"Why are you here!?"
"Stop asking questions and start running!"
"Ok!"
Brava grabs Michael's hand and they both start running. The lizard is still rolling on the ground. It seems to be in pain internally.
- 10 minutes later -
Micahel and Brava both arrive near a river. Brava quickly covers himself in mud and Michael soon follows. They hide behind mangrove tree roots. Checking around Michael heaves a sigh of relief. It seems like they lost the lizard.
"T.. Thank you!"
"No problem, I was just passing by. Why wouldn't I help my friend!" Brava knocks his hand on his chest making him look quite confident.
"um.." Michael smile "Why didn't I see you at the trial gathering?"
"ah... about that." Brava scratches his head before saying. "It's kind of embarrassing to say... I..um...woke up late and miss the trial...."
"What!?"
"SHHH don't tell anybody okay? It's kind of embarrassing."
"No... why didn't you prepare for it? This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance!"
Michael believed that the result of the trial will dictate his life for years into the future. A song was written about you. A cool weapon for you to use, forged by Gurara, and better treatment than the rest of the village. What more could you get? All this will be available if you pass the trial. Michael is truly puzzled why Brava didn't value it
"haha..." Brava stroked his chin "Don't be too serious about this. I could get into the trial 4 years later, right? I've got a lot of time since the requirement is still 18 years of age. If you're disqualified here you could still participate in the next one."
"But, you could get better treatment if you passed the trial at under 12 years old right? You don't want it?"
"Micahel, life is so much more than passing the trial."
"??" Micahel is stunned by that statement. What did Brava mean by this? There's more to life than passing the trial?
"You'll see one day. When you left the island."
"Have you ever left the island?"
"Nope"
"..."
"I...I know what you're thinking! but, Brava never lies!"
Michael looks skeptical but, he decides not to talk about it. Brava has been a really good friend so far. He didn't doubt Brava and decided to change the subject to something cooler.
"What did you do earlier? You slice through the monster but there, no wound to it?"
"That.... a secret technique. Pass down by my ancestor! It can kill the most ferocious monster."
"Can you teach it to me?"
"No can do, only I can you this technique, even the Apex predator can't handle it!"
"...."
"Brava never lies!"
Micahel doubts the claim that it could even kill the apex predator however if Brava said so he would believe it. The kid seems too confident not to believe him.
"Brava, Do you know what that thing is? The semi-transparent lizard."
"I have no idea... It looks kinda like alma fruit but, other than that I don't know any more than you do."
Seeing that Brava also doesn't know what's happening, Michael changes the subject again. They chat for a bit and Brava excuses himself. Helping Michael here already broke the rules but, Micahel can get away with it since the tribe's hunter didn't put a full day of surveillance on him.
If Michael was another Boniha kid they would properly intervene when The alma lizard got out of the trap. Being discriminated actually a double edge sword for Michael in this situation.
Micahel plans to hunt more alma lizards. He thinks he could do it if not for the lizard transforming into something weird. There are another 4 days until the trial ends so, Michaels still got a pretty good chance of passing it.
He spends the rest of the day finding a good location and setting up a new trap. By the time he's done preparing, the sun is already down. Michael decides to go to sleep for the day.
Next day.
In the early morning, he goes out to find the alma fruit for the lizard, he also stumbles upon another semi-transparent tree. Micahel thinks back to that lizard and he's pretty sure that it has some connection with this tree.
Since he is unable to carry the fruit that the tree produces, he chooses to ignore it. In the first place, he is unable to bring it down. He explores the area and scales trees before quickly coming across the required alma fruit.
He straps the Alma fruit on his back and brings it along. He also cautiously went back to his old trap to find the hopper wisp that he drop. He also finds the lizard trace from the day before and processes cautiously.
A while later he stumbled upon his wisp bottle. Thankfully the wisp bottle is quite resistant otherwise Michael might have been eliminated from the trial already.
After finding the bottle Michael went back to hunting. With the trap set and the bait ready, Michael proceeds to the next step.
4 hours later
He found the alma lizard but, it's about to go dark so, he will return here the next morning.
Next morning
Micahel go out early like before and quickly found the lizard using his illusion. Michael thinks that this is a power he has at this point and follows it. Before long he arrived near the lizard.
Micahel wipes off the first and begins to run to his trap. The alma lizard follows along nicely and arrives at the trap. This time Michael didn't put any more stick bushes on it. The last time he did it the lizard is too scared to get through and he also ran out of bushes. The sticky effect only lasts about 12 hours after you pour water on it.
Michael jumps through the roots, and the lizard follows and gets stuck. He is quite proficient in using this trap by now. Michael quickly cut the root down to hit the lizard. He also uses this makeshift wooden spear to stab it in the eyes as he did before too.
About 10 minutes later
The poor lizard lost its life. This time Michael would check it thoroughly. He descales the lizard to see if the skin is semi-transparent.
It's not.
Michael heaved a sigh of relive and cut the sever its heart from its body, to make sure that it would not stand up. Then he wait for the last day of the trial before letting the wisp out to have the hunter com pick him up with lizard body.