Forests are terrifying! Mission #73

[ancladar]

How did it keep happening? Fortune followed by misfortune was how Gorrum's life always seemed to go. He'd meet people, then they'd vanish or reappear being chased by Marines. Or he could escape Roguetown with his new friends ,and possible crew, only to end up in middle of the forest. How this happened was a mystery to Gorrum. One minute they were simply on a ferry getting transported to the island, then the next thing he knew he woke up looking up at the leaves.

His friends were nearby minus Elyssa which was worrisome. That child needed a darn leash to try and keep her in check. He was hoping the rowdy little scamp had nothing to do with how things were going now. No, if she did he'd likely hear her giggling madly about her "prank". With a groan he sat up and looked around to see the others. "You girls alright? Nothing feeling weird?"

Gorrum felt fine, aside from being a bit stressed out that they had woke up in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully they were near Shimotsuki village. That's where they had been traveling. Gorrum wanted to try and get some training in here so he could use his blade better and not rely so much on brute strength or his devil fruit power.

Though he did also wanna see if he could find a pretty little swords woman here or better yet a nurse. The crew was going to need a doctor and by golly Gorrum wanted a pretty nurse to patch him up. The big man scratched his head and looked around trying to get his bearings. No village was in sight so they could have to just pick a direction. "So ladies...either of you really good at navigation, because I'm not ashamed to admit I'm lost."

[The Shimmering Banana]

Log entry #6
Life is crazy sometimes one day you're living with your dad working at his restaurant, the next you're a wanted criminal traveling with two complete strangers searching for two other complete strangers. What is becoming of my life. This is not what I was imagining would happen when I set out on my own but here I am. On some ferry writing in my log book in the dark. Gorrum, my new friend I mentioned in the last log, is knocked out his new less pretty ;p friend close by. Shes alright I guess. Well I should probably get some sleep who knows what time it is.
Shimmer Out ♡

A cold breeze awoke the young lady as she shivered a tremble being let loose through her body. Her head rising from her backpack as she used it like a pillow. The ferry had dropped them off on this isle on their way to Shimotsuki village. Their new leader in desperate need of training if the group were to make it on these rough seas. An open patch within a forest being used as their resting place for the night as they had no money. This is horrible thinks the tired young lady as she looked over to her companions, still unsure if they could even be considered a crew. Then down at herself as she even judged herself. What about me? I couldn't save Zel. I could barely even save myself back their. What would Gorrum think of me if he knew how weak this fish woman really was… Shimmers eyes water as she thinks of her faraway friends. First her newest friend and crewmate Zel, then her brother Marcus who was sent to Pikt Archipelago,the father she left behind on Firework Island and finally her desiced mother. I'm failing all of them right now. I need to get better. At all of my strength from my aim to my knowledge of chemistry. This was the moment Shimmer dedicated her life to bettering herself. She looked over to the young lady, who seemed to be waking up, “she's not so bad I guess” she whispered to herself.

She then glanced over at their Captain who was still out like a light. That settles it then she thinks “As of now Gorrum you are my Captain. We will train together we will learn together and we will travel together”. This was also the moment she decided that they were infact a crew. And to be one all its member needed to act like it including herself. Another cool breeze passing by her snapping her out of her train of thought, the same breeze presumably waking Gorrum up as well as he questioned the girls.

"So ladies...either of you really good at navigation, because I'm not ashamed to admit I'm lost."

Shimmer simply replying “I'm following you My Captain.” stupidly gazing into the man's eyes.

[Enel]

How did Aimée even get into this mess? She completely lost track of Elyssa and somehow wind up on this ferry with complete strangers. The only one she recognized was the toad man who helped her out back in Loguetown. Without Elyssa she'd never be able to continue her adventure. Who knows how long it'd take to find another sky person? This would never do she had to get back with Elyssa. She peeled some of the dried purple paint from her cheek, just one of many splotches of various colors of paint that dried on her from her last battle. She didn't even want to think about her hair. The artist knew getting dried globs of paint out of her hair was going to take work and it was definitely going to hurt. Aimée needed a drink and a shower yet here she sat, but where was here? and was there perhaps an inn nearby with running hot water?

