little chat and followed me back to camp.
Back with the other survivors, some of them were watching us, while those with survival experience kept an eye on the forest in case another bear or predator leaped out of the fern, you never know in this messed up realm.
The ones who were watching us three have a chat looked at me as I walked away, hesitating on whether to follow me or not, Laurie glanced at the now officially dead bear and took a step towards my retreating back and started to follow me, starting a chain reaction as they all followed one by one with the last one's being David, Nea, Jake and Bill.
-- 2 minutes later --
I was sitting down on a log with my eyes closed as I listened in on a few conversations happening around me.
I handed the bear meat to Bill, who reluctantly took it to prep, cook and serve to the survivors with a small thanks, which I waved off as if it's nothing.
I heard a few snippets of conversations, with most being about how I handled that bear like it was nothing.
"What did his parents feed him, that made him be able to fight a bear"
"He didn't even get touched and made it look like light work, as if he was taking out a unruly cub and not a full adult bear"
"What kind of monster entered this realm?"
"He seems nice but we can't be one hundred percent sure that he's not just acting that way, I mean he could be a killer in disguise"
Curiosity.
Caution.
Disbelief.
Jealousy.
Gratitude.
These were the emotions I could sense thanks to my passive empathic abilities (aka passive but restrained Sage mode).
Ana's group sat nearby with them conversing occasionally with each other. I decided to cut out the rest of the conversations, just until there was something interesting going on, I didn't care about whether they would keep talking about me or about what they say.
Words can't penetrate my mind or skin. This body was strong enough to handle that and the mind even stronger than that. I decided to meditate as just sitting there was boring me and who knows how long it'll be before the next trial.
After a few minutes of doing so, I felt someone approaching me and opened my eyes to gaze at my guest. It was Claudette, holding some makeshift bandages and tinctures. How sweet.
She seemed nervous to approach me and looked like she was about to turn around and walk away, but some invisible force was pushing her towards me.
I closed my eyes and waited, when I felt a tap on my shoulder, I opened my eyes and gazed at her curiously.
"Could I help you with anything, Miss?" I asked curiously.
She seemed to swallow her nervousness and instead steel them to speak to me.
"Um, D-do you need any help, have y-you got any injuries?"
I stared at her blankly, analyzing her facial expressions and shifted my attention to the items in her arms.
She looked like she was about to break out into a cold sweat and have a heart attack from my gaze so I refocused on her face and lightened my gaze into a softer one with a gentle smile.
"It's okay Miss, I didn't get hurt or anything but thank you for your kind consideration, instead may i ask for your name? Mine is Jameson Preacher but you can call me James" I said while holding out my hand for a handshake.
She looked at my face and then at my hand and fumbled a little as she sighed in relief and took my hand in hers.
"M-my name is Claudette Morell, and its nice to meet you, James" she shook my hand and I just smiled to lower the tension on her shoulders.
"Likewise Miss Morell, I didn't expect there to be a individual capable of giving out a helping hand within this ragtag group of survivors" I said, sounding touched and surprised as I let go of her hand, while withdrawing it.
She looked at me a little surprised as she asked me in a confused voice.
"What do you mean? I don't think we've ever met as your new here and I'm sure some of the others want to help but are nervous to do so".
"Ah but you see Miss Morell, I did find two survivors wandering the forest to get to here and asked for directions, however sadly they just didn't want to tell me, even though I wasn't hostile, now I won't say any names but I am slightly disappointed in them for not helping a fellow survivor when all it takes is a little drop of kindness to make the world slightly brighter". I said with a disappointed look on my face that changed to an encouraging one.
"I'm sorry they didn't help you, but I'll help you whenever your injured to make up for their lack of kindness and for saving us" she said determined to repay her gratitude for saving them.
"That is why you have gained my respect as while the others hesitated and kept their distance due to caution and fear, you decided to check up on me despite your own nervousness and fear, that just shows how kind and brave you are" I said while giving her a encouraging smile and grinning with a thumbs up at her.
She seemed to lighten up at that comment and smiled gently at me with gratitude seeping through.
"Thank you for telling me that, I really needed to hear it as I felt I wasn't doing enough to support everyone".
"No problem, just remember to always keep smiling and to face your fears as in the end, if you overcome them, you can help others overcome theirs". I said with the wisdom of a shounen protagonists teacher.
After that we chatted for a bit, looking like old friends who've only just met after years apart, until she started to look drowsy and fell asleep leaning against one of the logs.
During the time of our interaction, some of the others had joined and sat around the area we were sitting in. I looked around as they glanced at Claudette and continued talking amongst themselves.
I grabbed the bear pelt and asked one of the others if there was a river nearby and they said it was a little 10 minute walk to the Southeast.
I left the camp in the middle of the night and travelled a few meters away, I put the pelt down in a small clearing and used Chakra Sense to detect if anyone or anything was following me. Nothing was following me. Good.
I did some handsigns and created a water sprout to wash the excess blood off of the pelt and then did another set to used wind style to dry it. I waited a few minutes and picked it up to make my journey back to the camp.
When I got there some of the survivors had fallen asleep and the only ones awake right now were Bill, Tapp, David, Meg, Nea, Jake, Feng, Quentin, Ana and Sonny.
They were talking about something and judging by how they looked at me as I returned and got quiet, it must've been about me, but I ignored them for now and went to Claudette, placed the Pelt down and then went to Laurie to pick her up and bring her over to Claudette.
I gently laid her down next to Claudette so as to not wake her up and grabbed the pelt to cover them as they were a bit farther away from the campfire and I could see Claudette shivering slightly.
I placed the paw part of the pelt under their head for a bit more comfort than the dirt floor riddled with mini pebbles.
Afterwards I just went to the other side of the log and sat down on the floor, leaning against it. I closed my eyes again to conserve energy and rest up for my next trial as I didn't know where it would be or who I might be up against.
The whispers of the others gradually grew smaller and smaller until it was just the sound of the campfire crackling. I waited and rested for 3 to 4 hours just guarding the place, before I felt something happening behind me.
I snapped my eyes open quickly and got up to take a look. There were giant spider like legs coming out of a black mist. I watched as four of the survivors were chosen to partake in the next trial. Kate, Quentin and Connie were the ones being chosen this time.
How intriguing...
This meant that there was another survivor elsewhere who had been chosen to partake, kinda depressing as they must've come out of a trial, and got sent right back in.
As Connie was teleported away, the spider like legs seemingly turned towards me and I could hear the bones cracking.
'Wait do spiders even have bones in their legs or even their bodies, I've never seen a spiders skeletal structure before, so who knows?' I thought with a confused look on my face.
It moved its leg as if telling me to come forward, I stood there and contemplated for 2 seconds before shrugging my shoulders.
"Eh what the heck, why not?" I made a flame shadow clone to watch over the sleeping survivors and took a few steps towards the Entity's legs to get whisked away to another realm.
Ah shit, Here we go again...