"Nice to meet you as well, Demetri." Draco said with a smile.
'This guy seems amicable, but I'm not going to let my guard down. I wasn't able to sense his presence even a little bit, he's definitely dangerous.' Draco thought.
"So, what's the plan?" Draco asked
"Good question. For starters, we need to get out of here and back to the treetops. The monkey seems to like hunting people below the treeline." Demetri responded, looking around his surroundings.
"There should be a few stragglers loose still, those will likely be the monkey's next targets." he continued.
"Okay, that settles it then. Let's get to higher ground and wait this out. Hopefully the ape creature takes out the rest of our competition." Draco said, already moving to climb his tree.
Draco turned to see Demetri begin hopping up the branches on his own tree, and he realized that the Russian man was able to move up the tree much faster than he was.
As Draco was still climbing his first branch, the man had already jumped up three branches and was on the way to the next one.
Draco observed the man's movements, and he saw that he was essentially running up the tree. He would grab a branch and use it like a swing to launch himself to the next one.
Demetri looked down at Draco and shook his head, "You climb like a pup fresh out of the womb. You need to be faster than that to keep up." he said.
Annoyance appeared on Draco's features, "I'm new to this monkey business, don't worry I'll catch on."
Spurred on by the Russian's taunt, Draco attempted to follow Demetri's lead. He grabbed a branch and tried to swing on it, but it took him a few tries to get the momentum he needed.
Swinging forwards, Draco launched himself towards the next branch. Instead of grabbing a foothold on the tree's trunk though, he instead tried to run up along it.
Draco almost slipped as he attempted to gain traction, his bare feet offering little support.
However, his momentum aided his ascent, and he was able to barely grab onto the next branch.
The next time he tried the maneuver he was able to grab the branch much quicker, and after a few branches he had gotten the hang of it.
In this way Draco and Demetri climbed their respective trees, Demetri just ahead of Draco's position.
A short while later they were already on the top's of their trees, and they had a clear vantage point to decide their next move.
Demetri looked over the edge, "We need to keep moving South, the monkey went North so it's best to put some more distance between us." he said, already moving to jump to the next tree.
Draco watched as Demetri nimbly leaped to the next tree, hardly even shaking the branches as he landed on it.
Resolving himself, Draco followed after Demetri.
Demetri was already off to the next tree, and Draco jumped to the position the man was previously at.
His landing left a lot to be desired, and he nearly stumbled off of the tree as he caught his balance.
Seeing that Demetri was not slowing down though, Draco knew that he had to keep up or he would be left behind.
Draco lept to the next tree, landing much more gracefully this time, before launching himself to the next tree.
It was almost like leap-frog, and as Demetri jumped across the treetops Draco followed closely behind him.
After a few more minutes of this high-speed travel, Demetri stopped on a branch of easily the tallest tree Draco had seen so far.
"This one should suit our purposes." Demetri said, continuing up the tree until he reached the top.
Draco followed the man, climbing up after him until he stood on a branch just beside Demetri's position. Once they were there, Draco could see that they had a good vantage point of the entire forest.
A short few moments later a familiar roar could be heard North of their position.
"WAAAAAAAAAGHHHHhhh" roared the ape creature, easily a few miles away from them.
Draco could see the leaves and trees shaking from where he stood, and he gulped as he imagined the carnage the creature was creating.
"It must've found someone else." Demetri said, unconcerned.
"So, what's the plan for dealing with the monkey?" Draco asked, wondering what their next steps should be.
"Let's just sit tight. Hopefully we won't have to." Demetri replied
That answer did little to ease Draco's worries, but he realized there was little else he could do at the moment.
In this way the two of them waited atop their tree, passing the time by watching their surroundings vigilantly.
This continued for nearly an hour, when a movement below them caught Draco's attention.
Draco saw a blur of movement about a mile away from his position, and he turned his head to better identify what he saw.
Upon closer inspection, Draco became certain it was another fighter.
The figure's white-clothes fluttering around them as they moved gave it away, but when Draco turned to see if Demetri saw he seemed to have not noticed them.
"Demetri, 8 o'clock, on the treetops below us." Draco said.
Demetri looked in the direction Draco had pointed out and squinted his eyes to see closer.
His eyes widened in surprise, "You have good eyes, not even I was able to see them."
The two of them continued to watch the figure move across the treetops, and it appeared to be moving towards their current position.
"Let's wait for them to get closer." Demetri said, seemingly unconcerned by the other person's presence.
Soon, Draco could make out the features on the figure's face, realizing that they were a man.
The man was now only a few hundred meters away, and he was approaching their tree from below.
When the man came close enough, Demetri nodded his head to himself.
Dropping down from his branch with the nimbleness of a cat, Demetri got himself into a position to ambush the man.
Seeing Demetri's intentions, Draco followed behind him, careful not to make too much noise with his clumsy movements.
The other man was now directly below them, and he appeared to have stopped at the middle of their tree.
'Perhaps he's taking a break. I imagine he was heading for this tree with the same intentions as us.' Draco pondered, not taking his eyes off of the man.
A few seconds later Demetri dropped down to a branch right above them, the man completely oblivious to his presence.
Draco was a bit higher up than Demetri, but he stayed where he was out of fear that he would alert the unknown man.
Standing above the newcomer, Demetri suddenly cleared his throat.
Hearing Demetri, the man jumped up in alarm, clearly startled.
"Why hello there." said Demetri, the same sly smile showing on his lips.
"Who are you?!" the man shouted, evidently on guard for a sudden attack.
"I'm Demetri, your guardian angel." Demetri replied, smirking.
"I don't have time for games. State your purpose." the man said, not budging from his spot.
Demetri shook his head, "You're no fun. I'm just wondering if you know about the giant monkey rampaging through the forest."
Hearing this, the man looked up at Demetri warily, "Of course, that's what I've been running from."
Demetri let out a laugh, "Splendid, me too!"
The man's expression did not ease though, "So, what do you want?" he asked, not putting his guard down.
"An alliance of sorts. When it comes to beasts the likes of that monkey, the more of us there are the better. What do you say?" Demetri asked, a cordial smile showing on his features.
When the man heard this he seemed to have eased a bit, perhaps realizing that he wasn't being ambushed.
"I wouldn't be opposed to it." the man said, an imperceptible glint flashing across his eyes.
Draco couldn't quite put a finger on it, but something about the man's demeanor put him on guard. He was watching the man closely, and his eye didn't fail to pick up on subtle body language.
"Wonderful!" Demetri said as he dropped down from his branch, now standing across from the man.
"What should I call you?" Demetri asked, a short distance away from the man.
However, instead of answering, the man suddenly shot forwards!
His movements were so fast Draco could hardly capture it with his eyes, but it seemed like Demetri was ready for this surprise.
In a flash of white, Demetri knocked the man's arm aside, jumping below onto a branch that was a few feet off to the side.
"Now that wasn't nice." Demetri said, chuckling darkly.
"It's nothing personal. You should know as good as anyone that you can't trust a soul in here." the man said, honestly shocked Demetri was able to block his surprise attack.
He had waited for Demetri to get closer, and he was sure his strike would have pierced his heart.
Instead, looking at Demetri standing unharmed below him, he knew this wasn't going to be an easy fight.