She sat up and spat a neon green loogey into the dirt and straightened her hair scrunchy which was shaped like a cute little lady bug holding onto her ponytail. Next to her thankfully was her brush and her bag was still slung over her shoulder. She almost half expected it not to be. Every time it was different and it never ceased to amuse her. Every time Aimée spat it was a new color, if there was any real pattern determining which would show up next not even Aimée knew about it yet. She hasn't had her powers that long yet. The events leading to this moment were just about as spontaneous as her spit's color. She grabbed her brush and stood up, half of her wishes she had just stayed home in Micqueot, but to be the best she would need some form of outstanding inspiration.

This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. Aimée is weird herself, but no where near as weird as this day was turning out to be. They appeared to be lost in the woods, herself and these people. She definitely owed Gorrum for basically saving her life, but how could she possibly pay him back without having to shame herself? She could paint his shield for him, that'd be fun and that thing needs some color. Aimée Nodded to herself this was a good idea, but perhaps there was something more. She had to stick around anyway in case Elyssa came back. Aimée needed her to find out more about sky islands. She turned towards Gorrum when he asked if she was feeling alright and took a moment to process his question regarding feeling weird before answering.

"I'm fine, nothing weird here... Thanks though.

Nothing weird enough to mention. Although to Aimée, this entire situation was pretty weird. A girl who grew up in the city and spent her childhood learning fine arts had no place in these woods. Unless of course it was to paint a lovely landscape from observation, and giving this scenery a second glance Aimée couldn't help but agree with herself that it'd be fun to paint. By the time her mind trailed back to reality Gorrum was going on about being lost. Aimée smiled big and giggled at the mere thought of it. Lost was not a word in Aimée's vocabulary. This girl always knew where she was.

"Don't worry I got this. This girls heart belongs to two things in this world. Art and Adventure."

Aimée excitedly dug her paint stained arm into her bag, reaching so far in her elbow wasn't even visible as she took a second to feel around for her compass.

"I always have my compass on me. Now from the looks of it I seem to be facing north specifically."

Aimée held her compass out and studied it briefly during her pause.

"what I'm looking at right now is magnetic north though. True North is normally 3 degrees away from Magnetic North. I could get into latitude and longitude and all that crap, or you could just follow me. I have a pretty good feeling about this direction.

That's pretty basic, but nonetheless Aimée feels she's displayed her skills fairly well. If they decided to trust in her they'd see more and if not then that's fine too. However her mother was a professional and guess who taught her how to navigate. It kind of sucked that she didn't have a map though.

"Wait a moment... Does anyone happen to have a map of the East Blue on them? I could do a ton more with a map."

Aimée stared at Gorrum almost expecting him to hand her one. She blinked a couple times and her eyes changed to a random abnormal color each time before returning to their natural hazel color.

"If not I recommend we go True North until we either hit the ocean or the nearest town. Thankfully we're on an island so we can't wander to far from our goal."

Aimée's expression turned from halfway serious to cheerful and childish as her grin began to grow to an almost impossible size.

"Besides! The fun parts getting there! Hehehe~!"

She twirled her brush a little after returning her compass to her pocket. She'd be fine without it. True North's pretty easy to memorize and pick up. In her opinion its the easiest coordinate to memorize.

[ancladar]

The situation was just so weird. Thankfully Aimee seemed to somewhat save the day. "I have no map sadly. We'll have to buy some maps next time we're in a town. Until then we'll go with Aimee's plan and simply go forth hoping we find a town or the beach. Point north for me hon." He asked and if she did he'd simply start moving in that direction. No sense in waiting around in an empty forest any longer.

As the big man went on ahead the forest would start to grow eerily quiet. Almost as if the birds ad been scared off or had merely hidden to avoid danger. "I don't like the lack of noise. We could have scared off the birds, but normally they don't shut up for a bunch of humans." Could they sense his devil fruit powers? Even if they could his zoan wasn't a predator to birds. It was an insectivore.

