Chapter 92 - Climb higher!

As Kaiser observed the toad like creature he, after looking through the vast archive like memories he had gained about this world, found it to be a member of a genetically altered species called the Togs. The Togs are frog like creatures that can only survive in the water as they need constantly wet skin. They have suction cups on their feet which allow them to climb anywhere. Their spit causes a victim to loose full control of their bodies and their spear like tongues can pierce through human skin. Their spit eventually causes the victim to fall of the trees and are then eaten. They are about the size of a large basketball. When it doesn't rain they live in caves or on the bottom of lakes.

Once he found out that they weren't edible after further research he threw it away, watching it disappear into the leaves of a nearby tree.

Soon after he managed to spot a rustling a few trees away. From time to time golden color flashes as the trees shook. "Kill!" "Food!" "Meat!" were the only words he managed to make out therefore assuming that the golden flashes must be living creatures and not some sort of weird energy beams that had been released by the game makers. Pulling his knife out and pulling his backpack that he had kept between his legs over his coat onto his back. Preparing in the case he would be unable to negotiate with them he stood up.

Suddenly a golden colored small weasel or squirrel like creature hopped on a tree branch nearby.

Blinking it said: "Are you the one I've been looking for, Kaiser? If so then you should be able to understand what I am saying."

Kaiser grinned and replied: " I am the one and only.

Nobody I'd rather be.

I am the one and only.

You can't take that away from me."

The creature chuckled slightly: "Although your appearance has changed you're still as nuts as I remember. We need to hurry up before the rest of my pack appears. I doubt I will be able to keep them from hunting you although I can try."

Kaiser smiled and answered: "Then I will leave everything in your capable hands Gaia. Although you have changed. You are much… how should I put this? Calmer? Eloquent?"

Immediately her mood changed as she replied: "You're just an idiot! Let's go."

"Where are we supposed to go?"

Surprised at his question she stood still for a moment, thinking before replying: "Let's go towards the center there is a large building."

Without waiting for Kaiser to respond she hurried along the branch jumping a distance of about two meters before landing on a branch belonging to a different tree. "Come! Hurry!" was all she said.

"I think you forgot that I am human. I can't jump over there."

Confused she looked at him. "Weren't you able to jump much further than that in the past? What changed?"

"I'm limited in this world, otherwise this forest would already be mowed down and I would have built myself a large fortress within three hours."

Seeing that her way was currently impossible she returned. Noticing that their bond still wasn't fully formed Kaiser asked her to climb onto his coat before activating the Soul Bond part of his Perfect Body Skill. As soon as he had taken her into her domain and then back out into her body he felt their connection grow stronger until it was as strong as in the beginning. Partial memories on what they experienced during the time of their separation flooded their minds although soon settled down, allowing them to focus back on the task at hand.

Three seconds later the wave of golden lightning bolts had reached the tree opposite to them. There it stopped and the rest reveled themselves. Dozens of golden squirrels stood on the branches, their view fixed on them. Interestingly Gaia was much larger and at least in his eyes seemed much stronger although his view could in no way be called objective.

Soon a larger male of her species came to the front of a branch that lead towards them. "Oh Gaia! It seems that you were a lot faster than us as usual. Did you wait with the meal until all of us had arrived to keep him fresh? How considerate of you."

Gaia with a cold gaze looked at the male. "No Marcus. This human belongs to me. Your scouts must have reported a few other humans, right? Why don't you go after them?"

The other sneered and said: "We have come all this way and you want us to back off? We've always shared our meals! We are one pack! We grew up together! Why would you do something like this?"

At this point Kaiser decided to intervene. "Because I am a speaker and Gaia is a dear friend of mine. I would like for you to let us go and leave in friendship. Perhaps we could help you later in some way to repay you?"

Gaia added on: "But if you want to fight then let's get this on with. I hope you are prepared to pay the price in blood should you decide to fight."

Marcus was stumped before turning towards the others of his kind that had been skeptically observing what had happened. "My pack! You all know Gaia. And all of you know how she is. Her behavior right now is quite suspicious and I fear that she was deceived by the human behind her that calls himself the speaker. He himself is also strange. We all know that these human creatures are lower life forms and are unable to understand even some of the simplest forms of communication. Why would someone of our superior kind associate with one of them? He must be under the control of one of their metal masters that rule them and offer them to us as a tribute for our good will."

Turning around he exclaimed: "Although she is the strongest of our species and one of our greatest warriors fear not! As long as we can eliminate the human behind her she will be freed and fight together with us against him and his kind!"

Chattering their teeth they rallied behind Marcus. "Kill him! Free her!"

As the first few began to jump towards their tree Kaiser decided to sit back down with his back towards the trunk so that he couldn't accidentally slip and had his back secured. His pulled up hood protected his neck as Gaia was jumping from one branch to the next in order to fight the ones on it. Her longer claws and powerful limbs manged to grab hold of her opponents before she bit into their necks, shaking her head violently afterwards, breaking their short necks. Kaiser meanwhile used his free hand to grasp for the tails of the squirrels that were trying to approach him before swinging them by it before bashing their heads against the thick branches in the process. After a few squirrels had been killed or badly injured as well as thrown off the trees onto the ground far below Gaia finally managed to get a hold of Marcus.

"So this is your way of forcing me to become your mate, huh?"

