Zardbion's Travels

So he was a Zard? They were all Zard. They weren't all hims cause he was Zardbion, he was different. They all were. As Zardgranny gave him the rations Bion would hold them close to himself as he hadn't fixed himself anything yet to wear, but at noticing the other's methods would try to emulate them. Though he couldn't exactly grasp the reason why. Many questions seemed to pop up within his mind at the big one's explanation of their situation but alas as he went to try and speak as she did, nothing. Could he not do it? Zardbion wasn't sure, maybe later. Only a couple of things really came to the fore when he thought about it. How did he hunt? He had to go out like the other Zard, but what was out there? He didn't know but he felt fine here, he knew what was in here. Zardgranny said he had to go to survive. Was to survive to hunt? If he had to he would go. Like the others, he'd stick the rations in his cloth and begin to slowly walk towards the entrance of the burrow.

When Zardbion got out he would notice that the area around them was well, desolate it was probably at some point filled with life but at the moment it was nothing more than a swamp with scattered mangrove trees which were bare of leaves as if everything around their home was either sickly or dead. Truly they were in a bind as they couldn't remain near their home in search of something to eat but would have to head somewhere else, now whether that was North, West or South it was up to him but suffice to say staying around here wouldn't be a good idea. Not unless he fancied trying his chances at swimming in this muck and looking for food that had adapted to this almost barren swamp.

It was all new. No matter what it looked like on its better days, for ZardBion it was all new and interesting. Down, left, right, and up, his reptilian eyes scanned over everything in range with a childish wonder. It was a whole new world compared to where he just was. All of it was so vast and overwhelming that he couldn't help but feel small. How did they do it? Could he do the same? Nothing had even occurred yet and the young Zard felt discouraged from the sight of this new world. He wanted to retreat back to the burrow and ZardGranny, but he couldn't. It wasn't safe. Out here wasn't safe either, but there was hope. A step, then another and ZardBion cautiously moved towards the north. He had to.

Zardbion would continue to head to the north, and while he did so cautiously it allowed him to get a distance away from his home and as he walked he would notice that gradually there were more trees and they weren't as scattered as they were near the Lizardfolk Burrow. Still as he moved he would hear faint snoring up above him though considering the only thing above him was a tree it was a curious thing, as a Yellow Ape was sleeping within the branches. Now whether he would ignore it or try to deal with it in some way was up to him either way his first adventure was already proving to be interesting especially since he didn't have much to go by way of information of the other monsters in the forest. Well other than the fact that the world outside his home was hostile and most creatures would probably try to either kill or/& eat a tasty young Lizardfolk like himself.

More trees began to shade his surroundings as ZardBion slowly crept at his own pace through the new world. Small reptilian eyes would gawk at them. Starting from the ground up to as far as the highest branches that he could see. They were so big, giant in comparison to himself. Curiosity egging him closer, an outstretched scaled hand made contact with the rough bark. Then another and before long both hands were gently feeling about the rugged surface. Till a single flay of bark chipped off from being pulled by one of his claws. They soon came to the fore of his mind as if they were new to him. Soon he flexed one hand examining them again before he went to slowly drag along the bark, leaving light trails behind them. A childish smile made itself visible in his features, so he repeated the process again and again.

Suddenly, he noticed a sound and it wasn't from him, his little body went tense and froze. Only his head moved; it swiveled from the left to the right, scanning for something that he hoped was nothing. Slowly relief fell over him as nothing came out and there was nothing around him. Then he heard it again, locking him in place all over again. Quickly this time, he glanced at his surroundings once again sure that he was alone till he sighted something above him. In a branch, something bright seemed to budge slightly. ZardBion didn't know what it was. It wasn't like him or the others. Was it? Part of him wanted to know but another part also wanted to get away. Why was that? He was afraid of something he knew nothing of. He didn't know but he somehow had already taken a step back without wanting to. Keeping his eyes on it, he continued to walk away before turning after a small distance to continue on his way.

Fortunately for the young Lizardfolk, he was actually fairly stealthy and thus his retreat would be quiet enough to not wake the sleeping Yellow Ape and as he continued to walk backward until it was out of his sight he would manage to avoid the encounter in it's entirety. From there he could choose to head anywhere else, as he had unknowingly fled from a threat of a monster that had already ranked up and probably would of been a costly opponent if he hadn't managed to avoid it. Then again it was asleep so he could of gotten the jump on it, but would that have been enough who knows, either way now he knew where a potential enemy could be found and gained a nifty skill. Where would the young Lizardfolk head next, and would he eventually find something to eat as sure ones shell was nourishing but it could only hold back the tide of hunger for so long.