Gorrum would look around as he walked then suddenly stopped. "Hey. Take a look at that." He said pointing ahead. He'd point towards a small clearing where several animals had gathered. Deer, possums, a few beavers, and a badger were all just standing in a clearing for some reason. To make matters more unnerving the gathering seemed to be glaring at the group of humans. "Does anyone know why all those animals are just standing there glaring at us?"

[The Shimmering Banana]

Their path was set, north, according to who would presumable be their navigator. Seeing as Shimmer had no navigational experience, at least above the sea, and their captain had admitted to not knowing where they were. Come to think of it where are we? thought shimmer as she brang in the rear of their three man brigade. The young girl went into her bag retrieving her log book as she scurried behind her companions. Here it is *entery #6* she skimmed her own journal hoping to find some clue of how they got here. With no luck, she was lost. She knew they had come to this place to train but for the life of her could not remember how they came to be in the forest. It wasn't like they had immense riches to stay at an inn every night but this was out of the ordinary.

Shimmer could not recall how they came to be here oh well she thought if it's ok with Gorrum it was ok with her. Shimmer stuffed her log book back in her bag and jogged up towards her new friends. “So Aimee, I feel like we barely even know each other.” says the friendly crewmate. “So how about we play the question game? I'll go first” she stated without waiting for her reply. “Where are you from born, grew up I want to know all of it” the girls undying pursuit for knowledge getting the best of her. After a bit of conversation between the two it was then that Gorrum had noticed something else out of the ordinary. The wildlife in this forest had seemed to all gather in this one place. Not only that but the toad man was right it did seem as if they were all staring at the bunch.

It wasn't uncommon for animals to gather in one place perhaps there was a water source near by. But that wouldn't explain why they were all looking in their general direction. Something was definitely strange about these animals but what was it? “I don't know it does seem like there staring at us though” says the girl as she walked up to a deer slowly attempting not to startle it. She reaches out to it holding out her hand showing the animal that she was not here to harm it. The deer not feeling the same way towards her as it went to snap at her hand Shimmer quickly snatching her hand away in the nick of time. “ Hey!” she screamed out “it tried to bite me did you see that?”

[Enel]

It didn't take long for Aimée to find True North. A glance at her trusty compass was all it took and the painter knew exactly where she wanted to start going. She returned her compass to her little bag and lifted her brush up like a lance and thrusted it outward towards the direction when Gorrum said to point it out.

"There, we should start there."

Aimée then twirled her brush over her head and brought the blunt steel end of the brush down towards the dirt hard enough to sink it slightly into the earth before pulling it up and repeating the action as she walked forward, using her brush as a walking stick. The walk was awkward and silent for a bit which made Aimée slightly suspicious. She was no outdoorsman, but Aimée knew that the woods was not suppose to be entirely quiet, at least not like this. Thankfully the girl Gorrum was with broke the silence with some conversation.

It seemed like they weren't really properly introduced and Aimée of course loved the idea that Shimmer was reaching out to her. Aimée was always happy to make new friends, and this conversation starter was going to take her mind off this creepy awkward silence. She smiled as she walked and prepared to pretty much run them through the basics. Aimée loved the question game, it helped her learn more about all sorts of things. It was a great way to gain information if played cleverly, but most importantly to Aimée was the fact it was a great way to make friends.

"Hmm well where do I start? Guess I'll start from the beginning. I was born and raised in a very large city in Micquet, that's in the North Blue so I realize I'm pretty far home here. The last time I glanced at a map I was in the East Blue. Pretty safe to say we still are, but still Wha-?"

She stopped talking the moment she heard Gorrum say something, otherwise she probably would have continued talking for hours. Aimée could easily trail off into a conversation easily discarding the most important part of the question game, that being the concept of taking turns.

Aimée stared into the clearing at the animals, and sure enough they stared right back at her. They were probably pretty confused as to why a trio of humans were in there home, and honestly so was Aimée as she had no idea how she ended up here herself. She tilted her head in confusion and looked back at Gorrum.

"Gorrum why are you being so paranoid? They're just animals. Not even the kind that eat people either."