"I don't know what you are talking about Gaia. What are you implying?"

"I don't imply anything Marcus. I'm merely stating the obvious. You've always been jealous of my strength and power and only because I was never interested in barely anything besides hunting did you even have the chance of becoming the leader of the pack. Although that ends today."

Laughing Marcus looked at her. "You mean in your subjugation? The human will soon die, can't you see how we are overwhelming him? Surrender now and we will give you another chance, a fresh st..."

Before he could even finish his sentence Gaia had already flipped over him and had bitten towards his throat. Ducking down he managed to evade barely, her claws slipping off his thick fur. Before he even managed to turn around and fight back he was forced to run towards Kaiser as she slashed and bit towards him from the back. As he jumped to avoid Kaiser's grip when he had gotten too close she bit his tail as slammed him head first onto the branch. Despite Kaiser attempting to help her she remained stubborn, wanting to finish him by herself. Placing her clawed paw onto his shoulder blades so that he wouldn't be able to escape she went in for the kill. Despite his struggle she was heavier and finally bit into his neck, continuing to crush until she felt his bones snap. Spitting him out like poisonous bug she shouted: "Retreat! Your leader and more than 16 others have already been killed. Let us stop. If you don't then all of you will die. I implore you to think of the little ones in the nest. Who will feed them? Take care of them? Go! Find a different prey. This one is from now on until forever untouchable!"

It was only with great reluctance that the first few left. They had already sacrificed so many of their own kind yet gained nothing. Once the first few left the rest soon followed, jumping through the trees like a wave of golden lightning. Soon Kaiser and Gaia climbed up and drank from their water reservoir. In order to not pollute the clear water Kaiser took water in his own hand and washed Gaia's mouth first before both began to drink from the depleting pool.

Once they sat beneath the sun sail and like they had agreed the last time they had met Kaiser fluffed through Gaia's thick golden fur who enjoyed it silently. After few minutes later of relaxing in this manner Gaia decided to speak about what would happen during the night.

"Listen up! During the night only about three enhanced creatures are active. One is a species of mosquitoes that glows after they have drunken blood, one is a species of owls which uses them to find their prey as well a species of apes that are enormous but luckily unable to climb because of their size. They are powerful and can use echolocation. In return they are almost and because of that they can be killed during the day by sneaky cats etc. Their meat is nice so perhaps you could set up a few traps before going to sleep."

"Brilliant idea."

He cuddled her fur one last time before both began to climb down after he had tied his backpack to one of the branches next to his sun sail with a vine as it was too bothersome to carry it around all the time. Setting up a few simple traps all around his tree they climbed back up where Kaiser was much slower compared to Gaia who could scale the smooth bark easily. About halfway up they saw a few nuts a few trees away. Gaia left him for a short while before returning in regular intervals to deliver more and more nuts which he stored in the many pockets of his coat. Once they arrived at their base once more they drank some more water and ate nuts until they were full and only about 20 were left. Soon they leaned back, Gaia hidden inside his hood relaxing along his neck.

Soon after relieving himself Kaiser tied himself to the branch underneath him and relaxed. Watching the sun go down, disappearing from the horizon Gaia was about to go to sleep when Kaiser with his hands in the sleeves of his coat to protect his hands from the insects began to sing.

I got two strong arms

Blessings of Babylon

time to carry on and try

for sins and false alarms

So to America the brave

Wise men says

Near a tree by a river

There's a hole in the ground

Where an old man of Aran

Goes around and around

And his mind is a beacon

In the veil of the night

For a strange kind of fashion

There's a wrong and a right

Continuing he eventually began to hear the loud cries of apes nearby.

"Noise! Noise! Noise!"

"Mine! Mine! Mine!"

"Food! Food! Food!"

"What are you doing?" hissed Gaia. "Your attracting them!"

"Then all is going exactly according to plan. This way we can capture them in our traps much more effectively."

Shaking her head Gaia decided to sleep while Kaiser sung a bit more until he heard that a few had been captured in their traps. Smiling slightly he went to sleep. Shortly before he managed the sky lit up and the capitol symbol was being projected above the center of each zone. One after another the dead tributes were being shown.

Six people. One from District 3, one from District 5, one from District 8, one from District 10, both from 12.

Afterwards the screen goes dark. Closing his eyes once more Kaiser tries to go to sleep again despite all the noise around him.

--- Meanwhile in the capitol ---

After the projection had finished above the arena Ceasar Flickerman who up until now had commented on the life feed of the Games now, that the Districts began their mandatory watch began to comment on the cut version much had happened so only the most important battles and encounters were being shown along with the approximate routes the tributes had taken. Different things were being shown. The bloody battle at the start, their individual escapes into the different zones and more.

Kaiser came up quite often. Fist him watching were everyone went, his sun sail, the togs, how he had killed one of them and an explanation on what they were, how he had gathered the fresh water, how he had fought the squirrels, an explanation on them and had mysteriously convinced one of them to support him. And last but not least his traps as well as the little song to attract them.

It goes without saying that the capitol people were quite pleased with his performance although they were sad that he didn't fight more in the cornucopia.

---

Author's Note: Hey there! I came to ask you a totally unrelated question about Star Wars. What is your favourite alien race besides Humans/Mandalorians designwise or because of their lore and typical characteristics?

I myself favour the Fosh, the Feeorin and the Kyuzo the most.