Spoiler:

Feeling somewhat safe after putting some distance between it and him, Bion seemed to calm down. The young reptile's heart had been beating rapidly the entire time out of fear of what could have occurred, yet also from excitement all the same. Glancing at his surroundings, Bion would make sure he was actually alone. He didn't want to be spooked again. That feeling, he didn't like it. As he thought about that sensation of fear another feeling began to well up in his gut. Scale clad hands would rub his underbelly as it uttered a yearning growl. Food... Almost instantly his mind raced back to when Zardgranny gave him rations to eat. With a swift hand, the Zard had fished them from his cloth and proceeded to devour the rations in full. Though it did sate a bit of his hunger, Bion felt he wanted more. By instinct, his nostrils went to work as they flared. Searching for the scent of something he could eat. The hunt was beginning, yet he still had no clue of how to pull such a thing off. Senses at the ready Bion made his way west.

Spoiler:

Zardbion would head west trying to put some distance between himself and the Yellow Ape he had fled from, which was smart seeing as he judged himself not ready for that sort of encounter. Instead as he kept walking he would notice in the distance two oddly spherical objects which would occasionally roll around before stopping. If he continued to head in that direction he would see that one of them would actually stop before completely uncurling revealing itself to be an Armored Tanuki one of the herbivores native to the East which made it quite odd to be found here at the edge of what would be considered the Eastern section of the Great Forest. Then again Zardbion was further up north that what was normal but that was probably because his burrow was in the North-East, still these two were herbivores which contrasted them from the Omnivorous yellow ape he had chanced upon. Perhaps he would actually try to hunt these, or would be retreat until better odds arose.

The Zard still wasn't too sure about what he was doing but it felt right. He seemed to just flow with the urges of his body. For a while, nothing seemed to stand out to him. Of course, it was all still new to him; the plants, the sounds, everything was a first. And to top it all off it all just seemed to continue on and on. How far could he go? Was it safe? He already knew the ans-. Suddenly he stopped. He didn't know why but something was different. Bion's entire body seemed to tense as he focused on something. He took a quick whiff of the air and he knew. There was a new smell. Then a rustling sound caught his attention. Cautiously he would come closer to where it originated and two round things came into his view. They just seemed to roll about every once in a while. Yet, they piqued his interest. What were they? They weren't Zard and they weren't the same as the yellow thing either. Were they food? The last question urged him to want to be closer. Though he was still wary about them so he hid underneath what brush was around as he made his way near them. As he got closer one of them opened up, and it immediately excited the young Zard. How did it do that? Could he do that? Could it teach him? With greater interest now in what they were, Bion still had thoughts about food. Ah, there were two; one for asking and one for tasting. With that settled, he'd get as close as he could while being hidden before pouncing on the uncurled one aiming to get a grasp of it from behind.

Spoiler:

Zardbion would manage to not only pounce on top of the uncurled Armored Tanuki but likewise just barely pierce it's hard shell with his fangs dealing minor damage to it but it was still a testament of his skill that he was even able to do such. After all they were called Armored Tanuki for a reason and the second one would promptly curl up even as the first one tried to throw Zardbion off of it's injured back before he could land a more dangerous blow. The one which curled up would actually proceed to roll towards him and if he remained on top of the other Armored Tanuki there was the possibility of him getting rolled over. It would seem the battle was on to determine which would eat or be eaten in this section of the Great Forest.

Spoiler:

Bion had got him! Adrenaline was pumping fiercely through his veins. This was exciting yet he couldn't help but feel a tad fearful as well. As his fangs sunk into the weird thing's shell he could taste a little of it. The young Zard actually liked it a bit, but soon it quickly began to try and shake him off. Why was it doing such a thing? Was he doing it wrong? Maybe he should try again. Keeping his fangs locked on it as it struggled against him he would reach his arms around to inject his claws into the underside of it for a better grip. Though whether this worked or not his senses caught the sound of the other rolling towards him. Did it want to be a snack as well? He was going to ask it if it could teach him to that curly thing. But he could bring it back for Zardgranny. With a quickness, he would unlatch himself from the current snack and bound out of harm's way towards the brush. He probably wouldn't be able to catch it by surprise again but it felt better to not be seen. In the brush, he'd try to quickly sneak around in order to flank the wounded target. Aiming to pounce on it once more.

Spoiler:

Before he was able to finish off his prey, the threat of the other one would force him to remove himself, this was because due to not being a sneak attack it would seem his opponent was no longer caught off guard and his claws couldn't find as good of a purchase on it's body. It was still injured if not even more so now to the point that it wouldn't be able to do anything more than just curl up to try and protect it's body. As for the other Armored Tanuki it would continue rolling though as while Zardbion tried to hide he would actually trip on a root on the ground causing him to tumble and be noisy enough that he couldn't hide effectively. However when the Armored Tanuki slammed it's curled body into his prone form not only was Zardbion unharmed but the Armored Tanuki would be a bit rattled from the impact causing it to uncurl about 4 feet away and shake it's head as it had sustained a little bit of damage from the impact.