He asked a question Aimée found most humorous. Aimée shrugged and giggled, simply replying.

"Maybe it's not you guys they're staring at. Could it be me?"

She giggled and turned around facing Gorrum.

"Why would they stare at me? Do I have paint on my face?"

An easier question to answer would be when didn't she have paint on her face? Aimée couldn't figure out why Gorrum seemed so shaken by a bunch of seemingly harmless woodland creatures. She giggled to herself and smiled. Aimée was innocent when it came to this sort of situation. Her mindset was rather simple. Just don't bother them and they won't bother you. It worked on animals she grew up around, but the animals Aimée encountered as a kid were either dead and on her plate, or domesticated.

Aimée planned to simply go around the clearing so she wouldn't disturb these animals, after all this was their home. Aimée was merely visiting, it wasn't her place to interrupt them. However it seemed Shimmer had a different idea completely in regards to gaining some animal magnetism. She just walked right up to a wild animal and stuck her hand right in it's face. Aimée couldn't believe it, she just sort of watched it all unfold. The deer tried to bite her. It seemed like a reasonable response and Aimée had to admit she'd bite someone to if they tried to randomly touch her without her permission. If it were a male they'd even receive a foot where no male wants a foot to go as well.

"It tried to bite you because you tried to touch it. It's a wild animal... Come on guys we should keep going, let's just go around the clearing and let these animals do they're thing. It'll be dark in a few hours."

[ancladar]

Gorrum watched with mounting apprehension as Shimmer attempted to pet one of the dear. "I don't think you should...yea." He sighed after the deer took a snap at her. Animals kind of made Gorrum nervous. After having to fight them in the ring he was wary around them. Especially if they were acting weird like this.

"Let's just get out of here. Oh, and Aimee deer don't bite people. They attempt to gore them with antlers." As soon as Gorrum said that one of the deer charged him. "Oh come on!" He said as he did as the expression said and grabbed the bull ,deer, by the horns to keep it from goring him. Dust was kicked up as the two struggled. Gorrum not wanting to be gored or have to hurt the deer and the deer clearly wanting to gore the big man.

The crazy didn't stop there. The branches above the group would rustle loudly and simply hundreds of squirrels would appear looking rather bloodthirsty. They were all armed with acorns and some pine cones and simply began to pelt the group with the miniature projectiles. While not exactly dangerous the woodland missiles hurt like hell. "Owww." Said Gorrum as a particularly thick pine cone struck his head while he kept wrestling with the deer. "Shimmer! Ami! Do something about those little turds!"

[The Shimmering Banana]

“Is it raining?” questioned the young fish woman as leaves fell atop her head from the rustling in the trees. By the time her pretty face looked upwards it was too late they had been surrounded by a small army of squirrels. The battalion instantly beginning to peg the bunch with an assortment of woodland ammo. Accorons, pine cones and pebbles there might have even been some poop in there. GROSE!!
“More like hailing!” says Shimmer as she raises her top set of arms over her head covering from the downpour.

"Shimmer! Ami! Do something about those little turds!"

This was her chance! With her new found devotion to her crew Shimmer was eager to show her loyalty. “I EYE Cap..? What is that how you say that? Never mind I'm on it!” she says stumbling over her words before literally leaping into action. Shimmer dives away from the ongoing onslaught rolling to her knees as she reaches the grassy ground. Reaching into her bag she pulls out her slingshot. “Now I'll show you a real HAIL storm.” she says using her bottom set of arms to scoop up their own grounded ammo. Her hand full of a verous assortment of acorns and pebbles. Making sure to leave any pine cones behind. Her now stationary body seeming like a factory as all her hands went into motion. A valuable skill learned from waiting tables her entire life at her father's restaurant. Each day the young woman would have to carry multiple tables orders at the same time, her father too cheap to pay another worker.

Shimmer launches round after round after round at the squirrels who returned fire at the same rate their barrage just as plentiful as hers. This was going nowhere fast sure a few squirrels here and there fell to the ground knocking them out. But there numbers were many and continuously replenishing. For each bunch of five she took down two more would appear. “Where are they coming from?” she thought as the factory was still at work. Her other arms fastening large bushels of pine cones together with cotton string from string strong enough to hold them together until impact. “Just a few more more” she thinks as her hands searched the grass for more pine cones.

There it was all the levels of the factory.
Level one; her top set of arms slightly raised above her head protecting her from the opposing attack. Level two; her middle set of arm always used as the gunner deck. Her aim was best from this angle for whatever reason it was. With her slingshot in one hand and the other loading and shooting. Level three; perhaps one of the most essential as her bottom set of arms scanned the ground below her for ammunition to use against the squirrels so she doesn't waite her own. All three levels had there job and now it was time to see the finished product.

[Enel]

You learn something new everyday, whether you want to or not. Today among many other things Aimée learned what the antlers of a deer were truely for, and the fact that did apparently did not bite people. Next she'd learn how much a pinecone hurt when it's thrown at bare skin.

"Ouch! Hey you have a lot of nerve."

Aimée lightly rubs her shoulder as the pinecone rebounded off her shoulderblade and then landed on her practically bare feet. She looked up to the trees to see some smug squirrels sadistically enjoying her pain.

"Oh that's funny is it? Amused by physical humor eh? Laugh at this!"

The squirrels had their pinecones and they hurt, but Aimée had a projectile of her own which she bet did a lot more than a silly pinecone damage wise. She simply opened her mouth and fired a paintball out her mouth at her mischievous attacker causing it to fall from the branch it was on much to the confusion of those nearest to it, a splat of orange paint matted into the fur where the it hit. Aimée had a feeling she some how blew their minds.

"Theres more where that came from so if I were I'd just- WAAAHH~!"

Aimée jumped both literally and figuritively as the squirrel she shot that had fell from the branch landed on her, grabbing onto her lovely pastel blue side ponytail and holding on tightly as she flailed her arms, dropping her oversized brush in shock and shouting.

"EEEEEKKK! Its on my hair Its on my hair! Getitoff!"

Aimée frantically grabbed at her attacker's tail as it tried to gnaw at her head, luckily it only bit down on her thick scrunchie. When the fabric of her cute little lady bug scrunchie snapped her ponytail was no more, her hair began to part from the side of her head and return to it's natural state as it fell down around the back of her head. As her ponytail dismantled the squirrel lost it's grasp on her head and at that moment felt itself being yanked by the tail as Aimée grabbed it and frantically threw it off her, in the heat of the moment she didn't really know or care where she threw it due to the fact her eyes were closed and her heart was racing.

With the squirrel gone, presumably thrown a considerable length away from her, Aimée slowly opened one of her eyes partially as she remained hunkered down with her arms folded just under her chest. She briefly shifted her eye left and right before fully opening it as well as the other one. She glanced around standing up straight and realized Shimmer had defeated several squirrels. The pinecones were still coming however and so she realized she had to continue to help.

She dug her hand into her pocket and retrieved a new scrunchie. This one was bright purple. She stared briefly at her broken scrunchie on the ground and sighed. Picking it up and unclipping the lady bug from it, she put the clip to her bag and dropped the broken scrunchie. Aimée realized this wasn't the time for messing with her hair, but it would surely get in the way when it was down like this. She quickly grabbed her hair in the back and pulled it back over to the left side of her head and tied it back up. As she messed with her hair she looked up to the trees just in time to see a few more pinecones flying at her. Aimée ducked and retrieved her brush as the pinecones soared passed her and hit the ground nearby.

Standing back up, Aimée fired more paintballs into the treetops as she dug around in her bag. She was feeling around for the clip that matched her scrunchie oddily enough. While firing paintballs out her mouth at squirrels, she was feeling around in her bag for a bright purple diamond shaped hairclip to attach to her puffy purple scrunchie. Eventually she found what she was digging around for and clipped it to the scrunchie, straightening it with her right hand as her left held her brush and her mouth continued to fire paintballs.

However her aim was not as accurate as Shimmer's. It's hard to be accurate when you have no sights to aim down or scopes to peer into. Until Aimée figures out an alternative to the latter it's basically spray n' pray. Although she had a theory that it was as simple as aiming when one spits, except instead of spit its a projectile that actually shoots outward.

Putting that theory to the test she was successfully defeating many squirrels, and this time she was more cautious and looked out for the falling ones. Thankfully this technique did not leave behind the foul taste of paint in her mouth. It was still awkward feeling the paintballs slide up her throat into her mouth and then out. She could form the balls in the back of her throat, but she feared that if they touched her tonsils she'd throw up paint.

[ancladar]

Gorrum had clearly gotten rusty since his escape from the arena. Or perhaps just soft hearted. He used to fight lions, wolves, and other far more dangerous animals then deer. Perhaps running for months avoiding fighting and training had dulled his skills and physical prowess. That and he didn't want to orphan Bambi fully. Sighing as he was pelted by projectiles from squirrels while wrestling a deer he'd begin to try and knee the buck.

The zoan would refrain from transforming for that would hurt the deer. Running into a giant mass of razor sharp spines was not good for one's health after all. As he tried to knee the deer and keep his balance he heard his lovely future wives calling out various things. "Ami, just smack em they're squirrels. They can't be that sturdy. Shimmer, I have no idea where they are coming from, but they're rodents. They breed like...rodents." He finished rather lamely as he kept straining with the deer.

Bambi's dad was a right grumpy old dude who didn't much care for some big oaf trying to knee him. The enraged animal kept trying to twist its head so it could gore him. "Alright you need to chill out!" Said Gorrum with a powerful heave twisted the deer's head just enough to get out of the way of the horns. He'd then wrap a muscled arm around the deer's neck and pull it in for a head lock and just start punching it in the face. "Stop trying to gore me you future trophy!"

[The Shimmering Banana]

Gorrum’s mundane joke made Shimmer smile as she thought to herself “he's so corny” her onslaught continuing as she started to load the new ammo. A couston cluster grenade created out of pinecones a few acorns and a mixture of mud bugs and spit to keep it together. “Spit is a great adhesive in case you didn't know.” she says as she launches the makeshift cluster grenades at the enemy rodents.

*Bugghhh!*

“Strike!” yells out the young woman as the clusters blew on impact pieces of acorns and pinecone taking out a large group of squirrels each dramatically flopping in different directions resembling bowling pins. Shimmer didn't stop there the squirrels having provided her with plenty of material to make many pine cluster bombs. “This will be easy” she thinks as she could now clearly see the squirrels numbers diminishing. Even her new friend was seeming to hold up quite well against their rodent foe. Her paintballs projecting with good speed and force. “Reminds me of a marble” thinks Shimmer already making plans to utilize the young woman as an ammo factory.

Their fight was going in their favor but the main question still remained. Why were these animals attacking them? Sure Shimmer approached one of them but this kind of organized attack was much more than a few critters defending their turf. There had to be some underlying objective for these animals. “Wait a minute there just a bunch of pest.” she says to herself launching another cluster at a few of the remaining squirrels. “Though I bet a lot of folks up here would say the same about a fish person” continued the young woman as she rethought her actions. How would she feel in the same situation? Maybe they aren't even in control if their actions. Stranger things have happened in this crain world.

“Aimee, we need to stop fighting and start thinking. Why are these animals attacking us? We need to find out now, did you see which way they originally came from?” calls out Shimmer hoping her new friend would agree and lead the way if she knew. With the squirrels all but beaten Gorrum was more than capable of handling the deer on his own. It was just one deer after all and he was pretty much done for anyways. This would also be the perfect chance for the girl to show they could solve any problem standing in front of their new crew.

[Enel]

these animals were really weird and Aimée didn't feel like fighting them, or anyone for that matter. The number of squirrels laying on the ground around them that had been shot with paintballs was increasing and Aimée didn't kill any of them which just meant they'd just be getting up at some point and possibly just continue their assault. Aimée could'nt bring herself to killing them and so Shimmer was correct when she suggested it was time to stop the fighting and start the thinking. Aimée had no idea why they'd be attacking them. The animals attacking them weren't normally aggressive creatures and they didn't really do anything to provoke the attack so Aimée was especially confused.

"Looks like they're coming from the northwest! Which ironically the direction I suggested we go to avoid the clearing..."

Was this encounter inevitable? Was there nothing Aimée could have done to prevent this conflict? it seemed there wasn't. In fact had they did what she suggested the animals in the clearing might have followed them and they would have been flanked in the middle of the woods. Realizing this Aimée wasn't feeling real smart about now, but perhaps she could redeem herself yet. Theres no telling whether all the animals in this forest are hostile or not. Aimée was beginning to feel this whole thing was her fault as she had blindly lead them into this situation. This time it seems she got a pass, but if she made a mistake like this at sea it could be the end of everything.

"This may sound a bit odd, but it seems almost as though these animals are being controlled. Why else would they attack us? These creatures aren't normally dangerous like this."

Shortly after saying this she found herself quickly dodging a Badger as it lashed out at her, throwing itself at her. Almost instinctively after dodging the attack she swifting knocked it over the head with the end of her brush as she swung it about 90 degrees. The animal didn't move afterward, but that was point. Whether it was alive or not was a mystery to Aimée, but the fighting style she was trying to learn was pretty good at defeating opponents without killing them so it was likely out cold.

"I can't help but feel this is my fault. I'm the one who suggested we went in this direction.

[ancladar]

Gorrum was getting tired of this deer. "Sorry Bambi's dad. I need you to take a nap for me now." He said as he gave a yell and drew his fist back to deliver several heavy punches to the deer's chin. The beast would reel from the powerful blows of the escaped gladiator and Gorrum would take the chance to deliver a final blow. A strong knee to the chin that would cause the deer to fall over on the ground. He'd roll his shoulders muttering softly about getting rusty after escaping the arena.

"Okay. I don't know what's up. I've had to fight super aggressive beasts before, but not forest critters. They could be under control, rabid, or perhaps just little assholes. Regardless it's nobodies fault we're under attack. We just have to get to town and I think we'll be safe. At the very least we'll be with other people who can take some of the load off fighting a horde of the creatures. So let's keep going in the direction you stated earlier." He'd turn to go in that direction when a beaver with massive chomper came flying out of the woods and latched onto his face.

"Dear lord this is not the kind of beaver I want on my face!" He yelled. Crude jokes aside the thing was rather horrifying. Massive teeth red beady eyes and right up in his face trying to bite his nose off. With a grunt he pulled the creature off by the scruff of his neck and punted it away like a football. "Okay running sound like a good plan to everyone?"

[The Shimmering Banana]

The crew vanished into the dense wilderness in an attempt to put a stop to the outrages creatures. Being careful to not fall victim to small attacks from hidden vermin. Shimmers sandals smacking against her heel as she ran through the tall grass giving away their position. The animals using their unnatural intelligence to devise a plot of their own. The group continued to run luckily in the right direction or perhaps by the navigational expertise of Aimee. Unknown to the would be pirates down the grassy plane there was a large mansion. A two story gray stone house from at least a hundred years ago. Vines creeped up the side of the house adding to its terrifying look.


The estate belonging to none other than world famous animal tracker/trainer Daven “The Tracker” Woods. A muscular man standing at six feet five inches tall in a size thirteen boot to match. His head shaved bald aking sure to never leave a trace of his own sent on the hunt. This man was made to track, trap and train animales. His greatest gift also being his greatest flaw. Even though the world considered him a great tracker/trainer he always wanted more, feeling as if his methods could always be improved. It was always “I could have been closer to the target” or “ I could have made that trap simpler”. But the thing that bothered him the most was the response between the animals he trained and himself. He felt as if they should have done any and everything he told them to even if it was eat one of their own kind. Which for obvious reasons the animals would never do except in certain cases where it wasn't already uncommon for the animal to eat one of their own. It was upsetting to Daven that he did not have complete control over these “Lower lifeforms” his words not mine. The issue taking over his life attempting to make a device to completely control anything or anyone. Leading him to this place the hidden mansion being secluded enough conduct his work without suspicion from the World Government and the forest surrounding it lush enough for him to catch plenty of test subjects.


Daven worked for months capturing every type of woodland creature he could from beatle to bear pricking and injecting them with different serums until he found the right one. You see he didn't want some kind of cheesy color to be the control device, as it could easily be taken off by anyone with a lock pick. His plan would be better than any predecessors his would be the best.


Within seconds Shimmer arrived to the rundown mansion the clacking finally stopping. The enemies plot letting loose as the entrance of the house was blocked by two mountain lions and a black bear standing in a triangular formation as if the bear was their leader. In front of them stood a pack of wolves. “Are they serious right now?” says Shimmer as she looks to Aimee and Gorumm. It seemed like the battle would continue the group now seeing just what these beast were really capable of. It wasn't that they were just strong they knew formations as well they were organized. It seemed like this fight would be harder than expected for the trio but hopefully it was nothing that they couldn't handle.


It was clear that they weren't going to get into the building without defeating the bear and his mountain lion companions. But in the meantime it was time to take down this lack of wolves. And to take down a pack you have to act like a pack ourselves. Shimmer groups close to Aimee stepping backwards. She then whispers out to Gorrum “So what's the game plan?” hopeing their leader had a way to make quick work of this bunch of pups. The fish woman devising her own plan as she whispered something into Aimee’s ear.

[Enel]

Although it was hard to fully comprehend, Aimee couldn't deny the fact that they were indeed being overrun in the woods by mostly peaceful woodland animals and as hard to believe as this was she had no choice but to accept this as her current reality. Aimee suspected the animals would have to have been trained or manipulated as well, but she abandoned the thought soon after processing it due to how nuts it sounded.

Turns out Gorrum suspects the same thing. If these animals were in fact being manipulated Aimee would feel even worse for doing what she did to them. Gorrum finally proposed they run and so without giving it a second thought Aimee took off running in the northwest direction hoping others would follow. Whoever would do this to innocent woodland creatures would have to pay, there was no sense in fighting anymore of these animals. Aimee never wanted to in the first place. As she ran the part of her sandals that rests between the big toe and the longest toe began to feel as thought they were digging into her feet. She stumbled twice as she ran through the thick foliage, but never fell. The newest wave of squirrels fast approached and began they're assault above them in the tree tops. Aimee would hear the sounds of pinecones and acorns hitting the ground, feeling them whirl just past her and occasionally even be hit.

She continued to run until she approached the mansion that had fallen into disrepair, nature gradually claiming it as her own. This building looked vacant for some time to Aimee, but maybe somebody lived there? If they did they probably don't anymore thanks in large part to the bear she just saw standing outside it!

As though that weren't enough there were other animals standing and sitting about that would love to have an adorable little painter for lunch.

Upon seeing all the predators that until this point in her life she'd only seen in zoos she came to halt and was about to scream but quickly clasped her free hand over her mouth resulting in a muffled high pitched squeak. They wouldn't want to eat her anyway she undoubtedly tastes like paint, but she was still pretty scared.

She stayed behind shimmer and Gorrum allowing them to pass her as she stood there still with her hand over her mouth barely believing what she was seeing. She speaks into her hand.

"M-Maybe its not worth going inside after all..."

Aimee cautiously removed her hand from her mouth as she nervously glanced around, taking a look at all the animals now thought to be trained specifically to attack.

The small artist began to inch closer to Gorrum as she planned to hide behind him, a brightly colored pastel blue drop of sweat trickled down the right side of her head. Aimee had almost stepped completely behind him when Shimmer whispered something her ear. Aimee didn't even know if she'd be able to pull it off, but nonetheless she tried anyway. one after another Aimee carefully allowed paintballs to slide out of he mouth and into Shimmer's hand until it was full. It'd certainly be interesting to see what she could do with them. When Aimee used them they were no stronger than regular paintballs being fired from a paintball gun, but if Shimmer thought using them would help the situation Aimee couldn't object.

It was a good thing Gorrum was supposedly experienced with fighting animals because Aimee was barely experienced with fighting people let alone animals and she was way to pretty to die.